The Cabbage Diet is based on the vegetable’s very low calories. 100 grams of cabbage has only 25 calories. As such, you can eat cabbage until it is coming out of your ears and not gain any weight. The most popular form of the cabbage diet is the cabbage soup plan.
On the cabbage soup cabbage diet, you can eat unlimited amounts of the soup along with foods specified for each day of a seven day period. It is recommended that you don’t stay on the cabbage soup diet for more than one week because it is not healthy for long term weight control. Many people report losing 10 pounds or more in just one week of the cabbage soup diet, however much of this is water weight and will be regained quickly when you go back on a more normal eating plan.
The cabbage diet’s soup recipe is this:
6 large green onions
2 green peppers
1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole)
3 Carrots
1 Container (10 oz. or so) Mushrooms
1 bunch of celery
half a head of cabbage
1 package Lipton soup mix or 2 cubes of bouillon
1 48oz can V8 juice (optional) (reduce water by appropriate amount if used)
Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, curry, garlic powder, etc.
12 cups water
Bring the water to boil and then simmer until the vegetables are soft. Make the soup in large batches and then refrigerate for later. Remember any time you are hungry you can grab a cup of soup and put it in the microwave.
Key to the cabbage soup diet is the specific foods you can eat each day. For instance:
Day 1 All fruit except bananas
Day 2 All vegetables. You also get one large baked potato with butter for dinner.
Day 3 All fruit and vegetables except bananas or potatoes.
Day 4 Up to 8 bananas and 8 glasses of skim milk.
Day 5 20 ounces of beef and 6 tomatoes.
Day 6 20 ounces of beef and all vegetables.
Day 7 Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice, and vegetables except potatoes.
You should eat until you are full and overflowing. You should also drink at least 32 ounces of plain water each day.
There is nothing magical about the cabbage diet. Cabbage, while low in calories, does not have any special fat burning properties. Instead, this diet works largely because you will consume far fewer calories a day while following it than you would if you were following your ordinary meal plan.
Because you are eating a large amount of vegetables on this cabbage diet, you will get enough nutrients to survive as long as it is a short term plan. Doctors recommend that you do not stay on this plan for longer than the 7 days though because it does not provide the long term nutrition you need.
If you are looking for a short term solution to losing 10 pounds or so and you don’t mind gaining some of it back after your program is over, try the cabbage diet.
