Cabbage Soup Diet

The now famous cabbage soup diet is based on the premise that you can eat as much cabbage soup as you like, plus a few other recommended food items, and you will rapidly lose weight over a seven day period. Losses of as much as 10 pounds in a week have been claimed, but never proved.

In fact the attributes of cabbage soup have been wildly exaggerated and continue to be repeated until its value as a food and dietary resource has reached mythical proportions. For example, claims that it is a 'negative' calory food, which means that it burns more calories to digest it than it contains, are dubious at best.

What is certain is that it relies on two factors; a strict dietary regime which borders on starvation mode and the idea that you an eat as much as you need each day to keep you feeling full and therefore disinclined to 'snack' on other foods. This in itself can have a counter-productive effect in that the body's natural reaction to starvation is to slow down its metabolism (the rate at which calories are consumed) and preserve any available fat reserves, using lean muscle instead to provide much needed energy.

So would you lose weight at all following a cabbage soup diet? Undoubtedly, but unfortunately most of it would be from loss of water and muscle tissue. Having said that, and provided the diet is followed for no more than seven days, it is a great way to trim up for that special event or as a precursor to a proper diet regime.

Cabbage Soup Recipe

The first rule is to keep it simple and the second is to keep it low in starch and sodium, which means little or no salt.

• 1 cabbage
• any amount of other vegetables such as squash, bell peppers, onions, leeks, celery, tomatoes and carrots, but no starch based foods such as potatoes, yams, peas, beans or rice
• 4 litres of water
• freshly ground black pepper

Chop up the vegetables and put them in a suitable saucepan. Add the water and pepper to taste, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

You can flavor this mix with chile if you wish, tomato paste, garlic, or even horseradish, but do not add salt in any form, including soy, fish or other bottled sauces.

Eat as much as you like whenever you like over a period of seven days. For a suggested daily intake of other foods go to this page

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