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The cabbage soup diet is a seven day menu designed around a bottomless bowl of low calorie cabbage soup. This bottomless bowl may be the reason this diet has such staying power- allowing unlimited portions of anything is likely to help dieters avoid one of the main complaints of dieting- always feeling hungry.

The cabbage soup diet is considered a fad diet, as it is not designed for long term use. In fact, a long term commitment is generally discouraged.

The typical weight loss claim is 4.5 kg/10 pounds in one week. However, online accounts detail a loss of closer to half of that. Nutritionists point out that losing so much fat in one week is nearly impossible, indicating that the weight loss is very likely water weight.


Where Did It Originate?

Before email spam and forwards, there was an equally annoying phenomenon- fax junk! The cabbage soup diet began to appear anonymously through fax lines in the 1980s and 1990s.

The fax lore goes that this diet was designed for heart patients, military men, or for any number of audiences that were in need of rapid weight loss for an imminent, specific reason. It was also said to be associated with institutions such as the Mayo clinic, or military hospitals, which have all denied any connection with the diet.

Details

Dieters are asked to mix up a recipe of cabbage soup, which is a concoction containing not only cabbage, but several other vegetables, too. This cabbage soup is the dieters� unlimited comfort food for the week- they are allowed to eat it anytime they get cravings or hunger pains.

The diet is a combination of the special recipe and other specific foods, delineated by day. Dieters follow this strict menu for one week, and then are counseled to take two weeks off of the diet.

The diet is broken into daily specified menus:

Day 1 � Any amount of cabbage soup and any amount of fruits, except bananas.

Day 2 � Any amount of soup, any amount of vegetables, and one baked potato with a small amount of butter for dinner.

Day 3 � Any amount of soup, any amount of vegetables, and any amount of fruits. Exclude potatoes and bananas.

Day 4 � Any amount of soup, any amount of skim milk, up to eight bananas.

Day 5 � Any amount of soup, 20 ounces of beef, six tomatoes.

Day 6 � Any amount of soup, any amount of beef, any amount of vegetables, (excluding potatoes).

Day 7 � Any amount of soup, any amount of brown rice, any amount of vegetables, unsweetened fruit juice.

The average caloric intake of this menu is 800-900 calories.

Benefits

This is a short term reprieve from the average person�s junk-food diet. In addition, the ability to stick to such a strict diet will indeed cultivate some self-discipline. The costs associated with this diet are low, while nutrient value is high.

Caveats

One simply could not think of a more boring diet! By the end of the week, most dieters are likely to be struggling with the limitations.

In addition, since the majority of the nutrients and filler in the diet comes from cabbage soup, the likely candidate should be one that can acceptably eat this food for so many days in a row.

Since it is nearly impossible to lose so much weight in one week, the weight loss is likely water weight.

While a dieter may succeed at this particular program in the short term, they are not essentially changing long term eating habits, and will therefore gain most of the weight back.

Some recipes given for the soup show a high sodium content, which is not recommended, especially for how often the dieter must eat the soup.

Some dieters report feeling weak and dizzy during the course of this diet Another likely side effect is marked flatulence!

Should I Try It?

The Cabbage Soup diet is not a long term solution to weight loss. While lowering calories is one of the very best ways to reign in your weight, make sure you reach out for the support and undertake the self-education that will lead to a long term loss, which is best brought about by a balanced, moderate-calorie diet, coupled with increased exercise. You should seek appropriate support from experts such as nutritionists and personal trainers.

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