The Cabbage Soup Diet

Do you need to lose 10 pounds this week?  Do you want it enough to eat cabbage soup every day this week? If so, here is what you need to know about the Cabbage Soup diet.  It may be just the thing that gets you past wanting to lose weight so quickly!

The cabbage soup diet is not complicated.  There are no real choices or decisions to make regarding your daily meal plan.  The inventors don't recommend that you follow this diet for more than a week at a time, so the end is always just around the corner.  So why hasn't this diet taken over the world?

There are some issues with the cabbage soup diet.  This is a very low calorie diet.  Most physicians (and the government) recommend that you eat at least 1,200 calories a day to maintain your health.  This diet falls far short of 1,200 daily calories.  Most days of the diet offer little to no protein but every day has a significant jolt of salt.  So that's the down side.

Proponents point to the rapid weight loss and the ease with which you can follow the diet.  The rules are pretty simple, although they change every day.

• Day one – eat your cabbage soup and as much fruit as you want, except for bananas
• Day two – eat your cabbage soup and as many veggies as you want, plus a baked potato
• Day three – eat your cabbage soup and fruit and veggies, but no potatoes or bananas
• Day four – eat your cabbage soup and up to eight bananas plus skimmed milk
• Day five – eat your cabbage soup plus 10 ounces of beef and six tomatoes
• Day six – eat your cabbage soup with beef and veggies, except for potatoes
• Day seven – eat your cabbage soup plus brown rice, veggies (except potatoes) and fruit juice

There are as many recipes for cabbage soup as there are cabbages, but here's one that wins friends.

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a soup pot.
2. Brown ½ of an onion and 2 cloves of chopped garlic in the oil.
3. Add 2 quarts of water, 4 cubes of chicken bouillon and bring to a boil.
4. Stir in ½ head of cabbage (chopped, no core). Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until cabbage is soft.
6. Add one can of Italian-style stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz) drained and diced.
7. Bring to a boil again and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

This recipe serves eight.

You are done!  You should have lost 10 pounds by  now and developed a deep and abiding hatred for cabbage soup.  Critics will say that much of your weight loss is water weight, but you will be thinner for that special event. Some people who have tried this diet also report a bit of an issue with gas. Your mileage may vary.  Get yourself a diet buddy, buy some cabbages and get cooking!  Day one sounds wonderful and who cares if you complete the diet.  You created some lovely soup and made a new friend!