Cabbage Soup Diet: Pros and Cons
Calories per day: 800-1000
Diet Indication: Short-term weight-loss
Recommended sitting: No more than 7 days
The cabbage soup diet is a low-calorie diet with a low content of fat. It is based on a vegetable soup and some other products, including fruits and vegetables, as well as a limited amount of carbohydrates and proteins. It is generally recommended to practice the cabbage soup diet for a week, then eat normally for two weeks Then, if necessary, repeat again. According to a popular myth, this diet was developed in an American hospital, but so far no one asserted copyright over it. Perhaps the diet was first used in Sacred Heart Hospital in Brussels (Belgium) in order to help patients who suffered from severe obesity in order to lose weight quickly before surgery. Hence, the purpose of the cabbage soup diet is a rapid and significant decrease in body weight for a short-term period.
Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized head of cabbage
6 onions
A few tomatoes (fresh or canned)
2 green peppers, celery, 1 vegetable stock cube.
Method:
Vegetables are cut and boiled in broth. Salt and spices are added to taste. As soon as the vegetables in the soup get soft, remove the soup from the heat, and the cabbage soup is ready to eat.
The vegetable soup thus prepared does not contain fat or carbohydrates. Consequently, it has a minimum amount of calories, and, therefore, the effect of weight loss is achieved quickly.
You can eat the cabbage soup for slimming in combination with other products:
Day 1 – fruit except bananas.
Day 2 – green vegetables (fresh and canned), except for peas and beans. For dinner is allowed one baked potato with butter.
Day 3 – you can eat both vegetables and fruits, but not potatoes and bananas.
Day 4 – fruits and vegetables, you can add 2 bananas and a cup of low-fat milk.
Day 5 – add to the soup 1 pound boiled beef, fish or chicken breast without skin and tomatoes.
Day 6 – beef accompanied by leafy vegetables and a salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, pepper).
Day 7 – brown rice with vegetables and fruit juice.
Furthermore, it is allowed to drink tea and coffee without sugar, vegetable juice and water. It is prohibited to consume alcoholic beverages, soda, bread and fats.
Cabbage Soup Diet Review
Short-term effect: Since the body will receive no more than an average of 800-1000 calories a day, weight loss is almost guaranteed. Points: 5
Long-term effect: The diet is not recommended to stick with for the long-term, but if you repeat it every two weeks, you can lose weight or maintain it at the desired level. Points: 2
Ease of use: The soup is easy to cook and requires no special calculations, but for the rest of the family, one would have to cook separately. Points: 3
Cost: Cheap. Points: 5
Tolerability: The range of allowed products is relatively small and may not appeal to those who are not used to eating so many vegetables and fruits. Also, a soup without any spices and condiments can quickly get boring. Points: 2
Satiety: It keeps hunger at bay because there is a specific set of products that you are allowed to have in unlimited quantities each day, but those who are used to a more balanced diet may have an overwhelming desire to eat the banned products. Points: 2
Health risks: The diet is very poor in protein, carbohydrates, calcium and essential fats. Fast soups and bouillon cubes contain too much salt (and perhaps sodium glutamate). The amount of fruits and vegetables during a week is quite reasonable. However, the diet encourages the exclusion of a number of products and develops poor eating habits. It appears that the amount of calories received daily is much lower than that recommend by experts. Its main principle is the same as that of restricted diets. Points: 0
Scientific rational: No miracles are promised since it is based on reducing the amount of calories, but if you eat a lot of unlimited soup and other unlimited components, the number of calories is expected to be rather large, and weight loss would be negligible. Points: 3
Verdict: The cabbage soup diet is good for short-term weight loss only.
