Cabbage Soup Diet ” Surviving the Seven Days Program

You may have heard of the Cabbage Soup diet before, it’s been around since the 1980’s. The idea is to to use this strict meal plan with cabbage soup as the center of all of your meals for 7 days and you will lose 10 pounds in that week.

This is the cabbage soup meal plan that would be followed for 7 days:

Day 1: Fruit; consist of cabbage soup, fruits (except banana), protein shake, fat burner drink, and water with lemon or herbal. Day 2: Vegetable; consist of cabbage soup, vegetables, protein shake, fat burner drink, baked potato, and water with lemon or vegetable juices. Day 3: Fruit and Vegetables; consist of cabbage soup, fruit, vegetables, protein shake, fat burner drink, and water with lemon or vegetable juices. Day 4: Bananas; consist of cabbage soup, banana, low fat dairy, protein shake, and water with lemon or herbal. Day 5: Fish and Tomatoes; consist of cabbage soup, fish or poultry with tomatoes, protein shake, fat burner drink, and water with lemon or herbal. Day 6: Poultry Day; consist of cabbage soup, poultry or fish, vegetables, protein shake, fat burner drink, water with lemon or vegetable juices. Day 7: Rice Day; consist of cabbage soup, vegetables, protein shake, fat burner drink, mushroom risotto, and water with lemon or vegetable juices.

You can eat as much cabbage soup as you want during any given day. On days 3, 5, 6 and 7 you can eat as much fruit, fish, vegetables and chicken as you want. The cabbage soup recipe is simple and consists of: cabbage, peppers, onions, carrots, tomatoes and any seasonings you want to add. Please keep in mind that you cannot have: alcohol, carbonated drinks, or bread.

Despite the fact that the diet is centered around cabbage soup there isn’t any evidence to suggest that cabbage burns more fat than any other vegetable. The real reason people lose weight on this diet is due to the extremely low daily calorie intake, between 800-1,000. The soup is just the ‘main course’ and the diet would probably work the same way with many other types of vegetable soups as the center piece.

Pros

1. Lose weight fast; most people will lose between 10 -15 pounds over the 7 days of the cabbage soup diet.

2. Inexpensive; the required ingredients for this diet plan are very inexpensive to buy.

3. Simple; you don’t have to exercise or change anything else, just eat what’s listed on the diet plan for only 7 days.

4. You will eat more fruits and vegetables.

Cons

1. Taking in just 800-1,000 calories a day is not considered healthy unless supervised by your doctor. There is also very little protein in the program which could lead to mal-nutrition. Most doctors recommend you take in at least 1200 calories daily.

2. The diet is quite bland and boring and many people may choose not to eat it after a few days which would make there caloric intake even lower.

3. High levels of sodium or MSG contained in the soup recipe could lead to long term health issues.

4. Most of the weight loss with the cabbage soup diet comes from water weight, not fat loss, which will be easily put back on once you start eating the way you normally do.

5. Most cabbage soup recipes are very bland and dieters have reported feeling ill just by the smell of this bland soup after their 7 day diet is over.

6. Causes gas.

7. Not easy to stick with the diet at a restaurant.

No matter how much we want one there is no such thing as a quick fix diet. The cabbage soup diet might help you lose some weight quickly but this is hardly a permanent, healthy weight loss solution. If you just can’t resist the idea of losing 10 pounds in a week though, at least keep these pointers in mind:

1. This diet is for adult, it is not suitable for children and adolescents.

2. Do not stay on the cabbage soup diet for more than 7 days.

3. Talk to your doctor about any health concerns.

4. During the diet, keep remind yourself that the program only last for seven days and it will result on significant weight loss.

5. Stay hydrated. Drink at least 5 glasses of water every day.

6. Use spices and seasonings to liven up your meals and help prevent boredom.

7. Don’t skip your meals, no matter how bored you might be getting with the soup you can’t risk lowering your calories any more than they already are.

8. You should probably stay home during your diet. Not only will you feel weak due to your low calorie intake, but you don’t want to have a problem with gas while standing in the line at the grocery store!

9. Take your vitamins (and minerals) you have to make sure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

10. Keep a journal so you can track your weight loss.

11. Use a reminder to make sure you eat the right food of the day.

12. Before you start your diet, make sure you have all the ingredients you need for the diet plan.

13. Consume protein shake to avoid lack of protein.

The bottom line is keeping yourself healthy and stay focused during the entire process, you will gain significant weight loss at the end of the program.