The Cabbage Soup Diet

Also called “The Dolly Parton diet,” for reasons that are shrouded in mystery, this 7-day diet really does work–in the short term, anyway. And there’s a great purity to it–especially in the summertime when it’s wonderfully refreshing served ice cold.

Okay, are you ready? Here we go:

1 head cabbage, shredded or chopped
2 large onions, chopped
16-28 ounces canned tomatoes, chopped
2 green peppers
4 stalks celery
1-2 packages Lipton onion soup mix, or any dry onion soup mix (optional)
black pepper
any fresh herb(s) of your choice, chopped
6 carrots, sliced
1/2 pound green beans, sliced on diagonal
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (optional)
Put all vegetables in a big pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, stir in the soup mix (if desired), and boil gently for 10 minutes. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Stir in the black pepper and chopped herbs (saving some for garnish).
Eat as much of the soup as you like, as often as you like. Drink as much water as you like and non-caloric drinks including coffee, tea, and herbal teas.

Here’s what else you can eat, and when:

DAY 1: All fruits except bananas.

DAY 2: All vegetables, raw or cooked. This includes baked potato with a LITTLE butter.

DAY 3: Fruits and vegetables, but no potatoes or bananas.

DAY 4: Bananas and skim milk–eat as many as 8 bananas and drink as many as 8 glasses of skim milk.

DAY 5: Beef, skinless chicken, and/or fish–as much as 20 ounces, total. You can also eat 6 tomatoes. And you must drink 8 glasses of water. Don’t forget at least one bowl of soup.

DAY 6: Beef, skinless chicken, or fish and vegetables. Drink 8 glasses of water and eat at least one bowl of soup.

DAY 7: Brown rice, vegetables, and unsweetened fruit juice.

TESTIMONY! If you’re interested in going gourmet AND losing weight, try the following suggestions, recommended by Bobbi B. from California: “To make the soup not so…so…impossible to eat three times a day; try making the first batch with red onions, red cabbage and red bell peppers, leave it chunky like a minestrone. The second batch make with yellow onions, green cabbage & green bells (I left out the tomatoes in second batch) and pureé it. The taste and texture change makes it so much more palatable. Also, on the skim milk day; add non fat plain yogurt to the soup as one of glasses of milk…tastes wonderful!!! Hey! I lost 10 lbs. in 7 days, I feel great! I can’t imagine it not being healthy for you, keep the foods fresh and be creative when you cook.”
Or how about chef Karen Larkin who makes soups from scratch every morning at her McKinleyville, California, café: “I love this diet! It really works! I add a few different herbs and spices to each batch to give it an international twist. For example, I add chopped cilantro, a little chili powder, and cumin to give it a Southwestern flavor; some oregano, basil, and fresh garlic for an Italian taste; a little curry powder mixed into the cooking soup and chopped fresh mint leaves for garnish on top when serving to give it a unique Moroccan flavor; shrimp or fish boullion, a little soy sauce, and some fresh bean sprouts, minus the tomatoes for an exotic Oriental sensation; chanterelle mushrooms and a pinch of thyme and rosemary minus the tomatoes for a wonderful French taste. All very yummy!”

Jane B. from High Point, North Carolina, says “The version of this that I got had no carrots, green beans, herbs or vinegar. It did have boullion added and the daily instructions were the same. It was called the American Heart Association diet. I was told if you lost less than 17 lbs. in one week you could stay on it. Lost 10 lbs the first week, 7 lbs the second. I’ve been following it casually since then and have lost a total of 35 lbs so far and feel great – all within about a month and a half time frame.”

Natalie from Nixa, Missouri, says: I haved used this soup many times, and lose about 10 pounds each week! My family likes it too, so I add ground beef or diced Chicken to it and we have a meal! It is a great way to clean out your system and make you feel great, if followed correctly! I use it for a week, off a week, on a week, and off a week, and usually can keep the weight off for a year or 2, if I am careful! Just be sure to take your vitamins, and eat all the stuff it calls for…

Alister Moffit says: Everyone told me I would be listless and low on energy, when in actual fact I felt like all the toxins were being washed out of my system and I was full of energy and alert, I kept riding my bike to work and back every day for 25 km round trip while on the diet and lost 3 kg. I also kept taking Lecithin to clear out cholestrol.

Or how about Sherrie Blount’s variation from Oakland, California: “Use the original cabbage soup diet recipe for all three meals. Add brown rice,one fry egg to your soup. (EAT IT LIKE IT IS STEW) Do not add any other foods etc. Drink 8 glasses of water, no tea or juice. This really works.”

Laurie W. from Berks, UK, says: “You cannot fail to lose weight on this diet (as long as you don’t cheat!). I lost 8lbs the first time, then on my second go 5 weeks later, I lost another 7lbs! Providing you don’t stuff yourself silly on the first day off the diet, then eat sensibly, there is no reason why you should put the weight back on! Good luck.”

Lenia Kallis from Nicosia, Cyprus, says: “You may omit the peppers mushrooms also-you may use them otherwise-and use fewer onions to make a lighter soup. Also cutting the cabbage into big chunks makes you feel fuller as you are eating something solid. Also you may add one tablespoon of non fat grinded hard cheese on top of every plateful just before consumption, for variation. And yes it tastes great and you still lose the weight.I also agree that yogurt makes it much better in taste. On the fruit day I make a nice big fruit salad with a little orange juice and consume it the whole day. On the vegetable day I saute the vegetables in a non stick pan and add a little soya sauce to fool myself I am eating chinese. I use light margarine for the baked potato.On the banana and milk day I make nice banana milk shakes in a shaker and add a little sweetener if the bananas are not sweet enough.On the beef day I eat a little mustard with the steaks or make a sauce with mustard and mushrooms too since I do not use them in the soup. Yes I too lost 9 pounds on it. And it is not that difficult either with the above recommendations. It is imperative that you have one multivitamin a day , plus one water soluble vitamin C whenever you feel light headed.It really helps the energy levels. All the above make the diet easier to follow and the results are drastic. It motivates me also to go on a better and more nutritional diet the week after. I feel that it is good for me as I do not consume any meats for the first 4 days of the diet. Good luck to all.”

Cabbage Soup Diet 7 Days Plan – Lose Weight Fast and Easy

The Soup Diet is based on a fat-burning soup that contains negligible calories. The more soup you eat the more weight you should lose. It allows people to eat as much Cabbage Soup as they want each day, which should sound appealing to dieters. After all, dieters love to hear that they can eat unlimited amounts of food and still lose weight fast.

The Diet relies on eating strange and bizarre combinations of food that nearly force you to starve each day. Dieters are allowed all the water and cabbage soup they want, plus a very restricted set of other foods.

A running myth suggests that this diet originated at any number of hospitals, but thus far, no medical facilities have claimed it as their own. Consensus is that the diet is effective for temporarily losing a few pounds. However, this is not a very nutritionally sound plan and certainly not one to live on.

The 7 Days Cabbage Soup Diet Plan
Eat as much soup as you desire for seven days and you can lose 10 to 15 pounds. The recipe varies slightly, but includes a variety of low-calorie vegetables such as cabbage, onions, and tomatoes, flavored with bouillon, onion soup mix, and tomato juice. Each day of the seven-day program has specific foods that must be eaten, including potatoes, fruit juice, many vegetables, and on one day, beef.

Day One:
Eat only fruit, all the fruit you want except banana.
Drink unsweetened tea, black coffee, cranberry juice, and water.
Eat as much soup as you like.
Day Two:
All you want – fresh, raw, or cooked vegetables of your choice. Stay away from dry beans, peas, and sweet corn. Reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter for dinner. Eat as much soup as you like but no fruit for today.

Day Three:
Combine days one and two, eat as much fruit, vegetables, and soup, as you like but no baked potato.

Day Four:
Eat as many as eight bananas and drink as many glasses of skim milk as you would like on this day, along with your soup. This day is supposed to lessen your desire for sweets.

Diets

Day Five:
You may have 10-20 ounces of beef (300-500g) and a large tin or up to six fresh tomatoes. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water this day to wash the uric acid from your body. Eat your soup at least once today. You may eat broiled or baked chicken (skinless) instead of beef. If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for the beef.

Day Six:
Eat beef and vegetables today. You can even have two or three steaks if you like, with fresh vegetables or salad. NO BAKED POTATO. Eat your soup at least once.

Day Seven:
Eat all you want of brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices, and vegetables. Be sure to eat your soup at least once to day. No bread, alcohol, or carbonated beverages, not even diet soda.

The Cabbage Soup Diet: ReportBasically a very low calorie diet; the Cabbage Soup Diet works, temporarily, by cutting daily calories to near-starvation levels

What is the Cabbage Soup Diet?

Interestingly, no person or organization seems to want to claim responsibility for inventing the cabbage soup diet! So there isn’t an “official” version, but various cabbage diet plans based around eating copious quantities of cabbage soup, and very little else.

Claims made for the cabbage soup diet range from the ludicrous, ie. the cabbage soup itself has fat burning properties to the dubious, ie. you can lose 10lbs in a week. The diet is often put forward as a quick way to drop pounds for a special event and most proponents advise that it only be followed for a week.

What’s Involved?
The Cabbage Soup Diet plan is very strict. The idea is to eat as much cabbage soup as you like every day – enough to keep you full up, so you don’t cheat! Plus specific additional foods on each day of the seven day diet. No alcohol is allowed and other drinks are limited to water, and unsweetened fruit juice on days when fruit is allowed.

•Day 1 – Cabbage soup plus as much fruit as you like, excluding bananas

•Day 2 – Cabbage soup plus vegetables including 1 jacket potato with a little butter

•Day 3 – Cabbage soup plus fruit and vegetables excluding potatoes and bananas

•Day 4 – Cabbage soup plus up to eight bananas and as much skimmed milk as you like

•Day 5 – Cabbage soup plus up to 20 ounces of beef and up to six tomatoes

•Day 6 – Cabbage soup plus as much beef and vegetables (excluding potatoes) as you like

•Day 7 – Cabbage soup plus brown rice, vegetables (excluding potatoes) and unsweetened fruit juice
Recipes for the cabbage soup vary, but all are based on cabbage, onions, tinned tomatoes, green peppers, celery, carrots, mushrooms and onion soup mix.

Does the Cabbage Soup Diet Work?
In the short term most people would lose weight very quickly. However, the loss of weight will come from loss of water and muscle tissue not from fat reserves. The combination of foods “allowed” would force most people to nearly starve each day. This could actually be counter-productive, forcing the body into starvation mode will slow metabolism and encourage the body to hang on to fat reserves!

This diet regime requires a lot of planning and frequent shopping trips for the supply of vegetables and fruit. For many people it will involve cooking and eating separately from other family members not following this eating regime.

So Why Do It?
Many are attracted to this short-term “quick fix” diet to lose weight quickly. It is not a solution to a healthy, long term eating plan.

Is the Cabbage Soup Diet Healthy?
The ingredients of the cabbage soup, in themselves, are mostly healthy – though if stock is used as well as soup mix the finished soup could be quite high in salt. Overall the cabbage diet is deficient in protein, carbohydrate and essential fats. Since the diet is only supposed to be followed for seven days, this shouldn’t cause people in good health any long-term problems, but people who have special dietary needs, including diabetics, should definitely consult a doctor before starting the cabbage soup diet. No one should follow the diet for more than seven days.

Dietitian Says:
“A balanced, healthy diet combined with exercise is still the most effective and safe long-term way to lose weight. However the results are gradual and require perseverance.”