The Cabbage Soup Diet Revealed

In the race to stay slim, dieting has become part of American culture. Fad diets like the Cabbage Soup Diet boast losses of up to 10 lbs. in a week. Fad diets like this aren 't life-changing but are simply a quick fix.

The Cabbage Soup Diet centers on cabbage soup, which can be eaten in unlimited quantities throughout the week. It 's relatively tasty and easy to make, but dieters complain of growing tired of it by the end of the week.

While the cabbage soup recipe can vary, the most popular version can be found on the Cabbage Soup Information Web site. Feel free to vary ingredient amounts based on your likes and dislikes.

Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4 of a head of cabbage
• 6 large green onions
• 2 sprays non-stick cooking spray
• 2 medium green peppers
• 4 medium carrots
• 1 pint mushrooms
• 4 stalks of celery
• 1 or 2 cans of tomatoes
• 1 package Lipton soup mix
• 1 to 2 cubes of bouillon (optional)
• 12 cups water or 1 48 oz. can tomato juice (optional)
• Salt, pepper, parsley, curry and/or garlic powder to taste.

Directions

1. Clean and slicecabbage, green onions, green peppers, carrots, celery and mushrooms into bite-size pieces.
2. Saute cabbage and green onions in a large pot that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
3. Add green peppers, carrots, mushrooms, celery and tomato.
4. Add Lipton soup mix.
5. If you choose, add beef or chicken bouillon cubes for more flavor.
6. Add 12 cups of water or the tomato juice.
7. Add the spices of your choice. For a spicier soup try some cayenne or curry powder.
8. Let simmer on medium heat for two hours and season with salt and pepper.

Cabbage Soup Diet Guidelines

In addition to the cabbage soup recipe above, you must follow a set of strict guidelines as to what you eat daily. Throughout the week you may also enjoy unlimited cabbage soup and can sip on calorie-free beverages like tea, water and coffee:

Monday

• Drink cranberry juice.
• Eat unlimited fruits except for bananas.

Tuesday

• Eat unlimited fresh or cooked vegetables, but avoid corn and peas.
• Enjoy a medium baked potato for dinner with one Tbsp. of butter.

Wednesday

• Eat unlimited fruits and vegetables, but avoid baked potatoes and bananas.

Thursday

• Drink up to eight glasses of milk. This curbs your cravings for sweets.
• Eat as many as eight bananas.

Friday

• Eat up to eight tomatoes.
• Enjoy up to 20 oz. of beef, skinless chicken or fish.
• Drink eight glasses of water to flush the tomatoes out of your system.

Saturday

• Drink unsweetened fruit juice as well as calorie-free beverages.
• Eat unlimited brown rice.
• Eat unlimited steamed vegetables.

Cabbage Soup Diet Tips

The Cabbage Soup Diet can be difficult to follow. In order to stay on track, follow a few helpful tips:

• Drink at least eight glasses of water a day both to flush your system and to stay full longer.

• Eat a lot of cabbage soup, even when you 're tired of the taste. The fuller you are, the more likely you will be able to last the whole week.

• Stay busy to avoid thinking about food.
• Stop this diet after one week. The diet is too restrictive to follow for a long period of time.
• Take a multivitamin every day in order to make sure you are getting all of the nutrients you need to stay healthy.

Beware of bingeing with the Cabbage Soup Diet. Allowing your body to starve can often make you eat ravenously. You may also experience headaches or dizziness from hunger.

The Cabbage Soup Diet is definitely a fad diet, but it can be effective. The majority of the weight lost is water weight, so you must continue to watch your calories closely to keep the pounds off. This is a good way to jump start a diet but should not be followed for more than a week.