The Cabbage Soup Diet

Most people interested in dieting have certainly heard of the famous Cabbage Soup diet. Many people have actually tried some version of it. Since nobody has ever claimed to be the inventor of this diet, there is no definitive cabbage soup diet, but rather a string of versions floating around magazines and the Internet. Every expert who tried to promote this diet has either added or replaced an existing feature, which means that aside from that cabbage soup you can expect to see a wide range of other foods, although nothing spectacular.

The biggest problem with the cabbage soup diet is all the hype that surrounds it. Some people claim that cabbage has fat burning properties, which is nonsense. Others say that one could shed a whooping 10 pounds in a single week on this diet, which is not true. There’s no magical ingredient in cabbage that helps you weight loss.

The basic idea behind this diet is to starve yourself by drinking a lot of cabbage soup and some water on the side. The trick is to keep your stomach filled with cabbage soup in order to keep hunger away while the body burns fat to maintain itself.

The early version cabbage soup diet featured nothing else than the basic soup. Recent versions have added fruit, vegetables, skimmed milk, lean meat or brown rice to the eating plan in order to help people stick to it for a longer time. Dieters are not allowed any alcohol. The only drinks allowed beside the cabbage soup are water and unsweetened fruit juices. The soup itself is based on cabbage, onions (or onion soup mix), tomatoes, green peppers, celery, carrots and mushrooms. There are some variations even here, but nothing important.

Unfortunately, the cabbage soup diet is not a good idea. Many people can’t stick to a diet that forces them to starve every day, especially people who have to work for a living. Another problem with this diet is that most of the weight lost comes from water and muscle mass, instead of fat. This means that seven days later the dieter still has all the initial fat on and a good chance of replacing all the lost muscle mass with even more fat. Moreover, the low calorie intake at the core of the diet will force the body to enter starvation mode and hang on to the existing fat for its survival. Starvation mode also causes the body to go into ketosis. This is not a good way to lose weight.

More Diet Reviews

• The Abs Diet
• The Atkins Diet
• The Beverly Hills Diet
• The Body Clock Diet
• The Cabbage Soup Diet
• The Coconut Diet
• The Curves Diet
• The Diverticulitis Diet
• The GI Plan diet
• The Lemonade Diet
• The Mayo Clinic Diet
• The Mediterranean Diet
• The No Carbs after 5PM Diet
• The Sacred Heart Diet
• The Slim Fast Diet
• The South Beach Diet
• The Sugar Addicts’ Diet
• The Traffic Light Diet
• The X-Factor Diet
• Yo-Yo Diets
• The Zone Diet

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