The Cabbage Soup Diet has been around for generations and you may find that at some point your own mother or grandmother did it. It is a fast weight loss diet and can help you lose up to 10 lbs in just two to three weeks.
Does that sound too good to be true? Well, it is a well-known diet, also known as the Mayo Clinic Diet and the Sacred Heart Hospital diet. The Mayo Clinic is highly reputable and the diet was recommended for people who needed to lose weight quickly before surgery.
There are advantages and disadvantages to the Cabbage Soup Diet and it is important you are aware of both.
The obvious advantage is that you will lose weight quickly. This is guaranteed. You are allowed to sit other fruit and veg at the same time and you can drink skim milk. This means it is not too boring. Cabbage is high in fiber so the diet is good for your bowel movements. Cabbage is obviously low in calories. Cabbage Soup will keep you feeling full all the time. Cabbage is a cheap vegetable and so your will not be spending a fortune to lose weight.
The obvious disadvantage is that this diet is not balanced. You will be lacking protein and other essential nutrients and vitamins. It is therefore advised that if you are going to try this diet, you take supplements for the duration. The other obvious disadvantage is that you will find this very repetitive. It is not too much fun eating cabbage soup three or more times a day.
Remember with fad diets you very often put the weight back on that you lost, quickly, and you often put on more weight. Also, the initial weight loss is very often water and not fat. It can be a dangerous fad diet, where your body is not getting what it needs for optimum strength and growth and your immune system may suffer. You could do damage to your kidneys and gall bladder and in fact, any extreme way of eating can damage all your organs and overall your entire health. Your blood sugar levels may change and may not change back to what they were or should be, causing diabetes. And cabbage gives you flatulence and cramping.
It sounds like the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Unless you need to lose a lot of weight very quickly for urgent surgery, and even then you must check this with your doctor, this is probably not a great diet at all.
But here is the recipe in case you do want to try this diet
The Cabbage Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 head of cabbage
- 2 cans of tomatoes
- Pack sliced mushrooms
- 2 onions
- 2 carrots
- 2 green peppers
- 1 bunch of celery
- 1–2 vegetable stock cubes
- 6–8 cups water or vegetable cocktail like V8
Instructions:
- Chop all the vegetables into squares. Salute the onions in a bit of oil.
- Add the vegetables, tomatoes, stock and cover with water. Add salt and pepper for taste.
- Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for half an hour or so until all the ingredients are tender.
- Feel free at the end to add spinach or green beans.
- Hot sauce may also give some extra flavor
Eat your soup, three times a day at least, whilst drinking a lot of water and taking supplements. Talk to a dietician and to your doctor to ensure they know and agree with what you are doing.
The following plan is recommended if you do not want such a drastic soup only diet.
We also recommend that you eat your soup but slowly add nutritious foods, more vegetables and more salads and some meat and protein too. Drink six to eight glasses of water a day.
The truth is that the cabbage soup diet is unbalanced and deficient in nutrients. It might be difficult to stick to, so if you want to achieve long-lasting weight loss, we suggest choosing some other, healthier, and more effective method.
Source: authoritynutrition.com
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