The cabbage soup diet is originally a crash diet for heart patients that is intended to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. For seven days you mainly eat soup, supplemented with mainly fruit, which contains hardly any calories, so you lose weight quickly. You can even lose up to eight kilos in seven days. What exactly does the cabbage soup diet entail and how successful is it to follow?
For whom intended?
The cabbage soup diet is an American diet ( The cabbage soup diet ) and it was originally intended for heart patients from New York who were in the hospital and needed to lose weight quickly. This hospital diet contains very few calories and you will certainly lose between three and five kilos. It falls under the so-called crash diets, which means that you will quickly gain weight again as soon as you stop the diet and will soon be back to your old weight.
What the cabbage soup diet entails
The cabbage soup diet may be followed for a maximum of seven days, otherwise you will miss too many nutrients, which could cause deficiencies. Because it is a crash diet, it is considered a very unhealthy diet. It quickly leads to malnutrition. Below we indicate how to follow the diet per day. You are expected to strictly adhere to this.
Day 1
All fruit, except bananas, is allowed. Preferably the fruit that contains the fewest calories, such as watermelon. Have as much soup as you want.
Day 2
All vegetables are allowed, except dried beans, peas and corn. Eat this until you’ve had your fill. Preference is given to green leafy vegetables. You can eat as much soup as you want and you can have one boiled potato for dinner. Fruit is not allowed on this day.
Day 3
On this day you can eat as much soup, fruit and vegetables as you want. Potatoes are not allowed.
Day 4
Today you can eat a maximum of eight bananas and skimmed (skimmed) milk. You can eat the soup with this. On this day the body needs the extra calories and carbohydrates. The calcium in the milk will reduce your cravings for sweet foods.
Day 5
On this day you can eat a maximum of 450 grams of beef, chicken or fish with six tomatoes. In addition, you can eat the soup unlimitedly. Because it is important to purify the body, you should drink plenty of spring water on this day.
Day 6
On this day you can eat as much beef and vegetables as you want. Potatoes are not allowed. You can eat as much soup as you want.
Day 7
You can have as much brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice and vegetables as you want. The body has now been cleansed and you have lost approximately between five and eight kilos if you have followed the diet strictly.
Bowel movement problems
Problems may arise with bowel movements. If this is the case, you can have a cup with fiber.
Not allowed
While following this diet, bread, alcohol and carbonated drinks are prohibited. No salt should be added to the soup. After following this diet, alcohol should not be consumed for at least twenty-four hours.
Well allowed
On all seven days of this diet you can drink the following: spring water, unsweetened tea, unsweetened coffee, unsweetened fruit juice, berry juice and skimmed milk.
The ingredients of the cabbage soup
To make the soup you will need the following:
- 6 large onions
- 3 large tomatoes
- 1 white cabbage
- 3 green peppers
- a bunch of soup celery
- 4 carrots
- package of (vegetable) soup mix
- low-fat stock cubes
- optional: paper, tabasco, parsley, soy sauce, rosemary, thyme, garlic, oregano and chili peppers
Cut the vegetable into pieces, put it in a pan and fill it with water. Place this on a high heat until the soup boils. When the soup boils, let it simmer over low heat until the vegetables are done.
Advantages
The advantage is that you can have as much soup as you want due to its low calorie content. You will lose a lot of weight quickly. It is simple to follow because it does not contain any difficult ingredients. It can be useful if you want to quickly lose weight for a special occasion. It is cheap because the ingredients are inexpensive. The diet is manageable because it only lasts a week.
Cons
Because you consume too few calories, and therefore too few nutrients, you will no longer have energy. This can lead to headaches and fatigue. It is difficult to maintain and is not varied. As soon as you stop this crash diet, the so-called yo-yo effect can occur. The kilos will fly back on, so you will not lose any permanent weight. You mainly lose fluid and muscle mass and not fat tissue. The large amount of vegetables can cause flatulence.
Conclusion
In my opinion, this diet is unsuitable for permanent weight loss. It takes a lot of perseverance to persevere without delivering the desired results. The body learns to use energy very sparingly, so the body will do everything it can to retain the energy from food. If you want to lose weight permanently, it is better to follow a responsible diet with which a nutritionist can help you.
.