Sticking to a diet and exercise regimen is tough. It’s especially tough when there aren’t any results to show for your hard work. For those who may need a boost before the slump of fruitless efforts, there’s the Cabbage Soup Diet. A sort of boot camp for dieters, the Cabbage Soup Diet is meant to be that week of hell that offers quick results before the actual diet and exercise take place. If you can survive this diet without cheating, getting sick, or getting board of the food, then you totally deserve that baked potato on Day Two.
The diet goes by many other names, including the General Motors Diet, the TWA Stewardess Diet, and the Miami Heart Institute Diet. Funnily enough, none of these organizations claim any association with the diet. Those websites out there that outline how the diet works, what’s to be eaten (and when), warn that the Cabbage Soup Diet is only meant to last for one week. Any longer will result in nutrient deficiencies and other health problems.
For those interested in what the Cabbage Soup Diet entails, below are a few snippets of what the diet entails. Even this little bit makes it seems torturous for just a few pounds of water weight.
Day Two:
Vegetables: Eat until you are stuffed will all fresh, raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. Try to eat leafy green vegetables and stay away from dry beans, peas and corn. Eat all the vegetables you want along with your soup. At dinner, reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter. Can it come with bacon bits and sour cream? Do not eat fruit today. Make this day more fun by doing the airplane! Snow peas coming in for a landing!
Day Three:
Mix Days One and Two: Eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables you want. No Baked Potato. Darn.
Day Four:
Bananas and Skim Milk: 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. I don’t know about you, but bananas and skim milk has never been the way for me to curb lessen my sweet tooth. Unless it’s chocolate-covered bananas and chocolate skim milk.
Article comments
1 - Lesley
I agree that the cabbage soup diet can be a great way to jump start a weight loss program.
I do find the diet very limiting and hard to stick to though.
The actual soup part of the diet is one that I've used over and over again. I don't limit myself to the soup alone. I simply include it as part of a healthy eating plan. You can vary the recipe depending on your own tastes and still get the vitamins and fiber you need.
Don't forget to add protein to your diet too.