Introduction:

In the era of weight consciousness, cabbage soup diet is a method of loosing weight quickly for short term. The origin of this concept is not exactly known but it became popular from 1980. It is a seven day diet plan and claims to reduce weight by as much as 10 pounds (4.5 Kilo Grams) within one week. It is given many names like " Sacred Heart Diet"," Military Cabbage Soup"," TJ Miracle Soup Diet" etc.

The Concept of Cabbage Soup Diet:

The basic principle of this diet plan is that it reduces calories intake by up to 50% of daily requirement and the food allowed to be eaten are high in fiber. You are allowed to have as much of cabbage soup as much you want accompanied with some other food and 6-8 glasses of water. The recipe of the cabbage soup is given below;

Ingredients:

1) 6 Large Green Onions
2) 2 Green Peppers
3) 1-2 Cans Diced Tomatoes
4) 1 Bunch Celery
5) 1 Package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
6) 1-2 Cubes of Bullion (optional)
7) 1 Head Cabbage

Method: Boil the diced vegetable in water fast for 10 minutes and then let it simmer until vegetables are tender. Season with salt, pepper, parsley or any flavor you like. This makes approximately 24 cups of soup.

Diet Plans:

1) First Day: For first day you are allowed to eat fruits. Eat all of the fruits you like except bananas. Eat only your soup and fruits. You may drink unsweetened tea, cranberry juice and water.

2) Second Day: Second day is vegetable day. Eat cooked and raw vegetables till you are full. Prefer leafy veggies and stay away from peas, beans and corns.

3) Third Day: Third day is mix of first and second day. You may eat fruits and vegetables with soup but don't have baked potatoes.

4) Fourth Day: Eat up to 8 bananas and as much skimmed milk as you can. This day is supposed to fulfill your desire of having sweet.

5) Fifth Day: This is beef and tomato day. You can eat ten to twenty ounces of beef and six fresh tomatoes. Beef can be substituted by broiled or baked skinless chicken. Beef can also be substituted by broiled fish but out of two beef days only one beef day can be made fish day. You should have soup at least once a day on your fifth day and drink 6-8 glasses of water to wash the uric acid from your body.

6) Sixth Day: This is Beef and Vegetable day. You can fill your stomach with beef and leafy green vegetable on this day. You can even have 2-3 steaks too. Eat your soup at least once. Stay away from baked potatoes.

7) Seventh Day: Your seventh day's menu is brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice and vegetables. Again you should eat the cabbage soup at least once.

Important fact about this diet plan:

This diet plan is for 7 days only and reimplementation is not allowed before taking a gap of 15 days. This essential gap of 15 days between two 7-days cabbage soup plan is to fulfill the nutrients requirement of your body as this plan is not considering nutrition.

Pros:

This diet plan gives very quick result so attracts people and good for making a start. Generally people don't start any moderate weight loss program because of its length of duration. It develops the morale to loose weight and motivates to attempt for a long time to start any long term program.

Cons:

This Diet Plan is not for long term effect.

This does not consider the daily nutrient requirements of our body. It simply neglects necessity of protein in our daily diet.

It allows high sodium food.

Most of the people become fed up of the taste of the soup in two to three days. However some spicy and tasty variations are offered.

People adopting this plan complain weakness and light head ness during they implement the diet plan.

The foods are very low in calories. Generally our body requires 1800-2200 KCals. But this diet plan gives up to 800 KCals. Per day.

Flatulence is the common side effect of this diet. Flatulence is the presence of mixture of gas in digestive track of mammals.