The Cabbage Soup Diet has been around for years and it always seems to resurface, especially after the holidays. Although most people tend to eat soup only on cold winter days, cabbage soup and most broth-based soups can help your body release toxins while dropping pounds as well.
Lose Weight With Soup
You may have read before that by having just a bowl of soup before lunch and dinner, you can easily lose weight yet not feel deprived or hungry. A bowl chock full of good-for-you veggies contains only a handful of calories yet you'll feel full and satisfied. Those donuts won't look so tempting once you stuff yourself with good soup and you'll also eat less at meal times. Soup is comfort food at its best whether the temperature outside is 90 degrees or 10 below. It's no wonder the Cabbage Soup Diet is always popular.
For this weight loss strategy to work you'll need to stick with broth-based soups, not the cream-based varieties. Some good choices are canned vegetable beef soup or chicken and rice soup if you're in a hurry and can't make up a batch of cabbage soup.
A Word of Warning
Many people who have tried the Cabbage Soup Diet find that they can't realistically stick with it for more than a few days, but that's plenty of time to drop some pounds and give your body a great internal cleanse and detox.
The diet may also affect how you feel. If all you eat is cabbage soup you may find that you're a bit tired, irritable, and will be making plenty of visits to the bathroom. On the positive side, you'll be getting more than your daily requirement of vegetables, will be boosting your immune system, and flushing toxins from your system, not to mention the weight loss benefits.
However, as with all diets, be sure to talk with your physician before starting the Cabbage Soup Diet and stop the diet if you experience any negative side effects. This isn't intended to be followed for long periods of time, just a couple of days or a week at most.
How Much Soup to Make
A good rule of thumb is to cook up a big batch of cabbage soup in a dutch oven or crock pot on Friday evening then eat this for dinner and then for all meals throughout the weekend. You'll probably be sick of it by Monday morning but you may also feel better than you have in a long time as you cleanse your body and drop a few pounds. You can then go back to your regular way of eating and substitute cabbage soup for one of your meals if you so choose.
There are dozens of varying recipes online for cabbage soup, but this is the best one I've found.
Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 bunch celery, sliced
- 1 large can tomato puree
- 1/2 pound bag of shredded carrots
- 1 large or 2 medium zucchini, diced
- Half a head of cabbage, sliced thin (or one 16oz bag coleslaw mix)
- 6 cubes of beef, chicken or vegetable bouillon
- Enough water to cover all – about 12 cups
Season to taste with pepper, garlic powder, any herbs you like, etc.
Directions:
Put everything in a big pot and stir well. It looks like an impossible amount of cabbage, but it cooks down after awhile. On high heat, bring all of this to a boil then turn the heat to low and put a lid on the pot. Let the soup cook for about two hours as the flavors combine. Once it's done, test for seasonings and add more if needed.
You can eat this cabbage soup in any amount at any time of the day or night. Most people report a weight loss of a pound per day on the Cabbage Soup Diet, sometimes more.
Resource:
Cabbage Soup Diet Information (Cabbage-Soup-Diet.com, accessed 11/10/10)
Kelly Wallace - Kelly is a seasoned freelance writer, multi-published author, radio show host, teacher, speaker and highly acclaimed intuitive ...
