Wonderful Cabbage Soup Recipe and Seven-Day Diet

You may have heard of the Cabbage Soup  Diet (aka Wonderful Soup Diet).  In my home, we enjoy Cabbage Roll Soup so I thought I'd give this a try.  There were a lot of recipe variations, so I made my own recipe below combining some of the suggestions and leaving out others.  I did some research and found that medical sites said the diet was okay as long as you do NOT do it for more than a week - it is only a system flush to jump start a healthy weight-loss program.  Doing the diet for too long may result in muscle loss instead of fat loss.  Their main concern with the diet is the lack of protein, even with the add-ons for diet.  They also warned that you will quickly gain the weight back if you continue bad eating habits instead of choosing healthy options.

With that in mind, I decided to eat the soup at lunch and dinner only and have a microwave scrambled egg for protein at breakfast.  Thanks to the tuna/egg diet, I am not a big eater, so I just had the soup at my meals without any of the add-ons.  The only day that I ate something different at breakfast was Dairy Day (see add-ons under recipe), on that day I had yogurt instead of the egg.  You must drink lots of water during the diet.  I drank a glass before and after each meal to make sure I met the requirements. On the rare occasions where I craved a snack. I ate 6-8 almonds and/or a zero-calorie flavored drink.   I also walked at least 35 minutes each morning. I lost 5+ pounds in one week on my modified version of this diet and broke a weight kinit I had not been able to get below in previous attempts. Unfortunately, 2.5 pounds came back in the following two weeks.

Conclusions: 

• If you want to lose weight quickly or jump-start weight loss, you may want to try this for 7-days.  If you want to repeat the week, you are supposed to wait 2 weeks before trying again.
• If you are interested in a flat stomach rather than rapid weight-loss, do NOT do this diet.  It causes belly bloat for the week and a few days after.  Instead, you may want to plan ahead and  try the 21-day belly diet of healthy eating habits.  During the diet, you may want to add the 4-week flat belly exercises to the few the book recommends.
• As with any diet or exercise plan, CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR before starting as foods can affect medical conditions and the effectiveness of some medications.  Although I had no real  problems on this diet, others I know had an adverse reaction and had to stop after first day.

Diet Cabbage Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) package of Shredded Cabbage or Coleslaw Mix
1 large onion, chopped
1 (28oz) can of diced tomatoes
3 celery stalks, sliced into small pieces
1 1/2 cups carrots, sliced thin (about 6 carrots)
4 cups prepared bouillon
Optional:
1 (14 oz) can of green beans
1 (8 oz) can V-8 juice

Steps:
Saute onions in olive oil until transparent in your soup pot.
Add bouillon,  and other vegetables, except cabbage, and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 10 minutes.
Turn heat to low and place cabbage on top to begin wilting process.
After simmering 20 minutes, stir cabbage into soup.  Simmer 20 minutes more.

Notes:

• In order to have a full-week of soup, I had to make the recipe below twice,  
• Many of the on-line recipes call for a whole head of cabbage, which is double the mix I used.  However, that much cabbage would not have fit into my soup pot with all the other ingredients!   So you could double the cabbage if desired.  Cabbage is supposed to slow digestion, which is how the diet works. 
• If you skip the cabbage wilting stage, the cabbage will soak up all your broth as it cooks.
• The bouillon can be any flavor you like: beef, vegetarian, or chicken.  I used chicken.
• I included all the optional ingredients and it had a great flavor.  If you do not want to use V-8, you can add some spices or herbs that you like instead. If you want to add a clove or garlic, saute it with the onion,

7-Day Cabbage Soup Diet Plan - Add On Foods

• Every Day - Eat soup at meals and drink several glasses of water throughout the day.

1. Fruit Day - any fruit except bananas may be eaten with the soup at meals.
2. Veg Day - green vegetable, leafy vegetable, or a small baked potato may be eaten with soup.
3. Mix Day - anything from days 1 or 2 (Fruit & Veg) with meals.
4. Dairy Day - milk, yogurt, or single small banana with soup.
5. Meat Day - 10 ounces of beef, chicken, or fish once during the day with soup,
6. Mix Day - anything from days 2 or 5 (Meat & Veg) with soup.
7. Juice Day - brown rice or juice with soup.

Always consult a doctor before starting a diet or exercise program!