Cabbage soup diet
Encyclopedia
The cabbage soup diet is a radical weight loss
diet
designed around heavy consumption of a low-calorie cabbage
soup over the time of seven days. It is generally considered a fad diet, in that it is designed for short-term weight-loss and requires no long-term commitment. It has inspired several copy-cats based around similar principles.
The typical claimed intent of the diet is to lose 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight in a week, though nutritional experts point out that it is nearly impossible to lose that much fat within a week. This has lent credence to claims that much of the weight lost is water.
in the 1980s. The cabbage soup diet has many names, usually linking the diet to a mainstream institution, including the "Sacred Heart Diet", "Military Cabbage Soup", "TJ Miracle Soup Diet", "General Motors Diet" and "Russian Peasant Diet". All of the institutions named have denied a link with the diet. As a general rule, most if not all forms of the diet emphasize that the dieter can consume as much cabbage soup as he/she wants.
content, usually to make it palatable, and the diet provides practically zero protein for several days at a time. Many people report feeling weak and light-headed during the course of the diet.
On a practical level, the most common forms of the soup recipe have been criticized as being bland, though spicy variations have appeared. Even so, the blandness of the soup means that few manage the entire seven days, and often report feeling nauseous whenever they smell the soup toward the end of the week-long diet. It has also been noted that flatulence
is a common side effect of the diet.
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
diet
Dieting
Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...
designed around heavy consumption of a low-calorie cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
soup over the time of seven days. It is generally considered a fad diet, in that it is designed for short-term weight-loss and requires no long-term commitment. It has inspired several copy-cats based around similar principles.
The typical claimed intent of the diet is to lose 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight in a week, though nutritional experts point out that it is nearly impossible to lose that much fat within a week. This has lent credence to claims that much of the weight lost is water.
Background
The origins of the diet are unknown, and it first gained popularity as a piece of faxloreFaxlore
Faxlore is a sort of folklore: humorous texts, folk poetry, folk art, and urban legends that are circulated, not by word of mouth, but by fax machine...
in the 1980s. The cabbage soup diet has many names, usually linking the diet to a mainstream institution, including the "Sacred Heart Diet", "Military Cabbage Soup", "TJ Miracle Soup Diet", "General Motors Diet" and "Russian Peasant Diet". All of the institutions named have denied a link with the diet. As a general rule, most if not all forms of the diet emphasize that the dieter can consume as much cabbage soup as he/she wants.
Diet
Beverages are limited to water, and unsweetened fruit juice on days when fruit is allowed. This is a typical outline of the diet:- Day 1 - Cabbage soup plus as much fruit as you like, excluding bananas
- Day 2 - Cabbage soup plus vegetables including 1 jacket (baked) potato with a little butter
- Day 3 - Cabbage soup plus fruit and vegetables excluding potatoes and bananas
- Day 4 - Cabbage soup plus up to eight bananas and as much skimmed milk as you like
- Day 5 - Cabbage soup plus up to 10 ounces of beef and up to six tomatoes
- Day 6 - Cabbage soup plus as much beef and vegetables (excluding potatoes) as you like
- Day 7 - Cabbage soup plus brown rice, vegetables (excluding potatoes) and unsweetened fruit juice
Criticism
Many individuals and medical professionals are critical of the diet. It's claimed that most of the weight lost is water and not fat, and therefore not permanent. In addition, the recipe for the soup as often given has an extremely high sodiumSodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
content, usually to make it palatable, and the diet provides practically zero protein for several days at a time. Many people report feeling weak and light-headed during the course of the diet.
On a practical level, the most common forms of the soup recipe have been criticized as being bland, though spicy variations have appeared. Even so, the blandness of the soup means that few manage the entire seven days, and often report feeling nauseous whenever they smell the soup toward the end of the week-long diet. It has also been noted that flatulence
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
is a common side effect of the diet.