The Cabbage Soup Diet

I don’t diet.  I HATE dieting. I love to eat what I want, when I want it, and often dinner is the best part of my day.  (I know, sad.  But hey, my blog clearly shows I am obsessed with food.)  Eating delicious things makes me happy, and I have a pretty nutritional diet as is.  But I’m at that point of the winter where I feel lazy and want to be a little healthier.  I don’t need to lose a ton of weight and I also don’t want to starve myself.  So, for these reasons, I am starting the Cabbage Soup Diet.

This is a very old diet, and I’ve actually done it once before.  It’s really more of a cleanse because it’s not meant to be followed long-term and essentially flushes out water weight (which is also one of the criticisms, so it’s not for everyone). It’s a great way to kickstart a more extensive diet or just lose a few quick pounds.  There are claims that say you can lose 10 pounds if you do it right (but I didn’t lose that much when I did this a few years ago).  For me, it’s a great way to eat well, feel healthy during the winter blues, and prove to myself that I have the self-control to stick to this plan.

Here are the reasons why I’m changing up my usual eat-whatever-I’m-in-the-mood-for meal plan and opting for the strict diet that revolves around one soup:

1. It’s only 7 days. I will only survive a short diet – I NEED my dinner dates and glass of wine.
2. You don’t stay hungry.  You can eat as much as you want as long as you are eating items on that day’s menu.
3. I can drink coffee.  No sugar, skim milk.  It’s a good habit to get into anyway.

Here is the 7 Day meal plan which I will be posting about in more detail throughout the week.  I even have a few recipes that will still fit into this plan (some more strict than others).  Of course, every day you eat your soup at least once.  Plus, add in the below:

• Day One: Fruit – Eat all of the fruit you want (except bananas). Eat only your soup and the fruit for the first day. For drinks- unsweetened teas, cranberry juice and water.
• 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.  At dinner, reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter. Do not eat fruit today.
• Day Three: Mix Days One and Two – Eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables you want. No Baked Potato.
• 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.
• Day Five: Beef And Tomatoes – Ten to twenty ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomatoes. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water this day to wash the uric acid from your body. Eat your soup at least once this day. You may eat broiled or baked chicken instead of beef (but absolutely no skin-on chicken). If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for beef on one of the beef days (but not both).
• Day Six: Beef and Vegetables – Eat to your heart’s content of beef and vegetables this day. You can even have 2 or 3 steaks if you like, with leafy green vegetables. No Baked Potato. Eat your soup at least once.
• Day Seven: Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices and vegetables.

I will mostly miss bread, wine, and cheese – cutting those three things out alone should make me drop a few pounds!

Today is Day One – Fruit.  So far I have had coffee, mangos, apples, unsweetened apple sauce, cranberry juice, and grapes.  Time to start cooking up the cabbage soup – recipe will be posted tomorrow!  So far, so good.  Let’s see how the rest of the week goes….

Wish me luck!

*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, nutritionist, or health professional.  This blog post is only meant to chronicle my eating habits on this diet and all results, opinions, explanations, thoughts, and advice are from my individual experience and should not be viewed as an official source of health information.