The Best Cabbage Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How much weight can you lose on the 7 day cabbage soup diet? ›

The Cabbage Soup Diet is a short-term weight loss diet. Proponents of the diet say that it can help you lose up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in a single week, but many health experts warn that the diet does not promote health and wellness, and results are unsustainable.

Most variations of this diet suggest that people eat this soup two to three times a day, although some variations enable the participants to consume even more of the soup. The cabbage soup used in this diet combines ingredients like broth, nonstarchy vegetables, pepper, herbs and, of course, cabbage.

Day 1: Eat cabbage soup and raw fruits, but no bananas. Day 2: Eat cabbage soup and cooked or raw vegetables, but no potatoes. Day 3: Eat cabbage soup and raw, low fat fruits and vegetables, but no potatoes or bananas. Day 4: Eat cabbage soup, skim milk, and no more than eight bananas.

To lose 10 pounds in one week, you'll need to burn between 3,500 and 5,000 calories more than you consume each day by restricting your diet to small portions of nutritious yet low-calorie foods, and significantly increasing your aerobic exercise with interval training, sports, and other vigorous activities.

Just like the name says, the bulk of this diet is fat-free cabbage soup, eaten two to three times a day with other allowed foods assigned each day.

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

Herbs and spices add aroma, flavor, and intensity to soup broth. "Use fresh or dried basil in tomato-based recipes or fresh parsley to add freshness to clear broth soups," says Sofia Norton, RD. You can also go with more heat and spices.

You may have heard of something called the Dolly Parton Diet — which consists of eating cabbage soup (yes, cabbage soup!) as your main meals along with fruit and vegetables. It's also known as the TWA Stewardess Diet and, well, the Cabbage Soup Diet.

Can I drink coffee on the cabbage soup diet? ›

OTHER CABBAGE SOUP DIET NOTES:

DRINKS: Stick with water, unsweet tea, black coffee, unsweetened juices, cranberry juice, or skim milk. Black coffee is permitted, but you may find that you no longer need the caffeine after the third day.

People who fasted for five days lost about 4% to 6% of their weight; those who fasted for seven to 10 days lost about 2% to 10%, and those who fasted for 15 to 20 days lost 7% to 10%. Only a few of the studies in the review tracked whether participants gained back the weight they had lost once the fast ended.

The Cabbage Soup diet promises dieters can lose up to 10 pounds in 7 days. The main reason for this is that it severely restricts calories. The low end of the range is for people who are sedentary while the high end of the range is for people who are active.

Physical activity helps burn abdominal fat. “One of the biggest benefits of exercise is that you get a lot of bang for your buck on body composition,” Stewart says.

Losing 20 pounds in 1 month may be easier than 2 weeks, but it's still unrealistic for most people. Once again, it comes down to your TDEE and simple math. To lose 20 pounds in 1 month, you'd need to create an average deficit of 2,500 calories per day for 4 weeks. This might be possible for larger men.

Over the long term, it's smart to aim for losing 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week. Generally to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, through a lower calorie diet and regular physical activity.

As most soup diets are only designed to last for 5 to 10 days, they aren't sustainable weight loss solutions. Furthermore, the severe and rapid reduction in calories and weight can slow your metabolism, making it even harder to maintain your weight loss.

Does cabbage burn belly fat? Although cabbage is a nutritious low-calorie vegetable, many people associate it with weight loss because of the popular "cabbage soup diet". Some creative marketing has led people to believe that cabbage actually burns body fat. In fact, no food, including cabbage, burns body fat.