Seven Day Cabbage Soup Diet
The 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet has been popular since the 80′s, though it may have been developed before then. Also called the American Heart Association Diet, the Sacred Heart Diet, the Dolly Parton Diet, and many other names, all parties deny any connection with this diet, and many express concern over the health of those who follow this diet.
Nevertheless, the common concensus among dieters who have carefully followed the 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet rules is that the diet works, and that you can shed 6-10 lbs in one week following the meal plan.
There is a misconception about this diet among those who haven’t tried it, however. Many people believe that you can only eat this soup for every day of the diet, whereas the soup is only required to be eaten once each day, and that’s in addition to unlimited amounts of the current day’s allowed foods. You can, however, eat as much of the soup as you wish.
Origin Of The 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet
The Origin of the 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet is a bit of a mystery. There are various versions of 7 days cabbage soup diet programs, but aside from a few new books on the subject, no one has stepped forward to claim the diet as their own. The new books don’t strictly follow this popular version of the diet, and try to fix the low protein problem as well as other nutritional hazards related to following the cabbage soup diet.
7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet Menu Plan
Day 1: The first day of the 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet is nothing but fruit (any and all fruits except bananas, which are starchy), as much fruit as you want, and as much of the cabbage soup that you want. You may drink water, unsweetened tea, and cranberry juice (if you opt for the cranberry juice, read the lable to make certain that you’re getting pure cranberry juice and not fillers).
Day 2: You can eat as many vegetables as you want, raw or cooked. Leafy vegetables are recommended (salads, kale, spinach, chard, so on), and beans, peas, and corn should be avoided. You can eat as much of your cabbage soup as you wish. At dinner, you may have a baked potato with butter. No fruit.
Day 3: You may have as many fruits and vegetables as you want, and as much soup as you want. No potato, beans, peas, corn, or bananas.
Day 4: You can have up to 8 bananas today and as much skim milk as you wish. You may have as much cabbage soup as you want.
Day 5: You can have 10-20oz of beef and up to 6 tomatoes (size of tomatoes isn’t listed). Drink at least 6-8 8oz glasses of water to wash the uric acid out of your body. You must eat at least one bowl of the cabbage soup today, but you may have as much as you like. See “7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet Protocol” below for substitutions.
Day 6: You may eat as much beef as you want, and as many vegetables as you want. Leafy green vegetables are encouraged. You need to eat the cabbage soup at least once. No baked potato, no fruit.
Day 7: You may eat as much brown rice, vegetables, and cabbage soup as you want. You must eat at least one bowl of soup, and you may have as much unsweetened fruit juice as you want.
7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet Recipes
There are several variations of the cabbage soup recipe, and there are many more ways to adapt the recipe to your taste. Below I’ll list the very basic, basic 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet recipe, followed by common additions and substitutions, and then some other additions.
*6 large green onions (spring onions/scallions)
*2 green bell peppers
*1-2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole- 16-28oz)
*1 bunch of celery
*1/2 head of cabbage
*1-2 pkts of dry onion soup mix
*1-2 cubes of beef or chicken boullion
*12 cups of water
How to make the cabbage soup diet recipe: You can cut the vegetables in any way that you want. Some versions call for the vegetables to be sauteed before adding the water, but not all versions do. Once you add the water to the vegetables, you can cook until all the vegetables are cooked through, or cook it for a long time (about 2 hours) to let the flavors have time to blend.
Common additions are carrots, V-8 or spiced tomato juice, fresh herbs, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, curry powder, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, parsley, green beans, plain yogurt (on the dairy day), mushrooms.
Other additions and substitutions that I’ve seen are: fresh garlic (crushed or chopped), bitter greens (mizuna, beet greens), yellow onions, red onions, red cabbage, bean sprouts, brown rice, fried egg.
7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet Protocol
While this diet is restrictive, it does not limit how much you can eat in a day. The 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet only works if the diet is followed strictly, or with reasonable substitutions. For example, you can replace the beef with skinless chicken or fish (baked or broiled), though the fish can only be used 1 day, and not two.
You’re encouraged to drink 5-8 glasses of water a day, but if you eat a lot of the cabbage soup, this will cover some of the water requirements.
This 7 day diet is intended to be used for one week straight, and then the dieter is to take a 2 week break before attempting it again.
7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet Review
I have seen no evidence that this is a healthy diet in the long term, but if a dieter takes advantage of the “all you can eat” menu plan, I also think that it can be done safely for short periods of time. I’ve known many people who have followed this diet at least once in their lives, and those who stick to it do say that they lose several pounds in the week. Most from my aquaintance do not repeat the diet, but most of them find that they really like the soup once they’ve begun making substitutions (usually to make it spicy) and have included it into their regular eating habits.
All the vegetables in the soup are well known to be healthy, and adding the soup itself to your diet will likely increase your nutritional intake and decrease your calorie intake. However, if you have a thyroid condition, I would recommend avoiding this diet. Cabbage is known to suppress the thyroid, and even though cooking the cabbage usually reduces this effect, anyone who is hypothyroid would be best advised to avoid any diet that encourages eating cruciferous vegetables every day.
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As with any drastic change in your diet, it’s best to talk to your doctor or nutritionist before beginning the new diet. If you have questions or comments on the 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet, I recommend joining in the conversation on our forums.
