The cabbage Soup Diet, is one of the most popular methods to burn belly fat in the short term. As the name implies, it implies eating large amounts of cabbage soup, proponents of this diet vouch that it can help you lose about 10 pounds in a single week.
However, today, that there are so many such innovative nutrition and health trends, various specialists have declared that it is an unhealthy diet and with little sustainable long-term results. If you have considered trying this dietary guideline, we invite you to continue reading, in order to know its benefits, contraindications and thus make the best decision for your health.
What is the cabbage soup diet?
Information on the origin of this diet is scarce, what is known is that it has begun to gain popularity since the 1980 and has remained since then. Throughout this time it has gone through moments of greatest boom and in recent years it has become relevant again.
This diet is also known by other names, among which the following stand out:
The Sacred Heart Hospital diet and the Mayo Clinic diet, the theory say that it was an eating plan created in a hospital for patients to lose weight quickly before to some surgery.
The truth is that the hospitals involved have denied these claims. The diet is based on a plan that lasts for 7 days and its main objective is to ensure rapid weight loss. It works through the exclusive consumption of homemade cabbage soup and the consumption of 1 or 2 more foods per day is allowed, such as certain fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken and brown rice, in very controlled and monitored portions.
According to official information located on the Mayo Clinic website, it is considered a lightning diet and its results as well. Although they confirm its benefits to lose weight, they directly relate them to the limitation in caloric intake drastically and although they report some fat loss, the truth is that it is very likely that all the weight that is lost is a combination of water and fat.
Also, in some cases, some loss of muscle mass may be included, which is considered a risk that is associated with various health problems. It is a very low diet in complex carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, which is why nutrition and medicine specialists recommend doing it for no more than 7 days and it is important to complement it with a high consumption of liquids and natural infusions.
It is the perfect diet if you are trying to burn belly fat quickly, as it promises results in a week. Of course, as long as you don’t like cabbage
The cabbage is a vegetable that, although not like many, is one of the largest contributor benefits. We are not only talking about helping you burn belly fat, but even our ancestors used it as a medicine to treat sinusitis, colds, hemorrhoids and the reduction of chronic inflammations, such as arthritis and heart disease.
With this in mind, our proposal today focuses on a diet that is mainly based on this vegetable and is called the “cabbage soup diet“. It is a regimen designed for seven days and, although the main food is the aforementioned cabbage soup, you can also combine it with fruits, beef, skimmed milk and vegetables, although only on certain days.
The diet has many different versions, but the basic one includes a fat-free homemade cabbage soup along with specific low-calorie foods, which are supposed to be consumed on specific days. Its main goal is to create a caloric deficit, which is the first step to losing weight.
Up to 5 kilos less
It is a hypo-caloric diet, with low energy and protein intake, low in fat and carbohydrates. By metabolizing it, the body burns more calories than those provided by the soup. If carried out correctly, it promises to make you lose 5 kilos after the week of completion. Now, we are going into detail, taking as a source the recommendations of the experts, an example of a diet for one week so that you can follow it yourself. During that time, you should try to have several bowls (about 25 ml) of cabbage soup a day.
Weekly menu
If it is still not clear to you how you should consume cabbage soup to burn belly fat, here is an example per day:
Monday: Cabbage soup (breakfast, lunch and dinner), all the fruit you want, except banana. Drink unsweetened tea, black coffee, cranberry juice, or water.
Tuesday: Cabbage soup (breakfast, lunch and dinner), consumes all vegetables low in calories, less peas or corn. A baked potato with butter.
Wednesday: Cabbage soup (breakfast, lunch and dinner), eat all the fruits and vegetables you want.
Thursday: Cabbage soup (breakfast, lunch and dinner), banana (up to 8) and a glass of lactose-free milk.
Friday: Cabbage soup (breakfast, lunch and dinner), exactly between 300 and 500 grams of beef, chicken, fish and 6 fresh tomatoes.
Saturday: Cabbage soup (breakfast, lunch and dinner), 3 steaks of meat and vegetables as much as you want.
Sunday: Cabbage soup (breakfast, lunch and dinner), 2 cups of brown rice, unsweetened juice, unlimited fruit and vegetables.
Keep in mind that specific times or fasting is not required to follow the cabbage soup diet, with what seems most attractive, although all that glitters is not gold. Cabbage soup is a diet that can provide you with rapid weight loss, but we are not talking about a medical or nutritionally sound diet. At the same time, it can be boring to eat the same thing all the time and better results in the short term could be diluted if we are not constantly eating healthy or doing sports. Its main objective is to create a caloric deficit, which is the first step to lose weight. The diet plan requires you to eat 1,200 calories and even less per day, which is unhealthy. Doing it in a consistent and poorly controlled way can lead to health problems.
Caution!
The cabbage diet belongs to the diets called “lightning”, which means that the loss of fat is rapid, however, they are very low in minerals and nutrients, in addition, that, “in the case of cabbage soup can raise sodium levels and our propensity to flatulence, “as described by the Mayo Clinic.
The reason why you should only do this diet once, and making sure that your health is good. Also before any discomfort, headache, nausea, you must suspend. Burn belly fat in a healthy way without exposing your health.
How to make the cabbage soup?
Preparing to carry out this diet is quite simple, since the fundamental step is to prepare large batches of soup to consume throughout an entire week. While some ingredients in the recipe may vary, the original version is as follows:
Two ways to prepare cabbage soup
Ingredients:
- Garlic
- Onion
- Cabbage
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- 4 teaspoons of chicken broth
Preparation:
- Cook the garlic and onions in olive oil for 5-7 minutes.
- Add the salt, water, pepper, and broth. Stir continuously and wait for it to boil.
- Add the chopped cabbage and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the cabbage is wilted.
- Simmer for another 15 minutes and serve hot. Don’t forget to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water per day, which will help you feel full, as well as speed up the detoxification process, making you feel better.
Ingredients:
- 2 large onions
- And 2 green peppers
- 2 cans of tomatoes
- 1 bunch of celery
- 1 large piece of cabbage
- 3 carrots
- 1 package of mushrooms
- 1-2 vegetable broth cubes (optional)
- 6 to 8 cups of water or mixed vegetable juice (such as V8)
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Preparation mode:
- Wash and sanitize all vegetables. Once clean you must chop them into medium cubes, separately and reserve them.
- In a large soup saucepan, add a little olive oil, when it is hot, saute the onion and when they are browned and lightly browned, add the rest of the vegetables.
- Add the vegetable stock cubes and cover with water. Bring the soup to a boil and reduce to low heat.
- Simmer for 30-45 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- If you wish, you can season with a touch of salt, pepper, herbs and spices. It is also allowed to add other non-starchy vegetables such as spinach and green beans.
Consumption indications:
- For 7 consecutive days the base of the diet will be the cabbage soup, it is allowed to consume it freely throughout the day and in all the main meals.
- The consumption of a maximum of two meals a day is allowed , in addition to the free intake of the soup. In other words, according to the day, the consumption of certain variants of fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken breast and brown rice is allowed . The consumption of any other food group is prohibited .
- Consume freely water and other natural drinks without calories or sweeteners . Some good recommendations are green tea , infused with chamomile, ginger, turmeric, lavender and mint.
- Several specialists recommend the consumption of a multivitamin during the 7 days that the diet is carried out, since it can be low in nutrients.
Conclusions:
There are no scientific references that support the benefits of the cabbage soup diet or, the truth is that being a very low-calorie eating plan, weight loss is guaranteed. In particular, when you severely restrict your calorie intake or lose a lot of weight, your body responds by lowering your metabolic rate, reducing the number of calories you burn per day.
The truth is that there are studies that support the benefits of short-term, low-calorie diets to temporarily reduce insulin resistance, although they are considered too short to produce large changes in body fat. Also in the case of obese people, very low calorie diets for periods between 4 and 12 weeks are associated with significant short-term improvements in weight loss and metabolic health.
