What is the cabbage diet? Is the cabbage diet healthy? |

In this article you will learn, among others:

  • What is the cabbage diet?
  • How to make dietary cabbage soup?
  • What is the cabbage diet schedule?
  • Is the cabbage diet healthy?
  • Is the cabbage diet safe?
  • Does the cabbage diet have a yo-yo effect?

What is the cabbage diet?

There are more and more diets every year. It is impossible to remember all the names invented by that time. However, there is a certain elite in this group, which was and will probably be shining triumphs among supporters of miracle diets and quick effects. The cabbage diet is undoubtedly one of them. It consists in eating a specially prepared soup at will and using an appropriate menu. According to the creators of the website www.dietakapusciana.net, the soup should be prepared as follows:

How to make dietary cabbage soup?

Ingredients:

1 head of savoy or white cabbage, 6 pieces of chopped onion, 2 green peppers, optionally 1 red and 1 yellow, a bunch of celery, 6 fresh tomatoes, or canned tomatoes, spices: chilli, pepper, garlic

Manufacturing method:

  •     Wash the vegetables, peel the tomatoes, and dice everything into small cubes.
  •     Toss the vegetables, apart from the onion, into the oil heated in a frying pan and fry until completely soft.
  •     Add chopped onion.
  •     Put the vegetables into a pot, add water and cook until tender.
  •     Finally, add spices – chilli, pepper, garlic, curry, parsley, dill and basil.
    • Cabbage soup should not be salted. However, you can season it according to the taste of chilli, pepper, curry, parsley, dill, basil or garlic.

    Cabbage diet schedule

    Salt cannot be added to the cabbage soup. Every day you should drink large amounts of still mineral water. Now we can start following a diet that should look like this:

    1 Day

    • Breakfast: cabbage soup, a cup of black coffee
    • Lunch: raw vegetables
    • Lunch: cabbage soup
    • Afternoon tea: light fruit (not banana)
    • Dinner: water or fruit juice

    2 Day

    • Breakfast: fresh or boiled vegetables (green and leafy vegetables are best, but not vegetables such as beans, peas or corn).
    • Lunch: cabbage soup
    • Dinner: 2 jacketed baked potatoes, smeared with butter

    3 Day

    • Breakfast: cabbage soup
    • Lunch: light fruit (not banana), bitter tea
    • Lunch: vegetables except potatoes
    • Afternoon tea: light fruit (not banana)
    • Dinner: water or fruit juice, cabbage soup in case of hunger

    4 Day

    • Breakfast: cabbage soup, a cup of black coffee
    • Second breakfast: bananas
    • Lunch: bananas (including lunch 4 pieces)
    • Dinner: 2 liters of skim milk, water

    5 Day

    • Breakfast: cabbage soup, a cup of black coffee
    • Lunch: 200 g of meat (chicken breast or beef)
    • Afternoon tea: light fruit (not banana)
    You should drink a few glasses of mineral water every day.

    6 Day

    • Breakfast: cabbage soup, a cup of black coffee
    • Lunch: raw vegetables
    • Lunch: boiled beef, chicken or turkey fillet, or lean fish
    • Dinner: a plate of green vegetables, it can be: broccoli, pepper or lettuce

    7 Day

    • Breakfast: cabbage soup, a cup of black coffee
    • Lunch: we make brown paddy rice, which we can serve with low-calorie vegetables
    • Dinner: large amounts of fruit juices and still mineral water

    Does the cabbage diet have a yo-yo effect?

    Promise: The cabbage diet is a very effective diet. In one week it allows you to lose 3 to 6 kg.

    Reality: In such a short time, with drastically low-calorie diets, most of the pounds lost are water. We lose it especially through intensive cleansing of the body. It is necessary especially due to contamination with products of incomplete fat burning (this happens if we provide too little carbohydrates). Another reason for losing water quickly is the burning of glycogen, which has no way to rebuild itself. Glycogen binds water, so fluids are lost along with it. When the caloric content is increased, the water will return, and with it the kilograms.

    Is the cabbage diet healthy?

    Promise: The cabbage diet, unlike other miracle diets, is very healthy.

    Reality: Any diet that is not balanced and does not provide all the necessary ingredients cannot be called healthy. It also rules out huge monotony. The following statements multiply on forums:

    I preferred not to eat anything anymore than the same soup for another day!

    There is no product that will meet the requirements of all ingredients. Therefore, in order to maintain health and well-being, we must provide the body with balanced meals, consisting of a variety of products. This situation can lead to deficiency, discouragement and deterioration of well-being. Low energy supply contributes to fainting, headache and nausea. In addition, a healthy diet is a diet that teaches you valuable habits that can be implemented for a lifetime. This is absolutely not the case with cabbage. Of course, the very ingredients of the recommended soup are healthy, contain a lot of minerals and vitamins, but it will not provide all ingredients, i.e. protein, fat.

    Cabbage destroys bacteria and viruses, stimulates the immune system and lowers the risk of cancer, especially of the colon. However, it cannot be the basis of a valuable diet, but only an addition.

    Is the cabbage diet safe?

    Promise: This diet is high in fiber, so it’s perfect to keep you from feeling hungry.

    Reality: Cabbage, which is the main ingredient in the soup along with the rest of the vegetables, is actually a good source of fiber. However, it should be remembered that such a large amount of fiber without balancing the rest of the ingredients can be harmful and cause various ailments, such as flatulence, abdominal pain, and constipation with inadequate hydration.

    Promise: The cabbage diet gives lasting results.

    Reality: Cabbage-type diets are especially prone to the yo-yo effect after the end of the ‘treatment’. The drastically low calorific value forces the body to a sparing mode, which is associated with a reduction in metabolism. As a consequence, any amount of energy that can be stored is converted into adipose tissue for fear of repeated deficiencies. As soon as we start to eat more, we gain more weight. In addition, during the regeneration after the diet, we also recover the water that ‘escaped’ at the very beginning.

    A healthy diet should not lead to weight loss of more than 1 kg per week. Otherwise, the risk of the yo-yo effect increases dramatically.

    The cabbage diet is not a good way to lose weight healthy. Fortunately, thanks to its short duration, it should not do much havoc in the body of a healthy person. However, it can already lower the metabolic rate and certainly weaken the enthusiasm for weight loss. It should definitely not be used by sick people, the elderly, children and adolescents and, of course, pregnant and nursing women. One thing is certain – it is not worth wasting time and energy on diets, which are only an illusion and do more harm than good. The only right solution is a rational diet, ensuring the demand for all ingredients and individually adjusted. 

    Photo 1 is from: vasilv_spb / Foter / CC BY-SA

    Photo 2 is from: Ghita Katz Olsen / Foter / CC BY

    Photo 3 is from: alexbrn / Foter / CC BY

    Have you ever eaten a cabbage diet? What are your opinions on the cabbage diet? What were your cabbage diet effects? Let me know in the comments!

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