Cabbage soup for weight loss: the basic principles of the cabbage soup diet, nutrition plan and recipes

Especially after the holidays there is a lot of excitement around the worldCrash dietsset. Cabbage soup for weight loss is the name of the latest one-week diet plan that is supposed to make us slim again in less than 7 days. In the morning, at lunch, in the evening: only cabbage soup is eaten for a week. And according to numerous reports, the cabbage soup diet actually does what it promises. But at what price? We take a closer look at the diet plan and give you several recipes for low-calorie cabbage soups.

Lightning diets promise quick results. While most crash diets involve abstaining from food partially or completely, the cabbage soup diet involves eating as much as possible. The reason: The cabbage is difficult to digest and is processed slowly. We burn more calories than we consumed with the cabbage. Theoretically, if onelow calorie soupWhen prepared with cabbage, our digestion is stimulated and the body uses more energy than usual. The result doesn't take long to arrive: you can lose up to seven kilograms in just one week. It's not just the slightly slower digestion that should help. Some nutritionists in the USA claim that cabbage is also a fat burner and can stimulate the body's fat burning. However, these claims have not yet been scientifically proven.

The basic principles of the cabbage soup diet:

  • It is a crash diet in which you eat a very unbalanced diet. Like all crash diets, it should not last longer than a week to avoid dangerous deficits in proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins.
  • As before any diet, you should first seek advice from your doctor. This is particularly true for people with high blood pressure, iron deficiency, poor or slow digestion and allergy sufferers.
  • If you have any health problems during or after the cabbage soup diet, please seek advice from your family doctor.
  • Drink at least 1.5 liters of water during the diet. The cabbage soup is prepared with a lot of salt so that it can remove water from the body. You should therefore drink plenty of water so that you do not become dehydrated. Symptoms of dehydration include:Muscle cramps, nausea and headaches. If you become severely dehydrated, your kidneys can also be damaged.
  • This diet is based on the simple rule: Eat a low-calorie diet and burn a lot of calories. In order for the diet to be really effective, you should choose the recipes very carefully and really make sure that they are low in calories.
  • Active athletes should reduce their training time by a third during a crash diet. People who don't exercise can do yoga exercises or go for a walk half an hour before eating. In this way the circulation is stimulated.

The cabbage soup diet consists of three stages. We list them below:

1. Preparation. Collect recipes for low-calorie cabbage soups. Alternatively, you can simply make one soup for the whole week. You can then have oneCreate a nutrition plan. In addition to cabbage soup, there should also be low-calorie fruits there every day. So avoid cherries, bananas, lychee and grapes. Strawberries, apples, berries and pears are low in calories and can be included in the menu. You can also cook vegetables and serve them as a side dish. Broccoli, fennel and cucumbers are low in calories. You should avoid fish, meat and nuts for the week, but then slowly reintroduce them to your menu. You can also skip juices, smoothies and other healthy drinks. Also avoid sweets, bread, rice and potatoes. The cabbage soup diet is low in carbohydrates.

2. Preparing the soups and sticking to the diet. Only soup is eaten; on some days there is fruit as dessert, on others a very small salad. Water is drunk between meals. You can do exercises for better digestion in the morning and evening.

3. After the diet ends, there is a transition phase when numerous foods are gradually introduced. However, to avoid a yo-yo effect, you should permanently change your diet. Choose a healthy diet plan and combine it with exercise to permanently lose excess weight.

In which cases does the cabbage soup diet make sense and in which cases does it not?

The cabbage soup diet is a lightning diet and as such it is neither particularly healthy nor can it produce positive results in the long term. The short-term weight loss is due to the dehydration of the body. That means: uslose weight, but our body does not initially burn fat and does not use its “reserves”. So after a week your tummy won't get any smaller and your hips won't get any narrower. Whether and to what extent this weight reduction can be seen remains questionable. Other arguments speak against the cabbage soup diet:

1.After a diet, it is difficult to continue losing weight or to maintain your dream weight.This is because we put stress on the body during a crash diet. If he is suddenly given significantly fewer carbohydrates, then he is preparing for an emergency. Such a one-sided diet and a greatly reduced calorie intake lead to a slowdown in metabolism. This has two consequences: Firstly, we cannot lose weight quickly because our body converts food into energy very slowly. On the other hand, as soon as we eat more food again, it begins to build up reserves in the form of fat.

2.Diets make you tired and put you in a bad mood. Hunger and a really tasteless meal can really ruin your mood and the yo-yo effect can even trigger depression. By the way, a low-carbohydrate diet also has a negative effect on our brain. Less carbohydrates means less energy. Less energy leads to fatigue and we can only complete even the simplest tasks at a snail's pace.

3.There is no energy left for exercise.If you already feel tired, then you don't have the energy to exercise. Even more so: if you train hungry you risk low blood pressure and dizziness. But if you don't exercise, you won't lose weight quickly.

4.Diets are not a long-term solution.Diets are not the same as healthy eating and do not offer a long-term solution. If you want to lose weight in the long term, it's better to stick to a balanced weekly menu, drink a lot of water and do sports.

5.The transitionto normal everyday life can be difficult. Anyone who follows a diet for a long period of time finds it difficult to get used to the old routine. This can lead to digestive problems or stomach problems.

Cabbage soup for weight loss: the diet plan

Tag 1:Eat cabbage soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For dessert, you can eat a fruit salad made from low-calorie fruits.

Tag 2:Cabbage soup as the main course and a small vegetable salad. Do not eat fruit on this day.

Tag 3:Cabbage soup as a main course for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a hard-boiled egg for lunch. Avoid fruit, but you can prepare a vegetable salad for dinner.

Tag 4:If you feel dizzy and tired, you can eat a baked potato with butter and garlic with cabbage soup. Otherwise, eat as much fruit as you want for dessert.

Tag 5:Cabbage soup, which you can thicken with coconut milk if desired. Serve with a handful of lettuce, a large carrot and cherry tomatoes.

Tag 6:If you feel tired or dizzy, you can exceptionally eat a banana with yogurt on this day. Otherwise, eat low-calorie fruits after cabbage soup.

Tag 7:Cook rice and serve as a side dish. However, don't eat too much rice, the cabbage soup should fill you up.

Cabbage soup for weight loss: recipe

Below we will explain to you how you can prepare cabbage soup to lose weight yourself. The original recipe uses water. However, you can replace the water with chicken or vegetable broth to make the soup taste better. Of course, you should prepare the broth yourself and not use stock cubes. Here are the ingredients for the cabbage soup:

  • 1 white cabbage, fresh, approx. 400 g
  • 1/2 celery, diced
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 small carrots, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 100 g canned tomatoes, peeled and chopped
  • Spice mix of 1 teaspoon basil and 1 teaspoon oregano and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes and 2 pinches of pepper
  • 3 pinches of salt (optional)

Preparation: Clean, wash and chop all ingredients thoroughly. Pour water or vegetable stock into a large pot, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat. Add all ingredients except salt to the pot and simmer over low heat for 60 minutes. Then salt, portion and distribute into clean and dry containers. Let the soup cool and place the portions in the refrigerator for the first two days. Freeze the others and let them thaw during the day.

For the vegetable broth:

  • a small onion, chopped finely
  • 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
  • 3 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 1 parsnip, roughly chopped
  • Celeriac, roughly chopped
  • Celery, chopped into small pieces
  • 1/2 stalk leek, cut into large pieces
  • Spices such as bay leaf and pepper, salt to taste
  • 1.5 liters of water

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients in a large pot and pour over the water. Add all the spices except the salt and bring the broth to the boil briefly. Reduce the heat and simmer the broth over medium heat for about an hour. Place a strainer cloth in a sieve and strain the broth. Be sure to keep the broth cold, then it will last for about 5 days.

Of course, you can also prepare smaller quantities that are enough for 2-3 days. In this case, you don't need to portion the soup and freeze it.

Cabbage soup for weight loss: The cabbage diet promises quick results and does what it promises. However, fat is not burned, but the body is dehydrated. Therefore, the diet is only suitable if used for a short period of time and then switching to a healthy eating plan. Otherwise there could be a lack of nutrition.

Important

Any methods, information, and tips in this article are based on current studies and medical sources (at the time of publication). However, they are not suitable for self-diagnosis and treatment and in no way serve as a substitute for competent medical advice.

The nutritional method described is safe for many people, but not for everyone. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have a medical condition, talk to your doctor before starting.