The cabbage soup diet is a radical
weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, by a mean loss of fluid, body fat (adipose tissue), or lean mass (namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other conn ...
diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
designed around heavy consumption of a low-calorie
cabbage soup
Cabbage soup may refer to any of the variety of soups based on various cabbages, or on sauerkraut and known under different names in national cuisines. Often it is a vegetable soup, with lentils, peas or beans in place of the meat. It may be p ...
over seven days. It is generally considered a
fad diet
A fad diet is a diet that is popular, generally only for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard scientific dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements; ...
, in that it is designed for short-term weight-loss and requires no long-term commitment.
The typical claimed intent of the diet is to lose 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight in a week, though nutritional experts point out that it is nearly impossible to lose that much fat within a week: much of the weight lost is water.
Background
The origins of the diet are unknown, but dates back to the 1950s.
It gained popularity as a piece of
faxlore
Faxlore is a sort of folklore: humorous texts, folk poetry, folk art, and urban legends that are circulated, not by word of mouth, but by fax machine. Xeroxlore or photocopylore is similar material circulated by photocopying.
The first use o ...
in the 1980s. The cabbage soup diet has many names, usually linking the diet to a mainstream institution, including the "Sacred Heart Diet", "Military Cabbage Soup", "TJ Miracle Soup Diet", and "Russian Peasant Diet". All of the institutions named have denied a link with the diet. As a general rule, most if not all forms of the diet emphasize that the dieter can consume as much cabbage soup as they want.
Criticism
Many individuals and medical professionals are critical of the diet.
Most of the weight lost is water and not fat, and therefore not permanent. The amount of calories per day while on the diet is far lower than what is considered safe for long-term consumption.
Side effects of the diet can include dehydration, headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, gas, bloating, muscle loss, brain fog and nutrient deficiencies.
See also
*
List of diets
An individual's Diet (nutrition), diet is the sum of food and drink that one habitually consumes. Dieting is the practice of attempting to achieve or maintain a certain weight through diet. People's dietary choices are often affected by a variet ...
References
External links
Utah State University commentary on fad diets
{{Fad diets
Cabbage
Fad diets