Can the Cabbage Soup Diet Make A Comeback?

(Reposted from the original Health Zone)

So far I've heard it called a half-dozen names: The Super Fat Burning Diet, The Dolly Parton Diet, The Miracle Diet, The Cabbage Soup Diet, and most often, The Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital Diet. But by any moniker, this is the diet that's captured our attention, the one that appeals most these days to our diehard dreams of slimming down in one fell swoop.

It was also the number one download in our Health Zone library -- leading the pack by thousands of hits. Never mind that it sends nutritionists into either howls of laughter or downright disdain. Never mind that no hospital will lay claim to this public relations fantasy of a fat-fighter. Or that Sacred Heart Memorial in Spokane, whose cardiac rehab center supposedly created it, spits out dozens of terse denials every month. Can you see why I was a touch leery about even mentioning this article knowing all the RDA's out there would be on holiday high-alert? Would they track me down on twitter and cyber-flog me with spinach pasta and sentence me to tweeting '5 A Day' a couple zillion times? Or would they understand that as the uber-curious I feel bound to get to the bottom of this bottomless pot of veggies?

For I am (maybe) about to begin another Seven Days of Research Hell. I did start this diet last Spring but didn't finish it. So in the name of science, I am about to pay penance for those dark chocolate days of Girl Scout Cookie Season, last summer's chocolate custard cones, Halloween's you-know-what and months of sitting on my butt, letting my thighs go to jello. This ol' computer-bound bod needs a thorough roto-rootering if there is to be any hope of fitting into anything this side of the millennium.

For anybody who wants to follow along, here it is: But please, check with your physician before you start any weight management plan, okay? That's an order! Posting this does not in any way constitute an endorsement of something this patently nutty. This diet is for entertainment value only, as all the 1-800 number psychics say.

And please note, the strange rhetoric and odd instructions are part of the original hand-me-down diet. I really don't write or talk that way, thank Buddha. And furthermore, now that I've re-read this Soupy thing a couple of times, after its been in the mothballs since the late 90's, I am thinking that maybe this was originally created not by Sacred Heart Hospital but by a few bored and chubby nuns. Although I was not raised Catholic, I was married to an all-Catholic school boy. So I definitely recognize Guilt when I see it.


THE CABBAGE SOUP DIET

Basic Fat Burning Soup:
6 large green onions 2 green peppers1 or 2 cans tomatoes
1 bunch of celery
1 large head of cabbage
1 pkg. Lipton soup mix

Season with salt, pepper, curry, parsley, if desired, or bouillion, or hot sauce. Cut vegetables in small to medium pieces and cover with water. Boil fast for ten minutes. Cut to simmer and continue cooking until veggies are tender.

This soup can be eaten anytime you are hungry. Eat as much as you want, whenever you want. This soup will not add calories. The more you eat, the more weight you will lose. Fill a thermos in the morning if you will be away during the day. If eaten alone for indefinite periods, you would suffer malnutrition!

Day One: All fruits except bananas. Cantaloupe and watermelon are lower in calories than most fruits. Eat only the soup and fruits. For drinks - unsweetened tea,cranberry juice or water.

Day Two: All vegetables. Eat until you are stuffed with all the fresh raw or canned veggies. Try to eat green leafy veggies and stay away from dry beans, peas and corn. Eat along with the soup. At dinner time on this day, reward yourself with a big baked potato and butter. Do not eat any fruits.

Day Three: Eat all the soup , fruits and veggies you want. Do not have a baked potato. If you have eaten for three days, as above, and have not cheated, you will find you have lost 5 to 7 pounds

Day Four: Bananas and skim milk. Eat as many as 3 bananas and drink as many glasses of water as you can on this day along with the soup. Bananas are high in calories and carbohydrates and so is the milk, but on this particular day your body will need the potassium and the carbohydrates, proteins and calcium to lessen your craving for sweets.

Day Five: Beef and Tomatoes. You may have 10-20 ounces of beef and a can of tomatoes or as many as 6 fresh tomatoes on this day. Try to drink at lest 6-8 glasses of water this day to wash away the uric acid in your body. Eat the soup at least once this day.

Day Six: Beef and Veggies. Eat to your heart's content of the beef and veggies this day. You can even have two or three steaks if you like with green leafy veggies, but no baked potato. Be sure and eat the soup at least once today.

Day Seven: Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice, and veggies. Again, stuff yourself. Be sure to have the soup at least once today.

The end of the seventh day, if you have not cheated on the above diet, you will have lost 10-17 pounds. If you have lost more than 15 pounds, stay off the diet for two full days before resuming the diet again for day one. (This may be too much math for me)

This seven day eating plan can be used as often as you like. As a matter of fact, if correctly followed, it will clean your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well-being as never before. After only seven days of this process, you will begin to feel lighter by at least 10-15 pounds, and have an abundance of energy. Continue this plan as long as you like and feel the difference. This diet is fast, fat-burning and the secret is that you will burn more calories than you take in. It will flush your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well-being.

This diet DOES NOT lend itself to drinking any alcoholic beverages at any time because of the removal of the fat buildup in your system. Go off the diet at least 24 hours before any intake of alcohol. (So much for New Year's Eve) Because everyone's digestive system is different, this diet will affect everyone differently.

After day three, you will have more energy than when you began if you did not cheat. After being on the diet for several days, you will find your bowel movements have changed -- eat a cup of bran or fiber. Although you can have black coffee with this diet, you may find that you don't need the caffeine after the third day!

DEFINITE NO NO'S: Bread, alcohol, no carbonated drinks (including diet drinks). Stick with water, unsweetened tea, black coffee, unsweetened fruit juices, cranberry juice and skimmed milk. The Basic Fat Burning Soup can be eaten anytime you feel hungry. Eat as much as you like. Remember that the more you eat, the more you will lose. No fried foods or bread. you can eat broiled or baked chicken instead of meat (absolutely no skin on the chicken).

Any prescribed medication will not hurt you on this diet.(Note: Of course you will ask your doctor about this when you call BEFORE you start this plan.) Continue this plan as long as you wish and feel the difference both mentally and physically. If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for the beef on only one of the beef days. You need the high-protein in the beef the other days.

Okay, there you have it. This really was all the rage in the mid-nineties, pre-Atkins. I am wondering if it will make a major re-appearance now that the Atkins fad has largely gone poof.

Tell me what you think ---- is Cabbage Soup gonna make a comeback?