The Cabbage Soup Diet is a 7 day (only) meal plan, aimed at achieving fast weight loss and not a long-term weight loss solution. Rumour has it that it originally came from a hospital (Sacred Hearts Hospital) where it was used to stimulate weight loss in patients prior to surgery – but this has never been verified.

So, if eating a bottomless bowl of cabbage soup, together with a few other low-calorie foods, for a solid week appeals to you, then the Cabbage Soup Diet is sure to lead to quick weight loss.

Different versions of this restrictive diet have appeared over the years and a few books have been published documenting different variations of this simple, anonymously written diet plan. However, since the food choices are so limited and the calories so low, boredom – and inadequate nutrition – are inevitable.

Diet Features – What You Can Eat

The 7-day Cabbage Soup Diet plan promises you all you can eat – as long as you stick to the small list of allowed foods on alternate days, together with two daily bowls of fat-free cabbage soup. Dieters are also advised to drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol.

Here is a sample 7-day Cabbage Soup Diet plan:

Day 1: Cabbage soup plus all the fruit you want, except for bananas. Drink unsweetened tea, black coffee, cranberry juice, or water.

Day 2: Cabbage soup, plus all the low-calorie vegetables you want (except for beans, peas, or corn), and a baked potato with butter.

Day 3: Cabbage soup plus a mixture of the above fruit and vegetables.

Day 4: Cabbage soup plus up to eight bananas, and two glasses of skim milk.

Day 5: Cabbage soup plus up to 20 ounces of beef, chicken or fish, up to six fresh tomatoes, and at least 6-8 glasses of water.

Day 6: Cabbage soup plus up to 3 beef steaks, and unlimited vegetables.

Day 7: Cabbage soup plus up to 2 cups of brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices, and unlimited vegetables.

The recipes for the cabbage soup will vary slightly with the different versions of the diet available, but they are all based on cabbage and an assortment of low-calorie vegetables such as onions and tomatoes, and are flavored with onion soup mix, bouillon, and tomato juice.

Here’s a typical recipe:

• 1 packet dry onion soup mix
• 2 bouillon cubes – chicken or beef
• 1 celery stick (not the whole stalk) – diced
• 1/2 head green cabbage – diced
• 3 carrots – sliced
• 2 bell peppers – sliced
• 6 large green onions, or 1 large yellow, white or purple onion – diced
• 2 cans of tomatoes – diced or whole
• Cooking spray
• Salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, soy sauce to taste (or any other seasoning you like)

The New Cabbage Soup Diet

Margaret Danbrot. St. Martin’s Paperbacks 2004,

Mass Market Paperback, 208 pages,

List Price: $6.99

Our Price: $3.21

Spray a large pot with cooking spray and saute all the vegetables (except for the cabbage and tomatoes) until tender. Add the cabbage and about 12 cups of water, toss in bouillon cubes, soup mix, and seasonings and cook the until soup reaches your desired tenderness; then add the tomatoes.

You are very likely to experience some gastrointestinal discomfort (especially wind) from the highly sulfurous cabbage and other gassy vegetables. Some people have also reported feeling lightheaded while on this plan.

The Cabbage Soup Diet plan is not individualized in any way individualized, and there are are no recommendations about exercise, behavioral tips, or advice on changing bad eating habits – just a strict list of what to eat each day of the week.

Does the Cabbage Soup Diet Work

The Cabbage Soup Diet plans promise a 10+ pound weight loss in one week, and you are restricted to one week at a time on the plan ( If you want to lose more weight, then you are advised to wait awhile before commencing another week on this super-low-calorie diet.). You may very well lose the promised 10+ pounds, but most of that weight loss will be primarily from fluids, not fat, and will most certainly return once you resume eating normally

The Cabbage Soup Diet is basically a modified fast, containing so few calories that dieters will definitely lose weight rapidly during the week-long plan. However, there is nothing magical or mystical about cabbage or cabbage soup that fosters the weight loss – it is simply the extremely low-calorie nature of the diet plan that does the trick.

Warning: Most experts agree that any diet under 1,200 calories per day is unsafe unless you’re under a doctor’s supervision, as it’s almost impossible to get all the nutrients you need and to satisfy your hunger in so few calories. Therefore, if you really do want to give this modified fast a try, please check with your doctor first.