Detox Diet And Body Detox – How To Cleanse Your Body And Be Healthy

Cabbage Soup Detox Diet

There is no denying that the cabbage soup detox diet provides great help for people who are trying to lose weight and detoxify the body. First, in a span of 7 days, someone undergoing this diet needs to consume a particular kind of soup, along with a few other food items, varying from day to day. And the soup is mainly composed of vegetables, primarily shredded cabbage, which obviously has very low caloric content. Second, the soup’s ingredients, as you will discover later on, are a good source of fiber. And we all know fiber works like a broom along the digestive tract – it sweeps harmful substances or toxins out of the body. The cabbage soup detox diet is good at incorporating fruits and vegetables into the entire process of weight loss and detoxification.

Background Check

The cabbage soup detox diet first gained popularity somewhere in the 80’s, although it was first published in the 60’s. While many fitness experts dismissed the diet as merely being a fad or craze diet when it first surfaced, many people still try their hands on this weight loss and detoxification diet even up to now.

In terms of weight loss, the cabbage soup detox diet does not require a long-term commitment, and produces short-term effects. It is believed that most of the weight lost by a person is mainly water weight – something which will eventually be gained upon concluding the 7-day plan and returning to a usual diet. This method boasts of weight loss of up to 10 lbs in just a week, because of reduced caloric intake, which is approximately 800-1000 calories per day.

The Cabbage Soup Recipe

Many people, upon hearing about the cabbage soup detox diet, will think the soup only has cabbage as its sole ingredient. But upon seeing the recipe of the soup, you will find that there are lots of other vegetables that also go into its making. For a day’s worth of the cabbage soup, the following are the ingredients you will need:

• 2-6 onions, diced
• 2 green bell peppers, diced
• 3-5 carrots, chopped
• 1 bunch of celery, chopped
• 1 can tomatoes, diced or whole
• 1 can mushrooms
• 2-3 cubes of beef, chicken or vegetable broth cubes
• 10-12 cups of water
• 1/2-1 head green cabbage, shredded
• herbs and seasoning of your choice
• olive oil

Some other recipes you might stumble upon in books or on the internet may even have a few more ingredients other than those mentioned above. But basically, this recipe here is a very simple one, and mostly preferred by many undergoing the cabbage soup detox diet. Now, once the ingredients are ready, let us now see how the soup itself is made:

• Put a little olive oil in a pot on low heat, and then add in the diced onions.
• Once the onions are translucent, pour in the water.
• Add the green bell peppers, carrots, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms and cabbage.
• Stir well and let boil.
• Once boiling you can add in the broth cubes and herbs of your choice, such as thyme, basil, rosemary and others.
• You may also season with vinegar, soy sauce and pepper to taste.
• Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.

The 7-Day Plan

Preparing the cabbage soup itself is not at all that knotty. You simply bring a list of the ingredients to the grocery store, and you may buy in bulk which is good for an entire week’s recipe. However, the plan itself changes on a daily basis. What you are taking with the cabbage soup on day 1 will change on day 2, and so on and so forth. And while a few variations may be done on the cabbage soup, such as making substitutes to the ingredients or adding spices, you are not, however, allowed to make variations on the plan. Here’s what the plan looks like, and do remember that you can take as many servings of the cabbage soup as you like each day:

Day 1 – Have your cabbage soup with as many fruits as you like, except for bananas. For your drinks, you can have water and unsweetened fruit juices.

Day 2 – Instead of fruits, take vegetables with your cabbage soup on day 2. Servings of vegetables may be raw or cooked. But since fruits are not allowed on this day, taking fruit juices is restricted. However, you can reward yourself with baked potatoes with a little helping of low-fat butter.

Day 3 – Day 3 is a fun day, for you can take your cabbage soup with all the fruits and vegetables you like. Drinking of unsweetened fruit juices is also allowed on day 3. But you need to stay away from bananas and potatoes, as both of them are not allowed.

Day 4 – Put away your fruits and vegetables, because only bananas are allowed to be taken with your cabbage soup on this day of the cabbage soup detox diet. You may eat up to 8 bananas, and drink as much skimmed milk as you like.

Day 5 – Take your cabbage soup with 10-20 ounces of beef and up to 6 fresh tomatoes throughout the day. Remember to drink plenty of water to help in the digestion of the beef and flush excess uric acid out of the body. However, some people who don’t like beef instead use either broiled or baked chicken or fish.

Day 6 – Another fun day for anyone trying the cabbage soup detox diet, for meat and vegetables are allowed to be taken with the cabbage soup on day 6. And, as with day 5, you can make substitutions like chicken or fish. But since fruits are not allowed, you are only to drink water and not fruit juices.

Day 7 – Meat is not allowed on the last day, but you can have all the brown rice, vegetables, fruits and unsweetened fruit juices together with the cabbage soup. But potatoes are not allowed also, as with day 3.

The Pros and Cons

The good thing about the cabbage soup detox diet is it provides a good serving of fruits and vegetables throughout the 7-day plan. This is good for cleansing the entire digestive tract, thus providing the detoxification effect, as well as essential vitamins and minerals for nourishment. And while eating mostly cabbage soup daily for a week sounds boring, for many people, sticking to the cabbage soup detox diet is easier compared to other weight loss and detox diets out there.

However, as mentioned early on, the cabbage soup detox diet is unlikely to provide long-term weight loss, but its detoxifying effect is unquestionable. That is why it’s still generally a good idea to be sensible about the things one puts in his or her mouth after wrapping up this 7-day plan. There are certain days, too, when the caloric intake is so low, that people report side effects such as irritability, weakness, headaches and hunger pangs. Flatulence is also the most evident – and surely embarrassing – side effect of the cabbage soup detox diet.