Whenever I see any diet recipe online, the only question that strikes my mind is whether or not it is effective. And the same question popped up in my mind when I read about the cabbage soup diet recipe. This diet claims that you can lose up to 10 pounds in a week if you follow it. However, many experts claim this diet is harmful and absurd.
What Is a Cabbage Soup Diet?
It is a rapid weight loss diet that wants you to have homemade cabbage soup and nothing else. The diet claims that you can lose up to 10 pounds in 7 days.
I tried this out for a week, and I can assure you that the diet works. For seven days, I ate nothing but cabbage soup and occasionally some fruits or skim milk. The diet need not be followed for more than a week. As the primary goal of the diet is to provide you with instant weight loss.
Rule Of The Diet
As per the diet, you have to consume only cabbage soup and 1 or 2 low-calorie food. Also, you mustn’t take any other food or beverage other than water and soup.
Further, you can take some multivitamins as the diet does not provide you with the essential nutrients.
Does It Work?
Now, cabbage soup is shallow in calories. Thus, it does support weight loss to a great extent.
Further, you are only allowed to drink soup and have two food items that are extremely low in calories. Thereby making it tough to maintain your body weight.
However, the diet will enable you to lose weight quickly, but you will gain weight as soon as you finish the diet and start eating again. Also, when you are taking in lower calories, your body reduces your metabolism and thus burns fewer calories in a day. Because of this, you will not prevent gain in weight when you finish the diet. As your metabolism has gone slow.
Other than this, low calories diet has several benefits too, especially for the obese. Research shows that when obese people follow such kinds of diets, they experience massive changes in their weight.
The other advantage of this diet is that it is cheap to follow. You don’t require all those fancy ingredients and supplements for this. So anyone can easily follow this diet.
Drawbacks
Now, this diet has its drawbacks too. You cannot follow this for more than a week. Thus, it is not suitable for long-term weight loss. Further, when you are not taking in calories, your body tends to reduce its water level, thereby putting you in a state of dehydration.
When you start eating again, you gain weight much quicker than before because your metabolism has gone weak.
The Bottom Line
The diet is likely to reduce weight if you follow it for a week. But it can cause several health issues to you too. Such as issues in the gallbladder, change in blood sugar levels, and can even cause cramping. The diet is not suitable for long-term purposes either. This is perfect for instant weight reduction, but you can expect a perfect solution from this.