There are multiple versions of The Cabbage Soup Diet, but it is basically a 7-day, all-you-can-eat diet plan.  Don’t get too excited.  The “all you can eat” refers to the cabbage soup, of course, along with a limited list of other foods, depending on which day of the diet you’re following.  On some days, it’s all the fruits you want; on other days, it’s all the vegetables you want.  On a couple of the days, you’re allowed other items, such as skim milk and beef, chicken, or fish, but in limited quantities. 

Although there are variations on the recipe, the soup itself is made by cooking up a mixture of cabbage, celery, carrots, peppers, green onions, and tomatoes, with onion soup mix and bouillon cubes thrown in for flavor.  The diet plan promoters promise you a substantial decrease in weight—10 to 15 pounds, or 0.75 to a full stone– if you follow the plan for a week.

After a week, they recommend you wait awhile and then complete the 7-day program again to lose more weight.  The problem is that you will probably have regained most, if not all, the weight you lost when you completed the program the first time since you will have lost mostly water weight and not actual fat.  The number on the scale will drop in the 7-day period as promised–if you can stand to eat what some who have tried it call a very bland-tasting concoction for the entire period.  You would expect to lose weight on any diet that is as severely calorie-restricted as this one. 

Under the guidelines of the diet plan, the dieter will be consuming under the 1200-calorie a day recommended minimum and may end up eating even fewer calories due to boredom with the food choices.  As with any extremely low calorie diet, you’re unlikely to get the daily nutrients your body requires.  And don’t make any dinner plans while you’re on this diet.  You’ll not find cabbage soup on a restaurant menu—at least not this fat-free version.  You may want to limit your public presence while on this diet anyway.  Cabbage consumption, especially in such large quantities, causes flatulence.