How The Cabbage Soup Diet Works

By Alan B. Densky, CH

Losing weight can be a difficult struggle; naturally, most dieters are always looking for new ways to lose weight. The Cabbage Soup diet is familiar to many people as a popular fad diet that offers an easy way to lose weight, but does it really work? The diet plan is explained here, along with the keys to success for permanent weight loss.

The Cabbage Soup diet involves, as the name suggests, eating cabbage soup for an entire week. During this period, dieters only eat low calorie cabbage soup and a few other foods to lose weight. The diet is not a lifestyle plan like many popular diets, and requires no long-term lifestyle changes beyond the seven days of the diet.

There are many different versions of the cabbage soup recipe. Most contain seasonings, cabbage and other vegetables, such as onions, celery, bell peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Some people enjoy adding spices to liven up the soup. Other dieters concerned with sodium intake try to use a low-sodium recipe. Many recent versions of the diet incorporate healthy sources of protein to make the diet more balanced.

There are many different versions of the cabbage soup recipe. Most contain seasonings, cabbage and other vegetables, such as onions, celery, bell peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Some people enjoy adding spices to liven up the soup. Other dieters concerned with sodium intake try to use a low-sodium recipe. Many recent versions of the diet incorporate healthy sources of protein to make the diet more balanced.

Besides cabbage soup, there are very specific guidelines for which additional foods are allowed on each day. As a general guideline, dieters eat cabbage soup every day, plus fruit on the first day, vegetables on the second day, vegetables and fruit on the third day, bananas and skim milk on the fourth day, beef and tomatoes on the fifth day, beef and vegetables on the sixth day, and brown rice, vegetables, and fruit juice on the seventh, final day. Dieters then resume normal eating habits, hopefully now weighing a few pounds less.

Does the Cabbage Soup diet actually work? Although no formal research study has examined the diet conclusively, people who have used the diet report mixed results. For many dieters, the plan resulted in weight loss (up to ten pounds, typically less), but only temporarily, as the weight gradually returned as the dieter resumed normal eating habits. Some dieters complained of weakness, light-headedness, and lack of focus while on the cabbage soup diet. Other dieters experienced no effects at all, seeing no weight loss, but no illness either.

The Cabbage Soup diet is just one of many "fad diets" that dieters can try. Unfortunately, because this diet may not work, for many people it just adds to the frustration of not being able to lose weight. A better approach to dieting does not rely on gimmicks or quick-fix dieting techniques. It takes dedication and lifestyle changes to achieve permanent weight loss. For most people, this means eating healthy and getting plenty of exercise.

Unfortunately, many people struggle to maintain the healthy habits necessary to lose weight. Many people cannot seem to lose weight because of their food cravings, uncontrollable appetites or eating habits, or a simple lack of motivation. Hypnotherapy is perfect for overcoming these issues and providing the motivation needed for natural weight loss.

One of the reasons hypnosis is effective as a weight loss aid is because hypnosis can be used for natural appetite suppression. Many people suffer from uncontrollable appetites because of problems with "emotional eating" which gives them an unconscious drive to eat even when they do not feel hungry. Hypnosis helps re-train the unconscious mind to extinguish the urge to overeat, resulting in natural appetite suppression without pills or drugs.

Another way hypnosis works to help you lose weight is by reducing the stressful thoughts that give you the urge to overeat and sap your motivation to exercise. When you begin to have negative thoughts, hypnosis taps your unconscious mind to automatically think more positively, which causes you to become more relaxed.

Your motivation to exercise can be dramatically increased through hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). First, you identify what the most important aspects of your life are. Then you use NLP techniques to guide you into believing that the things that are most important to you will become enhanced if you exercise, or placed in jeopardy if you don't. This way, it becomes very easy to stay motivated to get physically fit and stay in shape.

Anyone can learn hypnosis and NLP techniques from a high quality hypnotherapy weight loss CD program. The techniques in hypnosis diet CDs rely on the power of the unconscious mind help dieters eliminate their cravings. By eliminating cravings and urges, the appetite is reduced or eliminated. Hypnotherapy can also help get you motivated to exercise to lose weight.

By reprogramming your unconscious thoughts, hypnotism makes weight loss a natural process. It is an excellent tool to keep you motivated and naturally geared towards healthy habits. So before taking on a new fad diet, consider a healthier approach to weight loss through exercise, eating right, keeping a positive attitude, and using hypnotherapy to make it happen.