Cabbage Soup Diet – Day 1

So, obviously – this is not my standard type of recipe. Get ready for the justification.

I have always disliked the whole idea of the Cabbage Soup Diet. To me it seems terrible to basically starve yourself for a week. From what I hear, you always gain the weight back after you’ve finished your week of cabbage soup. So what’s the point? I think people should lose weight the old-fashioned way – exercise, and eat a balanced, healthy diet that has fewer calories in it than you are expending. But for a variety of reasons, I have reached a place today where I just made up a big pot of Cabbage Soup and have it simmering away on my stove top. Why?

1. My sister’s wedding is in 6 days.
2. I have been unable to work out the past three days because my baby toe is swollen and bruised. I no longer think it’s broken, but still can’t get it in a tennis shoe.
3. In the past three days I have gained 5 pounds.
4. I have zero expectation of being able to workout to my normal standards at all this week. In fact, I think I’ll be lucky to even get some time on a lame-o recumbent bike. Not working out is bad bad bad news for me.
5. If in fact #4 holds true for the week, I will probably be up 10 pounds by the wedding…and that’s thinking positively.
6. Drastic measures are in order.

Insert the Cabbage Soup Diet. I have a specific event in 6 days that I’m trying to stave off weight gain for. I’m totally fine if I gain the weight back afterward because I know that as soon as my toe stops being a pain (literally) I’ll be back in the gym and eating properly…which is the correct way to manage weight long-term. Unfortunately, I don’t have long-term. I have 6 days.

Now, given my previous outspoken disdain for the cabbage soup diet, I want to just eat my 20 bowls of soup this week privately and not deal with the ridicule I’m sure to get from others for doing this stupid thing. But that wouldn’t be very honest, would it? So – you all get to share in my week of cabbage. I made the soup this morning. I added two bay leaves, some fresh chopped thyme and 2 cloves of garlic to the standard recipe. I also used fresh mushrooms instead of canned ones…those things are nasty gross. The traditional recipe calls for bullion cubes, but I’m going to hold off on those until I’ve simmered it for about an hour – then I’ll taste it and decide if I need salt/pepper/additional spices.

So, here we go. Every day, I’ll be blogging about what I’m eating on this absurd diet. Starting now. Feel free to hit me with your objections. I’m sure they are all things I’ve said to other friends on this diet. Also, for those of you concerned that you won’t be getting any “real” food/goodies blogs this week. Never fear. I still have to feed my family, so I’ll still be cooking/baking. Which, kind of seems like willingly torturing myself, but I can’t exactly have my 4 year old eat cabbage soup for her birthday tomorrow, can I?

Day 1 – Fruit is the objective of the first day: Eat your cabbage soup with all the fruits that you want, except for bananas. Cranberry juice, unsweetened teas, or water are the only drinks that can be taken.

Good thing I stocked up on strawberries, kiwi, apples, oranges and blueberries this morning.

Cabbage Soup

–  1 large onion, diced

–  2 green onions, diced

–  2 large green bell peppers, diced

–  2 standard size cans of chopped tomatoes (I used the no salt added variety)

–  3 carrots, chopped

–  2 C fresh mushrooms, quartered

–  1 celery stalk, chopped

–  2 cloves of garlic, diced

–  Half of a cabbage head, chopped

–  1 pack “Lipton soup mix”

–  Salt and pepper, curry, parsley, garlic powder, curry, etc. for added flavor

1. Chop onions. Place the sliced onions in a saucepan and sauté the onions adding a little bit of cooking oil spray.

2. Prepare the green peppers by taking out the seeds and membrane. Chop the green pepper into small bite sized cubes then throw them in to the saucepan together with the sautéed onions.

3. Peel off the outside layers off the cabbage and cut the leaves into pieces roughly the same size as the peppers, then add them to continue sautéing.

4. Clean the carrots. Peel and chop them and add them to the saucepan also.

5. Keep the mushrooms a good size, you can cut them in halves or quarters before throwing them in to the saucepan too.

6. Add bay leaves, thyme and garlic.

7. Add about 12 cups of water and pour inside the pot. Turn the heat to low and let the soup simmer. A two-hour period is recommended to make the soup most effective. Add additional salt and pepper for taste.