The cabbage soup diet is a 7-day crash diet that has circulated for decades under various names: "Sacred Heart Hospital Diet," "Mayo Clinic Diet" (no affiliation), "Military Cabbage Soup Diet," and others. No hospital or institution has ever claimed it.
The premise is simple: eat unlimited cabbage soup for a week, with specific additional foods allowed each day. You'll lose weight rapidly - but almost entirely water weight that returns immediately when you resume normal eating.
How It Works
The diet centres on a homemade cabbage soup that you can eat in unlimited quantities. Each day has specific additional foods allowed:
Day 1
Soup + unlimited fruit (except bananas)
Day 2
Soup + unlimited vegetables (no fruit, potatoes only at dinner)
Day 3
Soup + unlimited fruits and vegetables (no potatoes)
Day 4
Soup + up to 8 bananas + skimmed milk
Day 5
Soup + beef or chicken + tomatoes
Day 6
Soup + beef + unlimited vegetables
Day 7
Soup + brown rice + vegetables + fruit juice
The "Magic" Soup Recipe
- 1 large head of cabbage, chopped
- 6 large onions, diced
- 2 green peppers, diced
- 6-8 celery stalks, chopped
- 1-2 cans diced tomatoes
- 1 packet onion soup mix
- Water and seasonings
There's nothing magical about this recipe. It's just a low-calorie vegetable soup.
Why You Lose Weight
People do lose weight on the cabbage soup diet - often 5-10 pounds in a week. But the mechanism is simple:
- Severe calorie restriction - Daily intake is often under 1,000 calories, sometimes under 800
- Glycogen depletion - Low carbohydrate intake depletes stored glycogen, releasing water
- High water content - Soup is mostly water, creating frequent urination
- Low sodium (some versions) - Reduces water retention
This is not fat loss. A 10-pound loss in one week cannot be fat - you'd need a 35,000 calorie deficit, which is impossible. It's water, glycogen, and intestinal contents.
The Weight Comes Right Back
When you resume normal eating, your body restores its glycogen stores (with associated water), rehydrates, and the "lost" weight returns within days. This yo-yo pattern is demoralising and may actually harm long-term weight management by affecting metabolism and your relationship with food.
Health Concerns
The cabbage soup diet is nutritionally inadequate and can cause:
- Extreme flatulence - Cabbage contains raffinose, which produces significant gas
- Fatigue and dizziness - From inadequate calories and carbohydrates
- Muscle loss - Protein is inadequate except on days 5-6
- Nutrient deficiencies - Missing essential fats, adequate protein, many vitamins
- Blood sugar crashes - Erratic carbohydrate intake with minimal protein
- Gallstone risk - Rapid weight loss increases gallstone formation
Not Sustainable
Even the diet's proponents recommend only following it for 7 days, with breaks of at least 2 weeks between attempts. This alone should tell you it's not a healthy eating pattern - it's crash dieting dressed up as a "plan."
Why This Diet Persists
The cabbage soup diet keeps circulating because:
- It "works" short-term - The scale does drop, providing immediate gratification
- It's cheap - Ingredients cost very little
- It's simple - No counting, measuring, or complicated rules
- It has a specific timeframe - 7 days feels manageable
- It spreads via word-of-mouth - "I lost 10 pounds!" stories are compelling (the regain is mentioned less often)
What to Do Instead
If you want to incorporate more vegetables and soup into your diet, do so as part of sustainable eating:
- Add vegetable soup as a starter - Research shows soup before meals reduces total calorie intake
- Eat vegetables with every meal - Half your plate should be vegetables
- Include adequate protein - 25-30g per meal for satiety and muscle maintenance
- Maintain steady calories - Modest deficits (300-500 cal/day) produce sustainable loss
- Accept realistic timelines - 0.5-1kg per week is healthy, sustainable weight loss
The Bottom Line
The cabbage soup diet is a classic crash diet that produces rapid water weight loss followed by rapid water weight regain. It's nutritionally inadequate, socially impossible, and produces no lasting benefit. If you like cabbage soup, eat it as part of a balanced diet - not as your entire diet for a week. There are no shortcuts to sustainable weight loss.
References
- Clark, J.E., et al. (2024). The Physiological Effects of Weight-Cycling: A Review of Current Evidence. Current Obesity Reports, 13, 45-55. doi:10.1007/s13679-023-00539-8
- Thom, G. & Lean, M. (2023). The impact and utility of very low-calorie diets: the role in achieving remission of type 2 diabetes. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 26(6), 559-565. doi:10.1097/MCO.0000000000000972
- Obert, J., et al. (2017). Popular Weight Loss Strategies: a Review of Four Weight Loss Techniques. Current Gastroenterology Reports, 19(12), 61. doi:10.1007/s11894-017-0603-8
- Koliaki, C., et al. (2018). Defining the Optimal Dietary Approach for Safe, Effective and Sustainable Weight Loss. Healthcare, 6(3), 73. doi:10.3390/healthcare6030073
- National Health Service. (2022). Very low calorie diets. NHS Choices. nhs.uk
