Many dieters will try anything to lose unwanted weight, and radical diets have become the norm in mainstream culture. One example of the lengths people will go to in order to lose weight is the onset of several types of soup diets. These diets typically claim that the dieter will lose between 10 to 20 pounds simply by replacing solid food with a particular type of soup. The soup diet, or liquid diet, typically is comprised of ingredients believed to boost the dieter’s metabolism and promote fast weight loss. Most of these types of soup diets last about one week, and the types include the cabbage soup diet, the sacred heart soup diet, the chicken soup diet and the vegetable soup diet.
The cabbage soup diet is one of the most popular types of soup diets, and it claims that the dieter can lose as much as 10 pounds in seven days. The soup is made from cabbage, green onions, green peppers, carrots, celery, canned tomatoes, mushrooms, bouillon, vegetable juice and soup mix. Dieters are encouraged to drink at least four glasses of water each day and take multivitamins during the seven-day plan. They may eat as much soup as they like but can eat only the soup and drink only water. The benefits of this soup diet are that a person can lose weight quickly, but the downside is that the taste can be bland, and some dieters report feeling weak and lightheaded.
Like other soup diets, the sacred heart soup diet lasts a week and claims that the dieter can lose 10 to 17 pounds in the first week. The soup is made from canned tomatoes, green onions, beef broth, soup mix, celery, canned green beans, carrots and green peppers. This soup diet allows the dieter to incorporate foods other than soup throughout the seven days. Some foods include fruit, vegetables, milk, beef, fruit juice and brown rice, but they must be consumed only on particular days and while following certain restrictions. For example, on the first day of the diet, the person can eat soup and any fruit except bananas, but on the second day, he or she eat only vegetables and soup.
Some dieters prefer the chicken or vegetable soup diets to the more extreme cabbage soup and sacred heart soup diets, because they tend to have more nutrients and vitamins. Both of these types of soup diets also include low-fat, normal breakfasts, such as whole-grain cereal and fruit, each day. There are several recipes for each of these types of soup diets, and they all suggest that the dieter make a big batch of soup for the week. Dieters are advised to eat the soup for lunch and dinner but make healthy breakfast choices on their own.