Does the success of the cabbage soup diet depend on precise recipes?
The cabbage soup diet depends on cabbage being relatively bulky (ie, filling) while having almost no calories. You’ll lose weight very quickly the first week or two as your body rids itself of the sugar its stored for energy (glycogen — and the water that gets bonded to the stored sugars) in response to the lack of carbohydrate calories. Then you’ll lose both fat (because of the lack of calories) and muscle (because of the lack of protein in cabbage soup) at the same speed as any diet. In short — you’re starving yourself. There’s a difference between cutting calories very low to lose fat and starvation — you need a certain amount of protein in your diet to maintain lean body mass, and then a small amount of both carbs and fat. The cabbage soup only gives you a tiny amount of carbs, and that’s it. Fat loss is a good thing. Losing lean body mass, on the other hand, is called “wasting,” and will both make you look flabby and unhealthy. Losing water and stored sugars is called dehydrati
