Soup Dieting

The Cabbage Soup Diet and the Chicken Soup Diet are fad diets and are not recommended by health professionals. For 50 years the Cabbage Soup Diet has claimed to be a diet for heart patients to achieve rapid weight loss, The American Heart Association denies all these claims. Nevertheless, there is a place for soup in your weight-loss plan.

Soup Can Control Appetite

The Penn State Research Institute has done a study that shows that eating a low-calorie soup as a first course does have an impact on how much food you will eat during a meal. Broth-based soups seem to provide a satisfying feeling of fullness that can help you in making low-calorie foor choices. When used as a snack, soup can be more satisfying than cheese and crackers or other high-calorie snacks. Incorporating soup into your weight-loss plan can be a wise and healthy choice if you keep in mind that cream-based soups are much higher in calories and fat than broth-based soups. You also need to watch for high sodium content in many soups and find low-sodium substitutes instead.

Cabbage Soup Diet

With the Cabbage Soup Diet you will lose a lot of weight quickly if you follow the plan for the proposed seven days. The problem is that you will not be getting enough essential fats, proteins and other needed nutrients, and your weight will probably just as quickly come back. Most people cannot stick to this kind of diets due to the restrictions and the repetition of the menu, which is just as well because as a long-term diet plan it is not recommended or healthy. But if you use the soup recipe itself (not the whole diet plan) with a nutritionally sound diet, the soup can actually be beneficial. Most of the cabbage soup diet recipes use hardly any processed foods and do use fresh vegetables. You could add chicken and brown rice to these recipes, to make them more enjoyable and nutritionally sound, but this will increase your caloric intake.

Your Own Soup Diet

First you must discuss your weight loss goals and ideas with your doctor so that you understand your daily nutritional needs. Always consult a doctor or a dietician before starting any diet. After your discussion it will be easy to come up with your own diet soup plan. Find a good all-vegetable soup recipe using chicken or beef broth, cabbage, fresh spinach, tomatoes or any fresh veggies you love. Avoid corn and potatoes, which are high in calories. You can eat your diet soup before your meals or for snacking throughout the day. A recipe like this is very low in calories but you still need a balanced diet meal plan as well. Goodhousekeeping.com has a healthy soup dieting recipe you can try, along with suggestions for interesting additions by celebrity chefs.