Why Fat Burning Soup Diets Should Be Avoided Like The Plague
Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2007
by Joseph Cole
For years have fat
burning soup diets been around, and they are still popular today even amongst Hollywood celebrities. The cabbage soup diet is a fat
burning soup diet that first gained popularity in the 1980s when it was widely
circulated by fax machine. To this day, however, no-one has claimed
responsibility for devising the fat burning soup diet.
The idea behind fat
burning soup diets is that you fill yourself with low-calorie soup and a few
other foods, which vary from day to day. Some fat burning soup diets recommend
following the diet for one week and then eating normally for two before
restarting the process. It is claimed that the soup has fat-burning properties.
Supposedly from the
cardiology department at Sacred
Heart Memorial
Hospital where it was
said to be used for overweight heart patients, the Sacred Heart Diet is a very
similar fat burning soup diet to the cabbage diet. The Sacred
Heart Medical
Center, however, has denied any
association as has the Sacred Heart Hospital
in Montreal, Canada. The diet is also claimed by
the American Heart Association to be a phony.
What no-one tells you
is that these fat burning soup diets often provide no more than 800 to 1,000
calories a day which is on the border line of a starvation diet, especially
considering the body needs on average 1,500 to 2,500 calories to function
properly. In other words, you won’t lose weight because of any magical foods in
the fat burning soup but rather because you’re starving yourself.
This approach to
dieting results in your body working hard to conserve all the energy it can, which
means it will rather store calories as fat than use it. You may also feel week,
dizzy and malnourished on such diets. Fat burning soup diets also have high
salt/sodium levels and are low in protein, essential fatty acids and calcium.
If you go on fat
burning soup diet you are not going to have an adequate carbohydrate intake you
will suffer many of the same side effects as low-carb dieters. This includes
cravings, tiredness, confusion, mood swings and much more. The large amounts
cabbage in fat burning soup diets has also been reported to cause abdominal
discomfort and excess gas.
Often used to lose
weight fast for a special event or due to health concerns, fat burning soup
diets claim to make you lose at least 10 pounds in a single week. Unfortunately,
a large part of this weight loss will simply be due to losing water weight,
which you will gain back as soon as you eat normally again.
Fat burning soup diets
can also lead to loss of muscle tissue, due to the very low calories and very
few carbohydrate foods. When you lose muscle this causes your body’s metabolism
rate to decrease and future fat gain to be more likely. In fact, it has been
shown that after following a very low calorie diet for one week, such as a fat
burning soup diet, 30 per cent of the total weight loss is muscle, while the
rest is fluid.
My personal advice is
to avoid fat burning soup diets such as the Cabbage Soup Diet and the Sacred
Heart Diet. While they can result in fast short-term weight loss they raise
many safety concerns and will hamper your efforts to lose fat and keep it off
for good.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Thanks, this makes sense. I had never read about the cabbage soup until a little while ago and it seemed kinda extreme. Like you I thought that the weight loss attributed to the soup was all in water and muscle since this soup provided very little protein.
There are no secrets to weight loss. Eat a healthy balanced diet and exercise. To lose weight you need to gain muscle. So the exercise must include weight training as well. Sitting and drinking some soup will only put your body in starvation, store the fat as emergency supply and burn up whatever precious little muscles you have.
I'm sorry but you are extremely wrong. I have a Masters in Medicine and I can assure you this diet works. Why? It forces you into a calorie deficit. The point of this diet is TO LOSE FAT. You see, vegetables will fill you up without adding much calories. Two teaspoons of oil would equal about a stomach full of vegetables. This diet makes perfect sense. The certain foods you eat everyday along with this soup are to prevent carbohydrate etc etc etc deficits. Also, you won't "starve" yourself by not eating calories WTF? You get hungry because your stomach needs food not because you lack calories. Calories give you energy and that's an entirely different subject! Don't get them confused! To everyone! This diet WILL work and is not harmful. Also, you won't gain what you lost unless you eat more than about 2000 calories a day. Be advised though, you MUST eat PLENTY of this soup or else YOU WILL be a victim of malnutrition. This soup is formulated so you can eat as much as you want. Why? The vegetables it contains are "negative calorie" vegetables (google it) and they basically WILL NOT count as additional calories. This is why the diet will work very effectively. It makes use of your metabolism to give you guaranteed results. I'm no advertiser, I'm just saying the truth. To the author of this article.....DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!. We have enough invalid articles floating around on the internet that are full of shenanigans and we certainly don't need another one.I read your post and I agree with what you stated. It does not starve you, and veggies are very good for you. Besides that, most fruits are filled with fiber which is also a filler. I am actually doing the cabbage soup now to get a jump start. I only want to lose 20 pounds and I already have a healthy diet. I do not eat junk food or fast food. We cook fresh only and rarely go out for dinner. I am starting mid life change right now and have gained a few pounds. I feel this is great motivation to remind myself of how easy it is to eat well and not get off track. I plan to do the 7 days twice a month for a few months to get back where I want to be (which is not far from where I am now!) If you just need a little something to get you going then I would say "go for it!"
I'm not a doctor or anything; but I agree with Rigo. My common sense tells me that the best way to lose fat is to eat healthily and take a close look to the amount of calories we eat each day, as well as to be aware of where those calories are actually coming from (protein, fat, carbs, sweets). This diet may be a bit extreme (the whole: only fruit + soup, etc etc... 7 days) although it works; but the basis of the diet is what's important. What I do is that I try to always have some cabbage soup in the fridge, and try to have some soup before each meal so I eat less of the foods with higher calories; also, I try to have some soup if I get hungry between meals, or if I'm up late at night and get hungry before going to bed so I avoid eating high calorie snacks, etc.
Too bad you can´t see my body, so you just have to trust me. The models ask me why I am so slim and slender, fit and well all together. The truth is that I plactice yoga, and I drink a lot of fresh water, and I never ever touch cola drinks. But 10 years ago I used to eat fat burning soup, and I can tell you: This Diet Works! I don´t say: God bless the Fat Burning Soup. What I say is that this diet has helped me to begin to control what I eat and to be concerned about my body and my health. It has helped me to train the will power too. You do have cravings, it is true. But you feel a lot of energy, while on this diet. You don't feel tiredness or confusion whatsorever. Try it and see it for yourself, if you are not some lazy pimp. It will take you just one week to proove the right from wrong. Your body will tell you. Unless you prefer to pay huge amount of money to consultants who tells you that they know it all, but you have to sign up for a year-training weigh-loss plan s++t. Just do your own work for your own self. All it takes is to understand, why are you fat, and then do something about it. Good luck on your way to a healthy life style!
What are your credentials? Are you a dietitian, nutritionist? My take on this diet is a jumpstart toward weightloss.... People are starving themselves with the SAD diet...no vegetables and all protein and refined carbs.
I agree with Rigo, I have done this diet probably about 5 times in my life when my weight gets above what I want-each time losing 10-16 pounds. My ex father-in-law lost over 120 pounds using the diet and doing it about once a month. He was vastly overweight and his Doctor told him he was a heart attack candidate. Now his cholesterol is in the normal range, he has abunduntant energy, and is able to do the things he wants in life such as hunting and fishing. I also experience a feeling of well being and extra energy when on this diet or completing it. After losing the weight i want I eat and incorperate fruits and vegetables in a normal diet and maintain a healthy weight. Try it and see what you think!!
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