Hello Random Tuesday!!

So, I have heard a lot of people say how gross this soup sounds; but don’t knock it til you try it, huh?! I do this Cabbage Soup Diet 2-3 times a year just to help keep my weight maintained or give me a jump-start when I’m trying to lose weight if I’ve let it go too much. This go around I started this past Sunday in hopes I would lose a few before my brother-in-law got into town with hopefully some simit from Turkey.

The first time I did this diet was in July 2004 with one of my best friends. We made the soup together at my house and did it ‘together’ during the week. Since she just lived around the block we saw each other most days. I made it through the whole week, but if I remember right, she didn’t. We mainly tried it out since I was getting ready to move down to Ft. Lauderdale, FL and she was helping me make the drive down <– it’s a 19.5 hour drive from where I live.

What is the Cabbage Soup Diet? The Cabbage Soup Diet is a 7-day quick way to lose weight so, as I stated above, you can get back on track to either maintaining the little weight you have gained; whether it’s from the multiple vacations you have had this summer of eating the yummy foods or just wanting to lose weight in general and need a jump-start for getting on track.

Here’s my version of the recipe…

Cabbage Soup Diet (Crafty JBird’s version):

Things You’ll Need for the Soup:

• Crockpot
• 4 cans of Mild Rotel
• 4 containers of sliced mushrooms
• 2 bags of Pictsweet Farms Seasoning Blend
• 2 bags of Pictsweet Farms Mirepoix Blend
• 1 head of Green Cabbage

To make the soup I just basically dump everything into my crockpot. I use 2 cans of the Mild Rotel, 2 containers of the sliced mushrooms, 1 bag each of the Pictsweet Farms Seasoning Blend and Mirepoix Blend, and half of the Green Cabbage. Don’t like spicy foods? You of course, can you the Regular Rotel or any other type of tomato, this is just my personal favorite.

Things You’ll Need for Day #1:

Any and All Fruits except Bananas

• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe
• Honeydew Melon
• Apples
• Grapes
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Raspberries, etc

Since I started making this soup in my crockpot, I make it the day before so everything is nice and cooked for the next morning.

Day #1:

On the first day, the first thing I did was weigh myself for a base of how much I really lose this time. In the past, I have lost anywhere between 10 and 15 pounds. One of the main things to me is to make sure I drink between 6 and 8 bottles of water which equals to between 101.4 and 135.2 ounces. To me, drinking bottled water during this weeks makes it easier to keep track, as normally I use my glass water bottle and even then drink at least 6 bottles worth.

The first thing every morning no matter that goes into my body after I weigh myself is at least 16.9 ounces of water. Sunday morning for breakfast I ate my container of watermelon I purchased from Walmart. As a mid-morning ‘snack’ I had a bowl of the soup. Before I started using the Mild Rotel, I added Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning to give it more flavor. Sometimes these days I still add it just for the spiciness. For lunch, I had myself another bowl of soup as well as for dinner. As a mid-afternoon snack I had an apple.

Things You’ll Need for Day #2:

Any and All Vegetables except, Corn, Peas, anything ‘starchy;’ though, for lunch or dinner you can have a very large baked potato – if I remember right, one time I had a sweet potato instead and it didn’t

• Bell Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Squash
• Celery
• Mushrooms
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower, etc

Day #2:

On the second day, I did the same thing for my morning routine. I weighed myself and found I had already lost 2 pounds. I then drank my first bottle of water and had some soup <– Yes, I had soup for breakfast! ? It’s really not as bad as it sounds, trust me, I wouldn’t have done this diet 2-3 times a year for the last 10 years if it was bad. As my mid-day snack, I ate half a bag of carrots and then again dinner I had a bowl or two of the soup. For my afternoon snack, I had more carrots and a few mushrooms.

**Side note: Seeing a pattern for the water? I make sure water is the first thing that goes into my body after I weigh myself every day and it is the last thing that goes in my body before I go to sleep. I also make sure I don’t eat anything after 7pm. It’s just a rule I’ve had for myself over the years to help keep my weight down. Now there have been exceptions, such as; when I’m up late studying when I was in school still. I would keep a box of Slim Fast’s Peanut Butter Crunch 100 Calorie Bar in my nightstand and eat one if my stomach starts to rumble. However, these days and especially this week I stop all foods after 7pm.**

For lunch, my mom and sis wanted to eat out so I picked to go eat at McAlister’s Deli. I basically only chose there because they have baked potatoes. When I do this diet, I either buy two potatoes to eat at home or eat there and have their plain baked potato with their steamed vegetables <– I put the veggies on top of the potato.

Things You’ll Need for Day #3:

Any and All Fruits and Vegetables just like the 1st and 2nd day without the baked potato.

Day #3:

This morning I yet again, weighed myself first thing and I am on track and still losing weight despite drinking a McAlister’s size cup of their half and half tea <– Ooops! That is one of the downfalls of eating out, you get tempted too much. This morning, I had apples for breakfast and then a bowl of soup. After making a run over to Target, I had some watermelon and then another bowl of soup. Later this afternoon, I had my cantaloupe I picked up from Target. For dinner, I again, had another bowl of soup.

Things You’ll Need for Day #4:

• Bananas
• Milk
• Blender (optional)
• Cinnamon (optional)

Day #4:

On my day #4’s, all you eat is the soup, bananas, and drink lots of water and milk. I prefer Almond or Soy Milk, everything you read says Skim Milk so no Whole, 1%, or 2%. As for eating the bananas, everything says at least eight. Yes!, EIGHT bananas! The first few times I just straight up ate the bananas but that got old fast. After that I decided what harm would it be if I blended a banana or two with the milk and make a smoothie that will last a lot longer than just eating one. So that’s what I do now, I make a banana smoothie and I add a little cinnamon to cause hey it’s good for you too. Yesterday I went ahead and cut the bananas up to put them in baggies so I could freeze them for tomorrow.

Things You’ll Need for Day #5:

• Beef or Chicken or Fish
• Tomatoes

Day #5:

For this day, you eat as much soup as you want or can and then you can have either some Beef, boiled or baked Chicken, or if your like me, some Fish. I have some tilapia in the freezer. If you don’t like tomatoes, also like me, you can substitute watermelon or any other fruit that is high in lycopene. Make sure to eat plenty of soup and drink plenty of water.

Things You’ll Need for Day #6:

Just like Day #2 just no baked potato and again you can have Beef, Chicken or Fish.

Day #6:

Since I don’t eat Beef or Chicken, I will be having Fish again or I may just eat a ton of vegetables. Though you will read everything you look up about this diet don’t have it on both days, we will see if it changes anything. Personally, I don’t think it will but who knows. Make sure to eat plenty of soup on this day and drink plenty of water.

Things You’ll Need for Day #7:

• Brown Rice and Vegetables

Day #7:

Unfortunately for me, my brother-in-law is coming in on my Day 6 for this go around and we are heading over to Dallas, so it may be a little harder to stick to the last day, but hopefully I’ll make it through. Usually, I’ll eat at least one bowl of soup and tons of the vegetables I have on hand. Since on this day brown rice is allowed, I like to cook a bunch of it that morning and take it with me wherever I am. If we happen to go eat any where, I am hoping we will eat at Chipotle. For this day, I usually eat there for lunch or dinner and just get brown rice with the fajitas on top. Make sure, again to drink plenty of water and have at least that one bowl of soup.

There you go… my “Random Tuesday” post on my version of the Cabbage Soup Diet.

Have any questions about the Cabbage Soup Diet? Please feel free to comment below and I’ll try to respond back as soon as possible! I’ll try to update throughout the rest of the week to post how and what else I did. Thanks for visiting! Hope to see you again!

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