Cabbage Soup and Other Crazy Diets

Research states Americans spent $72 billion on diets in 2019!

“Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.” (Hebrews13:9)

Does anyone remember when Oprah Winfrey, to prove a point on her popular television show in the 1990s, set up a totally fictitious diet center in a mall?

That ‘diet’ consisted of eating only hot dogs and ice cream.  How silly, who’d believe that?   Well . . .  actually . . . over forty people signed up in three days! It proved that people will fall for anything and we must be wary of diet scams.

The question one has to ask is, why???  Surely they couldn’t believe that consuming sodium-filled, nitrate-laden, saturated fat, processed meat and 11 grams of saturated dairy fat per 1/2 cup, would produce a fit body?

Anything’s fine in moderation and isn’t health more important than weight loss?

Nutritional education, physiology, overcoming challenges and establishing lifelong strategies are certainly more conducive to a healthy lifestyle. Still, many search for a quick fix, even at the expense of their health.

The “Lose A Pound a Day Diet!”

Exposing the false claims of diet gurus who profess that one can lose a “pound a day” by simply trying this or that fad, is challenging.

Many plans have emerged over the years so let’s discuss several that have endured:

The Cabbage Soup Diet

Popular throughout the 1980s and ’90s, it is still used by many today as a magic formula.  “You can lose 10 lbs. in 10 days!!” bold headlines claim.  Wow, if it was only that easy. Sadly this claim isn’t realistic.

Although cabbage soup contains essential nutrients, you will not lose 10 pounds of FAT in ten days. You will lose mostly water weight.

I know it’s complicated but please stay with me here.

• 3,500 calories equal one pound of fat. A person would need to create a deficit of 500 calories per day to lose one pound of fat per week. (7 days x 500 =3,500 calories)
• Losing 1,000 calories per day would equal 7,000 calories per week which only amounts to two pounds.
• Let’s say you are a 180 pound male and moderately active. Your usual daily intake is 2,500 calories per day. Even if you cut out all food for ten days – starving yourself, 10 days x 2500 calories = 25,000 calories.  That only equals 7 pounds and your body would not only lose fat, but muscle, brain and water.
• If you reduce your diet to a starvation level of 800 to 1,000 calories per day – one dctor actually put me on this! – you would lose vital nutrients. Then your hypothalamus, (being the brain’s thermostat) would either nag you constantly to consume the nutrients you lack or it would think you were starving. It would then slow your metabolism to virtually nothing in order to protect you. This would defeat the purpose of weight loss.

The Grapefruit, Lemon and Apple Cider Vinegar Diets

I lump all these together because these diets are meant to burn fat with acidic producing properties which theoretically enhances metabolism. All contain nutrients which are physiologically beneficial and are excellent foods by themselves. 

What it does is produce alkaline properites

Although lemons, grapefruit and vinegar taste acidic, these foods biochemically metabolize into alkaline properties in your system. An alkaline pH curbs your appetite and in that way is beneficial. It is certainly not wrong to consume any of these on a daily basis, but it is not a magic bullet.

Excerpt form my book,  “Life’s Too Short to Eat Bad Cheese” (Nutritional and Life Lessons God Teaches Us)

Coming Soon: More Crazy Diet Plans

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