Every winter or so, the soup diet reappears. One winter, it was part of the infamous "Kickstart Diet" made famous by a television current affairs program. Another winter a few years ago, it was big as the "Cabbage Soup Diet" - the only difference being that the soup contained lots of shredded cabbage.
Whatever way it varies, it always comes with a promise of effortless weight loss in as short a time as you can imagine - just sip the soup instead of a meal or heat up a mug whenever a craving hits and you're bound to drop 5 or 6 kg in a week.
Many of you will recall this one! It was a silly diet with no nutritional basis except to drive you mad! It was heavily promoted on a current affairs TV program in 2003 and gained a huge following. You were meant to follow it for a week to "kickstart" your dieting efforts and then transition to a more moderate balanced diet. Many dieters, however, only did the Kickstart part.
If you've read my article on how to spot fads then you'll recognize this. If you haven't then click here to check it out.
See if you can follow the logic of this diet plan:
The diet claims to be low in carbohydrate with restrictions on potato, banana, bread, peas, corn and beans. Yet you're allowed unlimited quantities of unsweetened fruit juice or cranberry juice, which would add carbohydrates in the form of fruit sugars. Fruit and fruit salad also add carbohydrate - one medium orange or apple contains 15 grams of carbohydrate.
Everyone loved it. Why?
Yes - in the short term. But keep in mind much of the initial weight loss is water and is often regained once you start to eat normally.
If you are allowed to eat "as much as you like" of any one food, it soon becomes boring and monotonous and so you limit the total amount you take in. How many bananas can you eat in a day without getting tired of them? Or fruit? Or rice or soup? The same principle applies to the once-famous Israeli Army diet and the Eggs Only diet. Remember the monotony of any "single food" diet is the chief reason for its success.
The single biggest criticism is that this is a short-term fad diet and doesn't help you re-learn healthier eating habits. You "endure" the diet for a week or so. But what do you do once the week's over? Go back to how you ate before and watch the weight pile back on?
On the plus side, the vegetable soup itself is a winner for any diet. Filling and high in fibre, it's worth making up a big pot to have on hand when you feel hungry.
The Soup Diet is a gimmick, with the soup acting as a high-fibre low-kilojoule "meal replacement" for one, two or three meals a day as well as in-between. Overall, it's not dangerous over a few days but don't do the full soup plan for longer than a week. I give it one star (out of five) for all the fibre you consume from the soup! Just remember for sustained healthy weight loss and weight maintenance you need a healthy eating plan.
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