Ask Jules… about cabbage soup.

I have read recently that cabbage soup is trendy in the weight loss world. What about this diet works for weight loss and is it safe?

-Leslie

I (oddly) love this question as I feel it sums up Diet Culture in a nutshell. I will explain. Spoiler alert, I do not feel it is safe and I do not recommend it.

For those who are wondering, the cabbage soup diet entails, well, eating cabbage soup- broth and vegetables and spices- (of which you can find a variety of recipes for with a quick google search). You can eat as much as you want, but nothing else, for a week. What this does is fill you up on water and fiber and limits your calories. This is how it works for weight loss, it starves you.

The first red flag is how short lived this plan is. This is not sustainable as a lifestyle, nor is it meant to be, which begs the question- what happens after a week? If you did end up eating less than you normally do, in both variety and amount, regardless of if you did have weight loss, your body is feeling deprived. Not only of calories (i.e. energy), but also of protein, fat and many other essential nutrients that it missed out on for seven days. Every individual will respond differently to this, ranging from not a bit of difference in mood, energy, or body composition, to more extreme fluxes in physical appearance and mental health. It is only a week, but must be put into context with many other aspects of a person’s life and habits.

The second red flag is the promise of quick weight loss, dragging along with it an obsession with food and shrinking your body size. This feeds the narrative that weight loss is king, being fat is the worst thing, and that this is the golden ticket to looking sexy and being healthy. This is the definition of Diet Culture and it surrounds us with such toxic messages through multiple avenues and lenses.

A third red flag is the stark contrast and 360 the cabbage diet takes away from a balanced, enjoyable, health promoting, satisfying, and socially stimulating way of eating.

I must say, after my negative rant, if your personal goal is to lose pounds quickly to fit into that dress in a week, and you are privy to the downfalls of this diet (to recap: malnutrition, unsustainable in both practice and any potential weight changes, and a deep dive into diet culture and away from a healthy relationship with food and intuitive eating) then by all means I will not stand in your way.

With sincerity,

Jules

To submit a question please email sweatrevivalblog@gmail.com.