Lose 7 Pounds in 7 Days With The Cabbage Soup Diet

May 25, 2009 by Patsie  
Filed under Diet Menus, Diets

If you want to lose from 5 to 7 pounds in a week, I recommend the Cabbage Soup diet.  However, you should check with your doctor or health professional first to make sure you have no pre-existing medical condition that won’t allow you to undergo this particular weight loss plan.

So here’s the plan. This is a program where you can have unlimited bowls of cabbage soup, so you should never be hungry.  Each day also brings a specific combination of foods to add variety in the diet.  Stick to the prescribed meals and you should be able to shed a significant 5 to 7 pounds with the Cabbage Soup diet.

The Cabbage Soup Recipe

As the base for the cabbage soup staple, you can either use chicken or beef bouillon for some flavor.  V8 juice is also a good base and gives more nutrition.  You will want to make 48 ounces of broth for the following recipe.

Saute 6 large green onions and then add them to the broth.  Cut up 2 green peppers and add them.  You will need one to two cans of tomatoes depending on your taste.  Then chop and add 3 medium sized carrots.  10 ounces of mushrooms is about the right amount.  1 bunch of celery chopped should be added.  You will need to slice and put in at least half a head of cabbage.  Then you can season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, curry, garlic powder, etc. Very simple!

Lose pounds in a week by adding the following foods each day:

Day 1: Eat any fruit you want except bananas.  Do not substitute fruit juice.

Day 2: Eat vegetables until you are stuffed.  These can be raw or cooked.  For dinner, you can add a big baked potato with butter.  But don?t eat fruit on this day.

Day 3: All the fruits (except bananas) and vegetables (except potatoes) you want.

Day 4: Up to 8 bananas and all the skim milk you want.  This day is intended to reduce your desire for sweets.

Day 5: This is an odd day for a diet.  You must eat 6 tomatoes.  Also, you can have 10 to 20 ounces of beef.

Day 6: All the beef you want plus vegetables excluding potatoes.

Day 7: (The final day).  Stuff yourself with brown rice, fruit juices and vegetables.  You should eat the soup at least once on this day, even if you are quite tired of it.

The food combinations may seem odd, but stick to it. Many can attest to how the pounds were shed off with this diet.  The real trick may not be so much in the combination of foods but in the fact that you are unlikely to eat more than 1000 calories a day. 

However, if you deviate from the plan, you are likely to eat more than the 1000 calories, so stick to it. Do note that it is not a good idea to do this diet indefinitely.  If you want to continue with it, try a one week on, one week off strategy. 

Also, you should know that it is impossible to be hungry on this diet so long as you eat the cabbage soup. No need to starve to shed pounds! 

Mayo Diet - Eat Grapefruit, Lose Weight

May 18, 2009 by Patsie  
Filed under Diet Menus, Diets

It’s called the Mayo Clinic Diet, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with the famed Minnesota Hospital. Still, this eating plan has been around for years and some people say it is called that way as the diet was supposedly developed for overweight heart patients who need to lose pounds before their surgery.

It is also known as The Grapefruit Diet, because the fruit is an integral part of many meals. The Mayo Diet is based around eating grapefruit, salads, and lean protein. It strictly restricts carbohydrates. You should follow the diet for 12 days and then take a 2 day break before beginning again.

A sample breakfast is two eggs, two slices of bacon, a cup of coffee and half of a grapefruit. Lunch might be salad with dressing, any kind of lean meat, and another serving of half a grapefruit. Dinner is fish, any kind of non-starchy vegetable and again half a grapefruit. Right before you go to bed, you can have 8 ounces of skim milk or tomato juice.

As you can see, grapefruit is a key food item on the Mayo diet. The theory is that the grapefruit is some magical dieting tool. This is nonsense. The reason the diet works is that it is very low calorie (about 1000 calories a day) and it eliminates almost all carbohydrates. The grapefruit helps by providing fiber - a component of any healthy diet.

Some of the principles of the Mayo diet include eating until you are full, but not beyond that point. You can have all the lean protein and fish you want, just don’t over eat.

You also should not skip meals or eliminate any of the foods on the diet - including the bacon and the salads. It is said that the exact combination of foods is what helps you lose body fat.

Limit your caffeine intake to one cup of coffee in the morning. Caffeine affects the insulin balance that hinders the burning process. So that single cup is your limit. Definitely no caffeine from soda.

And while the Mayo Diet espouses not skipping meals, you also must not eat between meals. No snacking. The combination of food suggested should be sufficient so that you will not be hungry between breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The diet completely eliminates sugar and starches. These are lipids that will eventually form body fat. Ironically, eating fat does not form body fat. Instead, it helps burn it. You can even fry food in butter and use generously on vegetables but still lose weight on this diet.

Do not eat desserts, bread, and white vegetables or sweet potatoes when on the Mayo Diet. It is alright to eat double or triple helpings of meat, salad, or vegetables, but NO CARBS. Eat until you are satisfied. This is supposed to be a very precise combination of food that affects changes in the body chemistry for maximum weight loss.

It is typical to lose up to 10 pounds in 12 days on the first round of the Mayo Diet. On subsequent rounds, you may lose less, but you should still take off some significant weight.

3-Day Cardiac Diet - Fast, Easy Weight Loss

April 30, 2009 by Patsie  
Filed under 3-Day Diets, Diet Menus, Diets, Nutrition

The 3-day cardiac diet is one of the quickest and easiest ways to lose weight. Also known as the Birmingham Hospital Diet, it is supposed to help heart patients lose some extra pounds in preparation for surgery.

This diet is quite similar to the popular Mayo Clinic or Grapefruit Diet and also the Cleveland Clinic Diet. All these diets are variations on a theme of high-protein, low carb meal plans.  The purpose of all these diets is to enable a person to lose as much weight as possible in three days. The namesake hospitals and clinics have not publicly endorsed these 3-day diets, but they have been used for many years by many people who attest they do work. 

The 3-day cardiac diet is a high protein, limited calorie diet that calls for primarily eating vegetables and lean protein or meat. Because of the amounts of vegetables and meat you are encouraged to eat, there should be no risk of nutritional deficiencies.  But it is crucial that you do not stay on this limited calorie-intake diet longer than the alloted 3 days. Otherwise, you risk certain undesirable effects on your health - including slowing down your metabolism in the long run. 

For breakfast on each of the three days, the focus is getting ample protein along with some fats. The usual meal consists of about half a cup of water-packed tuna or cottage cheese.  Add to this two eggs cooked in your preferred style - but without any added cheese or dairy.

This gives you a good mix of protein and fat, which are important for keeping hunger down and giving you the materials you need to keep your muscles strong. Under no circumstances should you skip breakfast or not eat the full amount. You may have coffee or tea with it, but make sure not to use sweeteners or any dairy products. 

Lunch will be a mixture of tuna and salad. On the first two days, you may have a half a cup of water packed tuna, and a generous serving of salad. Keep in mind, though, that the salad must be all vegetables - no cheese or croutons. Make sure to use olive oil as your dressing, and you can indulge a bit with the olive oil since you need the good fats for proper metabolism.  On the third day, you may increase your protein in the form of tuna - to a full cup.

Dinner on the 3-day cardiac diet will consist of your preferred kind of lean meat. But skip adding sauce or breading. You need to eat this with two different types of vegetables, steamed and without sauce. You are, however, encouraged to use some butter for flavoring.

Do not eat bread, pasta, potatoes or any other starches on the 3 day cardiac diet. It was especially designed to skip the carbs and up the protein and fiber precisely to effect quick weight loss.  Remember to drink at least 64 ounces of water each day, while on the diet. Do not cheat - it is only three days before you get the weight loss you are working for.

Stick to the 3-day cardiac-diet and you will lose weight. To keep the pounds off, make sure you follow through with a sensible, long term eating plan supported by regular exercise.

3-Day Chemical Breakdown Diet

April 27, 2009 by Patsie  
Filed under 3-Day Diets, Diet Menus, Diets, Nutrition

The 3-day chemical breakdown diet is said to be effective for quick weight loss because of the precise food combinations it calls for. One explanation is that these food combinations create a mix of enzymes within our bodies that optimizes fat loss.

There are three other reasons why the 3-day chemical breakdown diet helps you lose weight. First, it requires that you eat a lot of high fiber vegetables that are not only low calorie, they also help clean our gut and reduce bloating.

Second, even with the alloted ice cream and peanut butter, the 3-day chemical breakdown diet is generally low in carbohydrates which will cause you to lose water weight. Cutting down on carbohydrates or carbs would also mean less sugar into your system.

Third, among many other diets, this one seems to have the lowest total calorie limit.  Many people have used this diet successfully, claiming to lose as much as six to ten pounds in three days. The usual menu for the 3-day chemical breakdown diet looks like this:   

DAY ONE

Breakfast
half of a whole grapefruit or 4 ounces of grapefruit juice, unsweetened
1 slice of toast with a teaspoon of peanut butter

Lunch
1/2 cup of water packed tuna
1 slice of toast

Dinner
A quarter pound of any meat
1 cup of string beans
1 cup of carrots, cooked or raw
1 small apple
1 cup of vanilla ice cream

DAY TWO

Breakfast
1 hard-boiled egg
1 slice of toast with a teaspoon of peanut butter
or 1/2 Banana with a teaspoon of peanut butter

Lunch
1 cup of cottage cheese
5 plain crackers

Dinner
2 hot dogs
1 cup of cauliflower
1/2 cup of carrots, cooked or raw
or 1/2 banana
1 cup of vanilla ice cream

DAY THREE

Breakfast
1 hard-boiled egg
1 slice of toast
I piece of cheddar cheese

Lunch
1 slice of cheddar cheese
5 plain crackers
1 small apple

Dinner
1 cup of water packed tuna
1 cup of beets
1 cup green beans
1 cup cantaloupe
1 cup of vanilla ice cream

As you can see, the diet is high in vegetables and low in starches, which makes it a fairly healthy diet. But be warned: the 3-day chemical breakdown diet is very low in calories, usually less 1,000 per day. It is unsafe to stay on such a low calorie regimen beyond 3 days. Use this only to start out a long term, sensible eating plan to help keep the pounds off. 

Lose Weight Fast on the Mayo Clinic 3-Day Diet

April 22, 2009 by Patsie  
Filed under 3-Day Diets, Diet Menus, Diets, Nutrition

The Mayo Clinic 3-Day Diet is designed for quick weight loss. The purpose is to help heart patients take off weight in a matter of days to prepare them for open heart surgery. It has to be fast as three days, as this is the longest amount of time doctors could give some patients before their heart surgeries.

Although the Mayo Clinic does not endorse the diet for general use, it has become a popular 3-day diet for many people. Models or actors who need to lose weight fast, even people with a high school reunion coming up have used the diet with good results. Many people lose as much six pounds on the diet, and occasionally more. Larger people are the ones who tend to lose more weight.

But aside from being an quick slim-down diet for people who just want to lose a few pounds, The Mayo Clinic Diet can be used to jump start a long-term diet program that is less restrictive. Besides, it is not advisable to continue the diet beyond the prescribed three days. To prolong this very restrictive diet beyond this point is not healthy in the long run.

The Mayo Clinic 3-Day Diet is also known as the Grapefruit Diet because you are required to eat a portion of the fruit at the start of every meal. This is because grapefruit contains enzymes that help digestion and also promote fat burning. It is important that you eat the grapefruit first to get the full effect of this body chemical process for quick weight loss.

The diet involves a specific combination of foods designed to accelerate your metabolism and help you flush excess toxins and fluids from your body. The precise food combinations and the effect they have on body chemistry is the reason the Mayo Clinic 3-Day Diet works so quickly.

On the diet, you will be eating three meals a day, strictly no in-between-meals snacking. Remember, this is only for three days, so giving up snacks shouldn’t be a big deal. There are a few foods that are restricted entirely: bread products, pasta, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, white onions and sugar in general. You will also need to avoid dairy products, including cheese, milk and even yogurt.

Every meal must start with half a large grapefruit or four ounces of unsweetened grapefruit juice. Note that using sweetened grapefruit juice will not give you best results.

Breakfast on the Mayo Clinic 3-Day Diet should consist of two eggs, done anyway you like, and two slices of bacon. Make sure that you are using regular bacon for this, and not substituts like turkey bacon or tofu bacon. You may use as much butter as you like.

Lunch will consist of a portion of any meat, and any kind of salad. You can even indulge as long as you do not eat any of the prohibited foods. Remember, you need these foods to burn fat, so trying to starve yourself would be counter productive.

For dinner, you will again have a portion of meat and any vegetables you like that are not on the restricted foods list. Again, you may use butter - real butter and not margarine.

That’s the Mayo Clinic 3-Day Diet in a nutshell - make sure to eat grapefruit before every meal, and be sure to stick with the prescribed food combinations. This will help you drop the pounds quicker than you ever thought possible. And remember, this is strictly only for 3 days.

Quick Weight Loss on the 3-Day Heart Diet

April 22, 2009 by Patsie  
Filed under Diet Menus, Diets, Foods, Nutrition

The 3-Day Heart diet was supposedly designed for people that need to lose weight quickly before heart surgery. You have probably heard of them: The Mayo Clinic Diet, Cleveland Clinic Diet or the one ascribed to the American Heart Association. The purported rationale behind these 3-day diets is that they let heart patients lose, weight, bloat and water retention that could put extra stress on their body during and after surgery.

Do note that The American Heart Association and the clinics mentioned do not officially endorse these diets for everyone. In fact, they have all denied to have developed these quick weight loss plans. But these 3-Day diets remain popular because many people who have tried them can attest that they do result in rapid weight loss.

On average, you can lose up to six pounds over the course of the 3-day diet. Larger people can even lose up to ten pounds in three days. It seems the more weight you need to lose, the more you do lose in the course of those 3 days.

This kind of weight loss is possible because of the low calorie, low carb and high protein food combinations. You will lose a substantial amount of water weight, as well as clearing out any excess matter from your guts. Combined with a likely pound or two of actual fat loss, this accounts for most of the weight lost on the 3-Day Heart Diet.

There is a set type and amount of food for each meal while you are on the meal plan, and this changes from day to day. The variety makes it easier to follow, but keep in mind that this is a very low calorie plan with very limited food groups involved. For this reason, it is not advisable to extend the diet beyond the recommended three days.

Now here’s a sample menu for the 3-Day Heart Diet:

BREAKFAST

Day One

1/2 of a whole grapefruit or 4 ounces of grapefruit juice, unsweetened
1 slice of toast with a teaspoon of peanut butter
Tea or coffee, optional - no dairy or creamer

Day Two

1 hard-boiled egg
1 slice of toast
1/2 Banana
Tea or coffee, optional - no dairy or creamer

Day Three

1 hard-boiled egg
1 slice of toast
Tea or coffee, optional - no dairy or creamer

LUNCH

Day One

1/2 cup of water packed tuna
1 slice of toast

Day Two

1 cup of cottage cheese
5 saltine crackers

Day Three

1 slice of cheddar cheese
5 saltine crackers
1 small apple

DINNER

Day One

A quarter pound of any meat
1 cup of string beans
1 cup of carrots, cooked or raw
1 small apple
1 cup of vanilla ice cream

Day Two

2 hot dogs
1 cup of broccoli
1/2 cup of carrots, cooked or raw.
1/2 banana
1 cup of vanilla ice cream

Day Three

1 cup of water packed tuna
1 cup of beets
1 cup green beans
1 cup cantaloupe
1 cup of vanilla ice cream

On the 3 day heart diet, you are not to use any kind of spice or additive except for salt and pepper. Again, it is not advisable to stay on this meal plan longer than 3 days as it is very low calorie.

For best results, alternate the 3-Day Heart Diet with four days of higher calorie eating to avoid the possible long term effect of slowing down your metabolism. Once you obtain some quick weight loss, it is best to follow with a long term sensible eating plan that involves a bigger variety of healthy food.

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