Diet Review: The 7 Day Diet/Cabbage Soup Diet

In case you didn't know, I'm doing a fad diet experiment. This post tells you why.

I never go on diets, so I wanted to pick a diet that wasn't particularly crazy. I picked this diet because even though I was restricted to certain kinds of foods, I could eat as much of them as I wanted. I never want to feel hungry. I know that's an indicator that I will cheat QUICKLY.

Note – there's some variety with this diet depending on where you look. On the site where I initially found it, on days 5 and 6, it says I can eat all the protein and veggies I want. On my7daydiet.com, they say that on day 5 it is protein and tomatoes. my7daydiet also suggests a potato for breakfast on day 2, while http://www.cabbage-soup-diet.com/eating-plan/ says that it should be for dinner…and it can include butter (didn't see that until the end of day 3!!). That's the other thing. I didn't know this was the Cabbage Soup Diet until day 2. And my7daydiet has so many text ads and various font sizes and colors on it that I somehow missed that I was allowed to have this soup every day. But, I'm totally okay – cabbage soup doesn't sound tasty to me, so I'm fine without it.

Day 1 – All fruit. I thought this day would be easy, but it was harder than I thought. Part of my problem was that I didn't get a wide variety of fruit. I purchased grapes, apples, tangelos and lemons. When posting on Facebook, people kept telling me to eat vegetables. At that point, I wasn't ready to reveal what I was undertaking, so I just had to state all day that today was FRUIT ONLY day. That night, my friend and I had melon juice (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew) and I also had some apple juice and tangelo juice. I woke up 3 times to pee that night. Not a fan.

Day 2 – I found day 2 to actually be easier than day 1. I started out with a baked potato for breakfast. I also had a little carrot ginger juice, but couldn't finish a whole cup. Veggie juice is not my thing.

I was hungry within about two hours, so I had a tray of roasted asparagus for second breakfast. I'm completely blanking on what – if anything – I ate for lunch. Probably nothing, based on my tone of voice when I wrote this:

This post garnered TONS of comments and I ended up deciding to make a veggie stir fry which was quick and DELICIOUS!

We also went for a walk and stair climb around the neighborhood.

This is also the day I learned that some people call this “the Cabbage Soup Diet.” But again, didn't care.

Day 3 – FRUIT AND VEGGIE DAY!!!!!

I woke with a headache – I did NOT consume enough fluids on day 2. I don't like water and I don't like veggie juice, so I barely got enough of both. This morning, I happily mixed together carrot, apple, tangelo and ginger for an amazing juice. Day 3 was already feeling like heaven.

Having fruits AND veggies feels like such a luxury. I excitedly made another batch of veggie stir fry and got my day started. Today I had to leave the house and work offsite with a client. All I had to grab and take with me was a tangelo, my grapes and a jar of my juice. All I managed to consume was the juice, but I wasn't hungry at all. Once home, I made a batch of stir fry for dinner and forced down some water. I'm writing this up about 4 hours after eating it and I'm still feeling pretty full. I'm tempted to overeat because I have concerns about how many bananas I can consume tomorrow without wanting to die, but overeating is a bad idea – even if its vegetables.

Day 4 – Banana and milk day. Sigh. Before this day began, my friend and I agreed that making shakes would make this day go by easier (why on earth would anyone want to eat 8 bananas?!? and I HATE skim milk). We also said we could add some strawberries to the shakes because…come on..straight up bananas and milk? No way! I was home all day, which was my saving grace. I really think if I had been out and about on this day, I definitely would have cheated. I had two shakes for breakfast and a banana for lunch. After taking an evening walk with my friend, I had the final shake. Surprisingly enough I wasn't hungry….I was just craving something more. Then we had an earthquake and I stopped thinking about food.

Day 5 – MEAT!!!!!

I started the day off with Cajun salmon and stir fried vegetables and was REALLY excited about it. I had a speaking gig that day and didn't get a chance to eat again until I got home around 3. I wasn't actually hungry, but thought eating would be a good idea so – stir fry once again. At this point, I'm obsessed. On Day 4, I whipped out the short ribs I'd bought, made a dry rub and let the rub get all up in the meat overnight. So, once I got home, popped the meat in the oven and paired it with some stir fry my friend made (different veggies than what I use, so it was a different experience). She and my mother both liked the meat, so I'm glad I have extra rub to use on Day 6. We were pretty stuffed before finishing one piece of meat. So we saved the extra food on our plates for a potential second dinner. I'm writing up this recap right before bed on Day 5…I finished the piece of meat, but will save the veggies (I hate reheated meat). I'm not hungry AT ALL. I'm still quite full.

Day 6 – MORE MEAT!

This day was HARD! A friend had her birthday brunch at a place that offered a bottomless mimosa buffet brunch. Sigh.

So, for breakfast I had another piece of salmon, but nothing else. Didn't want to overeat. Then came the brunch…and the deviations.

I resisted the mimosas, but couldn't resist orange juice. Had about four glasses. There were plenty of options when it came to meat and veggies, but many included oils, sauces and such and it's hard to know what's what. I went for plain as much as possible, but I did have a tiny cut of teriyaki chicken and I know the broccoli I had must have had some sort of sauce on it. Up until this day, I had lost four pounds. I gained a pound back.

Had a final serving of meat and veggies. 

Day 7 – Fruit and veggies.

This day was EASY since I knew what was in store. Started my day with tangelo juice and a bowl of stir fry. Lunch was more stir fry (I'm obsessed). Dinner was multi-course: a glass of watermelon-cantaloupe-honey-dew melon juice. Next was a glass of carrot-tangelo-apple-ginger juice. Then, a final bowl of stir fry.

THE END!!!

Pounds lost – 4.

This diet wasn't so bad once I made it to day 3. I would do this diet again, no question, once every 6-8 weeks. I think I'd also enjoy this diet closer to summer when more fruits I enjoy are in season (and on sale!).

I think clearing my system out with fresh stuff actually helped me deal with dairy better. Over the last few years, I've developed lactose intolerance – a single dose of dairy doesn't bug me, but if I have three servings within 3 days – bad news. On banana and milk day I had three shakes that were half milk and forgot Lactaid EVERY SINGLE TIME and didn't have a problem. Whew!

Next up: (Our modified) Kashi Diet!