We have all heard of the cabbage soup diet and tales abound how it can make you lose 10lbs in one week or a stone in two! You also hear of people saying how they went on the diet and smelt like cabbages after a few days! So, can the cabbage soup diet work and give you a quick weight loss-or is it just a fantasy?

First of all, if you did the follow the cabbage soup diet-which consists of something like eating it plentifully for a week, gradually adding in other foods such as fruit and rice as the week progresses-you would probably lose 'weight'. However, this would be due to a combination of loss of excess water and simply because you had reduced your calorie intake significantly.

While cabbage is an extremely healthy vegetable to eat and has many health benefits, it is not a magic potion that will give you weight loss. This can only be achieved by following a healthy eating plan where you consume around 1,200-1,500 calories a day depending on your gender, size, occupation etc, as well as incorporating more exercise in to your daily life.

That being said and done, cabbage soup as part of a healthy diet is actually a delicious way to get the nutrients you need-as long as you don't eat it all day every day and you eat other food too.

Any diet that reduces the calories you eat to under 1,000 a day will give you a quick-and unhealthy-weight loss where the weight will come back once you start eating again normally.

A typical cabbage soup recipe will include onions, green peppers, celery, tomatoes, cabbage (naturally!), bouillon or similar, mushrooms and carrots. It is wholesome and good for you, but not as a quick weight loss plan