Miracle Soup Diet

OK so I know this blog is all about “Eating Like a Man”; however, I recently decided that I needed to try a fad diet so that I could “Eat Like a Man” while on a cruise over the summer. Cruises are loaded with all you can eat buffets and since it was to celebrate my high school graduation, I wanted to live a little. I’ve actually been extremely happy with my figure lately, it has been the first time in a while that I have thought that I look really good, but with my logic, if I wanted to eat on the cruise and then come home and still look good, I needed to lose some weight. Plus me going on this diet was more about supporting my mom because she is the one who actually REALLY wanted to lose weight and she needed a partner to help her through the diet.

After some research, my mom and I decided on the Miracle Soup Diet which, in a nutshell, claims to help you lose 10-15 pounds and gives you different things you are allowed to eat each day along with as much of a special cabbage soup as you want. I’ll break down day by day what you are allowed to eat and tips as to how I prepared things to make them a little tastier.

Day 1

This day was one of the hardest for my mom and I. If you can get through this day, you can get through the rest of it no problem! When I weighed myself the morning after this first day, I had lost 2 pounds! And my mom and dad had also lost 2 pounds each!

What to eat:

• As much FRUIT as you want (but no bananas)
• 1 8-oz serving of skim milk or low-fat yogurt
• tea, coffee, and water
• CABBAGE SOUP!

What I ate:

Breakfast: 8-oz cup of 2% Chobani yogurt, watermelon, and coffee

Lunch: Cabbage soup (First recipe) and fruit (cherries and cantaloupe)

Dinner: Cabbage soup (2nd recipe: the one with bok choy) and fruit (strawberries and watermelon)

Snacks: cherries, sliced apple, sugar-free gum, and baked apples (recipe below)

Baked Apples
1 tsp honey
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 apple, thinly sliced

1. Mix together the honey and cinnamon in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 10 seconds. Pour the apples into a medium ramekin and pour the honey mixture on top. Put into a 450 degree oven and bake until tender.

Day 2

This day was SO much easier than the first day! I wasn’t NEARLY as hungry as I was the fruit day! And I felt strong enough to walk my dogs a couple of miles and do some workouts for my abs and thighs. Only problem is the morning after this day, I had gained a pound; however, my dad had lost 2 pounds and my mom lost 1.

What to Eat:

• As many vegetables as you want
• 1 8-oz serving of skim milk or low-fat yogurt
• tea, coffee, and water
• A big baked potato with butter for dinner
• CABBAGE SOUP!
• 1 tablespoon of non-fat or low-fat salad dressing

What I ate:

Breakfast: Chobani 2% yogurt

Lunch: Sautéed green beans (recipe below)

Dinner: Baked Potato with butter, roasted asparagus, sautéed snow peas (prepared the same way as the sautéed green beans)

Snacks: Baby carrots, roasted summer squash, and miracle soup (with bok choy)

Sautéed Green Beans

I just imagine I’m eating TGI Friday’s green bean fries with this one

3/4 cup of frozen green beans

1 tsp olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce

Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and add in frozen green beans and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes turning occasionally until the beans get some color on them. Then turn off heat and add in soy sauce. Turn the green beans over a bit and then plate and eat immediately.

Day 3

This day is a piece of cake. Actually pretend I didn’t say that. Don’t want to make you too hungry.

What to Eat:

• As much fruit and veggies as you want.
• 1 8-oz serving of skim milk or low-fat yogurt
• tea, coffee, and water
• CABBAGE SOUP!
• 1 tablespoon of low-fat or non-fat salad dressing.

What I Ate:

Breakfast: Chobani 2% Greek Yogurt, watermelon, and coffee.

Lunch: A mango, roasted summer squash, and grapefruit.

Dinner: Vegetarian stir-fry (recipe below)

Snacks: Dried Strawberries (recipe below) and Apple Chips (recipe below)

Vegetarian Stir-Fry

2-3 leaves of bok choy

1/4 cup of chopped carrots

1/4 cup of chopped onion

1/4 cup of chopped celery

1/2 cup of baby spinach

1 baby bell pepper, chopped

1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/2 cup of low-sodium chicken broth

couple of dashes of soy sauce

splash of sherry

1 HEAPING tablespoon of cornstarch

1. Combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, sherry, garlic, cayenne pepper, corn starch and ginger in a bowl and set aside

2. Heat a wok over high heat. Once hot, add in a tablespoon of water and then vegetables. Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are slightly softened. Transfer the vegetables to a colander to remove excess liquid.

3. Add the sauce to the empty wok, stirring constantly. Once thick and bubbling, remove from heat and fold in the vegetables.

4. Serve and enjoy!

Apple Chips

Barely Adapted from SugarLaws

Pinch of sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 large apple

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Core the apples and then slice them with a mandoline if you have one, or otherwise as thinly as you can with a kitchen knife.  Lay them in a single layer on the baking sheet, and sprinkle with 1 tbsp sugar, and the nutmeg and cloves.  Bake for one hour, and then flip the apple slices on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle the additional tbsp of sugar on the flipped slices, and bake for an additional 30 minutes.  Allow to cool and serve.

Oven Dried Strawberries

From The Worldwide Gourmet

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

halve or quarter as many strawberries as you want and lay them out on a baking sheet. Put into the oven for 3 hours.

Day 4

Not going to lie. This day sucks.

What to Eat:

• 3-6 Bananas
• 8- 1 cup servings of skimmed milk or 7- 1 cup servings of milk and 1 cup serving of low-fat yogurt.
• As much cabbage soup as you want.
• Tea, coffee, and water.

What I Ate:

Breakfast: Coffee and banana smoothie (Recipe below)

Lunch: Miracle Soup and skim milk

Dinner: Miracle Soup, skim milk, and 1/2 cup of yogurt

Snacks: 1-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream, skim milk, bananas

Banana Smoothie

2 frozen bananas

1/2 cup of vanilla greek yogurt

1/2 cup – 1 cup skim milk (depending on how thick your smoothie looks)

1 cup ice

1. In a blender, combine all of the ingredients. If it looks too thick, add more skim milk.

Day 5

Hallelujah. Protein y’all.

What to Eat:

• Cabbage Soup (Must eat at least once today!)
• Unlimited grilled fish
• Unlimited grilled chicken
• 1 28 ounce can tomatoes, or up to 6 fresh tomatoes
• 1 8-ounce serving (1 cup) of skimmed milk, or plain, low-fat yogurt
• 1 tbsp low- or no-fat salad dressing
• low-cal or no-cal herbs, spices, and other flavorings.
• tea, coffee or water.

What I Ate:

Breakfast: Coffee and 8-oz serving of Chobani 2% yogurt

Lunch: Sautéed chicken and tomatoes (recipe below)

Dinner: Grilled salmon and cabbage soup

Snacks: Grilled chicken and cabbage soup (Try adding the chicken to your soup!)

Sautéed Chicken and Tomatoes

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, slightly pounded out to even thickness

cooking spray

1 can of Italian style tomatoes

pepper

1. Season both sides of your pounded out chicken with pepper.

2. In a sauté pan sprayed with cooking spray, put on stove and turn up heat to medium heat. Once it has had a chance to heat up, add in your chicken and flip when golden-ish (about 4-5 minutes).

3. Once both sides are cooked, add in your can of tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, you can turn off the heat and serve!

Day 6

What to Eat:

• Cabbage Soup
• Unlimited grilled fish
• unlimited grilled chicken
• Unlimited vegetables, including tomatoes
• 1 8-ounce serving (1 cup)of skimmed milk, or plain, low fat yogurt
• 1 tbsp low- or no-fat salad dressing
• low-cal or no-cal herbs, spices, and other flavorings,
• Tea, coffee or water.

What I Ate:

Breakfast: Coffee and Chobani 2% Greek Yogurt

Lunch: Chicken stir-fry (Same as my vegetarian but with a little extra soy sauce and garlic. Also cook the chicken separate from the vegetables.)

Dinner: Grilled Salmon, roasted squash, and roasted brussel sprouts

Snacks: Any roasted vegetable I could get my hands on.

Day 7

What to Eat:

• Miracle soup (Eat at least once today)
• Brown Rice
• unlimited vegetables
• 1 8-ounce serving (1 cup)of skimmed milk, or plain, low fat yogurt
• 1 tbsp low- or no-fat salad dressing
• low-cal or no-cal herbs, spices, and other flavorings
• tea, coffee or water.

What I Ate:

Breakfast: Chobani 2% Greek Yogurt

Lunch: Miracle soup (try stirring in some cooked brown rice!)

Dinner: Vegetarian Stir-Fry served over brown rice

Snacks: Roasted veggies

SHOPPING LIST:

• salmon
• boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• yogurt (I recommend 2% Chobani)
• Savoy cabbage
• cherries
• apples
• sugar-free gum
• cantelope
• watermelon
• strawberries
• bananas
• brussel sprouts
• asparagus
• baby spinach
• lemons
• onions
• bok choy (lots of it)
• russet potatoes
• carrots
• celery
• jalapeno
• frozen green beans
• brown rice
• skim milk
• canned diced tomatoes

Cabbage Soup Recipe

After trying this soup, I discovered that I DO NOT like cabbage. My dad loves this soup though because it’s spicier than the original cabbage soup recipe and he actually likes cabbage…

1 tsp. olive oil

2 medium sized onions, minced

1 cup of carrots, chopped

6 stalks of celery, chopped thin

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed, minced

1 tbsp. dried mustard

1 tsp. oregano

5 cups of chicken broth (not the reduced sodium kind)

5 cups of water

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes

1 head of savoy cabbage, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium soup pot over medium heat. Add in onions, carrots, and celery and let cook for about 5 minutes
2. Stir in minced garlic and jalapeño, cook for another couple minutes
3. Stir in dried mustard, oregano, chicken broth, water, lemon juice, and diced tomatoes. Simmer for 1 hour
4. Add cabbage and cook for 20 minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

Miracle Soup Recipe #2

THIS ONE ROCKS. So if you are anything like me and don’t like cabbage, try this recipe. It uses bok choy rather than cabbage which is about equal in the nutrition department. This soup is actually really good though! I could see myself eating this after this diet is over!!

1 tsp olive oil

1 bunch of bok choy, chopped

1 cup of chopped carrots

1 onion, chopped

4 stalks of celery chopped

1 sweet mini pepper, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes

40 oz. of water

1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1 chicken boullion cube

A few dashes of crushed red pepper

1. In a medium soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add in the bok choy, carrots, onions, celery, pepper, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes.

2. Add in the diced tomatoes, water, soup mix, crushed red pepper, and boullion cube and bring to a simmer. Let cook for 30 minutes.

The Commandments for this Diet

I. Thou shall drink water. I added lemon to mine to give it some flavor and because lemon is a natural fat burner!

II. Thou shall not view the Food Network for 7 days. I made that mistake the first day and thought I may die.

III. Thou shall not weigh thy self at night. Let the diet do it’s work over night. The first night I weighed myself and thought “Well this sucks” but the next morning I weighed 2 pounds lighter than I did the morning before. If you weigh yourself at night, you may get discouraged and give up. DON”T GIVE UP!

IV. Thou shall take a multi-vitamin daily. Don’t want anyone being deficient in any vitamins.

V. Thou shall exercise daily. This is necessary for weight loss. I don’t really recommend it for the first day though because your body may be too weak.

VI. Thou shall talk to thy medical professional before beginning this venture. You need to talk to a doctor before you start this or any kind of diet to make sure your body can withstand it.

CONCLUSION

This diet seems to promise that you will lose 10-15 pounds; however, I only lost 5. My mom lost about 8 and my dad lost 10. I didn’t have much to lose so it all depends on your starting weight I think. Here’s the kicker though, you will probably gain most of your weight back the day after this diet ends. So if you need to lose some weight for one day, DO THIS DIET. If you are hoping to keep it off for the long-run, healthy diet and exercise are your best bet. If anything, this diet will teach you how much you mindlessly snack. I can’t tell you how many times I found myself just walking into the pantry (when I wasn’t even hungry) and almost grabbing a handful of something to snack on. Then of course I thought to myself “Dang you, diet! I want potato chips!” and had to throw them away.

My parents liked this diet because they were really successful with it! We made a pact to do certain days of the diet (unlimited fish, chicken, and veggies for example) a couple of times a week to make it a more gradual weight-loss and hopefully therefore make it more successful.

I hope all this information was helpful to you and if you try it, comment with any tips and how it worked out for you! Good luck!