It's very easy to describe the cabbage soup diet – FAKE. There's really no need for further explanation. But for those who insist here is more.

The inventor of the cabbage soup diet isn't known. It was one of the diets faxed from machine to machine in the early 1980's. To gain acceptance the diet often used well-respected names, calling itself things like the Children's Hospital diet. Needless to say, the diet has no relation to any of the institutions, nations, or people used in these names.

Water is important in the cabbage soup diet, often the only drink allowed in the course of the day. Here's how the diet works.

Day one -- cabbage soup and fruit, but not bananas.

Day two -- cabbage soup as usual, and vegetables including a half baked potato without butter.

Day three -- add vegetables and fruit to the daily cabbage soup, but no bananas or potato.

Day four -- cabbage soup, eight bananas, skimmed milk.

Day five -- cabbage soup and as much as 20 ounces of beef, as well as 6 tomatoes.

Day six -- cabbage soup plus as much beef and vegetables as can be eaten, but no potatoes.

Day seven -- Along with cabbage soup eat brown rice, vegetables and unsweetened fruit juice – no potatoes.

According to the cabbage soup diet you could lose 10 pounds in just a week. Unfortunately that would be 10 pounds in water weight. A week is simply too short a time in which to lose 10 pounds of fat. But given a week the cabbage soup diet could make someone seriously ill from malnutrition.

In addition the cabbage soup diet isn't easy. Not because it's too complicated, but rather because seven days of cabbage soup becomes monotonous. Quitting the cabbage soup diet after only a few days was common. There were even attempts to spice up cabbage soup recipes but they failed.

You don't have to turn to something goofy like the cabbage soup diet for weight loss. Exercise more and cut out calories in order to accomplish a goal.