Woman's Own: Detox Soup Diet

Lose 5lbs in 5 days by following Monica Grenfell's popular single-food-day diet, with unlimited vegetable soup

Monica says:
With the clocks going back on Sunday 25th October 2009, it's tempting to eat more to while away the longer evenings. But provided you stick to this five-day soup detox, unwanted fat will burn quicker as your body uses more calories keeping warm. Eat one major type of food each day, with unlimited vegetable soup, and you'll get your nutrients as well as losing lots of weight!

Things to avoid:
Alcohol, fizzy drinks (swap for unsweetened tea, unsweetened juice, black coffee and water), fried foods. If in doubt, have soup. It's full of fibre and will fill you up. You may find your bowel movements change, but unless the change is dramatic, enjoy the detox!

The soup:
The heart of the diet is vegetable soup. Excluding potatoes, you can use any veg you like - experiment! - but the simplest version of the recipe is this:

Take equal portions of
Spinach
Carrots
Celery
Onions
Green peppers
Tomatoes

Chop them up, chuck them into a pot, cover with water and cook! Once cooked, blitz the softened vegetables in a food processor. You could also throw in some fresh herbs or spices for a bit of extra flavour. And there you have it - a unique, tasty and filling vegetable soup that you'd never find in a can!

No tinned!
Don't just buy tinned vegetable soup - the sodium content is through the roof and they often don't contain many vegetables. And many vegetable soups contain potatoes, which are high in starch and have a high GI. Leave them out as your goal is to lose weight!