How I lost an astonishing 7lb in 14 days and slimmed my waist... on the Cabbage Soup diet. It's the forgotten doctors' trick from the 1950s and I'm proof it works, says HELEN CARROLL. This is exactly what I did - and the essential recipe ○

Tucking into a steaming bowl of risotto, piled high with parmesan and washed down with a beer, on the last night of our family holiday in Prague this summer, I didn't give a thought to the calories.