Cabbage Soup "diet"

I am assuming everyone has heard of the cabbage soup diet. While I generally don't believe in crazy fad diets to loose weight, the best way to loose weight and keep it off is to eat healthfully and exercise. I do understand that this is easier said than done! Eating healthfully to loose weight means eating A LOT of vegetables. This is the only food which is packed full of nutrients & fiber without having many calories. Half of each meal should be non-starchy veggies when trying to loose weight. I do this by eating a lot of salads and steamed veggies. This can get boring over time. An easy way to get in a ton of veggies with a lot of flavor is to make them into a soup. While I couldn't imagine eating mostly cabbage soup for most of my meals, as the "diet" suggests, it is a great side dish. Here is how I make it:

1 tbsp healthy oil
One small head of cabbage - wash and cut into small strips
One large onion (sweet are my favorite)
3-4+ cloves of garlic -minced
2 or 3 stalks of celery - cut into small pieces
2 or 3 large carrots - peeled and cut into small pieces
One large (26oz can) of fire roasted tomatoes
1 tsp+ rosemary
1 tsp+ thyme
1 tsp+ black pepper
2 bay leaves

In a large soup pot, saute onion in oil add celery, carrots and cabbage, cook until soft. Make a small well in the middle of the pot and saute garlic. Add tomatoes and spices. Add 2-4 cups of water, enough to cover all ingredients. Simmer for 1 hour. Remove bay leaf. Serve with a little Parmesan cheese. Delicious!!