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Sacred Heart Diet
Quick weight loss program, similar to the Cabbage Soup Diet.
BACKGROUND
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The Sacred Heart Diet is a 7-day eating plan that is supposed to shed pounds quickly by consuming a special soup made of broth and vegetables as your main source of food. According to the diet, during the seven days, you can lose up to 10 pounds or more. Each day has specific guidelines for which foods and drinks to consume. There is a thorough list of restricted foods and beverages, so that you'll know exactly what you can and can't consume.
This diet supposedly comes from the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital, although reports on the Web refute this. It is used for overweight heart patients in order to lose weight rapidly, usually prior to surgery. In addition to losing weight quickly, it is intended to also wash your body of impurities while giving you a surge of energy without the ingestion of caffeine or other energy-enhancing products. This diet is also sometimes referred to as the Cabbage Soup Diet.
PRO
- There are notable health benefits from avoiding certain processed foods like refined sugars and flours
- Does not call for any funky supplements or herbal concoctions
- Reliance on the diet's consumption of vegetables, fresh fruit and lean protein is beneficial to one's health and can possibly aid in weight loss also.
- Its one-week time frame is manageable for individuals with a strong will power and who want to lose weight quickly
- Supports exercise
CON
- Diet may be restrictive for some
- No scientific evidence that this soup will actually burn calories
- Once you've completed it, you are on your own to reestablish your eating routine
- Does not give any guidelines for how to sustain long-term weight loss
- Given its strictness, the individual may run the risk of having a gorge fest when Day 7 is completed
- Sacred Heart Hospital and The American Heart Association deny any relationship with the diet
DIET and NUTRITION
The soup, which is made from 11 ingredients, is the supposed magic pill of The Sacred Heart Diet. The soup includes canned tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, bell peppers, celery, beef stock and vegetable juice. You can find the complete Sacred Heart Diet Recipe here.
For the seven days of this diet, you will eliminate bread, white sugar, alcohol, fried foods, and carbonated beverages
The Diet has specific guidelines for each day that you must adhere to in order to reap the supposed benefits.
Each day, you will consume your sacred soup in addition to certain kinds of fruit, certain allowable beverages, protein and other cooked or canned vegetables. For instance, on Day One, you may eat as much soup as you want to as well as fruit except for bananas. On this first day, you can only drink coffee, black tea, water or unsweetened juice without milk or sugar added to the beverages On Day Two, you can have soup, vegetables and a baked potato with a small pat of butter for dinner. On Day Four, you may eat at least 3 bananas, and drink as much skim milk and soup as you can. The diet continues for the following three days in which you add lean red meat or chicken and still continue to eat the soup.
Abiding by the diet's guidelines is intended to yield the results you are looking for.
EXERCISE
There are no specific exercise recommendations for The Sacred Heart Diet other than to follow your usual exercise routine by getting in some form of exercise on most days of the week.
CONCLUSION
Albeit it is a very restrictive diet, The Sacred Heart Diet is a commendable eating plan given its reliance on vegetables, fruits and lean protein. It is clearly high in fiber, nutrients and minerals. It is similar to many low carbohydrate diets out there for its avoidance of refined sugars, flour of any sort, fried foods and added fat. Although there is no scientific proof that the sacred soup which you ingest every day is a magic pill to melt off the pounds, it is a great way to feel full and to get in more than your five veggies a day. But its reliance on veggies and fruit might give some stomach cramps if your system is not used to this way of eating. Since this such a one-shot punch to lose weight, it might be that you gain the weight back just as quickly or even more quickly as you lost it.
And do make a pact with yourself before starting this diet that on Day 8, when The Sacred Diet officially ends, you don't hightail it to McDonalds and order 3 double cheeseburgers and 2 super-sized fries. Do be gentle on your gut as you acclimate it back to the foods that you normally consume: order the Happy Meal.
Common Misspellings
sacrid, saecred, hart, scared
Featured Diets
Related Diets: Cabbage Soup Diet, Juice Diet, Maple Syrup Diet, Purple Diet
User Feedback
(Page 12 of 21, 420 total comments)jane
I'm on my 5th day. have lost 5 pounds. I like this diet because I don't have to measure or weigh. It's a no brainer. my doctor told me to try one week on one week off. wish me luck.
posted Jul 17th, 2009 2:05 pmsharl
hi, i'm on day 3 and cant wait for the last day for some real food, i've lost 2kg's so far and are extremely hopeful, think that's the only thing that keeps me going. i hate vegetables and the soup contains them, its a real struggle to get it down. but quitting has only crossed my mind once!!! whoopee
posted Jul 6th, 2009 8:15 amNK
I am on day 4 and lost 3kg already - This soup works!!!
posted Jul 2nd, 2009 9:26 amjennifer
I am finishing with day 2. I have been a yo-yo dieter my whole life. (Weight watchers, working out, skipping breakfast,...ect) I really do believe I have much more energy than just a few days ago! So strange! I love all food, so the soup, veggies, fruits, and everything tastes good!
posted Jun 29th, 2009 7:39 pmMs S
Just wanted to update. I am now 196 pounds from my start weight of 235! That is a total loss of 39 pounds in only 3 months. I'm getting to my goal a lot sooner than I thought.
posted Jun 24th, 2009 9:16 amMichelle
The soup is horrible!!! But hopefully this will work!!! I'm on my first day, and fighting to keep going. My sis keeps throwing burger king in front of me (and icecream) but i have managed to throw them right back without a quick lick! LOL wish me luck!!!
posted Jun 23rd, 2009 7:19 pmfalconers
I'm on my 2nd week,lost 8lb the first week and only lost 2lb in my 2nd.Should i stop the diet for a week and then go back on again to loose more.Anybody have any advice? Thanks
posted Jun 9th, 2009 7:12 pmAriel
I am on day 4 of the diet. I have lost about 6 lbs already.. im hungry at times, but i think the results will work. I also have started working out as well! I have heard nothing but good results from this diet. But, I am definitely looking forward to day 7!!! I want real food!!!
posted May 28th, 2009 9:57 amAshley
Just finished day one.... I already wanna quit , haha... but hopefully it will get easier.... tomorrow will be rough... I'm not a big fan of veggies.... any ideas what to have for breakfast for day 2?
posted May 25th, 2009 1:08 amChels
On my second day. Yesterday was, the first day was probably the more difficult due to the fact that I don't like to eat fruit too much, especially all day. Today was great, VEGGIES! I love it!
posted May 23rd, 2009 10:48 pmInstead of dressing, I used Salsa. =) Romain, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, roasted red peppers, avocado & red onions-MMMM!!!!
Raw carrots, cucumbers & celery with hummus, I also ate.
Im making my second batch of soup tmw and instead of green bell peppers, I'll add red bell peppers and I even bought some squash on sale to add to it as well.
Tonight is baked potato night. I'll have soup, salad and steamed broccoli with my buttered baked potato.
I'll also make a batch of guacamole that I can eat tmw, fruits & veggie day. I just have to fight with my daughter to eat the guacamole since she loooooves that stuff.
I hope to check in tmw as well as the rest of the days.
I'm just drinking water and hot green tea at night.
Chels
anyone wanting to partner up or do a group diet????
posted May 23rd, 2009 2:17 amjayjay
I have been doing the diet off and on for about a year and I love the results that I have gotten the first week I did the diet I lost 15lbs and have been losing ever since. I recently stated doing the diet for a week and then off a week and that has help me to maintain. I got the diet fromm a friend that was trying to do it but didn't like the taste of the soup and it made her sick at the stomach, but for me it has worked WONDERFUL!!!!!! try it you might like it.
posted May 19th, 2009 12:52 pmDL
This is my 2nd time doing this diet. Im on Day 2. First time (around a month ago) I lost 8 lbs. I like this diet (although by Day 4 I'm ready to throw the container of soup out the window!) Question: are we allowed to put vinegar on our salad on Veggie Days? Good luck everyone out there doing this diet. It DOES work, maintaining afterwards is key.
posted May 13th, 2009 8:26 amLiz
I'm on day one and let me tell you I could eat fruits everyday. So far I am making the soup and I hope it works... I feel like there are a whole ton of vegetables so I kind of want to blend them together in a blender? Is that OK, or should I just eat as is?
posted May 9th, 2009 12:18 pmMs S
I've been on the Sacred Heart plan for a little over a month and have gone from 235 to 213 to date. I'm looking for a support group of some kind. It is getting harder and harder to stay motivated. Also, for those who have done this plan over an extended time, did you always do the two day break?
posted May 8th, 2009 3:24 pmRosalyn
Today is my 7th day. Dropped 5.5 lbs. (Yeah me)! Would like to have lost more but I'm happy w/what I did lose. I tried to eat the soup as much as possible. But after about the 3rd day I was burnt out on the soup. Overall the diet is very easy.
posted Apr 28th, 2009 2:10 pmOn day 4 my husband decided to grill Ribeye steaks and it didn't bother me. I happily ate my banana.
Good luck everyone! Stick with it for 7 days and you will definitely feel better. I have more energy, less cravings and my pants are not quite as snug!
Heather
this is my second day on the diet the soup tastes really good and i think i can stick to it for a week but i can not give up coffee (with cream and sugar) i get terrible headaches but i have cut back on how much cream and sugar i put in each cup and have cut myself down to one pot a day (i was drinking three)
posted Apr 27th, 2009 8:34 amMy husband and i are doing this to kick start a much healthier lifestyle we walk every afternoon and do weight training every other day I know we can stick to a healthy lifestyle because we did before i got pregnant with our last daughter She is now 10 months old and i still haven't lost any baby weight Good luck to everyone who is trying this
Jinnie87
patients* forgive me
posted Apr 23rd, 2009 3:00 pmJinnie87
Alright first off for those of you confused day 5 is beef and tomatoes and soup, day 6 is beef and veggies day 7 is brown rice and unsweetened fruit juice. The "acceptable" beverages for this diet are: unsweetened juice, black herbal and regular tea as well as coffee. Cranberry juice skim milk and tonnes of water... those are the only acceptable drinks. Keep in mind this recipe originated to help patience lose weight fast prior to surgery.. especially bigger ppl. So someone looking to lose a quick 10lbs can use this diet but if you go back to eating fried foods of course your going to gain it back gradually or otherwise.
posted Apr 23rd, 2009 2:59 pmAlisha
Sarah on the 5th day you can have 10-20 ozs of beef and a can of tomatoes or at least 6 fresh tomatoes, on day 6 beef and veggies and eat as much as you like, and on the 7th day brown rice, unsweet fruit juice, veggies and as on all the other days soup.........I started this diet on Saturday weighing 153 and I now weigh 146 and I'm only on day 4!!!!
posted Apr 21st, 2009 3:36 pm