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 14 of 23, 443 total comments)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 pmsarah5544
hey everyone..im gonna start on this diet...i read all the reviews and i really think it will work for me.. BUT i had couple of QUESTIONS..
posted Apr 20th, 2009 3:38 pmFor the 5th, 6th, and 7th day..wut am i suppose to eat with the soup.... and also for breakfast..do we start off the day with the soup????
CAN ANYONE ANSWER THOSE Q FOR ME?..pleaseeeeeee
thanks!
sarah
hey everyone, im getting ready to try this diet and i had a Question...
posted Apr 20th, 2009 2:28 pmim not understanding on wut to do on the 5th, 6th, and 7th day...wut am i suppose to eat exactly???? CAN ANYONE ANSWER MY Q! pleaseee! im planin starting on the diet as soon as possible! thank u!
Dior
im qettinq ready to start this diet, my friend told me he's qoinq to do it to move down a weiqht class for boxinq, and his mom's coworker states it works, so im definetly qoinq to try it. im excited
posted Apr 17th, 2009 9:35 pmMo
A very good way to kick start a diet.
posted Apr 16th, 2009 7:18 amI lost 2 stone over 4 months and only did the diet for one week. It cured me of bad habits for ages. I have put back 6 pounds over the last year and am about to 'do the soup ' next week to lose it! Good luck.
Wanda
My son did this for 2 weeks; he lost 15 pounds the first week and an additional 9 pounds the second (24 pounds total). He absolutely loved it.
posted Apr 15th, 2009 11:48 amI'm trying it now, but I don't know how long I'm going to be able to handle the soup. It can get old after awhile.
Lizzy
Love it! I've been doing this diet for years and find that it is the only way I can lose the weight fast and its very healthy....Love, love, love it!!!!
posted Apr 12th, 2009 7:13 pmmarleysmommy19
Im on day 5 w/ the beef any suggestions on how to cook it or spices what to put in it?
posted Apr 6th, 2009 12:49 pmmarleysmommy19
Im actually going threw w/ this diet I am very suprised I started on March 31 n its April 6th I have lost 8lbs nI fell good. I couldnt stand it the first couple days but now I am ok Im on my 5th day I wasnt going to keep doing this diet but it its working!
posted Apr 6th, 2009 12:33 pmLindsey
My mom was on this diet for a week...and lost over 15 pounds...She took the next week off and then gained about 3 pouds back...And she was been doing it on and off now for a while...and she looks great...I tried doing ti to...But in a couple days I found out i was pregnant...lol
posted Mar 20th, 2009 2:20 pmrandom
has anyone managed to keep all the weight off afterwards?
posted Mar 19th, 2009 11:00 amI only managed to keep 5lbs off
when I lost 13lbs!
jim
I like it. Have lost 10 pounds already.
posted Mar 17th, 2009 10:10 pmAngela
This diet is great to lose a quick few pounds, I lost 9 pounds in the week, but immediately gained back about 3 or 4 when i stopped, it's definitely helped in changing my eating habits though, i'm eating a lot more fruit and veg which is filling me up so i'm not eating as much rubbish, pretty good short term to lose a few pounds quickly but definitely not sustainable. Good luck everyone!
posted Mar 17th, 2009 1:23 amLindsay
Today is day 1! The soup is good... I'm just worried about tomorrow when I cant eat anything but soup and veggies all day... not sure how I'll feel about that in the morning... .any ideas???
posted Mar 16th, 2009 1:34 pmfrances
it was good tasting and healthy along with walking everyday and my first week i lost seven pounds, and still going. i recommend it to coworkers and they are already on it. thanks
posted Mar 15th, 2009 2:00 pmMissK
I will be starting this diet on Monday. I want to loose about 45 pounds, so my plan is to do this diet once a month and eat healthy the other 3 weeks along with exercise while doing both. I just have 2 questions.
posted Mar 11th, 2009 10:49 amWhat kinds of fruit juice do some of you drink, because all of the juices I know of have some sugar in them.
Also, because you I wont be intaking as many calories and I still plan to excerise, should I just a diet supplement or vitamin of some sort to ensure I have enough energy and I dont pass out?
sonja
just started today i love the soup and so does my friends and boyfriend to bad they cant have any ..im doing great i had a couple bites of banana bread and im drinking lemonade but i figured it wont hurt its just day 1 day 2 and on i will not cheat :)
posted Mar 9th, 2009 8:39 pmcheekygirl
today is the first day of my second week on this diet. this diet is amazing!!! i lost 7 pounds the first week so that was a pound a day. i found it very hard at first because i was used to eating fast food and lots of cokes but it is getting easier. i did a couple cheats like a bowl of cereal one day and i had a starbucks and half a donut but still lost 7 pounds. the only bad things are the sometimes i have been dizzy and also noticed that i go to the bathroom a lot (diarrhea)
posted Mar 9th, 2009 8:00 pm