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 3 of 23, 441 total comments)Stephanie
Today was day 5 and I have to say, it's not really doing anything for me. I lost just one lb!! That's it! All that soup for nothing really.. but i'm wondering how it works with height and weight. I am 28 yrs old, height: 5'4" and 129lbs. I would like to get back down to 120lbs. Anyone my size that had success with this?
posted Oct 29th, 2011 12:13 amKatie
Day 3! Yesterday I ate tones of veggies, had some tea with nOthing in it, and
posted Sep 29th, 2011 9:36 amKatie
Just started the diet yesterday and I'm already dreading having more soup! The soup tastes fine it's just ALOT of veggies! I'm going to stick with it though because I can see how it would work- I feel lighter already. Today is the veggie and soup day. Im not a huge veggie person but I can deal. I just wish I could dip them in ranch dressing!!! (which is probably why I have to do this diet to begin with! ;) )I will try to update daily! - katie
posted Sep 28th, 2011 9:25 amKim
I started this diet yesterday and could not wait to weigh myself. After the first day I lost 5Ibs. It is extremely hard I tried to exercise. I also had a terrible headache the first day. I stopped the diet but I will start it again on the weekend when I can stay around the house and relax and adjust to the changes. So I will start over on Saturday and maybe make minor changes so that I will not get a headache.
posted Sep 20th, 2011 8:12 pmJennifer Hauser
Starting day 3 and I have lost 4 pounds so far! Yea me!!!! This is difficult, I think my body is in shock. I do feel hungry at times but I will keep going. I really hope this helps curb my cravings for sweets and carbs. Considering my diet previously consisted of carbs and sweets so unhealthy I know, I am positive this will get me on track. I am a little concerned on what I will move on to after a few weeks of this. I'm thinking of a weight watchers type diet but am open to other ideas. I have to have a plan befor stopping this one. By the way the soup is good but now great.. I am trying to remain positive about eating radishes as a snack while my kids have popcorn and it just about killed me when they had icecream yesterday and I did not. Ice cream is my biggest culprit.. I am determined to conquer. Wish me luck!
posted Aug 28th, 2011 9:42 amMysTzN
The first time I used this diet back in June I lost 10lbs! I have kept it off too. I found that if I kept with it, when the 7 days was over, I just didn't want to eat as much. I have since used it again, and now on my 3rd time, day 2. Yes, the soup gets tiring, but I use spices to give flavor. When I make the soup, I also put in a Thai spice blend. Then when I eat it, I add sriracha sauce (love the heat) and spicy brown mustard. It makes the soup much easier to eat. I also added summer squash. I'm 45, and starting weight was 189, now done to 174 and still going:) I now fit into a pair of pants that were too tight, and have to use a belt just to keep from tugging up my pants constantly. Yea me!
posted Aug 24th, 2011 4:33 pmHarpreet
Everyone told me that this diet does not work but I still tried it for myself and the resukts were unbelivable. I lost 18 pounds, and I could basically see the pounds fall off me. The third day was the hardest for me because i was 100% drained of energy but after that it was just icing on the cake. Im 18 and 5'11 and was 153 pounds and now I am 135-136.
posted Aug 20th, 2011 1:32 pmDenise
I am on day 2 of this diet and I have already lost 4 lbs. The soup is really good. I really like fruit and veggies and home made soup so this diet is great. I also like milk. I am 5'2" and 164 as of today... my goal weight is 140.
posted Aug 2nd, 2011 1:02 pmAshley97
My mom and sister have both done this diet with different outcomes. My sister lost 15 pounds, but would gag with the smell of the soup after a week. My mom lost 23 pounds the first week and 17 the second- she loved the soup. They both say the more soup- the more you lose. I'm about to try it. Not to sure about the veggies.... Anyone young that's done the diet have feed back?? I'm fourteen. Thanks!
posted Jul 28th, 2011 4:17 pmJenna
I started this last Saturday and this morning I was down 6lbs. I love it! I haven't followed it exactly and yesterday I didn't have any soup. I've recommended it to other friends. I'm very happy with my results!
posted Jul 21st, 2011 4:39 pmMegan
This diet does work really fast and I lost 6 pounds in 3 days which is awesome. It was hard after that to stay motivated not to cheat. I now only do it 3 days a week because 7 was too much and I get shaky very easily if I dont eat very much. Lost 11 pounds so far!
posted Jul 19th, 2011 12:45 pmSlj
I'm starting the diet tomorrow, but
posted Jul 13th, 2011 7:57 pmI already made the soup and had a
small bowl for dinner tonight. I'm 16
years old and weigh 120.5. I'm not
asking to lose tons of weight, I just want
to shed a couple pounds for my vacation
I'm going on in less than 2 weeks. I'm
excited! reading the reviews are
really interesting and give me hope.
Good luck to everyone else trying
this diet as well! :)
qoakman
wat are suppose to drink while on this diet I'm on my second day and all I been drinking is water and greentea 7 day vegetable soup diet
loozwehtnow
Here I go, going to get all the ingrediants tomorrow to start the diet! Today is Saturday, so I plan to start Monday morning. I am leaving to go on vacation on the 31st and need to lose atleast 15 pds by then! I plan on doing the diet everyday until then. I am 31 years old, 5'8.5" and weigh 168. I will update daily! Wish me great luck! :-) What do I have to lose except pounds
posted Jul 8th, 2011 10:57 pmAluna
I have been on/off this diet since May 1st - I completed 5 weeks of diet in these 2 months and have lost 22 LBS.
posted Jul 1st, 2011 11:44 pmKai
I just started the diet monday! I am 20 yrs old, 5'7, and started at 183. This is crazy but I some how managed to lose 9 pounds !! and I am only on day three... However my dad only lost 1lbs and he hasn't cheated either. I don't know why I lost so much and he hasnt... but the diet seems to work for me. I am now 176.
posted Jun 22nd, 2011 8:18 amOne thing I will say is the soup becomes u enemy really fast! I have to forcefully eat it everyday, I find it is really gross.
Aelina
I've been doing this diet for the past 4 days and I've lost 6.5 lbs! The diet is definitely about learning to get over your unhealthy food cravings. I know some nights I couldn't sleep because of my cravings, but every time you weigh yourself and lose weight, it pushes you to keep going. I'm not going to lie, the soup was disgusting. I actually blended it so I could chug it and get it over with! Good luck to everyone that's trying it! :)
posted Jun 18th, 2011 11:09 am14andchubby
i am now so happyyy i weigh
posted Jun 9th, 2011 12:14 pm147.6
3 poundss in 3 dayss! awomseee
me and my brother are betting 50 dollars if i can lose 10 pounds haha
14andchubby
i had done this diet in Feb.2011
posted Jun 8th, 2011 2:57 pmand went down 6 pounds!!!! (148 to 142)i may have cheated becuz i couldnt take soupp to my school!!!
anywas i have gained it back bcuz of alot of parties with tons of DELICIOUS food haha
anyways im on day 2 and i weighed 150.8 now i way 149.0 im happy i wanna lose 10 pounds and i am going on a vacation tin July so dont want relatives (ALL SO SKINNY) and i want to be about 130 by then but hopefully i can make through one week:):) wish me luck!!!
Kelly
So I hit "Like It" because I did lose some weight. BUT it's a very tough diet. Day two was the hardest for me. What do you eat in the morning when all you can eat is veggies and soup? UGH.
posted May 31st, 2011 5:35 pmThe rest of the time wasn't that bad. The soup gets pretty gross after a few days, but tollerable. I don't have a lot of weight to lose, but I did lose 6 lbs, so that was good. It also "cleaned me out".
My boyfriend did this with me and he REALLY struggled. It wasn't about the food for him, but more of a withdrawl from meats and carbs. His body played tricks on him. It was affecting his attitude and it made him VERY grumpy and irritable. I almost forced him to cheat just for my sake. But he didn't and lost about 4lbs. He had less to lose than I did.
I see how this would be a good drastic weight loss for someone larger who doesn't exercise. For those who do exercise, this drains you and without the protein, it is hard to remain strong enough to really work out.
Will I do it again, maybe. BUT, will I let my BF do it again......NO!!!!!!!!
PS....the sweet potato saved him on the veggie days.