Sacred Heart Diet
Quick weight loss program, similar to the Cabbage Soup Diet.
BACKGROUND
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
Related Diets: Cabbage Soup Diet, Juice Diet, Maple Syrup Diet, Purple Diet
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This diet really works great and it's not that hard to resist cheating. I use it after holidays or special occasions when I tend to pig out. It's a great jump start when planning to return gym after a hyennas. Go for it!!!!
This is day 4 for me and the scales have not budged. I have stuck religiously to the diet. I am accustomed to watching what I eat because I have already lost 40 lbs over the last couple of years. The plan is not a problem for me. I love everything on it. The soup gets a little old and the baked potato night.....I was ready for that, YUM!! I have gained back about 7 lbs and I would really like to take that off and start fresh. Will I love by the end of the 7 days? It would be pretty bad if I didn't lose a pound! HELP! I am bloating with all the veggies.
Ashley, I dont think this diet will cause you to gain weight at all. Its a great diet! Just because it says you can eat as much as you want doesnt mean you have to over eat. However its worth a try I think. I have lost 10 pounds and kept it off!
I am on day 4 and have lost 5lbs. It feels pretty good. I feel less bloted and have a lot more energy. I have been to the gym the past 2 days as well only doing about 35mins of elliptical. I haven't even craved a coffee since monday, and I usually drink about 3 or 4 a day!
this is the second time i have done this diet... the first time i lost 11 pounds, then continued to eat healthy (no fried food, very little bread) and went on to lose another 8 pounds... am on day 4 now, 5.5 pounds so far... my favorite way to eat the steak and tomatoes is to cut steak into small pieces and use mex recipe stewed tomatoes and put on a bed of lettuce! fajita salad.... it is not something you can do forever, but good for a quick boost and cleanse
I normally don't eat as much as the diet calls for.. I usally have under 100cals a day, do you think this diet might cause me to gain weight in my case?
can you add veggies to the soup if you want or only on veggie days??
Ok, well today if my day 1. I heard about this diet through my mom who heard it from her sister. My aunt has went from a size 14 to an 8 in almost 3 months. Her husband has lost 45lbs and my mother has lost about 12 and she is on her second week.
I really did enjoy today, however and REALLY looking forward to the potato tomorrow night..lol. Its hard prepareing meals for my 6 and 3 year old without eating something, but I made it through today and I feel awesome. I have also been drinking a fair bit of green tea. I am a Diet Coke addict and went through the day without even craving one!
One thing I do to my soup though, is I puree it. It seems more filling.
ya so i am starting the diet on friday after weeks apon weeks of studying my goal is to lose 50 lbs
Hi Everyone! I am starting this diet tomorrow and I went shopping and wasn't sure what they meant by unsweetened juices?? Every juice I looked at was FULL of sugar. Can anyone help me out with this? I bought a few "no added sugar" juices but I'm not sure If this is right. Thanks
Airolg
I did this diet once before my junior prom, and I lost 15 pounds. They actually had to take in my dress- it was amazing. I am doing it again now, almost 5 years later with my roommate (our short-term goal is for a Halloween party) and hope to have similar results.
The downside to this diet is you can get VERY sick of the soup, and then it becomes more like a starvation diet.... and as terrible as it sounds, it's worth it if you're trying to lose some quick pounds before an event.
I definitely would tell anyone thinking this could be a new permanent dietary change to reconsider.
I didn't lose 10 pounds which was disappointing. I stuck to it religiously. But I do feel better which is a good thing.
Thanks DDT for sharing your meal plan. I'm on day 4 now. I weighed in this morning and I'm down 5.5lbs so I was very excited about that. Today being my bananas and skim milk day I had I blended up a banana, skim milk and Ice and it was a great treat. So I had that for lunch as well with the soup. For dinner I plan on having the same thing. The soup is actually growing on me now. At first I could only eat it once a day. Now I feel like I can eat it more than once. Good luck everyone. Keep writing your results and what your eating..I would love to read it.
So is this one of those diets that you have to stay on for life? Or once you get to your goal how do you maintain your new weight?
Im doing it!! Its day three and the scale is showing more than what I weighed before, haha, that was a suprise! 216-220...But I was told its because my body is retaining a lof of water due to the fact my body semi thinks Im starving it... So it will be nice a drop in numbers, but the diet is do-able! The only concern is thanksgiving for me... But good luck everyone!
Hi Jenn, on day 5 I chose steak ( 16 oz. lean). I was brought up on meat and potatoes so steak is my meat choice. I normally cut the steak in half (after cooking) and cut one portion and mix in with the soup and have for breakfast and lunch and the other half at dinner with the tomatoes. I will also have other fruit and veggies throughout the day. seems to work for me. Then on day 6 I will have a chicken breast for one meal, fish for another and soup for dinner. Day 7 I have not done the brown rice after my brother mentioned he had, and it put weight back on so it took him an additional day or two to get it off so I stick with soup, fruit and veggies. I think the key with the veggies is to mix it up. I eat acorn squash a couple times a week, brussell sprouts and asparagus as well as the carrots, celery, tomatoes and spinich (or spring blend) salad. That's my regiment anyway, and I feel pretty good. I have now added treadmill and situps to my day.
Hi everyone...just started this diet on Monday...is working well for me. I have to say my baked potato never tasted so good tonight!! LOL anyways I am starting day 3 tomorrow...I feel great and can't wait to know how much i have lost by day 7. good luck to everyone
I have used the diet twice for 1 week. Each time I lost 6lbs and was very happy since I had about 8 stubborn lbs to lose.
Is it possible to do this diet without the soup?\\nWill it have close to the same results?
Question..like on day 5 it says beef and tomatoes. What did you guys eat for the beef? and Does it mean ONLY beef and tomatoes? Can I have fruit on that day?
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