Another fad diet that has been making the rounds for a while is the Sacred Heart Diet.
The prevailing theory for many years was that this detoxification diet originated in the cardiology department of Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital to treat overweight patients.
However, like many diet stories, this is false as the hospital itself has issued press releases that state that very fact.
It is a fad diet which means it is something to be avoided. It bears a strong resemblance to The Cabbage Soup diet.
This diet is based on the consumption of soup with claims of weight loss up to 17 pounds in the first week. This may indeed happen but keep in mind that the vast majority of this weight loss will be nothing more than water. In addition, this weight will return as soon as the diet is concluded.
What is in the Sacred Heart diet soup?
The list of ingredients:
- 1 or 2 cans of stewed tomatoes.
- 3 plus large green onions.
- 1 large can of beef broth (no fat.)
- 2 lbs of Carrots.
- 2 Green Peppers.
- 1 pkg. Lipton Soup mix (chicken noodle.)
- 1 bunch of celery.
- 2 cans of green beans.
Luckily, there are a few other foods that you can have during the 7 days including fruits (bananas are restricted) and vegetables (leafy greens are best). Drinks that are allowed include tea, black coffee, skim milk, unsweetened juice and of course plenty of water.
Preparations:
- Chop the vegetables into small pieces.
- Add everything into pot that can accommodate all the ingredients.
- Pour water that until it covers all the ingredients.
- Boil for 10 minutes.
- Simmer and continue cooking until all the vegetables are tender.
- Season the soup with pepper, salt, hot sauce, or bouillon.
What to DrinkDrink eight 8-oz. glasses of water throughout the day to flush out fat out toxins. Teas are allowed as long as a sweetener is not added. It’s also good to drink cranberry juice to the kidneys and bladder strong and healthy.
All juices, however, including cranberry must be nonsweetened. These can be found in the organic food section of the grocery store. The Sacred Heart Diet Plan also allows skim milk and coffee.
Here is the breakdown of the daily food consumption:
Day 1: Eat any fruit you desire except bananas. Nothing else but soup.
Day 2: Eat any vegetables you want, green leafy are recommended. No fruit at all but one baked potato with butter should be eaten for supper.
Day 3: Eat all the fruits and vegetables you want. Nothing else!
Day 4: Eat only the soup, bananas and skim milk
Day 5: Eat between 10 and 20 ounces of beef and up to 1 can of tomatoes. Also at least once, the soup must be eaten.
Day 6: Eat all the beef and vegetables you want. Eat the soup at least once during the day.
Day 7: Eat vegetables, brown rice and unsweetened fruit juice as often as you want. Also include the soup at least once a day.
I am not sure how this diet was devised or how the foods were chosen. I do know that it is severely lacking in proper nutrition and makes no mention of exercise.
Claims On Sacred Heart Diet
The sacred heart diet claims between 10 to 17 pounds of weight loss in the course of the the 7 day diet plan, and 5 to 7 pounds lost during the third day. Unfortunately, this is not recommended as a life long dieting routine as weight loss is taken to the extreme within a short time.
There are versions of the diet recommending to take an off for a week before implementing the diet once again.
The Sacred Heart Diet can result in a weight loss of 10 lbs. or more in one week’s time. The plan focuses on eating homemade vegetable soup and specific foods at mealtimes for seven days. The soup should be eaten every day of the diet, at any time and as many times as desired.
Precautions
As you can read in this article, sacred heart diet plan limits the types of foods to be consume on a daily basis. Although, there are no restrictions as how much a dieter can consume, limiting the kinds of foods being consumed also limits the vitamins and minerals the body required to function every day.
Should you be eager to implement this dieting plan, it is highly suggested consulting a medical professional before doing so.
You will lose weight quickly on this plan but again it is not going to be permanent. This is one to avoid.
