What Is The Sacred Heart Diet?

The Sacred Heart Diet is short term detox diet that claims participants can lose 10 to 17 pounds. Because the Sacred Heart Diet places a heavy emphasis on soups and restricts certain items, it's considered a fad diet, and not maintainable over a long period of time. The Sacred Heart Diet requires a seven-day commitment.

Who Created It?

No one knows for sure who created the Sacred Heart Diet. It is largely considered an urban myth. The myth goes that overweight patients were given this diet before heart surgery to detoxify their bodies. It's name is a wink to Sacred Heart hospital, although it goes by many aliases, including Miami Heart Institute Diet and the Cabbage Soup Diet. Several Sacred Heart Hospitals across North America, including Canada, deny any recommendation of this diet plan.

Features

The seven-day diet relies on a strict rotation of food groups; however, soup is prominently featured on each day. It goes as follows:

• Day 1 All fruit (especially watermelon, which is low in calories) but no bananas, soup
• Day 2 All vegetables (canned, cooked, raw), especially the green-leafy types; soup; baked potato (with butter); no legumes, like beans; no fruits
• Day 3 All vegetables, fruit, soup
• Day 4 Three or more bananas, skim milk, soup
• Day 5 10 to 20 oz of beef, can of tomatoes (or up to 6 fresh tomatoes), soup
• Day 6 Beef and green-leafy vegetables (no restrictions on the amount), soup, no baked potatoes
• Day 7 Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice, vegetables, soup

Soup Ingredients

• 1 - 2 cans of stewed tomatoes
• 3 green onions
• 1 can of beef broth
• 1 package of soup mix (chicken noodle)
• 3 stocks of celery
• 2 cans of green beans
• 2 lbs of carrots
• 2 green peppers

Warnings

According to Washington state's Sacred Heart Medical Center, the Sacred Heart diet has never been a part of their diet regimen. It is not endorsed by Sacred Heart staff and not used by their cardiac program. Sacred Heart Medical Center asserts that any diet that neglects certain food groups will only lead to temporary weight loss and condemns this particular diet as unsafe.