The three-day cardiac diet is a very low-calorie eating plan intended to help people lose weight fast. Proponents of this diet say the weight loss is due to eating a specific combination of foods that cause a chemical breakdown. Some versions of the diet allow substitutions, but in general you must strictly follow the menu. You'll eat many different foods, but in very small amounts. Always talk to your doctor before starting a diet like this.
Misconceptions
Rumors claim that a hospital developed the cardiac breakdown diet. Sometimes the diet is called the Cleveland Clinic diet, for example, or the Birmingham Heart diet. The named hospital supposedly recommends this diet for overweight patients scheduled for heart surgery, so the patients can lose a large amount of weight beforehand, explains Diet.com. Medical centers linked to the diet have denied association with it. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System calls this diet potentially harmful, noting that it is high in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.
Features
The three-day cardiac diet theoretically causes weight loss through chemical breakdown. The weight loss is more likely to result from calorie restriction, as the diet only allows 600 to 1,100 calories per day, according to Diet.com. You follow the diet for three days, return to your usual diet for four days, and then return to the cardiac breakdown diet for another three days, if you like. The instructions claim you can lose up to 40 lbs. in one month. The UAB Health System cautions that if you lose 10 lbs. in one week, it will mostly be water and muscle, and very little fat.
Sample Menu
Each day on the cardiac diet has a different menu, as noted by Diet.com. Day 1, for example, requires you to eat half a grapefruit or a glass of pink grapefruit juice, and one slice of toast with 1 or 2 tbsp. peanut butter. Lunch consists of 1/2 c. tuna packed in water and one slice of dry toast. For dinner, you'll eat 3 oz. lean meat, 1 c. each beets and green beans, 1 small apple and 1 c. vanilla ice cream. Each meal should include black coffee, tea or water.
Additional Instructions
Some additional instructions come with the cardiac breakdown diet. You must drink at least four glasses of water or diet soda every day. You may use salt and pepper, but no other seasonings. Snacks are not allowed.
Substitutions
Some versions of the diet allow a small number of substitutions, according to the Every Diet website. For example, you could have an orange instead of grapefruit, cottage cheese rather than tuna, and frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. Beets and carrots can be swapped, and so can green beans, broccoli and cauliflower.
