If you're searching for a quick weight-loss solution, the "cardiac seven-day diet" might sound like a great idea. It promises mammoth weight loss: up to 17 pounds over the course of one week. The problem is, it's a fad diet that hasn't been endorsed by any medical institution or authority, and it could be unsafe if you stay on it for too long.
Significance
The cardiac seven-day diet lays out a specific week's worth of menus centered around vegetable soup, according to the University of Cincinnati's NetWellness website. The soup contains beef or chicken broth with a variety of vegetables, including carrots, tomatoes and green beans. Each day you eat the soup and one other type of food, such as vegetables, fruit or meat.
Features
While following the cardiac seven-day diet, you need to avoid alcohol, bread, soda and sugar, along with fried foods, according to the University of Cincinnati's NetWellness website. You must follow the menu exactly, sticking only to allowed foods for each particular day. However, you can drink three or four glasses of skim milk each day and consume one baked potato during the week.
Function
The diet promotes weight loss simply because it restricts calories so severely, according to the University of Cincinnati's Netwellness website. However, if you do lose the promised 10 to 17 pounds in one week -- or even if you lose more than just a couple of pounds -- the weight loss will come from muscle mass and water rather than fat. You'll regain the water weight as soon as you start eating normally again.
Warning
Although the diet includes protein from skim milk and plenty of fiber from the vegetable soup, it's still not nutritionally complete and could lead to nutritional deficiencies if you follow it for more than a week, according to the University of Cincinnati's NetWellness site. In addition, losing weight faster than a rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week can slow your metabolism, making it easier for you to regain the weight lost and more difficult to lose weight in the future.
Considerations
Fad diets like the cardiac seven-day diet have circulated for years, even though they don't represent a sound approach to weight loss, according to the American Heart Association. If you want to lose weight, you should do it slowly by cutting calories and exercising more. Talk to your doctor before starting any diet.
