Differences Between The Sacred Heart Diet & Cabbage Soup Diet

When you want to lose weight, it's only natural to be tempted by the latest, greatest diet on the market. You might be interested in comparing the strengths and weaknesses before committing to one, and that would be wise. While it may be interesting to compare the Sacred Heart Diet to the Cabbage Soup Diet, neither are nutritionally sound, both fall into the fad diet arena, and both diets are practically the same.

About the Sacred Heart Diet

The American Heart Association declared that the Sacred Heart Diet, also known as the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital Diet, is not a legitimate diet. According to the AHA, some folks behind this diet have made false claims that the AHA has prescribed it. The AHA considers the Sacred Heart Diet to be a fad diet and does not recommend it. The Sacred Heart Diet supposedly was a diet used for overweight heart patients at Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital, but this is untrue, according to the Providence Sacred Heart hospital. A soup-based diet, the Sacred Heart Diet claims that you'll lose between 10 and 17 lbs. in the first week.

The Sacred Heart Soup

For seven days, you eat a special soup, but no cabbage is in the soup, which is the main difference between the Sacred Heart Diet and the Cabbage Soup Diet. Many variations exist, but the most common version of the soup contains stewed tomatoes, green onions, beef or chicken broth, chicken noodle soup mix, celery, green beans, carrots and green peppers.

About the Cabbage Soup Diet

Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky called the Cabbage Soup Diet a fad diet because it does not allow you to maintain the diet over time. This diet is similar to the Sacred Heart Diet in its claim that you can lose 10 lbs. in a week. The drawbacks to the Cabbage Soup Diet are that the cabbage can give you gas, and that you may feel week from lack of proper nutrition, according to Zeratsky.

The Cabbage Soup Recipe

For seven days, you eat cabbage soup, which contains green onions, green peppers, canned tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, celery, cabbage, soup mix, optional bouillon cubes, optional vegetable juice and seasonings. The key difference between the Cabbage Soup Diet and the Sacred Heart Diet is the addition of cabbage. The rest of the diet is the same.

Same Seven-Day Plan for Both

Besides eating the soup every day, dieters on both diets must follow a strict eating regimen. The first day, dieters eat only fruit except bananas. The second day, dieters eat only vegetables. The third day, dieters eat fruit and vegetables. The fourth day, dieters eat bananas and skim milk. The fifth day, dieters eat beef and tomatoes. The sixth day, dieters eat beef and vegetables. On the seventh day, dieters eat brown rice, fruit juice and vegetables.