The Sacred Heart soup diet is a fad diet, not associated with any hospital or medical center. It's a low-calorie, one-week plan that lets you eat all the vegetable soup you want, in combination with a carefully controlled meal plan that changes daily. There are no special fat-burning properties to the soup, which is a simply a high-sodium vegetable soup. You will lose weight on the Sacred Heart diet, but mostly water weight from severe caloric restriction. Check with your doctor before starting any fad diet, especially if you have health problems.
Sacred Heart Soup
This diet allows unlimited quantities of soup, which can be eaten at any time. The soup is made from canned beef broth, dry soup mix or bouillon cubes, canned tomatoes, canned green beans, onions, bell peppers and carrots. You can season the soup with hot or Worcestershire sauce, curry, garlic and pepper. Simply cover the vegetables with water, boil 10 minutes, then simmer until the vegetables are tender. The canned vegetables, canned broth and bouillon make the soup very high in sodium.
Seven-Day Plan
The soup comprises the bulk of your diet, but the dieter can supplement the soup with different foods every day. Day 1, the dieter can eat any fruit except bananas; Day 2 is any vegetable except peas and corn, and Day 3 is any food from days 1 and 2. Day 4 is skim milk and bananas. Days 5 and 6 are protein days -- the dieter can eat up to 20 oz. of meat and fresh tomatoes, and is encouraged to drink as much water as possible. The last day of the diet includes brown rice, vegetables and fruit juice. The Mayo Clinic warns that this diet is so low in essential vitamins, no one should stay on it more than a week at a time, and dieters should follow a healthy eating plan for at least two weeks after the Sacred Heart diet to make up for inadequate nutrition.
Weight Loss
Dieters will lose weight on the Sacred Heart diet, but probably won't lose fat. Much of the weight will be water weight, and some will be muscle weight. Losing muscle mass can actually slow your metabolism, because muscle tissue requires more energy than fat, even at rest. Water weight will be quickly regained when the diet ends. Healthy weight loss is fat loss, and the Sacred Heart diet does not promote healthy or sustainable long-term weight loss.
Hypoglycemia
Glucose is your body's primary source of energy; it's made from the food you eat, specifically carbohydrates. Because the diet is low in calories and carbs, dieters may suffer low glucose levels, called hypoglycemia. Symptoms include hunger -- especially with a desire for sweets -- mood swings, irritability, anxiety, fatigue and dizziness. The only treatment for hypoglycemia is to eat and raise blood sugar levels. Depending on the day, the dieter may not be eating enough carbohydrates to prevent or treat hypoglycemia.
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