Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital Diet – A Review

The Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital Diet (also known as the Sacred Heart Diet) is another such diet that, like the Tuna Diet, is attributed to hospital staff attempting to reduce the weight of a heart patient by a few 10 lbs. It has been around since at least the 1980s, and takes the form of a vegetable soup eaten, along with a few other foods, over a seven-day period.

Potential users should know that the origin of this plan is uncertain. The hospitals have denied being the source, as have other institutions that have been nominated as possible originators, including the American Heart Association.

However, the diet continues to make the rounds and has adherents who are happy to use it, along with others who have been skeptical or found it unhelpful. This soup diet is also known as the Cleveland Clinic diet, the cabbage soup diet, and the Spokane heart diet. I have come across user reports claiming that they were submitted by their doctor.

The dieter is expected to eat the soup at least once a day, and at various times, meats, rice, vegetables, and fruits can be included in the eating plan. Bread and alcohol are excluded. Included are chicken noodle soup, stewed tomatoes, beef broth, celery, and more. The only drinks allowed are water, black coffee, cranberry juice (unsweetened), and skim milk. A detailed outline of this plan can be found with a quick search of my article “Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital Diet – Recipe and Diet Plan”.

EFFECTS:

1. The Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital diet is essentially a short-duration, low-calorie diet, with the typical pitfalls of such a plan, such as dizziness, lack of energy, occasional diarrhea, and sometimes fainting.

2. Short-term weight loss is often water loss rather than fat loss and is easily regained once the diet is over.

3. The body tends to conserve energy and fat stores with low calorie diets. This makes it more difficult for lasting weight loss to occur.

4. There are reports of significant amounts of weight reduction, but the feeling of hunger and discomfort caused by this diet plan makes it likely that the user will overeat after the seven days of restricted eating. Thus, the amount of weight that has been lost will soon be regained.

5. No change in eating habits is required except for the seven day period of the diet. This means that the benefits are unlikely to continue, as returning to business as usual will soon restore what has been lost.

In effect, lasting weight loss requires a lifestyle change: a different selection of foods as part of the normal diet rather than a crash program that adds stress to the body and only provides short-term benefits. Such a plan would include foods that have high nutritional value and suit the tastes and preferences of the dieter. Also, a significant part of the weight that has been lost should be fat loss and not simply water, which is easily replaced. Unfortunately, the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital Diet does not meet these requirements.

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