Crashing the Sacred Heart Diet

Crash diets are dangerous...in general. They are dangerous because people do not pay attention to the warnings/context of a diet trend. They proceed and fall victim to the fine print.

Crash diets are not meant to be maintained: Most crash diets have a time limit, from a few days to a full week. They are called crash diets because they are short-term and people who try to continue past the time limit, quickly find out why crash diets are dangerous.

Crash diets have warnings (context): When stumbling across the newest crash diet, people rarely pay attention to the information that comes with it. If something says that it will completely change the way your body digests food, know that it will. Example: By completely eliminating carbohydrates from your diet (and loading up on meat), your digestive system will be revolutionized. Instead of having energy cells (carbohydrates) that turn to fat when not used, through the power of ketosis, your metabolism will change stored protein into energy. This, of course, is dangerous in the long run. The food your body uses for energy should be used for energy. Forcing your body into survival mode is never a good thing. But cutting back on heavy pasta dinners and sugary doughnut breakfasts is not a bad thing either.

Crash diets must be researched: Use common sense. Ask why it works and whether you can commit to it for the time specified. If you cannot, then do not bother wasting your time/money on it.

Sacred Heart Diet: First Impressions

http://www.idiet4u.com/diets/sacredheart.html

Although Sacred Heart (all of them) disavows any connection to this plan as a common-use, no physician required diet, one should note the medical context given. This diet comes from the SacredHeartMemorialHospital and is used for overweight heart patients in order to lose weight rapidly, usually prior to surgery. This should immediately tell you that this is an extreme, short-term diet that a doctor would tell someone about to go under the knife who needed to lose a few pounds in order to improve his/her chances of a successful operation. This, in no way, indicates that the average not-in-the-hospital Joe/Jane should utilize this diet for as long as possible while working an 8-hour workday. Remember: short-term and probably laid up in a hospital bed (or at least not working too hard). This diet is fast. The secret lies within the principle that you will burn more calories than you take in. The diet relies on "negative-calorie" foods. A negative-calorie food is any food that provides just enough calories to cancel itself out (example: a celery stalk provides the body with 6 calories, but the body requires 6 calories to eat/digest a stalk of celery).

Day 00: Preparation

Timing: I took part in this diet while I was on vacation so that any negative effects that will occur will occur at home (and not when my money depends on it).

Food: After a trip to Wal-Mart, I paid about $60 for the soup and other ingredients.
Soup: 2 cans of stewed tomatoes, 3+ large green onions, 1 large can (or box) of beef broth (no fat), 1 package Lipton Soup mix (chicken noodle), 1 bunch of celery, 2 cans of green beans, 2 lbs. carrots, 2 green peppers.
Other: cranberry juice, V8, skim milk, cantaloupe, peaches, plums, blueberries, blackberries, bananas, cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, beef hamburger patties, brown rice.

Soup: The last time I did a soup diet, it did not work because I hate vegetables and only drank the liquid part. This time around, I processed and re-processed all of the ingredients into a nice sludge, then put everything together in a large pot to be boiled for as long as possible. Total preparation time can take several hours. Make the soup the day before you plan to start.

Note: In order to show you how your weight will fluctuate, I will be using my weight as an example. Because I do not tell anyone my real weight (my driver's license has never been correct), I will be stating it in "units".

*** Saturday: 10 units (= I weigh 10 units.)

Day 01: Soup + Fruit

I had a big bowl of soup and a peach at every meal. In the mundane routine of eating out and eating fast, we no longer bother eating fruit at all (and fruit-flavored hardly counts). It is not because we do not like fruit, it is because it is an afterthought that often results in tossing out rotting fruit two weeks after purchase. So yes, being reminded (forced) to eat fruit was rather refreshing.

*** Sunday: 8.2 units

Day 02: Soup + Vegetables

I had a big bowl of soup and some sort of leafy green vegetable at every meal. I love raw cabbage, but it tastes disgusting with the soup. So I switched to raw spinach which was easier to eat. It was rather boring really. But I really did enjoy the butter-soaked baked potato for dinner. The one that I bought was so big, I ate half for dinner and the other half as a late night snack.

*** Monday: 7.4 units

Day 03: Soup + Fruit + Vegetables

For breakfast, I only had a bowl of soup; I had errands and was in a hurry. For lunch, I had the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday and loaded up on lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions, beets, carrots, green peppers, and creamed cauliflower. If you are ever bored with this diet, spice it up by hitting a salad bar. Just remember not to get any salad dressing (salt, pepper, and vinegar are okay). For dinner, I had soup and leftover fruit. And yes, there was a rather large weight loss.

*** Tuesday: 2.6 units

Day 04: Soup + Bananas + Skim Milk

This is your calorie/carbohydrate day. You will gain back some of the weight you lost; do not worry. About this time (or sooner), you will start to crave the taste of meat.

*** Wednesday: 5.2 units

Day 05: Soup + Beef + Tomatoes

I bought hamburger patties because they are easier to account for: each patty is 4 ounces, and 5 patties equal 20 ounces. Basically, I just cut up the patties into good-sized chunks and tossed them into my soup, scooped the seeds out of the tomatoes and filled them with the soup/meat mixture (saucey meat stuffed tomatoes). It fools the palate into thinking you gave up on the soup.

*** Thursday: 4.8 units

Day 06: Soup + Beef + Vegetables

All I did was mix the hamburger patties into the soup for each meal. The diet says you can have steak, but hamburger patties are easier to account for. I skimped on the vegetables because I was sick and tired of spinach. But I was good on every other account.

*** Friday: 3.4 units

Day 07: Soup + Brown Rice + Vegetables

Yes, I skimped on the vegetables. One can only be good for so long. I made brown rice on the stove (a bit overcooked). But I was really good about the soup. By now, you will be so sick and tired of the soup that forcing it down your throat will be a deed of pure will power. And yes, I did cheat. About an hour from midnight, I finally gave into temptation and had half of a real hamburger (leftovers from Ruby Tuesday).

*** Saturday: 3.2 units

Lasting Impressions

Choice: I chose this crash diet because it seemed extremely healthy. As a result, I have eaten more fruits and vegetables in this one week than in the last couple of months combined.

Energy: After only 7 days of this process, you will...experience an abundance of energy. My energy levels remained the same throughout, neither abundant nor lacking, but I was only running errands, not working (vacation). My sister (part-time work) had to stop half-way through due to dizziness and shaking. My mother (full-time work) stopped because she was hungry and kept cheating.

Weight Loss: By the end of the 7th day, if you have not cheated on this diet, you should have lost 10 to 17 pounds. At my lowest point, I was 7.4 lbs. lighter than when I started. By the end of the week, I was a net total of 6.8 lbs. lighter than when I started.

Bowel Movements: After being on the diet for several days, you will find that your bowel movements have changed. Eat a cup of bran or fiber. This diet does not cause constipation or diarrhea. You will defecate more than usual, but you will not suffer such embarrassing situations.

Criticism: Most critics say that you will only lose water weight and gain everything back immediately. Even with Sunday morning doughnuts, I am still maintaining. Of course, I freaked out and did my "7 Minute Power Abs" program with a few additional crunches. For the first couple days afterwards, I held to a strict exercise regimen. A week later and I am maintaining at 5.6 units (2.4 lbs. gained, but still 4.4 lbs. less than when I started two weeks ago).