thanx so much for the info...i have asked them, but i find that no matter what they do i still sneak it in lol...ill try to have a bit more self control though

Several days ago I finished the 7-Day Cabbage Food (aka Sacred Heart) Diet. Hope what I learned will be helpful to someone just starting (or thinking about it). If you're not familiar with this "oldie", I copied the program below. IT IS a fad diet in that it is too low in calories and nutrients to stay on long term. But it was very helpful for me -- and maybe for you too.

Pros of the Diet:

1) You do lose weight fast (but not necc. as much as the diet claims). I lost 6 lbs in one week. The good news is that so far all but 1 lb has stayed off (so it wasn't just water....)

2) The diet is great for "jump starting" a diet or new eating lifestyle because it weans you off unhealthy foods (processed, fat-filled, sugary, fried etc...)

3) The diet is so low in calories (I estimated that I ate between 500-800 per day) that it is much easier to stick to a moderate diet (1000-1200 c/day, weight watchers etc...) afterwards.

Cons of the Diet

1) This is not an easy plan to stick to the first 3 days. After that it gets easier, although the soup will seem less and less appetizing.


2) This is not an easy diet to combine with family or eating out, particularly the first several days. It is easier on Day 5 or 6 when you get to eat lots of beef/chicken.

3) Breakfasts are hard on the non-fruit days (who wants to eat soup, veggies or beef for breakfast??)

Hints for Success

1) Do your best NOT to cheat -- especially by adding anything sweet or fatty. If you cheat just a little, you will probably still lose weight, but the most important benefit of this diet is that it retrains your appetite. If you stick to the diet, sweets afterwards will taste VERY sweet (and fats very fatty) and you will need less of them to feel satisfied.

2) Start the diet when you can control completely what you eat the first 4 days. I made separate meals for my family on those days and did not even try to eat out.

3) For the soup, leave out the lipton soup mix and add instead more fat-free low sodium chicken broth. (Swanson makes it in cans and 28 oz boxes) Add the following dry herbs instead: sweet basil, pepper, thyme, garlic powder (or fresh garlic), and bay leaves (3-4) You will reduce the salt in the soup ALOT and you will retain less water. Add salt to your bowl as needed (you use much less if you add it just before eating).

4) On the fruit and veggie days, spoil yourself with some more exotic foods. I had fresh mango, canned mandarin oranges (canned in water), asparagus etc...

5) When you finish the diet, have your diet for the next week planned out. Since I was using this diet to jump start a longer term diet plan, I decided to alternate 900 and 1200 calorie days for the second week and then adopt a moderate calorie diet (1200-1400 cal/day) with exercise until I reach my weight goal. This way, I hope to maintain my weight loss on the diet (including most of the water loss) and progress more moderately from there.

I'm glad I went on this diet. Before beginning it, I was in a eating rut. I lacked motivation, and needed a fresh start and a clean break from the bad food habits that had piled on the pounds.


CABBAGE SOUP-SACRED HEART DIET

Source: Free 7 Day Diet Recipe


CABBAGE SOUP RECIPE:

- 6 large green onions
- 2 green peppers
- 1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole)
- 3 carrots
- 1 container (10 oz. or so) Mushrooms
- 1 bunch celery
- 1/2 head cabbage
- 1 package Lipton soup mix
- 1 or 2 cubes bouillon (optional)
- 1 48oz can V8 juice (optional)

Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, etc.

1. Slice green onions, put in pot and start to sauté with cooking spray.

2.Cut green pepper stem end off and cut in half, take seeds and membrane out. Cut the green pepper into bite size pieces and put in pot.

3. Take the outer leafs layers off the cabbage, cut into bite size pieces, put in pot.

4. Clean carrots cut into bite size pieces, put in pot.

5. Slice mushrooms into thick slices (otherwise they will disappear in the soup), put in pot.

6. If you would like a spicy soup, add a small amount of cayenne pepper (red pepper) now (1/3 teaspoon is quite a bit as the soup will get spicier as it cooks further).

7. You can use beef or chicken bouillon cubes for seasonings. They have all the salt and flavors you will need.

8. Use about 12 cups of water (or 8 cups and the V8 juice), cover and put heat on low. Let soup cook for a long time (two hours works well).

9. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

10. Eat all the soup you want, whenever you want for the next 7 days.



Day One:

* Eat only fruit, all the fruit you want except banana.
* Drink unsweetened tea, black coffee, cranberry juice, and water.
* Eat as much soup as you like.

Day Two:

All you want - fresh, raw, or cooked vegetables of your choice. Stay away from dry beans, peas, and sweet corn. Reward yourself with a big baked potato with one small pat of butter for dinner. Eat as much soup as you like but no fruit for today.

Day Three:

Combine days one and two, eat as much fruit, vegetables, and soup, as you like but no baked potato.

Day Four:

Eat as many as eight bananas and drink as many glasses of skim milk as you would like on this day, along with your soup. This day is supposed to lessen your desire for sweets.

Day Five:

You may have 10-20 ounces of beef (300-500g) and a large tin or up to six fresh tomatoes. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water this day to wash the uric acid from your body. Eat your soup at least once today. You may eat broiled or baked chicken (skinless) instead of beef. If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for the beef.

Day Six:

Eat beef and vegetables today. You can even have two or three steaks if you like, with fresh vegetables or salad. NO BAKED POTATO. Eat your soup at least once.

Day Seven:

Eat all you want of brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices, and vegetables. Be sure to eat your soup at least once to day. No bread, alcohol, or carbonated beverages, not even diet soda.

...or you could skip all that and learn how to eat properly and make a life change.

I posted my experience for those who DO want to learn to eat properly and make a life change. But some of us (myself included!) need a jump start to a new way of eating. This diet -- while NOT for the long term -- emphasizes fresh vegetables & fruits and eliminates fried, sugared, and processed foods. If you need to make a clean break from bad habits, this 7-day diet can be a helpful boost to a new way of eating. Of course, if you don't need a motivational jump start, more power to you...

I tried this diet before and made the cabbage soup without the lipton also. I added jalapeno's to mine (yum). I didn't follow the "plan" but ate a 1000 cal a day diet tracking on spark and ate the soup as part of my meal and when I had insane munchie moments, it helped.

Just an update.... I've been off the cabbage soup/sacred heart diet for a week now and have followed a moderate 1200-1400 calories/day diet emphasizing the same foods (fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats, low-fat dairy, and whole grains) but in larger quantities. I quickly lost the pound I regained after ending the diet and dropped two more by the end of the week (today). So while my total weight loss on the CS/SH diet (6 pounds) is less than some of the claims I read, I have kept it off and continued to lose on a more moderate plan. Again, I don't recommend this diet to anyone for long term, but it did help jump start me to what I hope will be a livelong better way of eating.

Today is the end of Day 5 on the SDH and so far I haven't lost any weight. I stuck to the diet and didn't cheat at all - not even to take my chewable calcium supplement.

Ruth1028,

That is depressing.... Hope the diet worked in the end for you. If nothing else, I found it helpful to retrain my eating habits away from fried, sugary, processed etc... foods.

The Cabbage Soup Diet
Ahh, the famous Cabbage Soup diet. Most people interested in dieting have certainly heard of this one. many of them have actually tried some version of it. Since nobody has ever claimed to be the inventor of this diet, there is no definitive cabbage soup diet, but rather a string of versions floating around magazines and the Internet. Every expert who tried to promote this diet has either added or replaced an existing feature, which means that aside from that cabbage soup you can expect to see a wide range of other foods, although nothing spectacular.

Source:

The Cabbage Soup Diet

Not a great plan...
Ultimate Cabbage Soup Diet

On a cold winter's day, a warm pot of soup makes a satisfying meal. But soup at every meal, day in and day out, for seven days straight is downright bizarre. There's nothing magical about cabbage—or a fat-free cabbage soup—that melts away fat. Zeroing in on one food to the exclusion of others is probably what makes you lose weight. But you'll undoubtedly become sick of the soup and eat less and less of it. Less food equals fewer calories, and fewer calories means weight loss.

Does the diet take and keep weight off?
Weight loss is a given since calories are so low, but it's unlikely that the pounds will stay off, particularly once you return to your old eating habits. And—no surprise here—there's not a shred of clinical or even anecdotal evidence to support the value of this regimen. All there is to go on is a vague statement in the book that "men and women across the world have had incredible success with this diet." Nevertheless, the author boldly claims you can lose 10 pounds in seven days. Is the diet healthy? No way. A diet that focuses on so few foods can't possibly provide all the nutrients you need. In fact, it lacks ample quantities of everything from fiber to protein to calcium.

What do the experts say?
"Sure, people lose weight with this diet. How much cabbage soup can anyone really eat?" asks registered dietitian Jackie Berning, an associate professor of biology at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "My problem with the diet is that it doesn't teach people how to change the eating habits that made them gain weight in the first place." Oh, and the digestive repercussions of all that cabbage? "Your family will probably kick you out because of all the flatulence," Berning says. Baylor College of Medicine weight-loss expert John Foreyt, Ph.D., cuts to the chase. "It's silly," he says. "It's just about cutting calories. People will lose weight in the short term, but nobody can stick with it." Would he recommend it as a quick way to jump-start weight loss? "Of course not."

Who should consider the diet? Nobody. This regimen is unsafe.

Bottom line: Sure, eating a steady diet of cabbage soup will peel off a few pounds over the short term, but they'll come back. Count on it.

Morning,

I adore soup (but not cabbage!). Just about every day one of my meals will be a soup with either beef or pork or chicken and veggies thrown in (along with bunches of hot pepper and ginger). It's a great way to have a warm filling meal.

Then again, I've been devouring soup now since the Ice Age, so perhaps I'm in the minority. But a good amount of my food intake is in the form of soup.

Now what gets me is the ridiculous claims of "cabbage soup diet pills." And I quote:

.... Thirty minutes before each meal, you’ll take two pills with an eight-ounce glass of water.

When your stomach breaks down the cabbage soup pill, the pill’s contents combine with the water to essentially create a bowl of soup in your stomach. It fills you up so you’ll eat less at meals, and you’ll still reap the metabolism-speeding benefits from the soup’s flavonoids.

You’ll be amazed how just two little pills can fill you up for hours on end, all the while increasing your metabolic rate!

Utterly ridiculous. "Create a bowl of soup in my stomach"? Without even having the benefits of enjoying the taste?

I think not.

'Nuff said,

Barbara

the worst diet ever! Curse Victoria Beckham!

Michael

who? another former flame?

You don't know Victoria Beckham?

David Beckham = English soccer star

Victoria Beckham = The skinny brunette chick from Spice Girls?

Where you been the last 8 years?

celebrities dont have names in my world... I just don't pay all that much attention...

Prison...

No working -yeah working