South Beach Diet Information

What Is The South Beach Diet?

Most people are sick of trying new diets for one reason – they do not work! What makes the South Beach Diet different is that it teaches a way of life where you rely on the right carbohydrates and fats. This new way of eating allows you to live contently without eating the bad carbohydrates and fats. In contrast, when a person eats bad carbohydrates and fats they feel hungrier, causing them to eat more, which causes weight gain. In exchange for eating right, you become healthier and can enjoy an 8 to 13 pound weight loss in just two weeks!

The Diet was created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, a highly respected cardiologist, to work with your body safely and effectively. This diet works in phases, the first two for a specific timeframe and the third phase for life. With this new approach, you can stop counting calories, stop weighing food portions, and stop feeling as though you are deprived from eating good-tasting and satisfying food! Actually, you will be eating three, normal-size meals but wait, that not all! You will also get two snacks each day and with meal plans that are designed to be flexible, you can enjoy a variety, based on what sounds good to you on any particular day.

Best of all, you will see amazing results in a short amount of time. Your hips, thighs, and stomach will be thinner, the number on the scales will go down, and all those overwhelming food cravings will be gone! Just imagine losing weight while still enjoying many of your favorite foods. With the diet, you can dine on mouth-watering foods like Chicken en Papillote, Shrimp Louis, and even Chocolate Sponge Cake and still lose the weight!

The South Beach Diet Phases

Phase 1, The Strictest Phase of the Diet - Lasts 14 days

In the first phase, you eat normal-sized helpings of lean meats, such as chicken, turkey, fish, and shellfish. Vegetables are also allowed, so are nuts, cheese, and eggs. The goal is to eat three balanced meals a day, and to eat enough so that you don’t feel hungry all the time.

Diet Foods to enjoy includes tenderloin, sirloin, skinless chicken or turkey breasts, all types of fish, boiled ham, turkey bacon, whole eggs, fat-free cheeses, peanuts and pistachios, green vegetables, legumes, canola and olive oils.

Diet Foods to avoid include, beef rib steaks, honey-baked ham, breast of veal, all yoghurt, ice cream, milk including whole, low-fat, soy, and full fat cheeses, beets, carrots, corn, yams, fruits and fruit juices, all alcohol, all starchy foods such as bread, cereal, oatmeal, matzo, rice, pasta, pastries, baked goods, crackers, etc.

Expected Weight Loss: 8-13 pounds.

Phase 2, More Liberal Phase Lasts Until You Reach Your Weight Loss Goal

The second phase is similar to the first phase, but you reintroduce some of the banned foods and eat from all the dietary food groups. You can start eating high-fibre carbohydrates, such as whole-grain breads, which raise your insulin levels in a much milder way that do simple, starchy carbohydrates.

Additional Diet Foods to enjoy include, most fruits, fat-free or 1 percent milk, other low-fat dairy foods, whole grain starches, barley and pinto beans and red wine.

Diet foods to eat sparingly, include: refined wheat baked goods, potatoes, beets, carrots, bananas, pineapple, watermelon and honey.

Expected Weight Loss: 1-2 pounds per week.

Phase 3 - Weight Maintenance

This diet phase, which is an even more liberal version of the initial diet plan, lasts the rest of your life. It should be used to maintain your healthy weight. Agatston describes this phase as a “way of life.” Should your weight begin to climb, you repeat the diet plan.

A typical day on South Beach Diet - Phase 1:

Breakfast

6 oz vegetable juice cocktail
Eggs florentine
2 slices canadian bacon
decaf coffee or tea w/ non-fat milk and sugar substitute

Midmorning Snack

Celery stuffed with 1 wedge laughing cow light cheese

Lunch

Chef salad (turkey, ham, low fat cheese on mixed greens)

Midafternoon Snack

10 cherry tomatoes with 1/2 c low fat cottage cheese

Dinner

Orange Roughy in scallion and ginger sauce
Steamed snow peas
Shredded cabbage sautéed in olive oil

Dessert/Snack

Mocha Ricotta Creme

Although weight loss is achieved on the South Beach Diet some questions have been raised about the ability of the South Beach Diet to induce ketosis. This is a state when your body does not have carbohydrates to digest and results in rapid weight loss being achieved. Some health professionals are not convinced that by dropping carbohydrates and placing a greater emphasis on protein this is enough to induce ketosis.