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Diet Plans - South Beach Diet

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!

Why The South Beach Diet Works
  • You'll eat normal-size helpings of meat, chicken, turkey, fish, and shellfish.
  • You'll have plenty of vegetables. Eggs. Cheese. Nuts.
  • You'll have salads with real olive oil in the dressing.
  • You'll have three balanced meals a day, and it will be your job to eat so that your hunger is satisfied. Nothing undermines a weight-loss plan more than the distressing sensation that you need more food. No sane eating program expects you to go through life feeling discomfort. You'll be urged to have snacks in the midmorning and midafternoon, whether you need to or not. You'll have dessert after dinner.
  • You'll drink water, of course, plus coffee or tea if you wish.
The South Beach diet plan is divided into phases:

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

A typical South Beach diet breakfast is two eggs and lean bacon.

A mid-morning snack is Celery stuffed with 1 wedge Laughing Cow light cheese.

Lunch might be salad greens with grilled chicken.

For an afternoon snack, 10 cherry tomatoes with 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese.

Dinner may be lean meat again with fiber-rich vegetables.

Diet Foods to Enjoy: include, tenderloin, sirloin, or top round, skinless chicken or turkey breasts, all types of fish and shellfish, boiled ham, canadian bacon, 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 yogurt, 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 - Lasts Until You Reach Your Weight Loss Goal - More Liberal Phase
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-fiber carbohydrates, such as whole-grain breads, which raise your insulin levels in a much milder way that do simple, starchy carbs. 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.

You may start on the South Beach Diet hoping just to lose weight. If you adopt it and stay with it, you will surely accomplish that much. But you'll also do a lot more for yourself, all of it very good. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this diet can, as a fringe benefit, save your life.

What's Good in The Diet
It promotes rapid initial weight loss of 8-13 pounds in 14 days. Thereafter, offers weight loss of about 1-2 pounds, per week. It helps to improve eating habits and stabilize blood sugar levels. The South Beach Diet helps to improve good to bad cholesterol ratio and reduce triglycerides.

What's Bad About The Diet
Much of the initial 8-13 pounds weight-loss is likely to be water-weight-loss caused by carbohydrate restriction. Such weight loss is typically regained, as soon as carb-intake resumes. Another drawback of the South Beach Diet is the lack of options for people who don't like or can't eat dairy. Many snacks are dairy-based, yet the diet bans soy in the first two weeks.

Overall
Although we do not agree with some of the anti-carb propositions in the South Beach Diet, this diet is full of sensible advice about (e.g.) fat, hunger, refined foods and balanced eating. Who cares if it doesn't contain any new or ground-breaking dietary advice? The South Beach Diet is a perfectly do-able diet plan with a range of interesting recipes and diet ideas, and encourages long-term eating from all food groups.