South Beach Diet
Dr. Agaston teaches you how you can get a South Beach body.
BACKGROUND
If you're looking for a diet plan that has grown wildly popular over the past few years, gives your eating habits a dramatic makeover, and shares the name of one of the world's favorite beaches, then the South Beach Diet is for you. Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist, created this friendly contrast to other prohibitive weight-loss plans and offers a chance to achieve success where you might have previously failed.
The South Beach Diet differs from its low-carb competitor Atkins, in that it restricts saturated fats, which are linked with health problems like heart disease and high cholesterol. It promises that cravings for sugars, sweets and other carbohydrates will disappear as you go along because the diet is supposed to keep blood sugar levels maintained.
The South Beach Diet has three separate phases in which you'll wean yourself away from certain foods and incorporate other South Beach Diet "friendly" foods. The diet promises that you'll lose 8-12 pounds in the first two weeks as long as you adhere to the guidelines.
PRO
- The South Beach Diet supports a clean way of eating that is void of refined sugars and trans fats
- Its emphasis on fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and heart-healthy fats is an eating plan that is full of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids
- Support from the medical science community
- Thousands of satisfied clients
- Updated its research in the 2008 release"South Beach Diet: Supercharged"
- Has a maintenance plan
CON
- Research shows that unless you're diabetic, sugar levels actually remain stable even if you eat a sugary candy bar
- Many South Beach Diet food products contain sugar-alcohols, which may hard to tolerate
- Not very vegetarian friendly
- Its elimination of sugars, certain fruits like bananas and other carbohydrates make it difficult to maintain
- Science behind Dr. Agastaton's assertions about certain foods and their ability to raise blood sugar levels or put on weight is inaccurate
- No exercise guidelines
DIET and NUTRITION
The first phase lasts for two weeks and has you remove starches like bread, pasta and rice, potatoes, fruits, milk, yogurt, honey and baked goods. Sugars are completely eliminated. During the first phase of South Beach, you'll enjoy three balanced meals and some snacks that should include lean meats and fish, eggs, low-fat cheese, fresh vegetables, beans and nuts.
Phase two of the South Beach Diet will allow you to slowly re-introduce fruits, whole-grain breads and pastas. You'll choose just one carbohydrate and include that in one meal each day for one week. You are encouraged to wait a few days and if there are no noticeable effects, introduce one more healthy carbohydrate. Continue this until you're able to successfully have two or three healthy carbohydrates each day. Phase two will continue until you meet your goal weight.
You'll begin the maintenance, or third, phase of South Beach once you've met your goal weight. It's here that you'll put to practice all that you learned in phases one and two.
The book and website offer many South Beach-friendly recipes. There is also a complete line of South Beach Diet foods that can be purchased in your grocery store from cereals to frozen meals. But many of the nutrition bars and snack items contain artificial sweeteners, which have been known to induce gastrointestinal problems.
EXERCISE
Even though exercise has been shown to be an effective and necessary component to losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, there are no specific exercise guidelines in the South Beach Diet.
CONCLUSION
You must wonder if the South Beach Diet is just another marketing attempt to motivate folks who are desperate to lose weight? With its strong assertions and its complete line of food products hitting grocery store shelves everywhere, makes you question how much of its appeal is fact or fiction? The truth is that any diet that cuts calories will help you lose weight. The South Beach Diet is no different.
It's encouragement of eating vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats is admirable. Its elimination of white sugar and refined carbohydrates is equally laudable albeit challenging to follow. And many people have had a lot luck losing weigh following the South Beach Diet. But the South Beach Diet itself has some scientific flaws and many nutritionists would argue that its promise of losing 8-12 pounds in 14 days is a bit aggressive and may not be able to stand up against the test of time.
But if you've got a lot of willpower and don't mind knowing that you might be buying into another fad diet, then this might be just the diet for you.
See the Official South Beach Diet Web site
Common Misspellings
south beech diet, Southbeach diet, Sobe, SBD, South Beach, South Beech Diet, South Beach Deit, southbeach diet, southbeachdiet.com
Related Diets: Atkins Advantage, Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet Supercharged, Low-Carb Diet, Sugar Busters!
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i love this diet i find it easy 2 follow and i dont think the foods 4 this diet is expensive like some people siad ive went from 242ibs to 226 in the last 3-4 weeks i havent gianed anything back even on those off days i had i followed this diet before about 2 babys ago lol and lose 50 pounds and kept it off untill i gained most of it back do to being pregant.....so now iiam back on it and ive been very successful though all the stress and bizziness in my life i have 4 kids and they even like some of the phase 1 meals i think south beach is great 4 the whole family....
I have stuck to Phase 1 of the diet, pretty much to the letter, for almost three weeks and I've lost all of 6 pounds. I don't exercise enough, but only 6 pounds?? I'm 5 feet tall, 53 years old, and 20 -25 pounds overweight. I am also sick of the sight and smell of eggs and chicken, and going broke -- I lost my job several months ago and didn't realize how much this diet would set me back financially, as normally I cannot afford meat or fish, and infrequently chicken. I was mostly into brown rice and vegetables and fruit (and candy) before. But I'm finding that the elimination of sugar and carbohydrates has had a marked improvement on my mood swings, and that alone is reason enough to stick with this.
Did it twice and the kilo's never came back!
I've only been on the SBD for 6 days and have already lost 7.5 pounds. This is also with exercising 30 minutes/day. The only downside is, it's expensive to eat so healthy and if you don't have enough of the "right foods" in the house it's easy to become so hungry. It's easy to get tired of the same foods so you really have to keep variety in your snacks, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. I also find that I've had diarrhea every day since I started this diet. I'm sure these are just initial symptoms that will go away.
So for the person who did not lose weight (D-) it is because of your V8 youve been drinking ! those things have TONS of salt!!
Anyways... I was on the south beach diet followed the rules and actually ended up losing 6 pounds a month. It made me think well if i eat this then i will just end up wanting more & craving more. Which was definatley true. I now have a baby & gained all my weight back (25 pounds) still trying to get those stubborn pounds off! Ive decided today to start doing the south beach diet again. Thank God i kept the book! i am really excited, because it is seems to be getting hype still. & i dont see why it wouldnt. I was wondering why no one was talking about it for a while until i looked up diets on the internet and of course this diet popped up. I just hope i have the same motivation as i did back in the day... :-)
I don't know who to write to, but I just created a recipe for the South Beach Diet. I enjoy cooking. The recipe is (Stuffed Calamara) (squid). My original one is stuffed with bread crumb stuffing, but I just created another one. I used a can of drained salmon, I blended it in the food processor with garlic, fresh parsley and oregeno. I sauteed it in olive oil and butter spray. I cooled the salmon and added an egg white to it to hold. I stuffed it into a large squid and closed it with a toopick. I sauteed the squid on both sides and cooked it into a fresh marinara sauce. If you can get in touch with me, I would appreciate it, so it can go into the South Beach Diet Cookbook for phase 1
I am back to SouthBeach. It definately works if you stick with it. It is a way of life, and not a diet. One must change their perspective on food altogether. As i age, I realize that carbs are not my friend. Fresh veggies and fruit are what I need to stick with. This is day one of the first phase; wish me luck.
I have been on the South Beach Diet for a week now and have not lost a single pound. I've been following all of the rules. hard boild egg and v8 in the morning, 10 nuts for a snack. salad for lunch with grilled ck. string cheese and veggies for afternoon snack, and usually grilled ck and veggies for dinner or vegetarian chili or something like that. What am i Doing wrong? I also have not been able to go to the bathroom. I'm eating so many veggies. I dont understand why.
I finally dicided to change my lifestyle of how i eat, i am giving this diet another change, i have done it before but only lasted a week, and lost 10 lbs, but i went back to my old eating habits and gained it back plus some, so i am doing again now my goal is to pass the 2 week 1st phase i will return back to give an update
lost 14 pounds within 2 weeks
This is the healthiest eating plan I've ever seen. Tons of vegetables even in Phase 1, many of which provide vitamin C. There is meat, veggies and fudgesicles from the beginning and the short 2 week elimination of grains and fruit is a challenge the first few days, BUT any change of habit is. Re: the quick weight loss during the first 2 weeks, I felt that it was from water. I think that the refined carbs cause water retention and by stopping them we lose the fluid build-up. Losing the fluid is quite a healthy thing to do. I would also guess that many who begin this diet were not eating anywhere near this healthy prior to it. People who eat refined carbs will often notice that by middle age that is the mainstay of their diet, not the fruits and grains they are eliminating for a short two week period on the way to getting healthy.
I have been on the diet for 8 days and have lost 8 lbs. I do work out for about an hour a day also.... This Diet SUCKS because I feel like I never wanna see chicken and veggies again, but the results are so amazing it keeps me going! but I am looking forward to some whole grains! hhaha
For those that say its not the Atkins are wrong. It is the Atkins book re-written.
And the Atkins diet is not dangerous. That is another myth.
Protein Power was another book based on the Atkins model. I liked this book the best. You are allowed 30 grams of carbs per day.
I was able to fit a decent amount of carbs including beer into the diet as well as a nice big salad with dinner.
Atkins came up with the theory. All of the other books are variations.
You don't have to follow any book or program to get success from the Atkins theory.
Some people can lose weight with 60 grams of carbs. My roommate can lose weight with 100 carbs per day. But he can lose weight by not having desert for a few days.
If you exercise with the Atkins theory you can add about 10 to 30 carbs per day.
When I was doing this diet I had egg omelets with mushrooms/ half a piece of toast for breakfast.
A Wendy's classic with cheese and half the bun removed and eaten with a fork and knife.
Nuts for snacks
Some type of meat and salad with oil and vinegar and one or two low carb beers for dinner.
ANd some type of low carb snack before sleep.
Sometimes the carbs got to low and I couldn't sleep which is a side effect. Your legs ache a little. No pain just a restless legs. I would get up and have a tomatoe or cucumbers or a piece of bread and that would resolve it.
I went from 199 to my college weight of 167 which actually settled up to 172-177 which is my ideal weight range.
For those of you who are complaining about how you gain the weight back, its because before the diet you hate horrible which caused you to be over weight in the first place. Anyone who eats unhealthy will obviously gain weight over time. The south beach diet teaches you how to eat healthy and to maintain a healthy weight. Its okay to cheat once in a while, but not daily and not all the time. I love this diet. It helped me loose almost a pound a day! I have kept the weight off and have grown to love veggies and grilled chicken because of how great it made me look!!!! BEST DIET TO GO ON.
The diet was wonderful I ate all the foods I love but I also used the prepared South Beach meals that were avaiable at my local grocery stores then all of a sudden none of our stores carry them then South Baech says its because there not sellling, I am so unhappy about this and the fact that I have lsot 75lbs and now I am at a stand still because we got dependant on these prcoooked pre ready to eat meals and we cant get them anymore so yet the diet is wonderful but I am not happy that my support went away
For all of you who are complaining that you gained all your weight back, is obviously because you went back to your old eating habits "normal" again. Normal in this day and age is too much food, I mean, what is normal now days? There's no normal, have you seen the portions they feed you at restaurant now days, if you think that's normal, well, yeah, you're going to be a few pounds than you'd like to be. Well I'm just here to say that I lost 30 lbs in three months 6 years ago and since that time I've slowly re-gained it back, but the great thing is that I can eat healthier for the next three months and lose it again, ummm, that's sounds like a good plan to me as long as I don't SLOB out, or as they say, eat normal again... good luck to you. I'll be 30 lbs lighter the next time I log in to this website.
For people who gain weight back... its because you go back to the old way of eating and dont have enough willpower to stay away from the bad carbs. Dont blame the diet, because like they say, any diet will work as long as you stick with it... dont knock this diet unless you have been consistently following its guidelines and have not lost at least 5 lbs.
So, i started south beach 2 days ago. I kinda mess up the first day. But, the second day went well. I've only lost a few oz's. What am i doing wrong? I had egg with turkey bacon for breakfast. Morning snack sugar free jello. Lunch salad with turkey lunch meat on top. 2 tsp of dressing(hidden valley ranch). 4 cellery sticks with cheese (low fat). Snack nuts. Dinner hamburger with no bun, Lettuce, red onion, tomato and green beans. sugar free ice cream 1/2 cup. I had one decaf cup of coffee and one regular cup in the morning. I also drank tons of water 8 glass +. What am i doing wrong? I work out for 2 and 1/2 hours too. Help. thanks :)
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So, i just started yesterday. I'm not sure what i am doing wrong. I gain a pound. Yesterday i had a hard boiled egg with low fat cheese (breakfast). Snack cellery with cheese. Lunch Salad with turkey meat and nuts. Snack pickle. Dinner fish with veggies and a greek salad. I did have a diet soda for lunch. But, i had 6-7 glasses of water. So, what went wrong? I need help. Thanks :)
OK, now having some concerns. I'm losing weight which is great but it feels like I'm losing a lot fast. I started this diet April 9th and after 9 days I have lost 18 pounds. I'm not feeling tired or weak but it still feels odd. Don't know if I should just skip to phase 2 or not.
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