The South Beach Diet
What is it?
Developed by renowned cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston, the South Beach Diet
is a clinically tested program that will help you lose weight and improve your
health. This three phase program is based on the principle that you can still
eat carbohydrates and fats, as long as you know the right ones to eat. Followers
of this program include: Bill & Hillary Clinton, Nicole Kidman and Troy
Aikman.
How it works?
The South Beach Diet is divided into three different phases, each with specific
meal plans and recipes.
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Phase 1
Phase one is the strictest part of The South Beach Diet. For two weeks,
you'll be totally eliminating fruit, refined carbohydrates such as bread,
pasta and rice, sugar, alcohol, and baked goods from your diet. Phase one
emphasises lean meats, such as chicken, turkey, fish, and shellfish; and
low Glycemic-Index (GI) vegetables are allowed as well as low-fat cheese,
nuts, eggs.
This means you'll be eliminating many foods you may be accustomed to eating
now such as a roll with dinner or a banana in the morning. And say good-bye
to junk food. However, after the initial two weeks are up, you can begin
adding the excluded foods back into your diet.
The theory behind phase one is that there is a "switch" inside
us that affects the way our bodies react to the foods we eat that make us
overweight. When the "switch" is on, we have urges to eat foods
that actually cause us to store fat. According to Dr. Agatston, at the end
of phase one of his diet this internal "switch" will be switched
off.
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Dieters should expect to lose somewhere between 8 to 13 pounds
in Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet.
Phase 2
After 14 days of "detox," you can begin adding the foods that were
off-limits before. You can begin to add fruit, potatoes, pasta, and rice to
your meals... it's up to you. You can add dessert, too, if you wish.
You can pick which of these foods you add back into your diet. While you can't
eat them all, nor eat the ones you choose with abandon, they'll no longer be
off-limits. The key here is to re-introduce these foods in moderation and to
not eat them as often as you were before.
In phase two, weight loss continues at a pace of 1-2 pounds a week. You should
remain on Phase 2 until you have lost your desired amount of weight or reached
your target BMI.
Phase 3
Phase three is the final and least restrictive phase of The South Beach Diet.
Dr. Agatston says as long as you follow some basic rules, you'll continue to
manage your weight. In fact, he suggests you'll even forget you ever were on
a diet and what you've learned will simply become a way of life.
Should your weight increase, return to Phase 1 till your target weight is achieved.
Then go back to Phase 3.
Sample MMM South Beach Diet Menu
PHASE ONE MENU |
PHASE TWO MENU |
PHASE THREE MENU |
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Breakfast
Herbed Scrambled Eggs with Veal Sausage & Watercress |
Breakfast
Cinnamon Oatmeal Porridge
Seasonal Mixed Berries |
Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs with Bacon
Granary French Toast |
|
Lunch
Roast Beef Salad with Spicy Radish & Onion Sauce
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Lunch
MMM Leg-of-Lamb BLT
Garden Salad |
Lunch
MMM surprise Tuna Caesar |
|
Afternoon Snack
Turkey Ham Roll-up |
Afternoon Snack
Mixed Italian Antipasti |
Afternoon Snack
Roasted Plums & Walnuts wrapped with Pancetta |
|
Dinner
Chicken Cassoulet with South Beach Mash |
Dinner
Grilled Beef Tenderloin with New Potatoes and Spinach |
Dinner
Poached Salmon with Wild Rice Salad & Aspargus |
|
Supper
Cocca Ricotta Creme |
Supper
Raspberry and Mango Yogurt |
Supper
Hakuto Peach with Walnut Ricotta |
What Advocates Say?
- In clinical trials, people on the South Beach diet see dramatic reductions
in triglycerides and improve good to bad cholesterol ratio by reducing LDL (bad)
cholesterol and increasing HDL (good) cholesterol.
- Dr. Agatston says that people lose anywhere from five to 100 pounds on
the diet.
- It is good at is improving heart patients' lipid profiles
- This diet has a very high success rate because the food is delicious
and there is no limit to food intake.
- Allows greater food choices than low-carb diets such as the Atkins Diet.
Instead, a distinction is made between "Good Carbs" and "Bad
Carbs" (as well as "Good Fats" and "Bad Fats".)
- This diet is healthy (in fact, the diet was originally designed for preventing
and reversing heart disease, and weight loss is the very pleasing side-effect!)
- In one 12-week study of 40 overweight people, those who followed the
South Beach Diet lost an average of 13.6 lb, almost double the 7.5 lb lost by
those on the strict "Step II" American Heart Association (AHA) diet.
And the South Beach group showed greater decreases in waist-to-hip ratio (belly
fat) and triglycerides, and their good to bad cholesterol ratio improved more.
Plus, only one person dropped out compared with five in the AHA group.
What Critics Say?
- Claims like "Lose 13 lbs in 2 weeks" are often touted for
this diet. While this may be true, please be aware that most of this weight
loss will be from water loss, not fat loss (due to the limitation of carbohydrates
from the diet). Nevertheless, this water loss looks just like fat loss, giving
the dieter a psychological boost, so it's not such a bad thing.
- The food required for this diet can be a little costly, and can take
considerable time to prepare.
- Lack of option for those who do not like or can't eat dairy as many snacks
are dairy base.
