South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet
was developed by a cardiologist from Miami, Florida named Arthur Agatston. He is a graduate of New York University and his first plan was developed for cardiac patients.
Dr. Agatston stresses the consumption of ‘good carbohydrates’ and ‘good fats’ He believes that excess consumption of ‘bad fats,’ such as saturated fat and trans fat, contributes to an increase in cardiovascular disease. Equally, he believes that the excess consumption of so-called ‘bad carbohydrates’ create an insulin resistance syndrome which impairs insulins ability to properly process fat and sugar. ‘Bad carbs’ are those with a high glycemic index, which means they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream.
The South Beach Diet contains three phases.
Phase One: This is the strictest part of the plan and is to be followed for fourteen days, potentially longer for those with a lot of weight to lose. It includes three meals a day with snacks as needed for satiety. Foods are extremely limited to lean cuts of meat, seafood, low fat cheeses, certain vegetables, and some desserts specifically featured in the diets cookbook. Turkey bacon is limited to two slices daily and the desserts are limited to 75 calories a day.
Carbs are extremely limited, coming only from low glycemic vegetables. You will be giving up a lot, such as all fatty beef cuts, dark meat chicken and turkey, corn, bread, potatoes, cereal, pasta, fruit and fruit juices, whole milk, alcohol, and of course all sugary sweets.
According to Dr. .Agatston, during this phase there is a dramatic loss in the level of insulin resistance and you will begin to burn excess body fat, losing up to thirteen pounds as a result.
Phase Two: This phase adds whole grains, fruit, and dairy products back into the diet, but they need to be consumed in smaller amounts. It is suggested you add them one food at a time, so you can see how different foods make your body feel and adjust your choices accordingly. The emphasis continues to be on foods with a low glycemic index. You will remain on this phase until you lose the rest of your excess weight.
Phase Three: This is the maintenance phase where you are taught how to keep the weight off. The transition from eating unhealthy to healthy food is complete at this point and this is how you should be eating the rest of your life. You should be eating only whole grains, large amounts of low glycemic vegetables, lean cuts of meat, and adequate amounts of mono and polyunsaturated fats, including omega-3 fatty acids from fish and seafood.
The South Beach Diet appeals to many people because it is fairly balanced once you get beyond the first phase. Many people enjoy not having to count calories and that they are allowed frequent snacks.
The downfall is that this fad diet drastically cuts out a food group your body needs: the carbohydrate. It also requires a high level of willpower to sustain for a long period of time and can be more expensive and time consuming than a lot of people can afford.
As with all fad diets, there is always the danger of lapsing back into old eating habits and gaining the weight back. You should honestly evaluate whether you can cut out so many foods for the long term and really stick to the rules for this plan.
Does The South Beach Diet Work For Healthy Weight Loss?
By Joseph Cole
With the South Beach Diet being one of the more popular fad diets on the market and health professionals are often asked ‘does the South Beach Diet work?’ Well, I can tell you that the first phase of the South Beach Diet has extreme carbohydrate restrictions. This means you need serious willpower just to get through the first few weeks, and as a result of the lack of carbohydrates you may feel weak and moody.
Since diets are hard to stick to anyway, a better approach to losing fat should be to make diet changes a way of life, and avoid temporary phases or plans. Does the South Beach Diet work? It certainly could not if you fall back into old eating habits, which will be hard to resist. This will then result in speedy fat gain, resulting in you having to start the diet over as the author recommends when you gain weight.
As with all low carb diets, the first phase of the South Beach Diet will result in substantial weight loss, but lets be clear, unless you are seriously overweight or obese, it is physically impossible to lose more than 2 pounds of fat in a single week. Instead your weight loss will be mostly a combination of water weight and muscle tissue. When I am asked ‘does the South Beach Diet work?’ this is the first thing that comes to my mind, and is enough for me to make my decision.
Interestingly, the South Beach Diet relies primarily on the glycemic index for its guidance on carbohydrates. As a result, low GI simple carbs such as fructose, despite studies showing it to be a cause of obesity and far more damaging to a diabetic’s health than sugar, is allowed.
Similarly, if you rely just on the glycemic index, as the author does, you would believe that carrots, parsnips and potatoes are bad for you. However, what the glycemic index fails to take into account is how much of carb foods are bad for you, since the average carrot has only 4 grams of carbs. Do you still think that carrots could make you fat?
The question should not be “does the South Beach Diet work?’ but rather ‘does the South Beach Diet make sense?’ By relying exclusively on the glycemic index you tend to ignore the basic differences between simple and complex carbohydrates and their impact on your bodys fat storing functions.
Talking about fat, the author makes some good points about the negative effects of unhealthy saturated fats such as contained in butter and cream, as well as the fact that eggs are not bad for you, despite being high in saturated fats. On the other hand, he classes all unsaturated fats as healthy, when this is not the case. Studies show that the many unsaturated fat cause Omega 3:6 imbalance which is a contributing factors to many chronic degenerative diseases
It is also upsetting to see that the importance of serious fat-burning exercise is not stressed enough. The South Beach Diet suggests that 20 minutes of walking a day is sufficient but such advice applies to individuals who are already in shape, not to someone who needs to lose a serious amount of fat. How does the South Beach Diet work for helping overweight and obese individuals who need to strip the fat off? However, the author does point out that weight training is suggested for speeding up your metabolism.
Does the South Beach Diet work? It does seem like an honest attempt at convincing the masses of the importance of saying no to processed and junk foods but the mere fact that it involves a very restrictive and unhealthy initial phase, which you are recommended to switch back to whenever you gain weight, and the lack of advice on burning the fat off through exercise, means I would personally be very hesitant about recommending it.
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Is The South Beach Diet Safe? What Every Dieter Needs To Know
By Darlene Nicholson
On quick glance, the south beach diet seems like a fairly safe and overall healthy diet plan. It does offer a way to eat healthy for life which is not the norm for fad diets. Support is also available through online communities and direct advice from the doctor who formed the diet and his nutritionists. Sounds good, right? But look a little closer and you’ll see its pitfalls.
The biggest pitfall of the south beach diet is found right at the beginning. The first two weeks of the south beach diet are excruciating. Absolutely no fruit, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, sugar, alcohol or baked goods are allowed. If the dieter is accustomed to eating these things, this will be extremely difficult to get through. This fact alone makes the south beach diet a potential failure.
In addition, the first two weeks of the south beach diet puts the body in a state of ketosis. Ketosis occurs when adequate carbohydrates are not taken in and ketone bodies are produced. If ketosis continues, then ketoacidosis can occur, leading to coma and even death. This will be amplified in anyone with kidney problems, but is certainly a problem even in healthy people. Moreover, the majority of weight lost in a state of ketosis is water weight and it will be regained when normal eating resumes. Lowering calories to this extreme also reduces metabolism thereby making weight loss more difficult in the future.
Designed for lowering cholesterol in heart patients and also for diabetics, the south beach diet is basically a low carb diet. After the initial two weeks, healthy carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables are gradually added back in. The potential for gaining back pounds lost in the first two weeks is high at this point. It’s very difficult for a person to deny themselves of something and not go overboard when the item is reintroduced. Again, a great deal of self-resolve will be needed in order to make this extreme diet work.
Another pitfall to the south beach diet is rather subjective, but nevertheless, an issue. The south beach diet offers an overwhelming amount of books and advice creating somewhat of a complicated plan. A lot of people will simply not make it through learning the diet and become frustrated when things become too complicated. If a person has a difficult time understanding a diet, he or she will have an even more difficult time sticking to it.
The south beach diet, overall, is just too strict. Eating healthy for life doesn’t have to mean giving everything up. There aren’t many allowances for occasional indulgence. This, in and of itself, will make it difficult for a person to stick to the south beach diet.
Though it’s not the worst fad diet ever, the south beach diet just isn’t the best way to achieve healthy weight loss and keep it off for life. The best way to achieve healthy weight loss is by learning how to make healthy food choices on a daily basis, not fad dieting. It’s also about learning to balance these choices with every day life so it’s not so darn complicated. Seems a bit simpler than memorizing the Glycemic Index, doesn’t it?
Rather than following the south beach diet, try a more straightforward approach. Make a list of all the items you eat that are high in fat and sugar. Eliminate most of these from your daily intake and only allow a small amount now and again. Read food labels and try to understand portion sizes. You may be surprised at what you find. For instance, a serving of ice cream is only half a cup for a total of about 300 calories. Can you see how easy it would be to serve up a cup or even a cup and a half? Now that “serving” of ice cream is 600 to 750 calories! Try to get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. This could be a standard exercise such as running mixed up with some fun like dancing.
Remember the key to a healthy diet: Everything in moderation! The south beach diet may work for some people, but it certainly won’t work for everyone. Following a generally healthy diet and exercising regularly is a less complicated approach to weight loss and will certainly improve your health for a life time.
From a sickly little girl to a healthy chef to the stars, Darlene Nicholson transformed herself into The “Kick in the Butt” Healthy Lifestyle Expert and creator of the popular DVD “The Healthy Grocery Store Tour”. Visit her website http://www.lifechanginghealthysolutions.com/ or grab a copy of her free ebook “4 Steps to Permanent Weight Loss”…guaranteed to open your eyes to how easy weight loss can be with the right plan of attack at http://free-weightloss-book.com/
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The South Beach Diet is just one of the most popular fad diet, to go back to the main page click here, Popular fad diets.
