If you remember back a few years, the South Beach Diet was all over television and online advertisements. Ads have cooled down, but the South Beach Diet is still around and helping people lose weight. But as always, the big question is does the South Beach Diet work? And if so, how?
At first the South Beach diet works like other popular low carb plans. But it changes over time, widening the types of food you can eat. Let’s take a look at the two stages:
South Beach Diet Phase 1 Foods
- Meats: Lean cuts of beef, pork and lamb with visible fat trimmed, skinless poultry, all fish a shellfish.
- Vegetables: most green vegetables, beans and legumes. Can be fresh frozen or canned with no added sugar.
- Dairy: Low fat or skim milk and soy milk. American, cheddar and low fat cottage cheese.
- Sweets (yes, sweets!): Sugar free gum, gelatin and popsicles. Chocolate and cocoa powder without added sugar.
This list is representative but certainly not exhaustive. However, the phase one food list for the South Beach Diet is very limited. It is designed to purge your system of the excessive carbohydrates ans sugars we usually eat. That’s why no bread, fruits and alcohol. After two weeks on this eating plan you’ll likely have lost some weight, and be really bored. That’s when you move to phase 2. This step up is what makes the South Beach diet work differently than all the other low carn diets out there.
South Beach Diet Phase 2 Foods
At phase 2 you can add additional foods to your diet
- Fruits: Most fruits and berries can be eated like apples, oranges, pears, strawberries, kiwis, mangoes, grapes etc. Exceptions are bananas, fruit jiuces, canned fruit, raisins and watermelon.
- Dairy: Low fat and fat free fruit flavored and plain yogurts.
- Starches (limited): Whole grain bagels, breads and cereals. Whole wheat pastas and pita. Sweet potatoes, popcorn, brown and wild rice.
- Sweets: Bittersweet and semisweet chocolate. Fat free and sugar free pudding
- Red wine
Adding these foods to your diet makes following South Beach more sustainable in the long term. Phase 2 continues as long as you want it to.
You may be asking youself how the South Beach diet folks picked the list of foods. Selections for the two phases are chosen based on foods glycemic index. That’s just a fancy way of saying they measure the carbohydrates in foods and how much eating them will raise your insulin levels. Some research shows that foods low in the glycemic index help control appetite and delay hunger. That’s how the South Beach Diet works.
Note about costs and the South Beach Diet. Signing up to the official website is expensive. But that works for some people. Paying for a membership makes them keep to the diet. However, there are tons of websites with recipes and help, beyond the official website. And you can purchase one of the many South Beach diet books to help as well. We recommend starting with About.com’s South Beach Diet Q&A.
At the end of the day, if you follow the South Beach diet you will lose weight in a healthy, slow way. No miracles, no magic to be found. Just good healthy foods that make the South Beach Diet work.
No related posts.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }