The South Beach Diet is NOT a traditional low-carb diet plan. It was developed by Miami cardiologist Arthur Agatston in order to help dieters lose weight through "good carbs" and "good fats".
~ Why "Good Carbs"?
Because when you eat "bad carbs", your body creates what it's called an "insulin resistance" syndrome -- meaning your body cannot properly process body fat or sugar.
~ Why "Good Fats"?
Because when you eat "bad fats", you only increase your chance of developing heart diseases.
~ The Three Phases of the South Beach Diet
1. Phase One (2 weeks)
In this phase, avoid high-glycemic foods, such as ice cream, sports drinks, glucose sugar, maltose sugar, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, chips, donuts, waffles, rice cakes, wafer biscuits, white bread, bagel, baguette, pretzels, rice pasta, instant rice, watermelon, jellybeans, and cornflakes.
As a result, your body will lose its insulin resistance, and begin to use excess body fat. You can expect to lose between 8 and 13 pounds. Individual results may vary.
2. Phase Two (no time limit)
In this phase, try to reintroduce the right carbs slowly, such as fruit and whole-grain breads and pastas. Continue to eat low-glycemic foods, such as multigrain bread, barley, grapefruit, apple, pear, orange, cherries, lettuce, spinach, pepper, green beans, tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lentils, soy beans, kidney beans, low fat yoghurt, soy milk, grapefruit juice, and fructose sugar.
There is no time limit for this phase. Just follow it until you reach your weight loss goal.
3. Phase Three
This phase begins when you reach your desired weight. In this phase, include three servings of whole grains and three servings of fruit a day.
~ Tips
If you want to lose weight with the South Beach Diet, you should eat whole grains, certain vegetables and fruits, along with the good fats, such as olive oil and fish. Don't forget to choose lean sources of protein. Make sure you always count calories and limit your servings. The most important thing is you should avoid overly refined foods, high fat meats, and saturated fats.
The diet is often being confused or compared to the Atkin's diet which was developed by the late Dr Atkin. The Atkin's Diet is mainly a low-carbohydrate dieting system.
Dr.Agatston believes that excessive consumption of "bad carbohydrates" ie high glycemic carbohydrates, creates an insulin resistance in the human body. This is a malfunction of the hormone insulin's ability to properly process fat and sugar. He also held the view that over consumption of "bad fats", such as saturated fat and trans fat, contributes to an increase in cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and stroke.
To prevent these two conditions, The South Beach diet minimizes consumption of bad fats and bad carbohydrates and instead push for the replacement of these unhealthy food with good fats and good carbs.
This is a 3 step program. In all 3 steps of the diet, Dr. Agatston recommends minimizing consumption of bad fats.
The South Beach Diet Step 1 - During the first two weeks, weight loss dieters try to eliminate insulin resistance by avoiding high or moderately high-glycemic carbs, such as sugar, candy, white bread, potatoes, fruit, cereals, and refined grains such white rice. During this step, the body will lose its insulin resistance and begin to use excess body fat for energy, thus the dieter will lose weight rapidly as much as up to 10 pounds during this step.
The South Beach Diet Step 2 - During the second phase two weeks later, whole grain foods, some starchy carbs and fruits are progressively reintroduced into the diet albeit bit by bit until the dieter reaches the desired ideal weight.
The South Beach Diet Step 3 - In step 3, dieters continue to increase consumption of whole grains, fruit servings and some moderate carbs. If the dieter's weight do not increase or stay at status quo, then that will be the level of carbs in his meals and henceforth to maintain his ideal weight,he will know his carbohydrate tolerance level.
The weight loss program do not have the cumbersome counting of calories or limiting calories. Dr Agatston suggested that you eat until you are satisfied. Dieters are told to eat small 6 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with small snacks between each meal to increase their their metabolism for fat burning purpose.
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