The South Beach program is among the most widely used methods of losing weight today. It is based around diet and lifestyle changes that help you achieve realistic weight loss goals. By cutting out "bad" fats and carbohydrates and eating plenty of "good" ones, dieters can take weight off without sacrificing their health or feeling deprived.

There are three phases in the South Beach program. During the first phase, dieters can't eat any carbohydrates except for vegetables. Although several foods are banned, dieters still have a variety of foods they can consume. The first phase is the most challenging phase, but also the shortest since it only goes on for two weeks. Dieters can expect to lose approximately 10 pounds during this time.

In the second phase, dieters begin incorporating the previously banned carbohydrate-rich foods into their meals. Dieters are expected to lose one to two pounds each week while slowly raising the amount of carbohydrates in their diet. The second phase lasts until dieters arrive at their ideal weight.

The third phase is the lifetime maintenance phase. Dieters take the healthy eating strategies from the second phase to keep their desired weight throughout the rest of their lives. If dieters begin to regain weight, they are able to revert back to the first phase of the diet.

It is likely that you've seen pre-prepared South Beach snacks and meals sold in stores. These items are convenient, but you do not need to spend money on them in order to be on the diet. You only need to commit to the different general rules for each phase of the diet.

During phase one of the diet, you can eat lean cuts of meat, such as turkey, chicken, and fish, eggs, nuts, most vegetables, and a small quantity of nonfat dairy products. Fruit juices and fruit are not consumed during this phase because of their sugar content. Also restricted are all carbohydrates, fatty meats, alcohol, and some vegetables that are rather high in sugar or carbohydrate content, such as corn. The intent of this phase is to cut "bad" carbohydrates from your diet and start the process of losing weight.

During the second phase, dieters gradually reintroduce fruit, whole grains, and other banned foods into their diet. In the process, dieters discover how to balance their eating habits to keep a desirable weight. Once this is successfully accomplished, the diet moves into the lifetime maintenance phase, in which dieters attempt to maintain the healthy strategies that helped them reach their target weight.

The key to success with the South Beach plan is committing to healthy eating. Although that seems simple, the South Beach diet program and most other diets fail to work because dieters abandon the diet before the program can take effect. The difficulties that most people have with losing weight often result from deeper issues such as a lack of drive to lose weight, a tendency to eat too much, or an uncontrollable appetite. The good thing is that all of these issues are treatable with techniques that anyone can learn from a high quality hypnosis diet CD program.

To reverse a lack of motivation, a technique from a tool called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) will induce a powerful urge to stay on track with your weight loss goals.

To begin, dieters pinpoint exactly what it is that is most valuable to them, as an individual. This is called their "highly valued criteria." Then, NLP techniques are utilized to make the dieters believe that by losing weight, their highly valued criteria will benefit greatly. Another option is to make the dieter believe that if they do not lose weight, their valued criteria will be placed in jeopardy.

Motivation is created by what we believe, not by logic! So in the previous case, let's say that the dieter's most valued criterion is that the dieter's kids are safe and well. Using an NLP tool called Submodalities, we can direct the dieter into feeling that if he/she is unable to lose weight, the kids will be condemned to emulating their parent and they will be overweight and unhappy. This belief will give a strong urge and feeling to stay committed to the diet and take the weight off.

Many NLP techniques can help to reduce or even completely eliminate the urges and cravings that compel one to overeat. This works very effectively to help dieters stick to the first and most challenging weeks of the South Beach diet. Furthermore, helps dieters stick to an exercise program, which will increase the efficacy of any diet program.

Stress is a factor that frequently drives people to overeat or neglect their well-being, but stress-relief can be provided by both NLP and hypnotic practices. One such tool is called the NLP Flash. With the Flash technique, having the unconscious use stressful thoughts to prompt you to have positive thoughts relieves the stress that causes the impulse to overeat.

Out-of-control eating habits often cause people to pack on pounds. A lot of people have apparently uncontrollable appetites because over time, they have unknowingly developed a "conditioned response" to eat under certain circumstances. For instance, many of us snack on junk food in front of the television even though we're not actually hungry. The good thing is, NLP and hypnosis possess practices that can quickly eliminate these conditioned responses. These practices eliminate the appetite without drugs or pills.

By treating the main problems that keep people from shedding pounds, hypnosis and NLP has helped many dieters finally get fit and trim for life. Combined with the South Beach weight loss program, dieters are able to experience easy weight loss and triumph at reaching their health goals.