Lose Weight with South Beach Diet

If you are tired of going on weight loss diets that do not work or offer only temporary results and leave you feeling fatigued, you need to try the South Beach Diet plan. 

Do not confuse it with a fad diet that cuts out essential nutrients from the eating plan to achieve weight loss. Instead, this diet plan focuses on teaching the importance of including the right carbohydrate and fats in the eating plan, which is essential for a healthy body and mind. 

Eating right is the key

By eating the right food, you can bring down your food cravings, fulfill the nutrient requirement of your body and at the same time lose as much as 8 to 12 pounds in just 14 days. On the other hand, stuffing your body with the bad carbohydrates and fats will make you feel hungry, make you eat more and thus gain weight. This is because these food items are quickly digested by the body, thus spiking blood sugar level and making you feel hungry.

More about this doctor-designed diet

Reputed cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston created the south beach diet in consultation with dietician Marie Almon. It was initially developed for Dr. Agatston’s patients as an alternative to low-fat eating plans that were recommended by the American Heart Association in the 1980s for preventing any cardiac complications. However, the effective weight loss results offered by this diet soon garnered it immense popularity and overweight people adopted this in a bid to lose excess pounds. 

The best part about this diet is that it does not involve rigorous calorie counting, exercising painstaking portion control and banning every tasty food from your platter. Contrarily, this diet includes three normal-size meals and two snacks every day so that the person feels full but not stuffed in any way. You can even customize your meal plan based on your eating preference and select from a wide array of menu samples available.

Different Phases of the Diet

The south beach diet comprises of three phases, the first two of which are required to be followed for a given timeframe while the third one lasts for life.  Phase 1 is the shortest of the three phases, which lasts for 2 weeks, and is planned to stabilize the level of blood sugar for eliminating cravings. Once this happens, the dieter starts losing weight from stomach, hips and thighs. The second phase is designed to offer long-term weight loss results and can be the first phase of dieting for people who want to lose less than 10 pounds. 

Phase 2 lasts until the dieter achieves a healthy weight after which the dieter moves to Phase 3 or the lifestyle phase that you can follow for the rest of his or her life. This phase involves putting all the principles of healthy eating that you have learned in the first two phases into use. Since this is a lifelong stage it makes provision for occasional indulgences such as a slice or two of chocolate sponge cake or a helping of Chicken en Papillote and allows eating almost every kind of food in moderation. 

Foods and recipes allowed in this diet

A sample meal plan is given below:

Breakfast

• Artichokes Benedict during Phase 1 

• Buttermilk Waffles With Jam during Phase 2 

• Cottage Cheese Crepes With Cherries during Phase 3

Lunch

• Shrimp Stir Fry or Edamame Salad during Phase 1

• Chipotle-Rubbed Steak Wrap during Phase 2 

• Other lunch recipes for phase 2 include whole-wheat pizza margherita and peppery zucchini pasta.

Dinner

• Steak au Poivre during Phase 1

• Penne With Eggplant and Ricotta during Phase 2

You can select from a wide variety of food and recipes options for south beach diet, based on your eating preference and the amount of time you have in hand for preparing a dish. When short on time, you can go for a salad that is both yummy and nutritious.