South Beach Diet Review
South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet is one of the most popular “good carb” diets on the market today. It was developed in south Florida by cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston, M.D., who originally developed the healthy eating plan as a way to help improve the health of his patients suffering from heart disease. As it turned out, the diet not only was good for your heart, it also help your lose weight.
The South Beach Diet book gives you many recipes to follow and a companion South Beach Diet web site gives you over a thousand recipes, along with customizable meal plans and shopping lists that you can print out from your printer at home to take with you when you go grocery shopping.
This diet consists of three phases:
Phase 1 – During the induction phase of the plan, which lasts 2 weeks, you will break from past “bad” eating habits by eliminating most simple carbohydrates from your diet including foods such as carrots, corn, potatoes, soy, regular cheeses, rice, pasta, baked goods and fruits and fruit juices, and replaced with items such as skinless chicken or turkey breasts, tenderloin, sirloin, fish, fat-free cheeses, green vegetables, legumes, canola and olive oils. This is the most restrictive phase of the three phases.
Most dieters on the South Beach Diet can expect to loss from 8 to 14 pounds after the first two weeks.
Phase 2 – In the second phase, some foods that were eliminated during the first phase are gradually added back into the diet. Phase 2 is goal based and lasts until you meet your target weight by losing 1-2 pounds per week.
Phase 3 – Phase three is the most flexible part of the diet. The third phase is the maintenance phase and will be the way of life once you have reached your ideal weight during phase two. Should you start gain back the weight you just repeat the diet plan.
Pros
This is not a starve diet. The South Beach diet encourages you to eat 6 times a day (3 meals, plus 3 snacks) and to eat more non-starchy vegetables.
The foods you eat on this diet include nutritious, low glycemic index foods that will not only help you lose weight but will lower your risk of heart disease, cancer and other illnesses, and improve your overall health. And you don’t have to give up most of your favorite foods; although, you might need to develop a taste for some different versions of these foods that are just as delicious, or different way of cooking, such as using olive oil in place of vegetable oil and avoiding trans fats.
The diet makes it easy for you to stick with the plan by making available South Beach Diet frozen TV dinners that are sold in just about any grocery store and supermarket that will give you the right amount of nutrients, carbs, fats and proteins that you need to be successful with this diet plan.
The book and website provide you with all the tools you need to succeed. There are over 1000 recipes, 365 weight loss strategies, and hundreds of flexible plans that you can customize with the foods that you like to give you a great variety of menu items to choose from. When you make your customize menus, it automatically generates a shopping list for you to print up and take with you to the grocery store.
The website also provides an online fitness club complete with work out videos that show you moves you can use for your fitness routines, discussion groups to exchange ideas and coaching from registered dietitians.
Cons
One of the drawbacks to the South Beach Diet is that it is a three phase plan and the first phase requires an extreme carbohydrate restriction in the first two weeks that must be followed for the diet to succeed. The first phase is designed to shock your body out of the mode that it is in and into a healthier mode that actually burns fat, and requires tremendous self-control and may leave you feeling weak.
Most nutrition experts are concerned about the fast weight loss of 8 to 14 pounds during the first two weeks of the program. General guidelines recommend losing no more than 2 pounds a week to maintain good health.
Some experts don’t think the South Beach Diet is the best way to loss weight arguing that the initial weight loss may be just water and not actual fat. Phase 1 restricts most carbs, and without carbs for energy, the body turns to store energy source along with water in the muscles.
Some of the foods that the diet recommends can be more expensive that regular food items.
There is not much emphasis on exercise in the South Beach Diet plan, not withstanding the fitness routines available on its website.
As with any diet, before you participant in the South Beach Diet, discuss your plans with your doctor. There is no one best diet plan that is right for everyone, but eating a balance diet and living a healthy lifestyle combine will exercise is essential to safe weight loss and maintaining your ideal weight.
The Atkins Diet
Losing Weight Using The Atkins Method
The Atkins Diet is a high protein low carbohydrate diet developed by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in the 1970’s. The diet works by reducing the amount of non-nutritious carbohydrates that a person consumes. The theory being that by eliminating almost all carbohydrates from the diet, your body burns fat rather than glucose, and by burning more fat than glucose, you will lose more fat by following the Atkins Diet than with any other weight loss program. Once you loss the weight you want to loss, you gradually add some carbs back into your diet
There are many followers of the Atkins Method weight loss plan as well as critics. Critics of the diet say that the Atkins Method is not safe because the diet could lead to damage to the heart.
However, many people have gotten rid of weight successfully including some Hollywood celebrities. Devotees of the method point out that the diet is not for everyone. The diet will be more beneficial to the type of person who is addicted to food and who eats to satisfy emotional needs; a person who is for ever snacking and who is a binge eaters.
The Atkins Method is a four step plan to losing weight. The initial stage involves getting your body from burning carbohydrates to burning fats. The initial phase of the diet means cutting the sugar habit for most people. The second stage is where you speed up your weight loss by increasing consumption of vegetables. The third stage is the pre-maintenance stage where you reintroduce some of the foods that were cut out in the first two stages. The last stage is the life long maintenance that you have to do to maintain your ideal weight.
Most people find it difficult to stick to the Atkins Method of weight loss because craving for carbohydrates and sweets appears to be genetically based. Going out to eat with family and friends can truly ruin your Atkins diet due to the high level of carbohydrates associated with fast food and restaurant food.
The Atkins Method of losing weight is not recommended for children or for teens because they are still growing. People who suffer from any kind of kidney or liver problems should not use the Atkins Method. The Atkins Method can also leave people on following the diet at greater risk for cancer and heart disease because of the reduction in fruits and vegetables consumption involved with the method. It is essential to consult with your doctor before starting on the Atkins Method to be sure that it is safe for you.
Are Low-Cal Diets Safe?
How safe are low calorie diets
Some dietitians will tell you that counting calories and using a low-calorie diet are the best approach to losing weight. Low-calorie diets mean work on the principal of lowering the calories you take in while increasing the number of calories we burn in a day equals weight loss. Most weight loss diets aim at keeping calorie intake to 1000 to 1500 a day.
However, not everyone will lose weight with a 1000 calorie a day diet. The actual number of calories you need to function properly depends on your current weight, your metabolism, and how active you are during the day. Based on these factors, you can determine how many calories your body needs to function. What is the right amount of calories for you may not be the same amount for someone else
You can safely lose a pound of weight each week without any ill effects on you health. When you start on a diet, you will first lose water weight. It will seem like you are losing more weight than you actually are but you are only losing water and the bloated feeling. A dietitian can help you to determine the correct amount of daily caloric needs that is right for you and how much you should take in if you wish to lose approximately a pound of weight each week.
It is vital that what you eat is nutritious and not just low, empty calories. You still maintain the minimum dairy recommended level of vitamins, minerals and protein. Protein is important for strengthening your muscles, teeth and for maintaining good skin tone. You should include protein sources in your diet from food sources such as lean meat, chicken, eggs, beans, nuts, and fish. Most nutritious diets call for two sources of protein a day.
Despite the fact that low-carb diets are popular, dietitians believe that most of us need at minimum 100 grams of carbohydrates each day. We also need at least 20 grams of fiber each day because we need that for proper digestion. Dietitians also recommend that only 1/3 of all our calorie intake comes from the fat in our diets if you hope to keep off the excess weight.
It is not a good idea to cheap by skipping meals in order to keep calorie low. In order to keep your metabolism levels consistent you need to eat on a regular schedule.
Water should be an important part of any diet. Your body needs at least eight glasses of water each day.
The danger involved in a low-calorie diet is that individuals can be tempted to take in fewer calories that are necessary for the regular body functions. Your body needs energy for your muscles to function. When you cut down on calories you do so by cutting out food and in turn you cut out some of the nutrients your body needs to stand healthy and strong.
