The South Beach Diet was created by a preventative cardiologist, Dr Agatston for the purpose of assisting his patients with weight loss and blood work.
It was so successful that a local TV station ran a segment on the diet and it took off in Florida, and then the rest of the world.
The South Beach Diet is based on similar principals to the Atkins Diet, and encourages a low glycemic index lifestyle as a way of life, not only for the purpose of losing unwanted weight. The aim is to replace “bad carbs” and “bad fats” with what they consider to be “good fats” and “good carbs”.
Many poeple consider the South Beach Diet a low carb diet, as it restricts foods high in simple carbohydrates (white bread, rice and other high GI foods). Generally the South Beach diet is considered a combination of a low carb diet and a low glycemic index diet as it concentrates heavily on the GI of foods. The purpose of this is to reduce sugar intake on the whole, as too much sugar leads to excess insulin, which leads to low blood sugar, and this leads to cravings for sugary foods.
The South Beach Diet is divided into 3 phases.
South Beach Low Carb Diet – Phase 1
In phase 1 of the south beach diet, you will enter a 2 week introduction phase where your carbohydrate intake will be reduced significantly from what it has been. A diet of proteins, vegetables, cheeses, low fat dairy, nuts and seeds.
The aim of this phase is to get rid of cravings for surgary foods and kitckstart your weight loss journey. During this 2 week phase, you will eliminate all sugars (not necessarily all carbs), fruits and high GI vegetables.
The South Beach’s “initiation phase” is quite different to Atkins or Body Trim (which both reduce all carbs to very low amounts).
South Beach Low Carb Diet – Phase 2
During the second phase of the South Beach Diet, you will reintroduce a lot of fruits, whole grains (such as wholegrain bread and rice) and other “good carbs”. These will be introduced in moderation, whilst still maintaining weight loss.
You will stay on this phase until you have lost all of the weight you wanted to lose.
South Beach Low Carb Diet – Phase 3
Phase 3 lasts for a lifetime, literally. It reintroduces almost all foods back into the diet, however encourages people to understand the principals of the diet and utilise these principals in making healthy choices.
There are a variety of resources available at the South Beach Diet website.
