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South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet plan was created by cardiologist Dr Arthur Agatston based at Mount Sinai Hospital – in South Florida. The diet was originally developed for overweight heart patients. The patients experienced excellent results, not only in their general health but also lost weight.
Since hitting the shelves, Agatston’s book The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss has remained a bestseller (despite a pretentious subtitle). The diet is becoming known as the “healthy” version of the Atkins diet. This diet is good – very good, and includes foods such as whole grains, healthy fats, fish, chicken, fruits and vegetables.
South Beach Diet Plan Overview
Three Phases
The South Beach Diet begins with a somewhat restricted two-week induction phase — generally producing weight loss of 8 to 13 pounds. In this phase most carbohydrates (such as rice, pasta, and breads) must be avoided. There are three meals a day and snacks — eating until your hunger is satisfied. Meats, shellfish, chicken, turkey, and fish are all on the menu – along with nuts, cheese (fat-free), eggs, salads, and vegetables.
There are two subsequent phases that include specific meal plans and recipes. The second phase reintroduces some of the foods avoided in Phase 1 – but only sparingly. In this phase weight loss should be in the region of 1-2 pounds per week.
The third phase is about living the lifestyle more than a phase – its about eating healthy foods, and maintaining weight.
This is NOT Atkins
Although the South Beach Diet may seem similar to the Atkins diet or the Zone diet, Dr Agatston stresses it is not a strictly low-carb diet. It’s all about balancing the good carbs against the “bad” carbs. Although when looking at the first 14-day phase – there is no doubt that this is a low-carb phase. However the South Beach Diet is based around the Glycemic Index, and carbs are chosen according to this index.
South Beach have an on-line program that includes an 800 recipe database, and options for vegetarians. (see top right).
South Beach Food brand fits in with the diet guidelines for snacking.
South Beach Diet Phase 1
| Breakfast Tomato juice, 6 oz Scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and mushrooms Canadian bacon, 2 slices Decaf coffee or decaf tea with fat-free milk and sugar substitute |
| Snack Part-skim mozzarella cheese stick |
| Lunch Chicken Caesar salad (no croutons) Prepared Caesar dressing, 2 Tbsp |
| Snack Low-fat cottage cheese (½ cup) with ½ cup chopped tomatoes and cucumbers |
| Dinner Mahi mahi Oven-Roasted Vegetables Arugula salad Low-sugar prepared dressing |
| Dessert Lemon Peel Ricotta Crème |
Phase 2
| Breakfast Berry smoothie (8 oz Dannon Light ‘n Fit fruit-flavored yogurt, ½ cup berries, ½ cup crushed ice, blended) Decaf coffee or decaf tea with fat-free milk and sugar substitute |
| Snack 1 hard-boiled egg |
| Lunch Lemon Couscous Chicken Tomato and cucumber slices |
| Snack Dannon Light ‘n Fit yogurt, 4 oz |
| Dinner Meat Loaf Steamed asparagus Mushrooms sautéed in olive oil Sliced Bermuda onion and tomato with drizzled olive oil |
| Dessert Sliced cantaloupe with 2 Tbsp ricotta cheese |
Phase 3
| Breakfast ½ grapefruit Tex-Mex eggs (2 eggs scrambled with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and salsa) Whole grain toast, 1 slice Decaf coffee or decaf tea with fat-free milk and sugar substitute |
| Lunch Roast Beef Wrap Nectarine |
| Dinner Grilled salmon with tomato salsa Tossed salad (mixed greens, cucumbers, green bell peppers, cherry tomatoes) Olive oil and vinegar to taste or 2 Tbsp low-sugar prepared dressing |
| Dessert Chocolate-Dipped Apricots |
Look for more high protein, low carb recipes here.
South Beach Diet Summary
The South Beach Diet is nutritionally sound, however the more expensive food items could make the cost difficult to meet for some. Unfortunately good nutritious foods do tend to cost more than their highly-processed counterparts.
The principles of eating in balance, little-and-often, low-GI carbs are all included in the South Beach. Despite some feeling that the diet is a fad, and has had a major positive impact on the eating habits of millions.
See the review of the updated version South Beach Diet Supercharged
I’ve been on this plan for almost 2 years(I call it a plan because it doesn’t feel like you’re dieting even after a long time). On the first and second phases I lost 16 pounds and reached my goal weight. Now, I’m just maintaining and if I ever feel I’m slipping off a little I go back to phase 1 and loose the excess in 1 or 2 weeks. Very nutritious and the meal plans are great. I follow it to the letter and never complain about variety. There’s plenty of dishes, and you can easily order out following the guidelines. I really like it.
I am trying to get more info on the South Beach Diet Plan. I do not know anyone that has tried it. I can’t find the cost of this plan. Is there anyone that can tell me the total cost. Thanks
I tried this and lost 7 pounds in a month. Unfortunately, I did not continue the diet after a snow storm left me at a friends house for two days. I should’ve started over and I keep finding one reason or another not to start again. Diets are hard and you definitely have to commit yourself to eating better, in general, in order for you to have success with it. I am currently reading Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman and after I am finished reading the book I am going to begin that plan. It sounds harder than any other plan, but the benefits sound remarkable and I would love to be thinner and also healthier.
I love the South beach. it has trully changed the way I eat and how I think of food. As a server I will working while regular people would be eating dinner. Sometimes I wouldn’t eat for 7to 8 hours. Then when I would get off work at 1 am and eat fast food b/c they were the only places open. South beach encouraged me to eat as a way to maintain energy and balanced, not starve myself to the point where I would binge on digusting food. The first two weeks took a little adjusting to( of course!) but then I started getting to the point where I wouldn’t crave the usual high carb high fat foods I lived off of before. Not to mention the benefits for my skin. With omitting fats, carbs, and sugars from my diet, my skin cleared and became more firm! I definitely recommend thus diet for someone who just dosen’t want to lose pounds but wants to make a lifetime change:)
I first tried this diet about 6 years ago. My mom and I did it together and were very successful in losing a lot of weight. I had two more pregnancies after that, as well as some stressful times when I overate and made bad health choices in general.
I got back on the wagon when my youngest child was one, back in 2007. At that time, I lost about 25 pounds over the course of 4 months. The most amazing thing to me is that, even though holidays came and went and I didn’t always make perfect choices, I still managed to keep the 20 pounds off for 2 years.
I restarted fresh just before Halloween 2009 on this diet, and even with cheating for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’ve still managed to lose 13 pounds and keep it off in the last 3 months.
I”ve also upped my activity level a lot, “jazzercizing” about 4 times/week, so my muscle mass is increasing, and I realize the pounds are going to slip off slowly because of that.
I have about 60 pounds still to lose to be at my ideal weight with a healthy BMI, but: sticking with this diet, esp the intelligent Phase II part of it, along with regular exercise, and losing a modest 1.5 pounds per week… I’ll get there by the end of the year!
Good luck all you dieters out there! It can cost a bit more to start with, definitely requires more time chopping veggies and prepping ingredients, but it’s delicious and not really that hard to stick with, and the results can be permanent if you incorporate the principles into your daily life-time eating habits!