South Beach Diet
Can the South Beach Diet help you lose weight?
The South Beach Diet offers a healthy way to lose weight while enjoying all kinds of food. This diet was created by cardiologist, Dr. Agatston, MD., who decided to develop an eating plan that would improve the cholesterol and insulin levels of his patients with heart disease. The diet is not a low-carb or low-fat diet. The focus is on selecting the right carbohydrates and fats. It encourages a well-balanced diet that includes plenty of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains plus nuts and healthy oils. The major emphasis is on staying healthy.
Unlike the Atkins diet, Agatston’s plan steers dieters away from saturated fat found in butter and fatty meats, and encourages the consumption of monounsaturated fats like olive oil and omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. There are no limits on portion sizes. You simply eat enough to satisfy your appetite and you’re encouraged to eat three meals and snacks each day.
According to Agatston, the South Beach Diet is a life change, not just another diet. In fact, some people lose as much as 8-13 pounds in the first two weeks of entering the program. However, more importantly, it also improves your health.
Benefits
- Many people that choose the South Beach Diet lose a lot of weight immediately, finding it to be a relatively easy diet to follow. Dr. Agatston says that people lose anywhere from 5 to 100 pounds on the diet
- Not only does this diet improve cholesterol and insulin levels, but it also has helps many people lose weight.
- The major benefit is that it is good at improving a heart patients’ lipid profiles.
- The diet plan teaches you to make healthier eating choices.
- The diet doesn’t require you to count calories or measure out portion sizes.
- It is flexible and easily accommodates individual tastes and needs. You can easily substitute the suggested meals with other choices you like better.
Risks
- The extreme carbohydrate restriction in the first two weeks requires serious willpower and may leave you feeling weak and wobbly.
- Dr. Agatston recommends fish, which can potentially be contaminated with dangerous levels of mercury and PCBs from generations of water pollution from coal plants and other sources. Mercury and PCBs can lead to all kinds of disease including neurological disorders.
- During Phase One, you may be missing out on some vitamins and minerals. Eliminating all carbohydrate-rich foods during this phase also means you’ll be cutting out some other good sources of fibre, vitamins, and minerals.
What do experts say about the diet?
Most nutrition experts recommend losing no more than 2 pounds a week for good health and so experts are concerned that this diet promotes such a large weight loss in the first two weeks. They say this is unhealthy and is simply the result of a severe calorie restriction caused by cutting out all carbs.
According to Cindy Moore, RD, the director of nutrition therapy at The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association (ADA), "South Beach diet meets several criteria for a health-promoting diet. It appears to be scientifically based. It is rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean protein, and it doesn't omit any major food groups."
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