South Beach Diet...anyone try this?
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free skin care · Sun May 09, 2004 7:43 am

Hello all,

I am thinking about going on the South Beach diet... has anyone tried this diet? This is preparation for my vacation!! hopefully, I can fit into the bikini i just bought yesterday..

Also, does anyone know if I can take dairy in my coffee or any kind of dairy in the first two weeks??

Thanks.

Wed May 19, 2004 3:54 pm

South Beach Diet, Atkins, The Zone .... Dr. Phil, Eating for Your Blood Type....yada, yada, yada. Speak to the hand

Though North America seems to be consumed with this phobia of carbohydrates, and the diet industry is riding this trend all the way to the bank! Exclamation

Low-carb candies, bread, and everything under the sun. Doubt

Here's a new concept that I think should catch-on after these other trendy diets go the way of the Pet Rock and Rubix Cube: how about .....

"EAT LESS, MOVE MORE!!" Shock

A balanced diet, with reasonable-sized portions, combined with regular cardio & weight bearing exercise, (and water intake!) will be far more rewarding, fulfilling, and gratifying than these other "quick fix" diets. No kidding that weight-loss occurs. If you eliminate any necessary food group from your diet, you will lose weight. But is it teaching you how to establish proper eat habits, etc? No. I still think that Weight Watchers, T.O.P.S., and the national food guides are the best way to go, ladies & gentlemen. Achievable weight loss, balanced endocrine systems, without denying oneself of normal food. Hey ... if you follow any diet, and don't get the exercise that your body needs, no diet will work! Mad

Take it from a former obese person. And if you don't believe me, I will try to post old photos of myself on this site, as well as recent ones.

Thu May 20, 2004 7:22 pm

As a previously overweight person (who still loves food and so struggles to stay at a constant weight) I totally agree with caspers mum.
Having said that, I have tried the south beach diet. I read the book from cover to cover and agreed with everything written - it made perfect sense to me. That was the theory - the practicle was another matter.
I managed to do the strict phase of the diet - that was fine- although I seemed to eat the same thing everyday. At the end of the two weeks I had the flatest tummy I have EVER had. I was amazed. Unfortunately I had a strange side effect having, never been a chocolate person before - give me a packet of crisps anyday - on this diet all I could think about were Mars Bars - I don't even like them! Since coming off this diet chocolate has been my vice - I just can't get enough.
In conclusion if you want a flat tummy for the bikini great - i'd do it again for a holiday - but not in the long term.

Fri May 21, 2004 1:12 am

Hi all,
Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is the South Beach Diet Confused

Collette

Fri May 21, 2004 2:46 am

The south beach diet is like the atkins diet with a bit of a difference.
It was devised by a cardiologist and is based on good fats and bad fats, good carbs and bad carbs.
For example white bread is a bad carb and wholewheat bread is a good carb. Olive oil is a good fat and butter is a bad fat. It's based on GI's. Which is all about how the body produces insulin. So white bread has a higher GI than wholewheat bread - therefore the body has to produce lots of insulin to process this - so you get a high and then a slump - meaning you get hungry quicker. With this diet you have to try and keep the insulin production level and then you shouldn't feel hungry.
You are also encouraged to eat six times a day so this also helps you not to feel hungry.
To be fair to the diet when I was on it I didn't feel hungry - I just fantasized about chocolate all day everyday.
I had a problem with some of the recipes as you cannot get them easily in England - like low fat riccota. They recommend a lot of desserts that sound nice made with this but I could not find any anywhere. I was quite fond of sugar free Jelly with cream - although when I ate this at work people thought I was very odd!

I think this was the basis of the diet but I may have got it wrong as I have not read the book since october. There was one statement that I liked though.
Although this is not part of the diet and not recommended if you want to loose weight the book said that it was nutritionally better to eat ice cream rather than white bread as ice cream at least has calcium in it and this is good for you.
Unfortunately I can now feel justified eating chocolate ice cream as it's good for you!

Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:23 pm

I tried this and had good success, lost 15 pounds easily. But it's really tough eating like this for long periods...I mean, you can't really have the good stuff at Mc Donalds! And once you fall off the wagon - you start slowly gaining. And of course if you go on vacation, or such, then you're bound to cheat and it's hard to get back on the straight and narrow.

It probably has to be a "life style" - I just don't have the will power. So now I'm trying to exercise more.

free skin care · Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:52 am

My parents both went on the South Beach diet, and they both lost a butt-load of weight. My dad's cholesterol was cut almost in half, and my mom (she has type 2 diabetes) went off her diabetes medication b/c her blood sugar level went back to normal. They are still keeping with the diet, and only cheat once in a while (cake at birthdays, etc.)
I read the book, and it doesn't seem much different from just a regular healthy diet high in veggies and lean-meat proteins. But I guess it really works for some people. My personal trainer said that with any of those low-carb diets, you will see a bigger difference if you are more overweight and don't exercise, but if you are already pretty fit and active, he said it won't change your metabolism enough to see a difference.

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