The South Beach Diet has quickly captured the hearts and stomachs of dieters. Because of the buzz it’s been getting at the watercooler and at parties, it’s fast becoming one of the most popular carb-control plans. Developed by Miami cardiologist Arthur Agatston, MD, director of the Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center, the diet is meant to promote weight loss but not at the expense of heart health. Unlike other wildly popular low-carb plans, South Beach calls for keeping tabs on saturated fats and favors lean meats and proteins over bacon, cheeseburgers, and steak. Recently, Agatston came out with a South Beach Diet cookbook.
While the South Beach Diet is lumped together with other low-carb plans, it takes a decidedly different and healthier approach to protein and fat. Agatston contends that weight loss is just one of the priorities of the diet (the other is healthful levels of cholesterol and other blood fats). As with other low-carb diets, it’s questionable if the restrictive first phase really banishes carb cravings and is truly safe. So perhaps dieters can jump headfirst into phase two.
Basic principles:
The plan consists of three phases. In the first, carbs are curtailed dramatically in order to stop cravings. Next, dieters keep blood sugar on an even keel by adding back small amounts of slow-to-digest “good” carbs like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Without getting too complicated, foods are categorized based on a ranking system called the glycemic index (G.I.), which measures their ability to raise blood sugar. Foods with low G.I.’s are favored because they are digested and absorbed slowly and release sugar into the blood gradually; colas, sugar, and refined grains are downplayed since they have a high G.I. Simply put, “the faster the sugars and starches you eat are processed and absorbed intro your bloodstream, the fatter you get,” Agatston says.
How the diet works:
There’s no calorie counting. In fact, there’s no actual diet plan per se. Agatston uses sample menus to outline what you need to eat. Lists of “foods to enjoy” and “foods to avoid” round out the plan. Basically, it adds up to three meals a day and three small snacks or six “eating occasions.” Agatston doesn’t like to call his diet low-carb; nevertheless, carbohydrates are indeed limited.
What you can eat:
Varies depending on the phase. In phase one, dieters pick low-G.I. carbs from Agatston’s list and pair them with modest portions of proteins including lean meats and seafood. Dairy, except for low-fat cheese, is taboo in this phase. By phase two, you start mixing in higher-G.I. foods in small amounts. Sweet treats, such as hard candy, frozen fudge bars, and Popsicles, are limited to 75 calories’ worth per day.
Does the diet take and keep weight off?
No clinical data. There are no independent trials that look at the success of the diet alone or compare it with other popular plans. However, Agatston has his own study with 40 overweight volunteers. Dieters were randomized to either South Beach or the American Heart Association Step 2 diet. At the 12-week point, South Beach dieters lost nearly 14 pounds, or about twice as much as the AHA dieters.
Is the diet healthy?
Phase one is too restrictive. But phase two and the maintenance phase promote healthful fats, lean proteins, and complex carbs, albeit a smaller percentage of them.
What do the experts say?
“It’s one of the more sensible of the low-carb diets,” says John Foreyt, PhD, a well-known weight-loss researcher t Baylor College of Medicine. “If you pick and choose carefully in the later phase, you can make a sensible eating plan out of it. The problem with it, of course, is that there is no data on the long-term results on whether it keeps weight off.” Registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, who has counseled patients at Northwestern Memorial Wellness Institute for five years, says she tells patients “not to read any of the theory part of the book or worry about glycemic index. It’s a bit convoluted,” she says. “But I do tell them to buy the book for its menu ideas, recipes, and cooking tips. There’s a great recipe for mashed cauliflower that is a good substitute for mashed potatoes.”
Who should consider the diet?
Anyone wanting to try a somewhat safer version of low-carb dieting: Cooks, chefs, and dieters who appreciate good food will find lots of creative recipes here.
Bottom line:
This is the best of the reduced-carb regimens. Its emphasis on healthful fats and lean sources of protein is laudable. The advice to eat three bites of a rich dessert (no more, no less) when you eat out is clever. On the other hand, forget the tip about filling up with a glass of Metamucil (fiber supplement) 15 minutes before mealtime. Eating high-fiber foods at the meal is a much better—and tastier—strategy.
Lead writer: Maureen Callahan, M.S., R.D.
Comments (14)
I’ve had a lot of success with the South Beach Diet. I found that if I got a bunch of South Beach Diet Recipes and stuck with those throughout the week, I was really able to stick to my diet. I didn’t really buy anything that wasn’t on the list to make the food I wanted. So far I’ve lost 37lbs.
Do comments work?
The SB diet really works!! I was on it for about 2 months and lost 25 pounds. The first two weeks were hard, but once you make it past that phase, the rest is so easy.
i loved the recipes however found them too time consuming to prepare on a daily working basis. I would follow the diet on days off, and then be forced to go back to simpler things on my 12 hour shift days. That seemed to defeat the purposel
My husband I went on the SB diet and found it a positive diet to follow – we have been on it for 2 months and I have lost 10 pounds and my husband has lost 22. We especially love the turnip frie recipe and the breakfast skillet cheese one
I’ve been on SB for 5 years. It works. I’ve lost 27 pounds and have kept it off. It’s simple, makes sense and is easy to follow. I tried to diet before I tried SB and it didn’t work for me. This just seemed to make sense.
I started the South Beach Diet 5 years ago, and lost 59 pounds. I’ve kept it off with very little effort. Even after having left it and “going it on my own” I still find myself shopping the way this book taught me. I have all of the books for this diet and have since gone back to it. This is a great way to eat. It’s a definate keeper.
Several years ago (2005?) I lost 20 pounds using the South Beach diet. After the first two weeks of Phase 1, I used it as a “guide” rather than strictly following the recipes in the books. I found it to be an easy concept, even when eating in restaurants. By following the guidance in the book, my weight has not fluctuated by more than a couple pounds since. I eat all foods in moderation now. I plan to go back on the diet to try to get rid of that last 20 – I am planning on success. (I am a mid-forties female.)
I’ve been on the diet a week now, and it really works! Being 17 and 5′6, and starting at 145 lbs. I wasn’t really overweight, I just wanted to slim a little. But so far I’ve lost 5 lbs. and feel great! The only thing is heartburn, which I think I get from the huge amounts of vegetables consumed. (I always ate more fruit) Since that is the basis of the diet, make sure to drinks LOTS of water, as it helps. I recommend it for anyone, but as stated the first phase requires (and still is requiring) enormous willpower.
I’ve followed the South Beach diet since January of 2007. I went through all three phases and maintain via following the principles of the diet. Unlike the person who wrote the assessment of the diet, I learned how to eat the right things (and more importantly why) by paying close attention to the first two thirds of the the books (I also read the South Beach Heart Program) and not trying to simply eat based on the menus in the books. I create my own meals based on learning the basics. The result? I lost 80lbs (265 down to 185) by Feb. 2008 and have been maintaining that weight since. I also went from now exercise to working weights three times a week, riding 700+ miles a year on my bicycle and occasionally running 4-5 miles on average once a month. Blood pressure went from 172/130 to 129/78. Cholesterol and triglyceride levels went from top of the safe range to mid-range. I’ve been VERY please from what I learned from the South Beach Diet.
it does work. I lost 65 lbs of fat in three to four months. how do i know its fat? well i bought myself a body fat caliper and would measure myself once a month.I did exercise about an hour a day.mostly weight training then i would also play ice hockey and volleyball. YOU CAN DO IT!
This is day one for me. I have prepared several foods for the week. After dinner is the hardest for me so plan to keep busy outside away from food. Any helpful hints will be appreciated.
I went on this diet last year and I have to say that it’s the only diet that ever worked and was sustainable for me (and i’ve been on lots of diets from starvation to soup diet to Atkins to diet pills to cereal diet). The South Beach Diet made a lot of sense, incorporating lean meats, veggies, low carbs, moderate amounts of sugars, limiting fats (i.e. oils) and adding some exercise. I went from 145lbs to 120lbs in 6 weeks. I’ve gained some weight in 2009 (and that’s only because I went off the diet…meaning, I ate started eating sweets and junk food thanks to the holidays, barbques, picnics, family parties, etc.) but I went back on it last week and lost 5lbs. I just now had the SB salad for lunch and i’m so satisfied.
The south beach diet does work if you have the time and determination that it takes to put into it. Honestly as far as that goes… I’ve found it a lot easier to just change my diet to eat more healthy (watching calories, fat, etc.). The first two weeks are extremely difficult but if you have a substantial amount of weight to lose, the weight you shed tends to counteract the miserable way you’ll feel from being deprived of grains & fruit. After that, it’s not as bad from that stand point, but for me it was a total challenge to make sure I ate as much as I was suppose to. I wound up eating when I wasn’t hungry a lot with this diet, and it’s important to keep fueling your body with this diet or you’ll go into starvation mode because you are eating a lot of lean products. It reminds me of a loose regimen that one would go on during body sculpting. As one person said, some of the recipes just take far too much time for as busy as our society has gotten, but if you search out there on the internet you can find more simple recipes. Like I said, for me personality, although I was losing weight on SB, it just made more sense for my busy lifestyle to just focus on eating healthy and hitting target daily/weekly goals instead of restricting myself so much, and I’ve lost a substantial amount of weight doing this as well. It’s all what fits for you! The main thing to remember with ANY diet is that it’s for LIFE. SB Phase 3 is the same as stopping ANY diet, you add things back to your diet, and you manage and learn what you can eat, how much you can eat, etc without losing more, or gaining more. That’s probably the hardest step of all.