This is a diet that has been around for a few years now, and has gained rapidly in popularity, including quite a few Hollywood “A” listers. Mainly the sensible ones who don’t want to look like stick insects and know better than to try and drop to size zero by next Tuesday.

Less a diet than a change in lifestyle, the South Beach Diet has 3 phases to it and promises that you’ll never feel hungry, encourages you to eat up to six times a day, and (once the initial 2 week “strict” phase is over), allows you to eat the foods you enjoy – in moderation. The South Beach Diet educates you regarding good and not-so-good food choices and basically weans you off processed, sugary foods and onto “real” nourishing food.

Like I said, a lifestyle change. A really, really good lifestyle change.
So I read the book and checked out the website, and here is the summary of what I found. If you’re as impressed as I was, you can sign up at the bottom of the page.

Who will this diet suit?

Real people with real lives who really love their food!

So what’s it all about?

Phase 1: This is the strict bit – 2 weeks of hardly any complex carbs, no fruit, sugar of any kind, alcohol, sweeties, chocolate or anything nice. As much protein – meat, cheese, most dairy, eggs, and non-meat protein sources as you want along with veg from the low GI list, and things like nuts to snack on. No bread, rice, pasta, cereals or spuds. You get to eat at least 3 meals and 3 snacks a day.

Pros; You won’t feel hungry. You’ll probably drop quite a lot of weight to start with as this phase is designed to give your system a good kick in the butt. Not too restrictive as you can have any type of lean meat and most types of veg.
No need to shop for special ingredients or cook separate meals from the rest of the family. Everything you can or can’t have is conveniently listed, along with loads of recipe ideas.

Cons; It’s boring! No bread or pasta or anything like that. No booze, which is a horrific thought. You’ll probably feel a bit odd at first, as our bodies use the complex carbs in our food for fuel. Also, the weight you lose will probably be water and muscle at this stage – but, hey – it’s only for 2 weeks and won’t do you any harm although you might die from boredom. And I’d kill someone if I had to give up sugar in my tea.

Phase 2: – You start putting foods like fruit, bread , rice, pasta and potatoes gradually back in to your diet, although the last four are restricted. Wine is permitted again (oh hurray!). You are encouraged to only have granary bread, brown rice, wholemeal pasta and sweet potatoes – no processed or “white” carbs at all . This is the medium- term part of the plan and lasts until you get to your target weight; weight loss will be around 1 or 2 pounds a week, which is eminently sensible. Exercise is encouraged.

Pros; You get to put back some of the things you miss most, like bread, pasta and the odd drink – but you make good choices in these things – only wholegrain bread, brown unprocessed rice and pasta. No portion control or calorie counting, so you should never feel hungry, as the idea is that lean protein, unrefined carbs and “good” fats like olive oil fill you up for longer. This has been proven scientifically, makes really good sense from a nutrition point of view and educates you to make better food choices than you ever did before. And you are encouraged to exercise; few diet plans do this. Exercise is good.

Cons: Relies heavily on the Glycaemic Index (the rate in which nutrients are absorbed into your body) for food choices. Baked white potatoes are seen as a “bad” choice for example, simply because their GI rating is high. Baked white potatoes are actually low in fat and very nutritious – personally, I love them and can’t get along with the sweet variety. My weird British tastebuds, I guess. Also, exercise is mentioned as “optional”. “Compulsory” would be the word in my book.

Phase 3: This is described as the one to follow for the rest of your life. The idea is that now you are at your target weight you can add more of the wholegrain foods back in to your diet – in other words, slack off a bit. By now both your brain and your tastebuds will have been re-educated into making good food choices. And if you start putting a few pounds on, you can go back to phase 1 again for a couple of weeks.

Pros Same as Phase 2. All very sensible and easy-to-follow. If you eat this way for the rest of your life, you’ll probably live long and prosper. Which is a logical choice.

Cons None, really. Except that going back to Phase 1 would be really tough and would take a fair bit of willpower. Still not enough emphasis placed on ongoing exercise in my opinion, but then I would say that.

My opinion of the South Beach Diet:

Well, I have to say that I was so impressed that I’ve taken on board some of the ideas myself – and I’m not easy to impress usually where diets are concerned – most of my clients have been on various diets for years and have got precisely nowhere, and not done their internal workings any good either.

Your body does not like being messed around with by being starved or offered weird “meal replacements”, and it will fight back by grimly hanging onto the fat you’re trying to shift and losing the muscle that you so desperately need to keep! Result? The minute you go back to some kind of normal eating plan, you pile the weight back on – and more, because you’ve lost precious muscle, so your body needs fewer calories to function.

And your body won’t trust you again – every restrictive diet after that will be seen as a famine. Hence the yo-yoing which has become so depressingly widespread. To lose fat you need to eat sensibly, exercise and accept that it will take longer to take off than to put on, and that even half a pound a week is in the right direction, because then it will stay off. For good.

There is a South Beach Diet book (good) and a sign-up website (really, really good)
The website gives you personalised meal diaries and planners to fill in, expert help with any problems, encouragement and loads of menu and food ideas.

There is also advice and exercise tips from fitness professionals – all in all a really good package which is well worth the subscription. Explanations are clear and non-technical, and you will end up knowing a lot more about your body and how it works than you did before!

I give The The South Beach Diet  package 

All the best,

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South Beach Diet Plan

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