by Stefan Vincent
Cardiologist Arthur Agatston and dietitian Marie Almon devised a heart healthy diet called the South Beach Diet. The idea behind the program was to reverse the increase in heart problems that occurred in the ’80’s when the American Heart Association started promoting a low fat diet. The South Beach Diet grew in popularity in the past few decades due to its reputation of being a highly effective weight loss program.
The diet basics are actually really simple: replacing “bad carbohydrates” and “bad fats” with “good carbohydrates” and “good fats”:
1. The plan states you should replace foods that contain refined sugar with unprocessed foods like beans, whole grains, and vegetables.
2. Instead of eating a lot of foods high in saturated fats which can increase your LDL cholesterol levels use foods with omega 3 fatty acids, and unsaturated fats to help raise your HDL levels.
The South Beach Diet isn’t set up in such a manner that you have to make sweeping changes in your daily routine all at once. It’s divided into 3 phases: the first two phases are your ‘learning’ phases when you will become comfortable with the plan and lose weight in the process, and the last phase is the maintenance phase where you will learn to apply the basics to your everyday life thus ensuring your lifelong weight loss success.
Pros
1. A healthy heart is a wonderful ’side effect’ of this diet and weight loss plan.
2. Doctors and nutritionist all agree that limiting the amount of trans fats and low saturated fats will improve your heart health, using the South Beach Diet food list will help you accomplish that.
3. Using this diet plan will help you lose weight fast, sometimes as much as 13 lbs. during the first phase alone.
4. Restrict bad foods; it based on eating low Glycemic Index (GI)) foods which restrict junk food consumption.
5. Various food choice; it consists of various foods and doesn’t eliminate certain food groups.
6. Simple; no calories counting or portion control, just choose your foods from the food list provided.
7. Since you will be eating regular portion sized meals and two snacks you don’t have to worry about hunger becoming a problem.
Cons
1. People achieve a lot of weight loss in the first phase due largely to the fact that eating carbs is not allowed. Many believe this weight loss is only a temporary water weight loss and it will all be put back on when a more normal carbohydrate intake is resumed.
2. Various side effects; during the strict phase 1, there are lots of side effects, including fatigue, dehydration, lack of vitamins and minerals, and weakness.
3. Some in the medical community are skeptical of using the Glycemic Index as a factor in deciding which foods you should eat and which you should avoid since many foods that are high on the GI have a lot of nutritional benefits.
4. The diet doesn’t stress exercise as an important factor in health and weight loss. While exercise is mentioned, it isn’t the focus.
5. The plan has a very high protein intake which will put stress on the kidneys and force them to work harder.
6. Require extra cost; especially on the first phase since the high protein foods are more expensive than the carbohydrates foods.
7. Vegetarians are not supported by this plan since soy, a common meat substitutes, can’t be consumed during the first two weeks. Most of the snacks in the plan are based on dairy product so this makes it even more difficult.
8. It require the cook to be creative; this especially during the first and second phase since the food choice is limited and it could lead to boredom very quickly.
9. The recipes require quite a bit of time to prepare and some are a little more advanced.
Since there are many diet plans available from which to choose you should carefully evaluate the pros and cons of the South Beach Diet to determine if it is the best option for you. On the plus side the plan does offer a maintenance phase, this is good. The downside is that it doesn’t focus enough on the importance of exercise, which is bad.
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Selecting a diet that suit you is not an easy task; before you decide anything visit
Diets That Work for a useful information regarding selecting a diet wisely and
healthy diet to found out criteria that should be met by a good diet by Stefan Vincent. Hopefully these two guides will make your task a lot easier