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Dr. Arthur Agatson is a cardiologist in South Florida. After completing his research into healthier diets for heart patients, he wrote a book about the famous South Beach Diet (Note that you do not have to buy sunscreen for the diet).
The diet became more popular as people started losing weight because of it. Now, not only heart patients adhere to the diet but anybody looking to become healthier and lose some weight, follow it as well. Many people have compared the South Beach diet to the ever-popular Atkins diet. This probably happened because of the mention of carbohydrates in the diet plan. Don’t be fooled; this is not a low carbohydrate diet. Though in the beginning there are some limits as to the carbohydrates you can eat, this will subside in the end.
This diet is focused around the idea that in order to be healthy you need to find a balance between the carbohydrates and fats that you eat. Instead of eliminating these foods from your diet, you are taught to eliminate only the bad carbohydrates and fats, while continuing to eat the good ones.
There are three phases to this diet. The first phase runs for two weeks. During this phase you will have to eliminate fruit, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, sugar, alcohol, and baked goods. Instead of eating those foods you will eat meat, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, veggies, cheese and nuts. The reason that you need to cut out some of these foods is so that your body can change in the reaction it has to the food you eat. Because your body is used to storing bad fats, you continue to crave these foods. If you can starve your body from these indulgences then you can completely alter the way in which you metabolize food.
During the next phase you can re-introduce certain foods back into our diet. These foods include: bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, cereal, and fruit. You can’t eat all of them; this would be an overload for your body. Instead you can re-introduce some of them slowly and eat them in moderate proportions and frequency. But slowly re-introducing your body to these foods will teach it to metabolize the fat from the foods instead of the sugar.
The last phase is the least restrictive of the entire diet plan. During this phase you continue the guidelines that you set earlier in the diet plan. You can continue to eat the way you’ve been eating and make this your way of life. You’ll continue to avoid rapidly absorbed carbohydrates, which are found in foods with a high glycemic index.
The thing that’s nice about this diet is that you can eat until you’re satisfied. You don’t have to limit how much you eat; instead you pay careful attention to what you’re eating. Your body needs fats and carbohydrates and with this diet you’ll get both. The difference is that you’ll only eat carbohydrates that are high in fiber, which makes them absorb and digest slowly. The fats that you eat will be polyunsaturated and monounsaturated which are good for you.
Now that you have this new way of eating, what is actually happening in your body is amazing. You’ll be healthier and stay trim without counting calories and starving yourself. Your body has become accustomed to your new eating habits and you have to. Stick with it and you’re on your way to a healthier life. Remember that there are a lot of diet choices out there so it’s important to do your own research before choosing one to follow. A doctor should be the ultimate decision maker in whether or not you should follow a diet.