South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet was created by a cardiologist Dr Arthur Agatston. He believed that if you eat large amounts of bad fats in your diet you run a far higher risk of getting heart disease.

He originally created the south beach diet for his patients but it's now a very popular weight loss diet plan and can be followed from one of many books.

The South Beach Diet is compiled into 3 phases. During the first phase you eliminate all high GI carbohydrates including bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, biscuits and cakes.

This lasts for 2 weeks and during this time you are allowed unlimited amounts of white meat, fish, shell fish,vegetables, nuts, some low fat soft cheeses and eggs.

You substitute olive oil in place of butter and high fat salad dressings. Olive oil contains monosaturated fat which is healthy and good for the heart.

You can also drink coffee, tea and plenty of water but no alcohol.

As well as eating 3 meals a day you are also encouraged to snack between meals and certainly won't go hungry on this diet. In fact even if you don't really feel hungry you should follow the guidelines and have small snacks between breakfast and lunch and also one during the afternoon for the South Beach diet to be really effective.

Your blood glucose levels will be stable throughout the day and as a result you won't have sugar cravings and dips in energy.

The first phase lasts for about 2 weeks and during this time your body is detoxing from all the unhealthy junk foods you may have been eating..

During the second phase you start to add back other foods into your diet including fruit and dairy products. You are allowed one serving of fruit a day with the exception of bananas, tinned fruit, pineapple and watermelon.

You can introduce fat free and low fat milk as well as yogurt into your diet but in limited quantities of about 3/4 of a pint.

You can start to add carbohydrates back in phase 2 as long as they are wholegrain. Don't eat white bread or pasta and only stick to one serving a day. Avoid potatoes except sweet potatoes and use wild or brown rice instead of white.

You can also introduce a moderate serving of red wine. Red wine is high in antioxidants and it's believed that a glass a day may be beneficial to your heart.

The third and final phase of the South Beach Diet is really just eating normally but maintaining the good dietary habits you have learned. It's possible to lose a lot of weight on this diet and some people have lost as much as 1001b.

If you start to see an increase in weight again just cut back on your intake of carbohydrates until your weight stabilises again. It's really just common sense from now on. You will have made some major adjustments to your eating habits and apart from losing weight you should feel much more energised and your skin will have a healthy glow.

If you enjoy a chunk of bread with a bowl of soup instead of spreading it with butter try drizzling olive oil over it instead. It will taste good without the bad fats. You can also drizzle olive oil liberally onto grilled vegetables and salads.

The South Beach diet is a healthy weight loss diet and promotes a healthy heart. It's not a faddy diet and will become a new way of life for you.