Weight Loss

Southbeach diet is a weight loss diet designed by the now famous cardiologist, Arthur Agatston, MD. He is currently the director of the Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. His diet plan book, called Agatston's The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss, is now a best-seller.

Southbeach diet works by cutting the intake of carbohydrates. It is free of carbohydrate-rich foods like cereal, rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, carrots, beets, fruit, and corn for the first two weeks. After these two weeks, these foods are generally not allowed.

However, because carbohydrates provide all the energy that is required by the body, not all of them are taken out of the diet. Only bad carbohydrates are kept away from going into the body. This is done so by looking at how much sugar is present in a carbohydrate. Those carbohydrates which have low-sugar are considered good. They have low glycemic index and hence don't cause the blood sugar level to rise and fall as quickly.

Another feature of Southbeach diet is that it is low on fat. Again, this does not mean that absolutely no fat is present in the diet. Only unhealthy fats are kept out of the diet. On the other hand, healthy fats are actively promoted.

It is a common perception that weight-loss diets are meant to starve us in order to make us lose weight. However, the same is not true of southbeach diet. It is not planned to make you go hungry. On the contrary, southbeach diet advocates a planned way of eating.

Planning meals is something which you didn't do so far and this is what the southbeach diet forces you to do. By planning your meals, you can continue eating without any limitation on portion sizes or counting the calories in them. However, there is no voracious eating. Normality is the norm. Only that much is eaten which satisfies our hunger.

Here is how southbeach diet regulates your food consumption pattern:

There is an induction phase of southbeach diet. It is generally of 14 days in which there is an absolute restriction placed on consumption of foods such as rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, baked goods, sweet vegetables such as beets and corn, and fruit. Also, there is an absence of pastries and other sugar-filled desserts from all meals.

Further, not even a single drop of any type of alcohol is supposed to be consumed during this period, though it can be consumed within a limit after the induction phase is over. During the induction phase, you can satisfy your thirst with low-fat dairy products such as milk, buttermilk, or yogurt.