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South Beach Diet Overview
Dr. Arthur Agatston founded the South Beach Diet back in the mid-1990s. Dr. Agatston is a Florida-based cardiologist and he created the diet primarily for his patients. His aim in developing this diet is to help improve his patient’s heart health. As an effect, he discovered that it also helped his patients to lose weight.
The South Beach weight loss program is not a low carb or low-fat diet. This is because the diet’s focus is on helping you eat the right kinds of carbs and right kinds of fats. This makes GI diet to be the primary inspiration behind the South Beach weight loss program. Upon discovering the incredible effects of this diet to the health and weight of his patients, it became a renowned diet around the world.
Dr. Agatston even published a book about this in 2003 and an updated version in 2009. Many people call this particular diet to be a “low modified carb diet”. Its main theme is teaching you how you can get rid of bad carbs off your diet. According to the book, following a good balance of lean proteins, good carbs and healthy fats are easy and possible.
South Beach Diet helps people with heart problems and hypertension by avoiding foods with higher glycemic index levels. In essence, the South Beach weight loss program is a weight loss program with more than 20 million people in its community. A strong, renowned diet program helps you become healthier, lose weight and stay in shape.
Keep reading our honest South Beach Diet review to learn more.
South Beach Diet Ideal For
- Customers who have heart and blood pressure problems
- Customers who want a way to effectively manage their weight
- Customers looking for any heart-healthy dishes
- Customers who are meat-eaters and does not have allergies to specialty diets or allergies
How South Beach Diet Works?
The South Beach weight loss program is a lot like most rapid weight loss diets. It follows the low-carb, high-protein weight loss concept. However, this diet follows a modern approach to the type of fats and proteins it allows. This concept does not allow high fat and eating all protein method in weight loss.
As for cabs, the restriction is moderate. This makes this particular diet a healthy-carb diet instead of a low-carb one. There are three phases you need to go through in following the South Beach diet, which are the Initiation Phase, Carb-Restricted Phase and Maintenance Phase.
Phase 1 – Initiation Phase (2 weeks)
In this stage, you need to eliminate sugars and some carbs from your diet. Your focus is to consume a protein-rich diet. By eliminating sugars and starches, you can get stop your carbohydrates cravings. During this stage, maximum weight loss occurs.
Phase 2 – Carb – Restricted Phase
After completing the first stage, you are into the second phase where it is all right for you to eat some starchy foods not allowed before. This is as long as you eat the whole-grain starchy foods. At this stage, weight loss slows down a bit. Continue until you reach your ideal weight.
Phase 3 – Maintenance Phase
When you finally lose all your extra weight after being under strict diet restrictions, you enter this phase. During this stage, you can eat all types of foods but only moderately. You need to follow and continue this phase all your life to maintain your weight.
What Makes South Beach Diet Different?
The main difference that the South Beach weight loss program is it helps to make real changes in your health. This does not only help you shed your extra weight, it makes you healthy. Created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, this three-stage program is the ideal weight loss plan.
Compared to other diet programs, this one focuses on restricting your intake of high-sugar carbs and saturated fats. In the first two weeks of the program, the focus of the diet is on helping you maintain the right blood sugar levels. At the same time, it helps you get rid of your cravings for bad carbs and sweets.
South Beach Diet Meals & Menus and Recipes
When it comes to foods and recipes, the stage you are on will determine what you can eat and what you cannot eat.
Phase 1 – In this stage, you get rid of any food with high sugar content and those with refined starches. You cannot eat all carbohydrates, even fruits. Phase 1 also prohibits drinking alcohol. You can only eat foods like low-fat dairy, lean protein, lean beef, skinless chicken, etc.
Phase 2 – In this stage, you can now add starchy foods but only those that are whole grain. It includes whole-wheat bread and whole-wheat pasta. You will continue in this phase until you attain your ideal goal weight.
Phase 3 – This stage is all about maintaining your ideal weight. During this stage, you should know already how to make the right food choices. By this time, you should also know how you can get back or stay on track if you overindulge.
South Beach Diet also offers vegetarian and vegan-friendly food options. In case you need extra help, South Beach has a helpful online community to support you. They also have apps that can help. All you need is a payment of $4 for every week.
South Beach Diet Health & Nutrition
The emphasis of this diet is eating lean meat, low carbs, and unsaturated fats. It encourages you to choose healthy fats and lean meats, which helps in preventing health problems. When you get past the first two stages and reach the maintenance phase, then you will be able to eat any food albeit moderately.
South Beach Diet promotes clients to live a healthy lifestyle, which means eating healthy foods and regular exercise. This diet is generally safe if clients follow the outlined phases and steps in the official South Beach Diet sites and books. Note that severe restriction of carbohydrates can result in ketosis and show symptoms of nausea, weakness, dizziness, and dehydration.
South Beach Diet Fitness and Activity
There are two parts in South Beach Diet’s fitness component. First, you need interval walking where you alternate between very fast to a more relaxed pace of walking. Second, there is the total body workout. It includes squats and other exercises meant for strengthening your body’s core.
Seven days a week, you need to dedicate 20 minutes time, at the very least, for exercises. You have to rotate between these two components. If you read the ‘Supercharged’ version of South Beach diet books, you will be able to find tips on how you can tailor your fitness plan to your preferences.
back to menu ↑How Easy Is South Beach Diet To Follow?
The most restrictive stage of the South Beach weight loss program is the first two weeks. However, phase 2 also needs avoidance or restriction of foods such as cookies, ice cream, jam, honey, etc. Similarly, you need to avoid foods like watermelon and pineapple. You need to avoid foods that are high in sugar, even fruits, which mean extreme willpower is essential.
Can You Lose Weight With South Beach Diet?
South Beach Diet can help you lose weight, especially in the first phase. This Mediterranean-style diet effectively rid you of extra pounds. With regular exercise, you can experience a long-term success and stay in shape.
South Beach Diet Mobile App
South Beach Diet mobile app offers a wide array of features that make following the diet easier. The app is available in both Android and iOS devices. South Diet also has online tools for keeping track of your progress. It also offers you access to more than 1000 recipes and meal planner. An online forum for support is also available.
back to menu ↑South Beach Diet Plans & Pricing and Costs
South Beach Diet 4-week plan costs for $461.52. For an auto-delivery, the price can become only $299.99 or $10.71 every day. Every four weeks, you get your shipment and a bill unless you cancel your subscription, which you can do anytime.
You can also pause anytime. Cancelling before payment of second shipment results to a charge for the $125 discount. If you cancel after the second shipment, there’s no discount charge. Auto-delivery includes free shipping but $1.99 packaging fee. Adding snacks in your plan results to added $40 to your bills.
South Beach Diet Delivery Areas
Since many of your South Beach Diet foods will be frozen, your order will be packed in a box that’s designed to keep your foods frozen for approximately six to eight hours after delivery.
At this time, delivery is not available outside the Continental U.S., or to PO Boxes or APO Boxes.
South Beach Diet Help & Support and Customer Service
South Beach has an informative FAQ section on their website. If you prefer to contact someone, you can call the customer rep via phone during Monday-Friday at 7 am – 12 am EST and during Saturday-Sunday at 8:30 am – 5 pm. You can send an email or through live chat from 8am-11pm, from Monday –Sunday. Weight loss counselors also have a separate phone, chat and email options to offer you support.
back to menu ↑South Beach Diet Pros and cons
- Focus on weight loss and heart health
- Availability of three meals and snacks every day
- Availability of weight loss consultants
- Restricted variety of foods and no specialty options
- 4 weeks’ worth of meals need freezer space
- Inflexible plans
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Bottom Line
If you care so much about your health and weight, the South Beach weight loss program is the one for you. Its focus is on helping you develop sustainable eating habits and improving our heart health. By following this diet, you can transform your metabolism to become a fat burning machine in healthy, sustainable lifestyle. This structured exercise program leaves many reasons for customers to try it for weight loss.
