A Detailed Review of the South Beach Diet for Weight Loss and Heart Health
A Detailed Review of the South Beach Diet
for Weight Loss and Heart Health
Named after the ritzy beach in Miami, the South Beach Diet aims
to put followers on a track to sustainable weight loss.
Corbis
In the 1990s, the Miami-based cardiologist Arthur Agatston, MD,
set out to change the way his patients ate by creating his own healthy diet to
protect against serious medical conditions like heart disease and type 2
diabetes.
The diet took its name from Dr.
Agatston’s area of practice, according to the South Beach Diet website, and the
approach quickly became popular in the Miami area.
Dr. Agatston’s weight-loss plan was published in 2003 as The South Beach Diet, and has sold millions of copies.
What Is
the South Beach Diet and What Is Its Purpose?
The South Beach Diet eliminates refined carbohydrates —
white flour and sugar are the top culprits. People on the plan are urged to
curb carbs and focus on lean protein,
low-fat dairy, and healthy carbs — including whole grains, vegetables, and
fruit — as a way to lose weight, improve their health, and reduce
the cravings that put you in the typical hunger-overeat-gain-weight
cycle.
According to the South Beach Diet website, the approach differs
from other low-carb diets like the Atkins diet because of its
recommendation to consume less sodium and saturated fat. (1)
Weight loss during the Atkins diet may require consuming 16.7
percent of calories from saturated fat, according to the Atkins diet website. (2) Meanwhile, the South
Beach Diet recommends consuming only 10 to 15 percent of calories from
saturated fat in lieu of ramping up consumption of healthy fats.
In addition, the South Beach Diet doesn’t shy away from some
types of carbs: “South Beach in the long run encourages a diet that includes
complex carbs — whole grains, beans, lentils, etc. — and fruits,” says Natalie Stephens, RD, at
the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. “If followed
as originally recommended, the South Beach Diet ends up looking similar
to the DASH diet: lots of vegetables, fruits,
nuts, lean meats, plant-based oils (not coconut oil), and low-fat dairy. That’s
actually a very science-based diet.” Stephens notes that such diets have shown
health benefits like lowering cholesterol levels and lowering high blood pressure.
An important emphasis of the South Beach Diet is controlling
hunger by eating before it strikes. To that end, the South Beach Diet includes
three different phases. (3) Phase 1 is one week long and aims to “reset
your body” to help burn fat and increase your metabolism, as well as reduce
sugar and starch cravings. Phase 2 is for steady weight loss, where you add in
good carbs to your diet. Phase 3 is the weight-maintenance phase, where you
learn to maintain your new weight without deprivation or hunger, according to
the South Beach Diet website.
“The phases help ‘jump-start’ some weight loss,” Stephens
explains. “It’s a mental thing: When patients see early success, they’re more
likely to stick to the plan.” She notes that the different phases also help
acclimate people to a new lifestyle, since phase three is essentially a
lifelong choice rather than a “diet.”
Here’s a look at the three-phase program.
Like all the phases of the South Beach Diet, phase 1 allows you
to eat three meals, one dessert, and two snacks every day. However, phase 1 of
the program is the most limited in terms of food choices: You can eat only lean
sources of protein, high-fiber vegetables and legumes, nuts, low-fat dairy
including certain cheeses, and good-for-you unsaturated oils like olive oil.
Phase 1 lasts two weeks.
The goals of this phase are to wean you off all the junk food
you’ve been eating, limit choices so you don’t have to overthink your diet, and
stop cravings by getting your blood sugar under control.
“The way to control overeating is to control blood sugar and
your insulin response by eating every three to
four hours, and eating a high-fiber diet with whole grains, fruits and vegetables,
and heart-healthy fats,” says Barbara Schmidt, RDN,
who is in private practice in New Canaan, Connecticut.
More on
Carbohydrates
Carbs affect blood sugar control. Have too many carbs at any one
time — a big bagel, for instance — and you’ll be hungry again sooner, and more
apt to eat something you shouldn’t be eating, explains Schmidt, adding that, on
the whole, the South Beach Diet restricts those starchy carbs better than other
diets.
A Sample
Menu of Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet
Here is a suggested menu for phase 1 from the South Beach Diet
website: (4)
Breakfast South Beach Complete
shake
Snack Plain Greek yogurt with fresh dill and lemon juice, along
with celery sticks and cherry tomatoes
Lunch Grilled chicken, ½ an avocado, and cooked broccoli
Snack South Beach Diet Peanut Chocolate Bar
Dinner Baked salmon, white beans, sautéed cabbage and garlic
Evening Snack Almonds
In phase 2 of the South Beach Diet, you’ll add whole grains and
fruits to your diet, and you will stay on this phase of the weight-loss plan
until you reach your goal. “These carbohydrate-rich foods are high in fiber and [are low on the] glycemic index
— these good-carb choices have more staying power, take a long period to be
processed and absorbed by the body, and prevent the purported fluctuations in
blood glucose and quick secretions of insulin,” explains Susan Kraus, RD, a
clinical dietitian at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.
According to the South Beach Diet website, in phase 2, you can
have: (5)
·
1 serving per day of fruit, such as a small banana, 2 medium plums, or a cup of mixed
berries (such as strawberries and blueberries)
·
1–2 servings per day of starchy vegetables such as ½ cup of
winter squash or sweet potato
·
Some good carbohydrates, such as 3 cups of air-popped popcorn, 1
small tortilla, etc.
·
You will still want to avoid foods like:
·
Refined carbs, including white bread, white pasta, and rice
cakes
·
White potatoes
·
Fruit juices
·
Dried fruits with added sugar
·
Sweets like ice cream, honey, and jam
A Sample
Menu of Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet
Breakfast Breakfast pita with
spinach, eggs, and feta cheese, vegetable juice, and tea or coffee
Snack Assorted vegetables with a cilantro and pesto
dip
Lunch Curried turkey and greens salad
Snack Apple and peanut butter sandwiches
Dinner Edamame appetizer, Louisiana-style shrimp and
rice, baked tomatoes topped with Parmesan cheese
Dessert South Beach
Diet–style tiramisu
The South Beach Diet aims to be a plan for life: Phase three
lasts indefinitely. You learn how to eat other foods in moderation to keep from
regaining lost weight and having to go on another diet.
If you need recipe inspiration or are looking for additional
variety, check out DASH diet cookbooks,
Stephens recommends, as the two diets are very similar.
A Sample
Menu of Phase 3 of the South Beach Diet
Stephens says this is what a day of eating in phase 3 of the
diet may look like:
Breakfast Mini crustless quiches
(eggs with peppers, onions, and cheese baked in a muffin tin) with a slice of
whole-grain toast like Ezekiel bread, a cup of berries, and a cup of black
coffee or tea
Lunch Salad greens with salmon or chicken and olive oil and
vinegar dressing
Snack Greek yogurt with berries
Dinner A plate filled with half-roasted vegetables
(zucchini, squash, red onion), a small, 4-ounce portion of lean meat (such as
salmon, chicken, or beef tenderloin), and 1/3 cup of a hearty grain (farro, quinoa, barley)
Dessert Mascarpone cheese or Greek yogurt with
peaches, topped with slivered almonds and cocoa powder
The Best
Resources for People Following the South Beach Diet
To find the most up-to-date information on the South Beach Diet,
you can visit the South Beach Diet online,
which has a bank of resources and tools to help you, including:
·
Support groups
·
Hundreds of recipes
·
A program that will create your food shopping list for you
The South Beach Fitness Club, a multipart exercise program with videos on cardio,
flexibility, and strength training (the online program is $5 per week)
Note: SouthBeachDiet.com, the only official and authorized
website for the South Beach Diet, is part of the Everyday Health network.
You can also check out the book The South Beach Diet
Supercharged, which includes information on additional foods and recipes,
as well as workouts to complement the diet.
“This plan is presented very simply, no measuring for many of
the foods is necessary, especially at the beginning,” says Kraus. “Due to the
strictness of phase 1, some people could have a significant amount of weight
loss in the first two weeks, [such as] 8 to 12 pounds. Phase 1 could help stop
cravings for highly refined carbs, and the foods recommended throughout the
plan are heart healthy.” Blood sugar control has the added bonus of helping
control type 2 diabetes if you already have it.
More on
Healthy Foods
Schmidt likes that “the South Beach Diet tells you what to have
and when to have it. Also, it was always about fiber,” which is a definite plus
considering fiber is satiating and can help you maintain or achieve a healthy
weight.
Also, because the diet limits carbohydrate consumption, it could
have some additional beneficial effects: David Ludwig, MD, PhD, a professor in the
Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, noted in
a post on the Harvard School of Public Health site that “fad diets” like South
Beach and Atkins can, by helping limit the amount of processed carbs people
eat, produce tangible health benefits for people backed up by sound scientific
reasons. (6) That’s because the
quickest way to stabilize blood glucose and lower insulin levels is to reduce
carb intake, he says.
The South Beach Diet might represent the ultimate eating plan
for some, but it may not be perfect for everyone.
For one thing, Schmidt says the diet doesn’t provide
enough calcium, which is especially important for
women because they are more prone to osteoporosis, or bone loss. Getting a
sufficient amount of calcium in your diet can help build and maintain strong
bones and ward off the bone disease.
More on
Building Strong Bones
Although guidelines include 2 cups of dairy (like milk and
cheese) per day, this isn’t enough. “You absolutely need a calcium supplement,
500 milligrams with vitamin D, in the morning and in the evening.
I also don’t like the idea that there’s no fruit and no starch during phase 1,”
says Schmidt, though this is less of a problem if you’re only on it for the two
weeks.
Phase 1 is stringent and, because of the limited nature of
certain foods, some people might have a tough time following it, especially
when they're away from home, Kraus says. “There are no specific recommendations
for portions for many of the food groups.” This could lead to overeating or
even undereating.
And some studies haven’t found any benefit of the South Beach
Diet over other popular diet programs: For example, a review published in
November 2014 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes looked
at the effectiveness of the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, the Zone diet,
and the Weight Watchers diet,
and researchers did not find evidence that any one plan was significantly more
effective than the others. (7) (Of them all, at 12
months, the Weight Watchers diet appeared most effective at reducing weight.)
If you decide to try the South Beach Diet, you may notice
certain changes in your health and weight during each phase.
“People will see immediate results due to the strictness of the
first phase,” says Kraus. “Adding back food might slow down weight loss a bit,
but it should continue as long as the dieter follows the plan as recommended.”
The South Beach Diet aims to be a lifelong eating plan that you
adapt when you reach the maintenance period, which is phase 3. By this point,
you have learned how to eat in a healthy way, meaning you can have occasional
treats, like a slice of cake, but by using what you learned in phases 1 and 2,
you keep yourself from veering too far off the plan.
“It has all the right kinds of foods you should be eating,”
Schmidt says. “In the long term, if you follow it Monday through Friday, and on
the weekend give yourself a little leeway, you’ll maintain. It is more
restrictive, but there are fabulous recipes and tons of them.”
More on
Building a Healthy Diet
As Agatston outlines in his book, the long-term effects of
following the South Beach Diet — beyond just losing weight — include lowering
your cholesterol, along with your risk of heart attack, stroke,
diabetes, and even some cancers. Those are long-term effects that most diets
don’t offer simply because they aren’t set up for you to stick with them
indefinitely.
“If you’re eating well and to be healthy, you won’t be
overweight,” says Schmidt.
“The diet can work for some people, not all people,” Stephens
says. Crucially, she says that people need to move past the word “diet” and
focus more on lifestyle changes.
“In the end, you’ll be eating exactly what’s been recommended
for years and proven by science,” Stephens explains. “Lean meats in small
portions, lower fat dairy, and lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
will make you feel better, lower your blood pressure, better control your blood
sugar, and help you lose weight.”
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