South Beach is a strip of Art Deco hotels and sand populated by camera-ready bodies on display all day. The name stands for glamour, youth and extreme fitness. South Beach's image drives the popularity of the eponymous diet that can peel away early pounds but is not a balanced model for a nutritious, healthy eating plan. According to Columbia University's Health Services, the South Beach Diet is low in calcium and restricts fiber, vitamins, potassium, magnesium and iron.
Phase One -- What to Eat
The first phase of the South Beach diet is the game-changer. In just two weeks, you are supposed to kick your carb habit and begin some serious weight loss. You're allowed to eat proteins like meats, seafood, and eggs. Cheese, nuts, salads and foods with unsaturated fats are OK. Eat as much as you like of specified vegetables like asparagus, bean sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, radishes and spinach. Vegetables considered too high in sugars for the diet include artichokes, carrots, corn, lima beans, potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes and yams.
Phase One -- What Not to Eat
The Mayo Clinic says the diet allows cantaloupe but discourages other, sweeter fruits like blueberries, figs, grapes, kumquats, pears, pineapples and prunes. You also can't eat bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, baked goods, or drink alcohol. In phase one, you get only 10 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates. Most nutritionists recommend that 45 to 65 percent of daily calories come from carbs for a normal, healthy diet. According to the Virginia Cooperative Extension, phase one of the South Beach diet does not provide adequate nutrition for children, teens and pregnant or nursing women.
Phase Two
Phase two lasts until you reach your desired weight. You may add a few carbohydrates, sparingly, to the diet. Your carbohydrate intake can hit as much as 27 percent of daily calories. You can now reintroduce foods such as whole grain breads, popcorn, high-fiber cereals, brown rice and peas. Apples, blueberries, grapefruit, kiwis, strawberries, 1 percent or soy milk, low-fat yogurt, red wine and a little chocolate are OK too.
Phase Three
Phase three is the rest of your life. You are supposed to maintain a low-carbohydrate diet plan, or jump back to phase one if you put on pounds. For permanent maintenance, the South Beach Diet demands carbs should account for 28 percent of your daily calories. That means you can increase the amount of food permitted in phase two but only if you keep the weight off.
Typical Phase One Day
Here's what the Mayo Clinic says your daily meals might look like on the first two weeks of the South Beach diet. Breakfast is a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of tomato juice, veggie quiche with spinach, cheese, and more fresh vegetables. Lunch could be grilled chicken on romaine lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette, with iced tea or diet soda. Dinner can be broiled fish, grilled vegetables and a salad. You may eat certain desserts like an espresso custard, and snack on humus and celery, mixed nuts, turkey roll-ups and some cheeses.
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