The South Beach diet claims that you can lose weight and maintain the weight you lost and not worry about weighing portions, counting calories or depriving yourself without tasty food that will bring satisfaction.

This is accomplished by eliminating refined foods and high in carbohydrates such as sugar, rice and white bread and potatoes. Each phase has been specifically designed in order to achieve a particular goal.

Phase I: Adjusting your Metabolism

In Phase I, you eat three meals and two snacks daily, eating your food solely to appease your hunger. This phase lasts two weeks and during this period, you should lose 3.5 to 5.5 kilograms.

Here are the forbidden foods during this first phase: bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, pastries, fruit, candy, ice cream and alcohol.

Phase II: The weight loss


The objective during Phase II is to lose about 450g to about 1 kg per week. During this time, you gradually add the restricted foods from Phase I to your current diet, but you need to consume these foods in lower portion.

A key concept of the South Beach diet remains the glycemic index. Foods are rated on a scale of 1-100 according to their glycemic index (GI), that is to say by how high they raise blood sugar in the blood following consumption. The goal of your diet should be focused on foods that are ranked low on the glycemic index, such as yogurt, cucumbers, broccoli and products of whole grains, and avoid consuming foods high on the scale of the glycemic index, such as white bread and potatoes.

In addition to what is proposed above, the South Beach diet suggests these tips:

Drink at least 8 glasses of water and other decaffeinated beverages per day (excluding fruit juices).

Limit your consumption of products containing caffeine to one cup per day.

Take extra vitamins and minerals daily.

Phase III:

The maintenance plan for life is virtually identical to Phase II of weight loss, but nonetheless contains a larger portion of food allowed.

Dr. Agatston cautions people suffering from diabetes, pregnant women or people suffering from kidney diseases or other chronic diseases that they should consult their doctor before starting any weight loss program what it either.


To learn more about this diet log on

http://www.southbeachdiet.com/sbd/publicsite/index.aspx