Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Loosing Weight With South Beach Diet Phase 1

By Chris Fowler

You've probably heard of the South Beach Diet. It became popular in the early years of this decade, and since then, a lot of false information has spread about it. Most people think of this eating plan as a low-carb or low-fat diet, but it's not about eating less fat or fewer carbohydrates - it's about choosing the right, healthy ones.

The South Beach Diet wasn't originally designed to help people to lose weight. It was put together by a cardiologist to promote healthy eating, especially the kind that would be good for the heart. That's where good fats and bad fats, and good carbs and bad carbs, come into the picture. You've probably heard of "trans fats" and "saturated fats". Well, those are the kind that not only contribute to cholesterol and the risk of heart disease, but are also very hard to lose once you've consumed. Unsurprisingly, The South Beach diet eliminates these in Phase One - that means no fatty cuts of red meat. Bad carbohydrates create a rapid increase in blood sugar, making you hungry again quickly. These - like pastry and most bread - have to go too.

The diet works in phases, which get less strict as you go along. Phase One has lists of allowed and restricted foods, and cuts out all refined carbohydrates, sugar, as well as fruit. The aim of this is not only to put you on the fast track to weight loss, but also to diminish your hunger cycle, allowing you to stay full for longer. Phase Two is much like Phase One, but less strict, allowing the re-introduction of fruit and some whole-grain carbohydrates. This phase can last for as long as you want it to. Phase Three is more of a lifestyle than a diet plan, with the follower living by a number of principles for permanent weight maintenance.

The South Beach Diet has many benefits, not least what it can do for your health. While many diets have harmful long-term effects on your general well-being, and especially you metabolism, The South Beach Diet does only good things for your cholesterol levels, your heart, and your risk of diabetes. Because it's not a crash diet, it increases your metabolic rate.

More good news about The South Beach Diet is that it allows for a wider choice of foods than most other diets. While the first phase is strict and prescriptive, adherents of the plan are left to make their own food choices after this point, using the lists provided only as guidelines. Snacking is allowed, and eating dessert after dinner is allowed.

It's easy to see why on first glance The South Beach Diet might look like a fad diet - its glamorous name does little to add to its credibility! This diet, however, is something quite differently. Although Phase One provides short-term results, it also works in the long term. It's allowed many followers not only to lose weight, but also to keep it off indefinitely. Rather than taking advantage of the gullible, The South Beach Diet allows people to become better educated about the nutrition choices that they make everyday. It doesn't look like this is a "fad" that's going away any time soon! - 16650

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