Anyone doing South Beach Diet?

[Liberal Christian]

I'm in the first week of Phase 1, but I made an oh-so-tasty concoction for dinner tonight.

Heat a little olive oil in a skillet.
Add curry seasonings (I used Sweet Curry and Vindaloo seasonings from Penzeys)
Add paprika and a dash of cayenne
Let the flavors heat and blend a little.
Add a chicken breast, sliced thinly as though for stirfry.
When the chicken is cooked, add a couple of cut-up scallions.
Let those cook a minute or so
Then add a small diced tomato
Toss in a clove or two of finely-chopped garlic
Add a couple of handfuls of baby spinach on top
Put a lid on it and let the steam from everything cook the spinach.

Eat! Yum!

[Skittles]

1. f*** no

like all diets, it's a fad. Don't limit your food choices, just choose them wisely and in MODERATION. And EXERCISE!!!!

[Liberal Christian]

3. Have you READ the book?

Do you KNOW anything about the program?

Do you know that it's about making sensible carbohydrate choices, low on the glycemic index and making sensible fat choices like olive oils and canola oils and fish oil? Do you know that it's about healthy eating instead of eating processed foods?

A diet is not necessarily a fad. It's the word that defines a way of eating.

Your arrogance and your narrowmindedness are quite stunning, really.

[Skittles]

10. diets are doomed to fail

you don't need to restrict choices to maintain a decent weight.

[Liberal Christian]

4. And don't tell me how to live my life

Until you've been in my body. I can't stand or walk for more than 20-30 minutes without pain. So I do what I can. But your judgmental tone just tries to affirm your own superiority without even a modicum of effort to understand why someone might be in a difficult situation with health issues.

[Skittles]

12. well you are advising ME to read this stupid book

nt

[Liberal Christian]

13. Not at all

I'm simply saying that I have read it and found it helpful. I never for a second criticized you for not reading it, yet you felt free to criticize me, about whom you really know very little, for reading it and trying it out.

[Skittles]

19. you simply do not need to pay money to find out how to eat

all that info can be found on the web. Much of it is common sense! I'm glad you are finding something that works but I'm tired of the diet fads that hit consumers year after year after year.

[Liberal Christian]

20. Then by all means ignore them

It really is a shame for me that I'm not as perfect as you appear to be. For me, it is helpful to have the insights of others as I continue in a lifelong struggle with insulin resistance that has made weight control very difficult. To gain the insights of others who have studied, tested, and found positive results strikes me as beneficial.

Were I to go on what I found on the web, I would be saturated with a mass of contradictions. Were I to eat as the FDA food pyramid recommends, I'd be a blimp. There has been significant research in the last few years showing that those recommendations were based on bad science. Scientists, doctors, and some nutritionists who are not "food pyramid robots" have been finding out for the last 10-15 years that different bodies respond to different foods in different ways.

I'm glad that your perfection allows you to experience yourself as so superior to others. My own finitude and imperfection drive me to seek the well-formed opinions of others.

[Skittles]

24. they are hard to ignore!

now because of the ridiculous low carb fad the cost of beef and chicken is going up. CARBS DON'T MAKE PEOPLE FAT; TOO MANY CARBS DO. I don't see myself as superior, just sensible. I never use sauces of any kind (perhaps I am lucky, I just do not care for them); rarely eat fast food; NEVER drive or phone when I can walk (this includes at work); park far, far away from work and stores; snack on fruit and veggies. SIMPLE STUFF.

here is an example: I work with two people doing the SB diet. They claim they have no time for exercise yet they chit-chat about every inane "reality" TV show they see. They call people FIVE CUBES AWAY. They park as close as they can to work and NEVER use the stairs. In short, they simply miss the SIMPLE things they could be doing to keep themselves healthy. I have no doubt in a couple years they will have moved on to something else.

[geniph]

6. Skittles, you know I love you, but you're wrong about this one

It truly is not any kind of fad diet. It's a very sensible and healthy way to eat. There are only limitations on what you eat in the first couple of weeks; after that, you add back in foods that aren't high on the glycemic index and which have valuable nutrients until you reach your goal weight, at which time you can pretty much eat what you like so long as it doesn't cause you to gain weight.

You can eat in moderation and exercise, but if what you're eating has more empty calories than nutrients, you'll be unhealthy and probably fat. It makes sense to pay attention to what you eat, too.

You need to read the book, Skittles. Seriously. The whole program wasn't developed as a diet; a cardiologist developed it to improve his patients' blood chemistry, because he found they couldn't stay on diets which were too strict or which were too faddish.

[Skittles]

11. I refuse to pad the wallets of the diet mania

I know how to keep down my weight without resorting to dieting - and I am in EXCELLENT HEALTH. How hard is it to figure out that high fat, high starch, high sugar foods are NOT GOOD FOR YOU? The trick is to eat them BUT NOT ALL THE TIME. And EXERCISE 4 - 5 times a week!!!!!!!!!!!

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. I have to agree with Skittles.

Most of it is common sense, and yet people spend billions of bucks on it. :hi:

[Skittles]

17. it IS common sense

but now I find myself paying more money for beef because so many people are on the no-carb fad. It's ANNOYING.

[Liberal Christian]

23. Well, South Beach does not advocate excessive beef consumption

They do advocate the use of fish and lean meats with occasional beef and pork, which are higher in saturated fats. So don't blame that program for your high beef prices.

And the only cost of this is the cost of the book, which is free if you get it from the library. So it doesn't need to be any kind of fad.

In fact, the author recommends against buying the "low carb" or "low fat" products that are coming out. He advocates low-sugar vegetables, monounsaturated fats, and lean meats and fish. I know this is common sense, but learning which foods are which and which can trigger cravings or increased appetites (white potatoes, white bread, white rice, white sugar, too much fruit juice) is a very helpful thing.

[Florida_Geek]

2. I brought the South Beach Diet and Clarke's book

Read Clarke's book not South Beach Diet. :D

[geniph]

5. Yes! And it works!

My husband was to the point where his doctor was talking about WLS or drugs to reduce his cholesterol and his weight. He was at his wit's end - he does physical work for a living and wasn't eating enormous quantities of crap, but his weight had still gotten up to 305 pounds. I bought the South Beach Diet book, read it, and because it sounded like a very sensible and healthy - and WORKABLE! - way to eat (it most definitely is not a fad diet!), I went on it with him. In five weeks, he's lost 30 pounds, almost all from his belly. His cholesterol is dramatically reduced, his sleep apnea is almost gone (yay, we both wake up rested now!), and he's feeling 1000% better. I only had 15 pounds to lose, and have lost 12.

John, because he has so much weight to lose, is staying on sort of a modified Phase 1-1/2. He's still not eating stuff like bread and potatoes much, or sugars. He's had no cravings and has never been hungry or had any urge to eat any high-fat or high-sugar stuff. I've pretty much gone to Phase 3 - I eat what I like, but am mindful of trying to stay away from really high-glycemic-index foods. It's really one of the most sensible ways to eat that I've seen. It's kind of a misnomer to call it a "diet" at all - it really is a different way to think about your food.

I've been very impressed with how easy this diet is to stay with, and how healthy it is overall.

[PaDUer]

22. This is the diet that

the Clinton's were on and lost that weight..they look fantastic!

[Bundbuster]

7. I thought the South Beach Diet

was "All Snorting All The Time" ...?

[geniph]

8. We discovered a lot of serendipitously yummy things on Phase 1

We discovered we both really like spinach lightly sauteed with our eggs as a replacement for fried potatoes. We discovered that the reason our chicken breasts didn't taste as yummy as fattier cuts was because we weren't marinating them first.

It's amazing how much we improved our overall eating habits by going on South Beach. Our diets had gotten very unhealthy and very limited, just out of sheer exhaustion. It forced us to eat fresh, healthy, home-prepared foods. We discovered that it's actually CHEAPER, even buying expensive fish and shellfish, to eat fresh foods rather than prepared foods. It really is true about shopping around the outside edges of grocery stores - it's healthier and it's cheaper. And you throw away a lot less packaging.

Once you move to Phase 2, we found a way to make delicious soft tacos without fudging on the diet at all. Buy whole-wheat tortillas and lowfat ground turkey, and make the tacos with fresh tomato, avocado, lettuce, and lowfat pepperjack cheese and fresh salsa. Delicious! We also discovered that neither of us can tell nonfat sour cream from the full-fat stuff, at least not in tacos.

We're eating a lot of fish that ordinarily we wouldn't buy, just because I get tired of chicken breasts. We've discovered we love red snapper, true cod, lots of stuff beyond the usual salmon and halibut.

Oh, and if you get any kind of jones for sweets in Phase 1, sugar-free fudgesicles are your friend. You can have one per day. Phase 1 goes fast, because you're never hungry. The only thing I really, really missed in Phase 1 was wine; I do like my wine with dinner. You can have a glass of wine again in Phase 2.

[geniph]

9. Oh, and WyoMee, you need to visit this page

tons of recipes, the latest information (including changes in the diet since the book was published), etc.:

http://www.mizfrogspad.com/south_beach_diet.htm

[Liberal Christian]

14. Thanks for the link, geniph!

There are a lot of sites out there, so it's good to have recommendations for ones that people have found to be helpful.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. Sorry, need my carbs. I'll just eat what I want and excercise.

Although that sounds like it might be tasty served over steaming hot pasta and a big old slab of garlic bread! ;)

[Liberal Christian]

21. If that works for you, great

It never has for me :)

[SarahB]

18. Not on purpose

I started doing Atkins over a year ago and modified it a bit. The more I hear about the South Beach thing, the more it seems like what I'm doing. I've been stuck on my last 20 (I'd be content with even 10 more), but I just added more stregth training stuff this week (oh, my aching quads) which will hopefully overcome that. For me, I feel better eating this way. One or two days a month, I'll eat a bit of junkier stuff, but I didn't do that until about 8 or 9 months into it. I don't know if it's so much a fad as a different way of eating which seems to help people who find themselves more easily affected by sugar.
Here's my famous before and after picture if you want any inspiration:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=879209