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Many people are fed
up of experimenting with new diets because they simply don't work. Maybe you've
heard of the "after-6" diet wherein you don't eat after 6 o'clock in the
evening. You may have even tried cutting out sweets and chocolates but just
looking at them in a nearby bakeshop makes your mouth water even more.
There are various
reasons why following a diet doesn't work which is another story. This article
then discusses the newest celebrity craze diet which is the South Beach Diet.
What
is it about the South
Beach Diet that makes it
so popular?
First of all the
South Beach Diet is a low-carbohydrate diet which teaches you to eat right and
live a life without all the bad carbohydrates and fats. These bad stuffs are
foods that make you feel hungrier than you really are. They make you eat more
until you realize that these are the culprits to your weight gain. In this diet
you eat the right stuff and instead of gaining weight, you lose them. This diet
promises that you will lose around 4 to 6 kilos in just 14 days.
Who
created the SB Diet?
This diet was started
by Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist who was recently selected to become one
of the board directors of ADA Foundation or the American Dietetic Association
Foundation. He came up with the South Beach Diet to help his patients with
weight problems who were not improving despite efforts to follow the low-fat
AHA diet.
How
many phases are there in the SB Diet?
This weight-loss
program has three phases. In phase 1, you must follow a no-carbohydrate. This
means that you are advised to avoid as much carbs as possible like rice, white
bread, pasta and dairy products. This is the strictest and shortest phase since
it lasts only for two weeks. Your diet will most likely consist of lean meats
like fish and chicken. Because of the restriction in the intake of
carbohydrates, you can expect to shed at least 8 pounds.
The Phase 2 of the SB
diet is about the reintroducing good carbohydrates in the likes of fruits,
dairy products and whole grains. However, food items like cookies, rice, pasta
and bagel are still on the list of banned foods to eat. Fruits such as banana,
pineapple, watermelon and fruit juices are to be eaten less. You will continue
to lose weight but not as rapid as in Phase 1. You can expect to lose around 1
to 2 pounds a week. The duration of this phase depends on how much weight you
want to lose. Once you achieved your target weight, you can now move on to
Phase 3.
The last phase is all
about maintenance of your new weight. This phase should last a lifetime because
this means that you are sticking to the diet. The foods consumed are the same
as in Phase 2. However, regaining weight is inevitable so if this happens, you
can go back to Phase 1 until you reach your goal in weight loss.
This diet promises
that you will never starve. In fact you'll be eating normal portion-sizes of
meals and you can even take 2 snacks everyday. All it takes is for you to
adhere to its guidelines and surely you'll get the body you want.
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