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The South Beach diet is based on the premise that choosing the right carbohydrate and fat sources can help people reduce their appetite, lose weight, and prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The diet emphasizes carbohydrate foods with a low glycaemic index and fats that don’t raise blood cholesterol. The South Beach diet shares features with several other diets, including Atkins, low-carbohydrate, and low-glycaemic-index diets. Like the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet begins with an initial phase of very low carbohydrate intake; however, unlike Atkins, it only allows foods low in unhealthful fats. The South Beach diet follows the first phase with two additional phases that allow low-glycaemic-index carbohydrate foods to be included in increasing amounts. During these phases, the dieter following the South Beach diet is permitted more carbohydrate foods than the Atkins diet recommends. If weight loss stops or the dieter strays from the diet, he or she repeats the first phase. The third phase is a weight-maintenance diet that primarily restricts only high-glycaemic-index foods or foods high in saturated and hydrogenated fats. Again, if weight loss stops or the dieter strays from the diet, the dieter repeats the first phase.
The South Beach diet is promoted primarily for weight control, but its author, a cardiologist, claims it has helped many people lower their risk for heart disease and diabetes.
Advocates of the South Beach diet contend that people eating a typical Western diet need to abstain from most carbohydrates at the beginning of a diet in order to break the cycle of cravings for carbohydrate foods, and to cause a significant loss of weight early in the diet.
Similar to advocates of a low-glycaemic-index diet, they also claim that human physiology is not designed to tolerate the rapid and prolonged elevations in blood sugar and insulin caused by the abundance of processed, high-glycaemic-index foods in the typical Western diet. Research does suggest that excessive high-glycaemic-index foods, high insulin levels, and the resulting insulin resistance is associated with many health concerns, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Moreover, changing to a low-glycaemic-index diet has been shown in most studies to reduce insulin resistance, help control appetite, improve weight-loss results, enhance blood sugar control in diabetics, lower blood levels of total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and raise blood levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol.
As do advocates of a Mediterranean-type diet, they also claim that most fats from plant sources or fish are healthy, especially when they are high in unsaturated fats that contain no trans fatty acids produced by the process of hydrogenation. These dietary fats and their food sources are considered compatible with good health and disease risk reduction. Research has found that fish, nuts, olive oil, and other foods high in unsaturated fats that are free of trans fatty acids are associated with protection from hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), heart disease, insulin resistance, and other health concerns.
Some authorities, including the American Diabetes Association, do not agree with the concept of a crucial role for the glycaemic index in diets designed to help people lose weight and avoid heart disease and diabetes. Critics concede that dieters who avoid most carbohydrates often experience significant weight loss during the initial stages of the diet; however, these critics argue that these diets often have a diuretic effect and that the initial weight loss is due to water loss, not fat loss. Eventually the body restores its water and sodium balance, and the rate of weight loss declines.
Some authorities are concerned that diets that allow unlimited consumption of fats, even healthy fats, may result in excessive calorie intake, which could result in poor weight-loss results or even weight gain.
Dr. Atkins’ books on the Atkins Diet include:
The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss by Arthur Agatston, MD. New York: Rodale Press, 2003
The South Beach Diet Cookbook by Arthur Agatston, MD. New York: Rodale Press, 2004
Official Web site for the South Beach Diet: www.southbeachdiet.com
The South Beach Diet. my.webmd.com/health_and_wellness/food_nutrition/lose_weight/default.htm; accessed 4/30/2004.
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The information presented in Foodnotes is for informational purposes only and was created by a team of U.S. registered dietitians and food experts. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements, making dietary changes, or before making any changes in prescribed medications. Information expires December 2005.