South Beach Diet? About This Page:

[Shell_of_the_South]

Anyone have any experience with the South Beach Diet? Read the book or joined online? It says you can lose 8-13 pounds in two weeks by eliminating carbs, then slowly adding "good" carbs back into your diet. Any testimonials out there?

[Shell_of_the_South]

Jessica, tell us more about the Zone, I don't know much about it!

[Jessica]

Sure! I'm not an expert mind you, but I did read the "A Week in the Zone" book and tried it out for awhile. In a nutshell, the plan has you eating a lean protein, good carbs (like fruit and veggies), and a serving of "good" fat (olive oil, almonds)five times a day (3 meals and 2 snacks).

To know what to eat throughout the day, you can basically do the Zone two ways, there's the more complicated method of "Food Blocks" which I won't go into cause I don't really understand it (you can read more about the blocks at zoneperfect.com), and there's the method I use called the "eyeball" method. To create a meal using the eyeball method your meal should contain; 1. a serving of lean protein as big (though no thicker) as the palm of your hand. 2. a serving of fruits and vegetables as big as two of your fists, and 3. a teaspoon of fat like olive oil or a sprinkling of nuts or real cheese.

I recommend getting the book "A week in the zone" if you're interested as it's like $7 in paperback and really helps you decide if the zone is for you. There are zone energy bars and supplements and blah, but it's expensive stuff and I've found the eyeball method to work for me and just apply it to foods I like. You may need the book or website to get you started on what fits the zone plan and what doesn't. I tried it for 2 weeks and wasn't 100%, and I lost about 6 pounds. Here's an example of what I would eat...
(again I didn't measure I just eyeballed it all)

For Breakfast: Egg Beaters omelette with a handful of mushrooms and green peppers, and a small bowl of berries topped with a tablespoon of slivered almonds. (Hold the almonds if you make your omelette with oil)

For Lunch: Usually a green salad with lots of veggies, topped with some sort of protein like chicken, tuna, or deli meat slices and a vinagrette - or leftovers from a zone dinner- or if your out and about Wendy's chili fits the zone too. Then I'd have a piece of sweet fruit like a peach or some watermelon as dessert.

Afternoon snack: Zone snacks are supposed to be "mini" zone meals. My favorite was half an apple, a slice of deli turkey, and some peanuts. Pretty satisfying.

Dinner: Stir-fry is definitly easiest and what I did alot... but there are other options and I think some recipies on the website. Same concept of some protein, veggies, and a little fat. Once you start learning about all the different options it gets easier.

Evening Snack: My favorite indulgence, 1/2 glass of white wine and an oz of low fat cheese. The Laughing Cow cheese wedges are perfect with wine. [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

And that's it! I think of it as a low-carb diet because there's not really any bread, but they stress in the book that you are eating carbs, just good carbs from the veggies and fruit. Also once you get going on the diet you can add a tight fist size portion of other carbs... like half a baked potato, one slice of bread, etc. My hubby and I have a bad habit of eating out a lot, so I just kind of fell off the plan and never got back on. I did love how I felt on it though, they really aren't kidding about how an imbalance in your sugar levels can really affect your mood and concentration. Actually writing this has inspired me and I think I'll go to the grocery store tonight! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Good luck if you decide to try it, hope I helped explain a little! [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]

[Jessica]

I looked into it, but decided not to do it because it's pretty much like the Zone, which I think is easier to work into your daily life.

I would be interested to hear from anyone else on it though... I just glanced at the book and maybe I missed something.

One thing to remember on any diet is that the first weeks when you loose quickly, you're actually losing water weight. Once you're less bloated the only healthy way to lose (and keep it off) is 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Good luck!