Home
Diets & Dieting
Dieting Advice
Diet Products
Diet Pills
Diet Plans
Abs Diet
Mayo
Blood Type diet
Body clock diet
Body for Life
Cabbage soup diet
Calorie restriction
Curves plan
Food combining diet
Detox diet
Diabetic diet
High fibre diet
Fit for Life diet
GI diet
Grapefruit diet
Hay diet
Hollywood diet
Jenny Craig
Low-carbohydrate diet
Low-protein diet
Macrobiotic diet
Mediterranean diet
No carbs after 5pm
Pritikin diet
High protein diet
Scarsdale diet
Atkins diet
South Beach diet
Slimming World diet
Sugar Addicts
Sugar Busters
Traffic light diet
Weight Watchers
Zone diet
Online diet plans
Weight loss tools
Diet Publications
Diet Plan Reviews
Exercise & Fitness
Health Matters
Nutrition
Weight Loss Products
Weight Loss Guides

South Beach Diet

Hailing from Florida, the South Beach diet is currently hugely popular in the States, with over five million copies of the book sold so far. Our diet plan review explains the theory behind this latest weight loss favourite.

The South Beach diet promises to help you lose 13lb in two weeks, with most of the weight loss from your midriff. It was created by American cardiologist Dr Agatston for his heart patients, but he discovered it also had the side effect of enabling them to lose weight. Diet meal plans and recipes for the South Beach diet aren't low-carbohydrate or low-fat, but instead encourage dieters to eat only the 'right' carbohydrates and fats. The programme is based on the glycaemic index: foods which take longer for your body to break down into sugar are better than foods which break down quickly, causing fluctuations in blood sugar level.

For the first two weeks, the programme severely reduces carbohydrate intake, then gradually reintroduces low-GI carbohydrates. Saturated fats are replaced by unsaturated fats in the diet meal plans. Low GI foods release sugar slowly into the blood, leaving you feeling full for longer periods. What's more, your body has to produce less insulin to break down low GI foods, which stops you from becoming resistant to its effects. This means that your body can burn fat more efficiently.

The programme has three phases:

Phase One - 14 days

Carbohydrates are banned, to help your body's insulin and blood sugar levels to stabilise.

Phase Two

Low GI carbohydrates only are allowed until you've reached your target weight.

Phase Three

A wider variety of food is introduced. This phase is designed to keep your weight constant, and you are recommended to follow this diet for the rest of your life.