Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Why Is The South Beach Diet So Popular

Why Is The South Beach Diet So Popular
by Joshua Poyoh

The South Beach Diet is popular with people who want to lose weight.

It is not a low fat, low carbohydrate, high protein diet.

You do not have to count carbohydrates, fat grams.

It teaches dieters to eat only healthy carbohydrates, fats and saturated fats that can lead to heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and general poor health.

This diet is an alternative to these sometimes detrimental means of losing weight.

The South Beach Diet allows you to eat and not completely cut out all your favorite food, which in the long run makes it almost impossible to stick to.

The South Beach Diet is easier to stay on because it teaches how to eat in a healthy manner and improve your lifestyle.

It eliminates cravings for all those bad carbohydrates and fats in food that we all love. After being on the diet for a while, you will probably not crave any of those foods anymore.

This diet focuses on good carbohydrates and fats.

The South Beach Diet works by changing the way you eat by including more healthy choices that will make you feel good and add to your energy levels.

The South Beach Diet is has three phases.

The first phase is change your diet to one that is filled with eating healthy lean types of meat, such as beef, lamb, pork, veal, chicken, fish, and seafood.

All meat should be broiled or baked and should not be fried.

They should not be coated with breading or crumbs.

Vegetables, nuts, eggs, and low-fat or fat-free cheeses are also allowed in the diet.

Vegetables should be steamed and plain with no sauces or butter.

Phase one of the South Beach Diet does not allow you to have breads or baked goods of any kind, rice, pastas, potatoes, fruit, candy, ice cream, sugar, or alcohol.

This part of the diet only lasts two weeks and is designed to get your body used to only having good carbohydrates to jump start your weight loss.

In phase two, sweet potatoes, wild or brown rice, whole grain breads and cereals, fresh fruits, and red or white wines are slowly added back in.

Vegetables such as carrots, beets, white potatoes, and corn are avoided because of their high sugar content. So are fruits like bananas, pineapples, raisins, and watermelon.

Some other types of foods that will slow down your efforts to lose weight include cookies, cakes, sweet rolls, and ice cream.

You will need to stay at phase two until you reach your target weight, then phase three will begin.

Then you will practice the good eating habits you have learned and maintain your weight.

The South Beach Diet is heart healthy and is designed to educate people how to lose weight effectively.

The South Beach Diet is a new way to thinking about food, how to shop for food, meal planning.

It distinguishes the difference between good and bad carbohydrates.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Weight Loss -The South Beach Diet

Weight Loss - The South Beach Diet

One of the latest diet crazes is the South Beach Diet. Dr. Agatston, a leading cardiologist, created the South Beach Diet.

His aim was to improve his patients' heart health, but he discovered that as a "side affect" his patients were losing a lot of weight.

He claims that it isn't a low-carb or a low-fat diet, but a diet that focuses on eating the "right" carbs and the "right" fats. The South Beach Diet is based on the glycemic index.

The diet restricts carbs in the first two weeks and then gradually re-introduces those carbs with a low glycemic index.

He also recommends trading saturated fats with unsaturated fats.

The South Beach Diet generally follows the same idea as other glycemic index diets.

First a little background; when we have eaten, the carbs are then broken down into sugar, thus raising the sugar in our blood.

In response to the higher glucose level, the hormone insulin is released from the pancreas to remove the sugar from the blood.

If we eat foods that are rich in carbs, we get a rapid increase in blood sugar, then our pancreas releases a large amount of insulin to counter it.

This in turn causes the blood sugar to drop rapidly and you feel a lack of energy, and then you crave more carbs and the viscous cycle continues.

If it keeps up then you are likely to gain weight as a result. In addition, your body becomes resistant to the action of insulin.

When your body reaches this point then your body becomes more effective in storing the fat.

So in phase one of this diet, most of the carbs are restricted, this gives you body a rest from the cycle.

This is supposed to resolve the insulin resistance.

The banned foods would be bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, fruit, milk, sweets, sugar and alcohol.

The focus on the phase one part is to eat lean meat, chicken, fish and eggs.

In this phase it is said that you can lose up to 14 pounds.

In the phase two part of the diet low GI carbs are gradually reintroduced.

This would be most fruits, whole grain bread, cereals, pasta and skim milk.

You are supposed to stay in this phase until you reach your target weight.

In phase three, you can reintroduce a wide variety of foods.

In this phase you are supposed to keep your weight steady.

This phase is designed to be life long.

In all of the phases there is no limit for portions, just eat enough to satisfy your needs.

Actually snacking is advised, as long as you snack on the appropriate food in your phase.

The extreme carb restriction in the first phase requires some serious will power. You may feel weak.

Also you won't be getting your daily requirement of fruits and veggies so you may be missing out on vitamins and minerals.

Also when you restrict all the carbs in this phase you are getting rid of a lot of good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals.

However nutrition experts are generally in favor of diets based on the glycemic index.

Overall this diet generally follows the basic principle of healthy eating.

The result should provide plenty of the nutrients one would need to stay healthy

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Cabbage Soup Diet - For Fastest Possible Weight Loss

Cabbage Soup Diet - For Fastest Possible Weight Loss
by Sacha Tarkovsky

The hardest part of starting a diet is we all want to see results quickly and this is where the cabbage soup diet is ideal, it only lasts a week and it knocks weight off fast!

Once you have done it, you can then move to another diet and lose weight at a slower pace.Whenever you need to lose weight quickly go back to the cabbage soup diet.

There is no better way to achieve quick weight loss than the cabbage soup diet. If you don’t like cabbage don’t worry many health shops sell it in pill form as well, so it’s suitable for everyone.

Low Calories

The cabbage soup diet doesn’t offer many calories, but allows people to lose weight as they tend not to be tempted to overeat. The soup acts as filler, making sure that the dieter does not get hunger pangs or the feeling of starvation.

Due to the low amount of calories that the body is consuming, a dieter following the cabbage soup diet may experience a few side effects.

This can range from a feeling of weak or lightheaded but generally most people wont feel to bad and its easy to stick with because you know it’s only for a week.

The cabbage soup diet should only be followed for a week - it is not meant to be adapted as a continuous diet and there should be breaks between using it, but as fast weight loss program it’s unrivalled.

Here is a recipe for the cabbage soup diet, if you elect not to take it in pill form:

Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe

Ingredients:

6 Large Green Onions

2 Green Peppers

1-2 Cans Diced Tomatoes

1 Bunch of Celery

1 Package Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1-2 Cubes of Bouillon (if desired)

1 Cabbage Head

Making the soup

1) Cut the vegetables place in the pot and cover with water, you can also use V-8 juice.

2) Boil the ingredients fast for 10 minutes.

3) Simmer and cook the cabbage soup until all of the vegetables are tender.

4) Season the cabbage soup with salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, or whatever spice you wish. When following the cabbage soup diet, you should be aware of some of the details.

The diet needs to be followed exactly!

The cabbage soup diet will only work if it is followed exactly how it is set down, means no deviation from the format

Day 1

Eat all of the fruit you want, except for bananas. You can eat only the cabbage soup and the fruit for the first day. You can drink unsweetened teas, cranberry juice and water.

Day 2

You can eat all of the fresh, raw or cooked vegetables that you want.

Keep in mind that leafy green vegetables are preferable and that you should avoid dry beans, peas and corn. Fruit is not allowed.

Day 3

You can eat all the soup you want, as well as fruits and vegetables.

Day 4

You should eat as many as eight bananas, as well as drink as many glasses of skim milk. You should also keep eating the cabbage soup.

This day is meant to suppress your desire for sweets.

Day 5

Eat 10-20 ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomatoes.

You should also drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water in order to flush out the uric acid within your body.

You should have at least one bowl of cabbage soup. If you don’t like beef, you can exchange it for skinless, baked chicken.

Day 6

Incorporates just beef and vegetables. You can eat all of the beef and vegetables you want, as well as at least one bowl of the cabbage soup.

Day 7

You can eat as much brown rice, vegetables and unsweetened fruit juices as you want, as well as at least one bowl of the cabbages

There is no better way to jump start any weight loss program incorporate the cabbage soup diet in your weight loss program and watch the pounds melt away quickly