South Beach Diet Book Summary

[tom]

I wanted to summarize the South Beach Diet book marking the major points for each chapter.

I will start a new post for each chapter below noting the most important points of each chapter.

[tom]

The first chapter is titled Losing Weight Gaining Life and its opening sentence is :
The South Beach Diet is not low-carb.

teaches you to rely on right carbs and right fats
eliminate bad carbs and bad fats
lose 8-13 lbs in the first two weeks
Eat normal sized portions of meats
Eat plenty of vegies, eggs, cheese and nuts
eat plenty of salads
eat three meals a day +2 snacks ( mid morning and mid afternoon )
Drink plenty of water + (coffee and tea is you want )

For the first 14 days do not eat any of the following( NOT a drop ):
bread
rice
potatoes
pasta
baked goods
fruit
these will be added back into the diet at later stages
Also do not eat:
candy
cake
ice cream
cookies
sugar
beer or alcohol


Phase 1 is the strickest period.
You will be correcting the way your body reacts to food.
Stops the urges for bad foods.


During phase 2 you will introduce some of the items listed above in moderation.
You will stay on phase 2 until you reach goal.
During phase 2 you will average 1 to 2 lbs lost per week.

Once you hit goal you will go to phase 3 of the diet.
Phase 3 helps to keep you healthy for the rest of your life.
It is less like a diet ... just a few simple rules but you eat normal portions.

[tom]

One side effect of obesity is a reduction of the insulins ability to process fuel, fats and sugar. This is called insulin resistance.

To combat this the body stores more fat than it should.
Much of the excess weight comes cabohydrates we eat especially highly processed ones.

By cutting down on these processed carbs ( bad carbs) the insulin resistnace reverses itself resulting in weight loss and better blood chemistry ( lower cholesterol ).

highly processed carbs are stipped of their fiber.

First rule create for the diet:
Permit good carbs: Fruit, Veggies, Whole Grains
Limit bad carbs

South Beach is different from Atkins because Atkins limits all carbs where south beach actually encourages the eating of good carbs.
Also South Beach limits "bad" fats ( saturated fats found in red meats and butter ). Chicken, Turkey, Fish ( especially oily ones Salmon Tuna and mackerel ), nuts and lowfat cheeses and yogurts are recommended.

As a rule low fat prepared meals are bad as the fats are replaced by carbs.

Lots of mono- and polyunsaturated carbs are allowed. Olive, Canola, peanut oils ( these are the good fats ).

[tom]

One of the major failures of other diets is that they are too difficult to live with.

The South Beach diet needed to be easy to follow. It allows people to eat the way they like to eat.

If you go off phase 2 you can go back to phase 1 for a week to loose the weight you gained in the case of a cheat.

No calorie counting
Eating the good carbs and good fats will self regulate amounts.
Exercise is not needed but recommended.

[tom]

Dietary fiber is important.
There is some medical evidence that diets that include lots of high fiber carbs reduce heart attack and stroke

Refined carbs causes rapid changes in blood sugar levels and stimulate further hunger which encourages overeating and obesity.

The Glycemic index is the degree to which eating a certain food increases your blood sugar ( which leads to weight gain )

Certain starches like white bread can raise blood sugar levels more than table sugar.

Atkins + Ornish diets were good but Dr A has some problems with them and believes his diet to be better. He doesnt like the saturated fats for Atkins and believes Ornishs diet to be too hard to follow.

[tom]

a typical first day:
two egg omelet
2 slices canadian bacon
cooked in a spay of olive or canola oil
(NO TOAST)

Phase 1 is to begin reversing your bodies inability to process sugars and starches properly. To do this we need to cut off all carbs except for the healtiest of them. Only those highest in fiber and nutrients and lowest in sugars and starches
Veggies and salads only ( for at least 2 weeks )

Alternative breakfast:
2 eggs
asparagus
brocolli
mushrooms or peppers

You can coffee or tea with lowfat milk and sugar substitute if you want.

Dont skip breakfast as it will make your blood sugar drop and get you too hungy.

Eat a mid morning snack at around 10:30 even if you are not hungry.
Part Skim Mozzarella stick as a mid morning snack

For lunch a salad with chicken or fish, with a vvinagret made with olive oil.
Water or a beverage without sugar.

(grilled shrimp over a bed of greens as an alternative )

Dont count calories

mid after noon snack ( usually time for a sugar craving )
Have nuts 15 almonds or cashews.

Dinner :
grilled salmon with lemon roasted eggplant and a salad

Have desert ... sugar free geletin.

[tom]

In the beginning there was an initial movement against saturated fats. During that movement a special type of polyusaturated fat became popular: transfat. Unfortunately they are as dangerous or more dangerous as as saturated fats. Both the saturated fats and the transfats are associated with high cholesterol and heart attacks.

There is growing evidence that un-saturated and non-trans fats are actually good for us. In locations were the mediteranean oils are used heart attack and stroke rates are very low.

In a study a spread was created from canola oil ( mostly monounsaturaded fat and Omega 3 ) was given to people who previously had heart attacks, those recieving this spread were 70 % less likely to have a recurring heart attack.

Another study showed that fish oil capsules ( omega 3 polyunsaturated fat ) decreased sudden deaths.

Also other studies that showed that certain nuts reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

SBD should lower trigliceride(fats carried in the blood which are needed but when high can be dangerous ) and LDL ( bad cholesterol ) and raise the level of HDL ( good cholesterol ). Also trying to effect the size of the LDL particles ( if they are too small they can cause major problems ).

A secondary goal was weight loss.

The diet was a huge success and grew quickly in popularity.