If you've been low carbing then you know how much you love your cheese, cream, butter and oils in your meals.

The South Beach diet is not a low fat diet. But the premise of South Beach is that too much saturated fat in the diet is not good for you in the long term. Even if you have been losing in the short term.

Some of us that have come to this bulletin board, come from stalling out on low carb dieting and noticed that we have gained belly fat that we didn't have before. No way of telling if that is from the long term use of increased sat fat, but we are losing the belly fat on this diet!

So how much fat did we cut on this diet? In Phase one our Fit Day percentages average around 55% calories from fat instead of 65% calories from fat that most low carb diets shoot for.

What kind of changes does this necessitate?

On SB we look for cheeses with no more than 6 grams of fat per serving. So for example full fat cheddar cheese (at 9 grams per serving) becomes 2% cheddar (at 6 grams per serving). You can go lower to 1% of even fat-free if you want to but that is not required.

Ricotta becomes Part-Skim ricotta and none of us here feel that we have sacrificed any flavor on this product.

Olive oil and other good oils like Canola are used full strength, but you use them in moderation -- sticking to the recommended serving size of one tablespoon per meal for lunch and dinner and one teaspoon at breakfast. This also applies to your serving sizes of buttery spreads like Smart Balance or Earth Balance or I Can't Belive it's not Butter. One serving of a teaspoon at breakfast or tablespoon at lunch or dinner is the total for either oil or buttery spread but not a full serving of each at the same time. Since one tablespoon = 3 teaspoons you can break out how you use these fats. For instance at dinner, I might use one teaspoon of oil to sautee some chicken and two teaspoons of Earth balance split between my brown rice and veggies. See how that works?

You can use full fat mayo just like you did before. But you use one tablespoon, not unlimited quantities. And if you feel you need more than a table spoon, then you drop down to a light mayo where you can use 2 tablespoons.

Avacados are allowed - just stick to the recommended serving size.

Butter is not recommended because of it's high sat fat content. Many of us found that Smart Balance and Earth Balance taste just as good and bake well so we found the transition to be an easy one!

Cream has a high sat fat content too. Many SB'ers have varied opinions on what they like best as a step down from all that sat fat. Soy Creamers have a full fat flavor at a fraction of the calories and no sat fat. Some dieters use half-and-half and some even enjoy Land O Lakes fat free creamer. The choice is yours.

Coconut milk has a very high sat fat content at around 14 grams per serving. But light coconut milk is acceptable and curry never tasted better!

We don't use whole milk,whole yogurt but low fat yogurt is just fine and many SB'ers use 1% or skim milk on their cereals. We don't use full fat sour cream but many of us use low-fat sour cream. The Daisy brand is awesome! And some dieters even use a soy sour cream substitute. This version has zero sat fat. Just make sure to get the version that is non-hydrogenated (no trans fats).

When you snack on South Beach, you can have additional fats in moderation. Nuts are a popular snack as are lower-fat cheeses like part-skim mozzarella sticks. And it is greatly encouraged to include nuts in your diet. Most of us use them as a snack so we don't add additional fats at any one meal or count them in towards your serving of fat for that meal. Also cheese is considered a protein on this diet so you do not count that as a serving of fat in your meal plan, though it is recommended to keep hard & semi-soft cheeses to a 1 oz. serving size and fresh cheeses like cottage cheese and ricotta to no more than a 1/2 cup per serving. Part-skim ricotta with splenda and an extract flavoring or unsweetened cocoa is a popular dessert on South Beach.

On Phase 2 of the diet, as you begin to add in even more foods like grains and fruits, your fat percentages naturally average out lower because of the additions of more foods. So on this leg of the journey your fat ratio per day averages somewhere around 45% of overall calories or lower.

So though we are making some conscious choices our foods are full flavored. As you navigate around the forums, look for stickies and threads by posters who have listed their picks for the best tasting lower fats that help them make this diet very satifying and delicious!

Life on the beach means we are looking good in our swimsuits. Come on in, the water's fine!!!!!!!