To date, there are an incredible number of diets and nutrition systems in the world. And in this diversity, most women seek to find the most suitable for themselves.
And it is desirable that it is not too rigid and restrictive. Among the easy-to-use diets, a diet with the romantic name “South Beach Diet” is leading today. About what she is, the correspondent of SE explained.
A fashionable American diet guarantees weight loss and a re-adjustment of eating habits
The author of this diet is cardiologist Arthur Agatston from Florida. He offered it to his patients, but soon it became clear that it not only improves the general condition, but also contributes to the fight against excess kilograms. A pleasantly surprised doctor issued a book with the same name, which sold in huge quantities throughout America and glorified his food system. It is rumored that even the former US President Bill Clinton adhered to this diet, so the diet is sometimes called “presidential” diet.
The idea of a diet is to eat only “useful” fats and carbohydrates and to refuse food that has undergone a deep treatment.
You can eat 3 times a day and have 2 more snacks a day – so you do not have to feel hunger attacks. The diet is divided into three stages, each of which is accompanied by a list of allowed and prohibited foods.
The first stage is the most complex and rigorous, it lasts two weeks. The main task of this stage is the metabolism reorganization, but not weight loss. The second phase is less severe – some products banned earlier can be safely eat. It lasts until the desired weight is reached. These two stages provide a reorganization of the metabolism, the adaptation of the organism to a new diet and, of course, weight loss itself. The diet of the third stage ensures the maintenance of the achieved result and the preservation of a good physical shape. It is not limited in time and can last a lifetime, because, according to Agatston, it is very natural for a healthy organism.
Stage one
Duration 14 days.
All foods containing sugar in any form, as well as all fatty foods should be completely excluded from the diet.
Also forbidden: sugar and any sweets, confectionery; all flour products (bread and bakery products, macaroni, pastries, etc.); all starchy foods (cereals, potatoes); fruits, berries, juices – they contain fructose; carrots, corn; any fatty meat; ducklings, goose, chicken legs and skin; fatty cheeses; milk, yogurts; alcohol.
You can eat:
lean meat (beef, veal, the most low-fat pieces of pork); chicken and turkey meat (except the legs) without skin, primarily breast; any fish and seafood; non-starchy vegetables (cucumbers, cabbage and white cabbage, beans and legumes, turnips, eggplants, sweet peppers, other green vegetables), mushrooms, greens; Nuts in small quantities (pistachios, peanuts, walnuts); eggs, low-fat cheeses, low-fat cottage cheese; olive oil and sunflower oil.
During the first phase, weight loss is usually between 3 and 6 kilograms (although, depending on your physique, figures may be different).
Stage Two
The list of allowed products in the second stage is much wider, but do not forget that you need to introduce them gradually into your diet, and not all at once. The second stage continues until you reach the desired weight and dimensions. If during the second stage the weight has ceased to decrease, it means that its optimal value has been achieved for your organism. Since this stage is more liberal than the first, you can afford a few delicacies – if you want ice cream, pamper yourself, but with a small portion, and let it be once.
In the second stage , sugar and sweets, honey, jam are cut ; white bread, flour products from white flour; cakes, biscuits, cakes; White rice; potatoes, carrots, corn; sweet high-calorie fruits and berries (bananas, pineapples, watermelons) and juices from them.
During the second phase on average, you can lose from 500 g to 1 kg per week.
Stage Three
At this stage, you can return to your usual life and have almost everything you want, except for white bread and flour products from white flour, potatoes, white rice, sugar and sweets. However, sometimes you can indulge yourself with these products, although Agatston says that after going through the first two stages you will not want to use these products.
If your weight starts to increase again, go back for 1-2 weeks to the food described in the first stage. You can also return to it for the purpose of prevention, for example, after a festive table.
Here’s how the menu for the day can look for each of the stages:
First stage
Breakfast: tomato juice; soft-boiled eggs with greens and mushrooms; 2 pieces of bacon; decaffeinated coffee with low-fat milk without sugar or herbal tea.
A snack after breakfast: a little low-fat cheese.
Lunch: Caesar salad (without bread and crackers).
Lunch after lunch: low-fat homemade cheese with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Dinner: pike perch fillet; baked in the oven vegetables; vegetable salad, dessert: lemon mousse.
The second stage
Breakfast: fresh strawberries; oatmeal (on low-fat milk) with a teaspoon of chopped walnut; decaffeinated coffee with low-fat milk without sugar or herbal tea.
A snack after breakfast: hard-boiled egg.
Lunch: Chicken salad with vegetables and olive oil.
Lunch after dinner: fresh pear and light cheese.
Dinner: fish with vegetables; vegetable salad with olive oil or vinegar
Dessert: strawberry with bitter chocolate.
Third stage
Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit; omelet; a piece of bread from different cereals; decaffeinated coffee with low-fat milk without sugar or herbal tea.
Lunch: beef baked in dough; fresh apple.
Dinner: grilled chicken; boiled asparagus; Mediterranean salad with olive oil or vinegar.
Pros of the diet
The benefits of this diet are obvious: there is no need to count calories or limit yourself in the amount of food you eat. In addition, this diet is good for those who need to urgently lose weight. All you need to do is follow the list of allowed products, and all food groups are represented in it. This diet is created by a cardiologist and is preventive for heart diseases – regulates the level of cholesterol and insulin in the blood.
Disadvantages of the diet
Cms, a doctor of the highest category, nutritionist SNIIMET “CENTER-SIRENA” Parlyuk Yulia Borisovna believes that the division into stages is unreasonable: “The rates of weight loss in all people are different.
The author of the diet, apparently, believes that in two weeks, the reorganization of eating habits will happen. But experience shows that it is not easy to do this in such a short time – only in case of very high motivation.
And we must understand, the degree of awareness of the population about proper nutrition in the US is much higher than ours. A person who is accustomed to eating according to Russian traditions, it will be very difficult to re-arrange the diet for the proposed.
In addition, it is surprising why in the first stage it is necessary to exclude carrots, fruits, berries, juices. After all, they give the stomach volume and do not give calories, which is very important when dieting. The rate of weight loss is disturbing. Losing weight becomes comfortable for the body, when about 500 grams per week are lost. After all, it is necessary not only to reduce weight, but also to keep it, and this can be done only when the metabolic metabolism succeeds for a certain amount of time. ”
Now you have extensive information on this diet and you can decide whether to lose weight with it or not. If the choice is still made in favor of the “South Beach Diet”, we wish you a light weight loss, and also remember the recommendations of a nutritionist.
