Health Diet – South Beach
You’re super-organized, and are willing to put in the time to follow a complicated plan if the results pay off.
Diet to try – South Beach is a well-balanced, three-phase plan created by cardiologist Arthur Agastston, M.D. It replaces refined carbs with healthy complex carbs that take longer for the body to digest. To that end, the two-week initiation phase of the diet reduces carbs drastically. In the second stage, during which dieters continue to lose weight, healthy carbs are reintroduced. In the third stage, you focus on maintaining weight loss.
Watch out for – Never moving beyond phase one. You may be tempted to stay there because that’s when you see the most weight loss, but it’s not sustainable.
Food limitations – During the initial phase, carbohydrate intake is severely restricted, and white bread, pasta, and candy, among other things, are forbidden. Later stages are more permissive, but the diet, like most, always prioritizes consuming healthy carbohydrates over refined and processed foods.
Don’t – Try – It Diets
When you’re looking at a weight-loss plans, watch out for these red flags.
1. It promises weight loss over the long term that’s faster than 1 to 2 pounds a week. If it’s true, it’s neither safe nor sustainable. Plus, dropping weight too rapidly may promote muscle loss.
2. It advocates eliminating an entire group of foods – such as carbohydrates or fats. It’s not balanced and will make you feel deprived. Sooner or later you’ll need to incorporate hose foods into your diet again, so it’s better to learn how to do it sensibly.
3. You don’t’ see yourself involved in it for the long term. Quick-fix diets lead to regaining the weight.
4. You wouldn’t want your kids to do it when they grow up. You’re their role model, so what sensible weight loss and a healthy lifestyle look like.
5. It’s just one food, like pizza or bananas. You may lose weight because you’re eliminating so many other foods, but you won’t be eating a well-balanced diet, and you won’t be able to sustain it.
6. It makes you feel sick, weak, or dizzy. These are sure signs that the diet is not good for you.
