Review: The South Beach Diet

This is my review of the South Beach Diet, but it is also my personal story. The South Beach Diet is the cornerstone of my dieting success. I think I tried every diet pill, diet beverage and diet plan out there looking for a magic solution. You know the one – the magic solution that lets the pounds melt away while you eat brownies and iced cream.

Over time I did lose a few pounds and even kept them off. But I needed to lose more than a few pounds, and I couldn’t find anything that I could stick with for very long. It was just too hard to resist my favorite goodies!

I used to love eating a lot of sweet and starchy foods. The South Beach Diet is about training your tastes towards much healthier carbohydrate choices. I have to be honest with you – the first two or three days on this diet are not easy. You begin by eliminating sweet foods and limiting carbohydrates to non-starchy, low sugar vegetables. It is important to eat lots of vegetables, but no potatoes of any kind, corn, carrots or beets. Tomatoes are limited to one per meal. For the first two weeks, you are losing your craving for carbohydrates. No bread, pasta, cereal or fruit is allowed for the first two weeks, but this diet encourages you to eat LOTS of vegetables with your eggs and low-fat meats and cheese.

The best news is that the hard part comes at the very beginning, when your commitment and determination is strongest. I found that by the 3rd day I really stopped craving sweets and starches. I could hardly believe it! I could actually pass a plate of brownies without a twinge! It got much easier to stay with the plan as the sweet treats, always so available, really did stop calling my name. The bathroom scale became my friend for the first time in decades. In the first week, I had lost 6 pounds! And my “carbohydrate belly” disappeared right away. I quickly lost a pant size, and my husband’s compliments on my appearance, rang TRUE for a change.

The South Beach Diet is unlike any other low-carb diet you have ever tried because from the very beginning this diet actually requires you to eat carbs! You switch your metabolism over to healthy carbs: whole grains, fruits and vegetables. It is only the “empty” calories from sugar and white flour that are banned during the diet phase.

You won’t have to say “good-bye” your favorites forever. Once you have lost most of the weight and switch over to the long-term maintenance phase, you really can get away with a VERY OCCASIONAL transgression as long as you switch right back to healthy carbs.
This makes it easy to stick with this diet for the long haul. Staying away from sugar and white flour and making whole grain, low sugar choices does take some getting used to. But you know what? They actually have more flavor! And this style of eating is so much healthier. It is nice to smirk instead of cringe when the evening news runs a story on the latest healthy diet discovery or confirmation.

Do you have to say good-bye to eating your favorite gooey treats forever? No! But you will find it easier that you will believe to give them up as a regular thing. Once I had established my new, MUCH healthier way of eating, I did allow myself occasional lapses without effect on my daily diet choices or on my weight. I lost over 40 pounds and I have found it easy to keep it off.

Do yourself the biggest favor of you life and get “on the beach” today!

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