Low Carb Diets: The South Beach Diet

By Jonathan Berohn

The South Beach diet seems to be the new hot diet that has overtaken Atkins-at least if my wife's magazines can be believed.

South Beach also has its own official web site where you can find out all about the plan, buy products, and sign up for an online diet management program.

As with Atkins, you can buy South Beach foods at grocery stores. Also again like Atkins, South Beach starts from a similar point-get rid of the empty carbs.  Unlike Atkins, though, South Beach calls for including plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in your diet.

While all this sounds sensible, there's still the matter of the initial "cleansing" where you essentially stop eating carbs for a week.  Based on my experience with the Atkins plan, you will probably not be surprised to hear that I opted out this time.  My wife, however, toughed it out-nuts were her godsend that enabled her to see it through-and has been pleased with the results.  The basic premise of only eating good carbs-fruits, vegetables, and whole grains-is certainly healthy enough, and she had no trouble sticking to the plan after the challenge of the first week.  She also never had quite the same general "unwell" feeling she had on Atkins since South Beach stresses low fat quite a bit more than Atkins does.

The real question, though, that I'm sure you're mulling over is, of course-"OK, but did she lose weight?"  In the interests of preserving my marriage I'm not going to trot out any numbers here, but I will say again that she was happy with her results from the diet.  She lost weight at a rate that didn't discourage her, and-just as importantly-she has kept it off.

The key, according to her, is that you can maintain a South Beach type diet even when you are not actively trying to lose weight.  Of course, it's hard to come by whole grains everywhere you go, but by and large, eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains is the kind of thing you can make a permanent switch to.  And even for the uninspired bystander-ahem-the benefits trickle down.  The Atkins meals are something that's hard to share with kids.  South Beach-friendly food, however, is essentially just healthy food that you can restructure your normal diet around without too much trouble.  Not to say we're perfect, but that's another story.