Quote:
Originally posted by INS2U
Good for you Eclipse! How different is the South Beach Diet from the Atkins diet?
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Here's a post I did on another thread in, I think, chit chat:
South Beach does not advertise it self as a low carb diet. You are never expected to count carbs. There is the strict, 1st phase that limits carbs, but you still can have unlimited amounts of most veggies (which have carbs, BTW). This is different from Atkins, which is truly low carb and limits carbs to a certain amount a day. SB has a "good food"/bad food list. You can eat what ever you want (as much as you want until you get full from the good food list. You do cut out breads, pasta, potatoes and fruit the first phase however. you are expected to eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. After the first 2 weeks you can add these things back if they are high in fiber or higher on the glycemic level. For instance, apples are fine, but apple juice is not. Sweet potatoes are better than white potatoes. Whole grain breads and pastas (in limited amounts) vs. white bread and regular pasta.
Even at it's strictest phase I did not get headaches or the bad breathe that I have read some people get with Atkins.
I've been on the diet for about 10 weeks and have lost about 22 lbs. This includes a week where I really bombed out and gained back 3 lbs! My weight lost at the beginning was really fast, but has slowed down considerably, which is fine with me. My current diet is probably closer to their maintainance plan than their 2nd weight lost plan, but that is o.k. with me. I set once a month splurge days (I eat what ever I want on these days) and don't beat my self up if I slip. When I do I just go back to where I was the previous day. I don't try to "start over."
I found that I lost a lot of cravings that I used to have (chips, potatoes, french fries, cookies) and am approaching a true lifestyle change. I haven't been exercising as much as I should, but there are quite a few things that are going on with me that are preventing that.
I really encourage you to get the book (or borrow it from someone. Someone has mine now!) and read the philosophy behind it and the good food bad food lists. There are also sample menus and recipes in the book that I havee found helpful.
What sold me on SB was a spread done in Prevention Magazine and a comparison of South Beach, Atkins and the Zone on one of the news mags on TV. The consensus of their experts was that SB was the healthiest and easiest to follow.
Good luck. BTW, do a search on South Beach. Several people (including me) have posted their experiences.
ETA again: The SB diet also emphasizes "good" fat vs. bad fat. Unlike the Atkins, SB does not advocate eating bacon for breakfast every morning. In addition, fatty cuts of meat like chicken wings are no-nos. I laughed when I saw a resturant advertising buffalo chicken wings as low carb. Well of course they are! That's like companies who advertise jelly beans as no fat! But they are full of sugar.