What Do You Eat on the South Beach Diet Menu?

By Linda Miller in Recipes on June 10th, 2008

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by Linda Miller

If your idea of a diet is an eating plan which will allow you to make healthy choices about the food you eat, you no doubt will have been disappointed on more than one occasion in the past. There are numerous diets where you are so restricted, you just end up craving for those things on the “forbidden” list, and your chance of succeeding at losing those surplus pounds is practically non-existent.

Well, say hello to the South Beach Diet. The South Beach Diet is highly successful because the list of “allowed” foods is much longer than the list of “forbidden” foods.

There is no “forbidden fruit” on the South Beach Diet. This program simply teaches you how to enjoy the foods you love in a healthier way. For example, if you are a meat lover, the South Beach Diet doesn’t say, “You can never eat red meat again!” Rather, the South Beach Diet teaches you how to eat red meat sensibly, by choosing smaller, leaner cuts.

When you are first considering the South Beach Diet, have a long look at Phase 1. This is the most restricted part of the diet, yet you will find it is surprisingly varied and quite a few of the things you would expect you are not allowed are there on the menu.

For example, you can eat sweets during Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. Yes, you read that right. You are allowed to eat up to 75 “sweet” calories per day during Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. You can also eat beef, eggs, low-fat lunch meat, pork, poultry and cheese, as long as it is low-fat or fat-free. And if you’re a seafood lover, the South Beach Diet won’t feel like a diet to you at all, because seafood is allowed - and promoted - on all phases of the diet plan.

Many people who do their own cooking are often unsure about appropriate ingredients when adapting their usual recipes. At the start of the South Beach Diet, you are restricted to canola and olive oils and non or low fat milk and yogurt but these bans are lifted as soon as you have made your way past phase 1 and home-cooking becomes far easier and much more straightforward.

Once you hit Phase 2, you are once again allowed to eat fruits and grains. Because of the cleansing your body undergoes during Phase 1, though, you won’t crave these foods like you did before. Your body is now better equipped to process the foods you eat and that will help you continue to lose weight until you achieve your weight loss goal.

So when you are deciding which diet to go on and find yourself asking the question “What can I eat on the South Beach diet?” take a minute to look at the basic foods list and you will find all the information you need to get you started and sail through to a healthier way of life, losing excess weight along the way.

About the Author:

Many people ask does the South Beach Diet work? Visit popular diet guru Linda Miller’s website for completely free South Beach Diet Tips, and to find out if this popular weight loss diet is right for you.