The South Beach Diet
Author of the
New York Times
Bestseller
The South Beach Diet
Notice
This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.
Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book.
Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.
© 2004, 2005 by Arthur Agatston, M.D.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.
Special thanks to Marie Almon, R.D., our nutritionist, for her dedicated effort to this endeavor. Thanks also to Kathleen Hanuschak, R.D., and JoAnn Brader.
ISBN: 978–1–59486–198–7
A good diet is always, to some degree, a work in progress. This is true of the South Beach Diet for two very sound reasons.
First, scientists are always conducting more and better re search, and as a result we’re always learning new facts about how our bodies make use of the food we eat. Given the seriousness of obesity and poor nutrition today, it makes sense that researchers are trying hard to determine what we can do, as individuals and as a society, to maintain our health and our waistlines. We are always working to incorporate the most important new findings into the South Beach Diet. This program is built on a foundation of science, but no one has the time to review scientific literature on a daily basis. So in the end, it all comes down to the question each one of us asks ourselves several times a day: “What should I eat?”
Second, the South Beach Diet has now been adopted by millions of people all over the world. We get huge amounts of feedback every day through the diet’s Web site, by mail, and by every other means imaginable. We’re constantly talking with people who are doing their best to incorporate the diet into their lifestyles. All that discussion has made us wiser in the ways that people actually put the diet to use.
I mention all this to alert you to the fact that we have made several improvements to this guide.
The biggest change is in the way we present the information in the charts that make up the main text: We now give more detail than in previous editions. For all the foods listed, you will now find figures giving Total Carbohydrates, Total Sugar, Total Fat and Saturated Fat, and Fiber. And for each food, we offer a recommendation for each phase of the diet. A more detailed explanation of the new information can be found in “How to Use the Food Guide” on page 31.
In keeping with the research I mentioned above, we’ve also modified our views on certain foods like tomatoes, car rots, and low-fat dairy. Whether it’s a fruit or a vegetable, a tomato tastes great and contains good nutrients, like lycopene, which may help prevent cancer. They are low in fructose and so their glycemic index number (one of the things we take into account when looking at foods) is low, too. These foods are fine to eat in all phases of the diet, even during Phase 1, the strictest phase.
Carrots are no longer banned in Phase 2. Early studies determined that this vegetable had a high glycemic index, which is why we discouraged dieters from eating it. But newer research has changed this view. Also, carrots aren’t calorie dense, meaning that you’d have to eat a huge amount of them in order to raise your blood sugar.
Bananas also have benefited from research on the glycemic index and the glycemic load of foods. A medium size banana has a low glycemic index and a moderate glycemic load, making it an acceptable fruit for Phase 2.
Calcium may help control body fat, and recent studies indicate that there is actually a lower risk of obesity among people who eat dairy products regularly. We advise everyone to stick with low-fat or even non-fat dairy products: 1% or fat-free milk; non-fat yogurt, low-fat or part-skim cheese. We strongly advise dieters to avoid butter, cream, and sour cream. (You should also be careful of what you replace the butter with—check the ingredients to make sure your vegetable-based spread doesn’t contain partially hydrogenated oil.
We’ve also included more information about important food categories like fast foods and meal replacement bars. In a perfect world, fast food would never make an appearance in our diet; and we’d never be so rushed that we’d eat a pack aged snack bar instead of real food. But we need all the help we can get to eat healthy while living a typical time-stressed contemporary lifestyle, so we’ve listed the information for those occasions when whole foods are simply not available.
Finally, as I’ve discovered via our South Beach Diet Web site, dieters also have good questions that never presented themselves while I was writing the book. So this guide now contains a chapter of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) for each of the three phases.
Good luck with your efforts to lose weight and get healthy. I hope this guide helps you reach your goals.
Welcome! I’m glad you’ve decided to try the South Beach Diet and have taken the first step toward a future filled with health and vitality.
The South Beach Diet can’t be classified as a low-carb diet, a low-fat diet, or a high-protein diet. Its rules: Consume the right carbs and the right fats and learn to snack strategically. The South Beach Diet has been so widely successful because people lose weight without experiencing cravings or feeling deprived, or even feeling that they’re
on
a diet. It allows you to enjoy “healthy” carbohydrates, rather than the kinds that contribute to weight gain, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. You can eat a great variety of foods in a great variety of recipes. This prevents repetition and boredom, two obstacles to long-term success. Our goal is that the South Beach Diet becomes a healthy lifestyle, not just a diet. The purpose of this guide is to help you to accomplish this with ease. Read on for more on the principles of the diet, how to use this Guide, and shopping and dining-out tips.
Good Fats, Bad Fats
Fat is an important part of a healthy diet. There’s more and more evidence that many fats are good for us and actually reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. They also help our sugar and insulin metabolism and therefore contribute to our goals of long-term weight loss and weight maintenance. And because good fats make foods taste better, they help us enjoy the journey to a healthier lifestyle. But not all fats are created equal—there are good fats and bad fats.
“Good” fats include monounsaturated fats, found in olive and canola oils, peanuts and other nuts, peanut butter, and avocados. Monounsaturated fats lower total and “bad” LDL cholesterol—which accumulates in and clogs artery walls—while maintaining levels of “good” HDL cholesterol, which carries cholesterol from artery walls and delivers it to the liver for disposal.
Omega-3 fatty acids—polyunsaturated fats found in cold-water fish, canola oil, flaxseeds, walnuts, almonds, and macadamia nuts—also count as good fat. Recent studies have shown that populations that eat more omega-3s, like Eskimos (whose diets are heavy on fish), have fewer serious health problems like heart disease and diabetes. There is evidence that omega-3 oils helps prevent or treat depression, arthritis, asthma, and colitis and help prevent cardiovascular deaths. You’ll eat both monounsaturated fats and omega-3s in abundance in all three phases of the Diet.
“Bad fats” include saturated fats—the heart-clogging kind found in butter, fatty red meats, and full-fat dairy products.
“Very bad fats” are the manmade trans fats. Trans fats, which are created when hydrogen gas reacts with oil, are found in many packaged foods, including margarine, cookies, cakes, cake icings, doughnuts, and potato chips. Trans fats are worse than saturated fats; they are bad for our blood vessels, nervous systems, and waistlines.
As this Guide went to press, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that by 2006, food manufacturers must list the amount of trans fats in their products on the label. (The natural trans fats in meat and milk, which act very differently in the body than the manmade kind, will not require labeling.) Until then, here are a few ways to reduce your intake of trans fats and saturated fats, South Beach style.
Go natural:
Limit margarine, packaged foods, and fast food, which tend to contain high amounts of saturated and trans fats.
Make over your cooking methods:
Bake, broil, or grill rather than fry.
Lose the skin:
Remove the skin from chicken or turkey before you eat it.
Ditch the butter:
Cook with canola or olive oil instead of butter, margarine, or lard.
Slim down your dairy:
Switch from whole milk to fat-free or 1% milk.
Good Carbs, Bad Carbs
The Trans-Fat Hot List
You’ve probably heard a lot in the news lately about trans fats—a particularly nasty type of fat that can wreak havoc on your health. Food manufacturers have not been required to list this type of fat on their food labels in the past, but because of new government regulations, manufacturers will be required to list the amount of trans fats in their products by 2006. Until then, here is what you need to know to identify trans fats present in foods.
Look for the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydro genated” oil on the list of ingredients. If it is listed as the first, second, or third ingredient, the food has a lot trans fats in it. The common names for trans fats to look for on food labels include partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oil, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, partially hydrogenated coconut oil, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil shortening.
You can also refer to this “Hot List” of foods that are known to harbor trans fats. To keep your weight loss on track, and to maintain good health, it’s best to avoid these foods as much as possible. There are plenty of great-tasting, healthier alternatives you can have instead—just check the food chart in this book!
BREADS AND BREAD PRODUCTS
Biscuits, made from mix
Biscuits or rolls, made from refrigerated dough
Coating mixes for fish, meat, or poultry
Stuffing mixes
Taco shells
White and wheat flour breads (some types)
BREAKFAST FOODS
Most commercial bakery items, such as:
Cinnamon buns
Danish
Doughnuts
Muffins
Pastries or bakery items with icing or frosting
Sweet rolls
Toaster tarts or strudel, plain or iced
CANDY
Most commercial confectionary, such as:
Caramels
Chocolate
Fruit chews
Hard candies with a creamy texture (some types)
Seasonal candy
Taffy-like candy
DESSERTS
Most commercially prepared items, such as:
Cake sprinkles, decorettes, or baking chips
Cakes and cake mixes
Cakes or cupcakes prepared with icing or frosting
Ice cream cakes
Refrigerated cookie dough
Pie crusts, such as traditional, graham cracker, and cookie crumb, and some pie fillings, such as chocolate
Pound cake and fat-free pound cake
Ready-to-spread frostings
Refrigerated cookie kits with icing
DIPS AND SNACKS
Bean dips (some types)
Cheese and pretzel snack kits
Cheese and cracker snack kits (some types)
Cheese puffs
Chocolate- or yogurt-covered snacks (most types)
Cookie snack kits
Cookies, most types such as chocolate chip and vanilla wafers
Corn chips
Crackers, including cheese- filled sandwich-type, cream- filled sandwich-type, saltine- type, snack crackers and some types of wheat crackers
Nacho cheese dips
Popcorn packaged for the microwave
Potato chips and potato sticks
Pretzels filled with imitation cheese
Pudding snacks, prepared
Tortilla chips (some types)
Weight-loss snack bars (some types)
FAST FOODS
Breakfasts with biscuit topping, made from biscuit mixes
Biscuits served with fast-food dinners
French fries
Fried apples or fast-food fruit pies
Fried chicken
Fried fish sandwiches
Mixed meals from a box that contain buttermilk biscuit topping, cornbread topping, dumplings, or pouched seasoning mix
Most deep-fried fast foods
FATS AND OILS
Light spreads (some types)
Margarine, hard stick and regular tub types
Vegetable shortening, regular and butter-flavored
FROZEN FOODS
Breaded fish sticks
Entrées (some types)
French fries
Fruit pies and pie crusts
Pancakes and French toast
Pastries, heat-and-eat or pastries with icing
Pizza and pizza crusts
Pot pies
Waffles and waffle sticks
MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS
International and instant latte coffees (some types)
Refrigerated fat-free nondairy creamers
Refrigerated nondairy creamers (some types)
Whipped toppings
SALADS AND SALAD DRESSINGS
Commercially prepared salad dressings (some types)
SOUPS AND STEWS
Bouillon cubes (some types)
Boxed onion soup and dip mix
Ramen noodle and soup cups (some types)
Carbohydrates, foods that contain simple sugars (short chains of sugar molecules) or starches (long chains of sugar molecules), have been blamed for our epidemic of obesity and diabetes. This is only partially true, because there are both good and bad carbohydrates. The good carbs contain the important vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that are essential to our health and that help prevent heart disease and cancer. The bad carbs, which have been consumed by Americans in unprecedented quantities (largely in an attempt to avoids fats), are the ones that have resulted in the fattening of America. Bad carbs are refined carbs, the ones where digestion has begun in factories instead of in our stomachs. The good carbs are the ones humans were designed to consume—the unrefined ones that have contributed to our health since we began eating! Unrefined carbohydrates are found in whole, natural foods, such as whole grains, legumes, rice, and starchy vegetables. They’re also called complex carbohydrates, so named for their molecular structure. Besides being packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, good carbs take longer to digest—a good thing, as you’ll soon see.