South Beach Diet Plan

The South Beach Diet Plan kind of sounds like a reality TV show or something, but it actually is a bona fide diet that millions swear by. The South Beach Diet is one of those new breed of diets that sees carbohydrates as the key to weight loss and increased health.

Where the South Beach Diet Plan veers from the similar path taken by the Atkins Diet is in recommending that your servings of meat are leaner. The first two weeks or so require a severe reduction in the amount of carbs, but over time you are increase it gradually.

In addition, the South Beach Diet Plan divides carbohydrates into good and evil, rather than recommending an across the board cutting back. According to the South Beach Diet Plan, the good carbs are those that contain high fiber as being high in the good kind of fat, as well as having a low glycemic index. This basically just means that these carbs more easily digested and absorbed by the body.

The South Beach Diet Plan is separated into three distinct phases, though it is recommended throughout all three that ingesting the bad kind of fat be limited.

Phase I lasts two weeks, during which dieters avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates. These include such favorites as candies, bread, and sugar as well as those foods typically much easier to avoid such as potatoes, cereals and grains.

The idea of this two week phase is for the body to reduce its insulin resistance and start using its excess fat. But more on Phase I later.

The question often asked is whether the South Beach Diet Plan qualifies as just another fad diet or does it really have merit. Lets look at the facts. The recommended caloric intake for the average person is from 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day. On the other hand, the caloric ceiling of South Beach Diet Plan is a mere 1500 calories per day. Thats not a whole lot of food, in case you werent aware. Cutting that many calories out of your diet per day is almost a guaranteed way of losing weight. But at what price?

One problem faced by many people who try it out is the tendency to go right back to their normal eating patterns once the desired weight is lost. Sensing this, the creators have actually done something rather ingenious. They have built the idea of falling off the wagon into the diet. The South Beach Diet Plan creator came up with this idea from personal experience.

He himself fell off the wagon and realized that a diet system needed to be established that dealt with that whole part of the psychology of dieting. Hence, the South Beach Diet Plan is easy enough to get right back into even after falling off track for a few days. Because there are three distinct phases to the diet, at any time things go all wacky, the dieter simply starts over again from phase one, which only lasts two weeks.

The Nutritional Accuracy of Popular Magazines
The ACSH (American Council on Science and Health) have completed a large review of many popular magazines. Their goal was to evaluate the quality of nutritional information presented. Apparently 42% of US consumers make diet-related changes on the basis of information from health and fitness magazines. So - who do you trust?...

As Obesity In Children Increases, The Incidence Of Fatty Liver Disease Rises
Indiana University School of Medicine researchers are taking a closer look at a disease whose incidence is rising as obesity in children increases. Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis, more popularly known as Fatty Liver Disease, occurs in approximately 15% of obese children. Fatty Liver Disease, in which fat accumulates in the liver, while not life threatening in children, can lead to cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, sometimes requiring transplantation by adulthood. [click link for full article]

News Roundup and Quick Links
The Carrot Diet A woman eats carrots every 15 minutes for 3 months in order to cure her infertility. The solution seemed to work as she became pregnant. A tabloid special Active kids say slim "Children who did 15 minutes a day of moderate exercise -- equivalent to a brisk walk -- were 50 percent less likely than inactive...

Patients Should Be Alert For Obesity Surgery Complication
It is important for obesity surgery patients to take their prescribed vitamin supplements and to be alert for symptoms such as vomiting, confusion, lack of coordination and visual changes signs of a serious neurological condition that can develop after the surgery. [click link for full article]

In Obesity, Brain Becomes 'Unaware' Of Fat
Critical portions of the brain in those who are obese don't really know they are overweight, researchers have reported in the March issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press. These findings in obese mice show that a sensor in the brain that normally detects a critical fat hormone - causing a cascade of events that keeps energy balance in check - fails to engage. Meanwhile, the rest of the metabolic pathway remains ready to respond. [click link for full article]

Foods To Prevent Obesity?
This, surely, is the oxymoron of the year. Reuters reports that the "Dutch hope to invent foods that prevent obesity". That single sentence encompasses the arrogance, greed, and plain foolishness that exists in the minds of those who "invent" foods. "We are working on certain food ingredients, which provoke more satiety than others do on the long run, so that...