Diet of the South Beach - preparing for the bathing season

The diet of the southern beach was developed by the Florida doctor -cardiologist Arthur Agaston to help his patients lose excess pounds and thereby reduce the associated burden on the cardiovascular system and reduce the risk of relapse of the disease.

Although, in fact, this program of losing weight can hardly be called a diet - it is rather a fully-fledged nutrition system that can be implemented in the conduct of a healthy lifestyle.

The essence and features of the southern diet ^

This diet got its name not by chance. It's sad, but all that we see in Hollywood movies about Miami Beach - figure skaters and smart athletes - tennis instructors or swimming - is just a superficial truth about the coast.

In fact, many of its residents are obese and need the help of literate nutritionists. Well, if you set out to lose weight for the beach season, then let the name of this diet will become for you a symbol of beauty and health.

The diet of the southern beach is not a low-calorie food system. Its main principle is to achieve a reasonable balance of carbohydrates and fats, and precisely those that are considered useful in this technique. For example, carbohydrates, quickly processed by the body and contributing to the rapid entry of glucose into the blood, are considered harmful.

This includes refined products, confectionery, sugar, baking. According to Agaston, these products should be replaced with food with "good" carbohydrates, for processing which the body takes time and additional energy reserves. These include products from whole( unprocessed) grain, vegetables and legumes.

Fats are also divided into "bad" and "good."The first include saturated animal fats and so-called trans fats, polyunsaturated fats( derived from vegetable oils and fish) are also considered useful.

The southern shore diet has a number of well-founded in the scientific community advantages:

• this diet is approved by scientific institutions with a certain authority in the field of dietetics;
• well contributes to the stabilization of cholesterol and insulin levels in the blood;The
• nutrition menu is balanced and contains all the necessary food groups;
• method of losing weight is quite simple and, as a rule, easily brought to its logical conclusion.

But the most important and undeniable advantage of this program is that it does not require its admirer to calculate calories or grams. The first thing it aims at is the training of the body to useful fats and carbohydrates, which is a very rational system of nutrition, which can be adhered to throughout life. Flexibility and orientation to common sense are the main components of this diet program.

There is a southern diet and a couple of drawbacks:

• in some cases, weight loss can occur only due to the withdrawal of excess fluid from the body;
• a negative moment in this food system may be the need for time consuming to prepare the "right" dishes.

South beach diet: three phases ^

This diet program has three main phases.

Phase 1: the most difficult. It lasts two weeks.

Its essence is to switch the body from harmful products to useful ones. There is a sort of reset, in which a person begins to get rid of excess carbohydrates, and then goes to a healthy diet.

At this stage, the following products are completely banned from consuming:

• sugar, sweets, all flour and confectionery;
• starchy foods( potatoes, cereals);
• berries, fruits, juices;
• fatty meat and fatty cheeses;
• carrots, corn;
• yogurts, milk;
• alcohol.

The following types of products are allowed:

• lean meat, including poultry meat;
• all kinds of fish and seafood;
• non-starchy vegetables( cabbage, cucumbers, beans, eggplants, turnips, sweet peppers, tomatoes), greens, mushrooms;
• nuts in small quantities( walnuts, peanuts, pistachios);
• egg white, low-fat cottage cheese;
• low-fat cheeses;
• olive and sunflower oil.

At the first stage of the diet of the southern coast, the amount of food consumed is determined by the slimming ones according to the principle - "do not eat excess, just satisfy hunger".Mode of nutrition - three meals and two snacks. If you really want, you can also arrange a dessert after dinner.

Phase 2. Its duration is individual.

You can set a threshold to reach a certain weight and stick to this diet until you reach your ideal. But if the weight has ceased to decrease, then, most likely, you have reached the optimum and continue to force the body is not worth it. On average, the second phase of the program of the southern beach can last from one to two months.

Agaston completely admits that from time to time you can make for yourself small indulgences and, for example, for a short time to move from the menu of the second phase to the third. Or, on the contrary, if there is a feeling of "overload", return to the menu of the first two weeks.

In the second stage, you can eat almost everything that was previously banned. But to the very minimum it is necessary to reduce the use:

• of sugar and sweets, confectionery;
• white bread;
• white rice;
• potatoes, carrots, corn;
• sweet calorie fruits, berries and juices from them.

But you can already enter into the diet and the following types of products:

• unsweetened fruits and berries;
• skimmed milk, kefir and yogurt;
• rice, buckwheat, barley, oatmeal;
• black bread, dark pasta;
• cocoa, bitter chocolate;
• red wine.

The basic principle is not to get carried away by strongly harmful products. If you could live without them for two weeks, then further they will not become vital for the body. If you want to speed up the result, you can include physical activity in your daily routine, but they are not an obligatory element in this program. Drink up to 8 glasses of water per day.

Phase 3 - a return to the usual way of life

The main task of losing weight is not to gain a discarded weight again. To do this, you must continue to adhere to a balanced diet - avoid "bad" carbohydrates and prefer "good" fats. The main principle - do not overeat and do not eat at night. In a word, keep yourself in hand, eat three times a day and, if possible, do not use snacks.

Approximate menu for phases ^

Sample menu for the day in the first phase of the southern beach diet:

• breakfast: tomato juice, egg whites omelet with mushrooms and bacon, unsweetened tea or coffee with skim milk;
• lunch: a piece of low-fat cheese;
• lunch: salad of tomatoes, green beans and tuna with olive oil;
• afternoon snack: 0.5 cup low-fat cottage cheese, or homemade cheese;
• dinner: steak, grilled or grilled, steamed broccoli, fried tomatoes with basil sauce, pineapple and parmesan seeds.

Sample menu for the day in the second phase of the south coast diet:

• breakfast: oatmeal, a cup of fresh strawberries, unsweetened coffee or tea;
• lunch: hard boiled egg;
• lunch: salad of chicken fillet and tomatoes, basil, lettuce, dressed with olive oil;
• afternoon snack: pear, a piece of low-fat cheese;
• dinner: stewed salmon fillet with spinach, vegetable stew, summer salad, strawberry in chocolate glaze.

Sample menu for the day in the third phase of the southern coast diet:

• breakfast: 0.5 grapefruit, oatmeal cookies, unsweetened coffee or tea;
• dinner: a sandwich with beef, lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, a slice of coarse bread;
• dinner: summer salad, vegetable stew, chicken breast, baked in the oven, peaches or nectarines, low-fat yogurt.

Reviews of doctors and results ^

The diet of the southern coast is considered very effective - on average, its first phase, weight loss is from 3 to 7 kg. How much you lose during the second stage - depends on its duration and your personal settings - from 2-3 kg per week. The third phase is designed to stabilize the weight.

This system does not have special contraindications. The main risk group - people with chronic diseases, as well as pregnant and lactating women - they are absolutely unacceptable to observe any diets. The main thing that you have to achieve with respecting this diet is to learn to give up harmful foods and give preference to healthy ones.

The diet of this diet program is well balanced and quite full. If you have gone through all three phases, your weight is definitely normalized. If the menu of the first stage is observed, the load on the kidneys and liver increases, and therefore there may be manifestations of excruciating thirst, a feeling of dry skin and metallic taste in the mouth. But all the symptoms disappear when going to the second phase.

Modern dietology highlights the high efficiency of the southern diet. But it also determines a number of its weaknesses. So, this method of losing weight can provoke the formation of gallstones and the development of constipation. In addition, the restriction of drinking regimen is a factor in the discharge of excess kilograms, which is not considered a "humane" method of losing weight. Therefore, you do not need to discard this fact.
We recommend watching a video about the fact that not all fats are harmful and some of them, on the contrary, are vital for the proper functioning of the body: