My Experience with the South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is a diet that is based on generally accepted nutritional and medical knowledge. For this reason, I felt comfortable giving it a try. I bought the book, and proceeded to give it a whirl. I liked the choices that were given to me. I love almonds, so having those as a treat suited me well. I selected the very largest almonds I could find and dutifully ate the ten a day I was allotted. Ditto chicken breasts and green vegetables.

South Beach and Cooking for My Family

It was a challenge cooking dinner for the family. They enjoy croissant dinner rolls or fresh sourdough bread with their meals. Other than the bread, the family dieted right along with me. The kids loved it. They were happy to see chicken breasts separated from the vegetables, as opposed to the mixed up stir-frys and stews that I had been making prior to the diet. No more vegetables “touching each other.” I kept it simple, and saved the omelets for the mornings. After the first week, however, I discovered that I could smell a piece of bread at 20 paces. I never did get over missing that bread!

The diet does not lend itself well to a get up and go sort of lifestyle. As a single parent, I was trying to get the kids out the door and myself to work, lunch packed, in record time each morning. At the end of each day, I was exhausted. I did not feel like cooking any of the more elaborate recipes for dinner or for lunch. If it couldn’t be quickly sautéed or microwaved, I didn’t eat it. I did try making some quick lettuce wraps for lunch, and took my almonds and a hard-boiled egg. That is what I ate almost every day for breakfast and lunch.

Food Allergies and Preferences

Another obstacle was the recommended amount of dairy. I am not supposed to eat dairy at all due to an allergy. Luckily, I was able to substitute some of it with tofu. However, the ricotta dessert in the cookbook just doesn’t taste as good with tofu. I tried. The second obstacle was the amount of salad that is recommended with meals. The truth is, I despise salad, unless it is liberally coated with a generous helping of sweet, oily dressing. The small amount of olive oil and red wine vinegar recommended just didn’t cut it. I do however, love mushrooms. I grilled portebellos, sautéed entire packages of white button mushrooms, and ate them by themselves or mixed in with eggs. I ate many omelets with salsa and mushrooms.

Needless to say, I soon grew very bored and felt deprived. The bread craving stayed with me. I started sitting down to eat and feeling as though I couldn’t stand to eat another bite of meat, chicken breast or otherwise. I started eating less, because everything but the almonds had become unappealing. I did lose seven pounds, in the course of two weeks. The fact that I was teaching an after-school break-dancing class may have helped, supporting the diet’s premise that exercise helps individuals to lose weight faster. I felt energetic and healthy.

I didn’t stick with it though. There is only so long you can go eating a few items when you don’t have time to cook, and I reached my limit. I began to eat bread again, and drink my coffee with the vanilla creamer. I think I missed vanilla creamer in my coffee more than anything else. I immediately gained back three pounds. However, the other four stayed off, which gave me the incentive to continue eating in a healthful manner. I didn’t choose to go on to Phase Two of the diet, however, because for about a month afterwards, I simply couldn’t stand the sight of meat.

How Well it Worked

I am not sure how well this diet works for others who do not have issues with dairy products or a dislike of salads or frequent servings of met. My principal returned to school last year looking decidedly svelte. I asked her what she had done over the summer, and she told me that she had lost over 30 pounds on The South Beach Diet. However, as the year progressed, she gained the weight back again. Could it have been the lack of time for cooking and making the meals more palatable?

Besides losing the four pounds, the primary benefit that I got from following The South Beach Diet was a loss of sugar cravings. I dramatically cut down on my sugar consumption after only two weeks. Also, not eating very much meat turned out to be a pretty good thing, since ultimately, what has helped me to lose over 50 pounds has been a version of The Mediterranean Diet. It lends itself to sautéing, and I don’t have to eat red meat. To each their own!

Share your own experience with the South Beach Diet!