You Have a Choice, gain weight or do "LOW CARBS"!
Written: Oct 14 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: America can change their eating habits, low Carbs/Low Fat means healthy life style.
Cons: Hard to find items in this book.
The Bottom Line: The bottom line always means moderation in eating and drinking.
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| grandgram's Full Review: Arthur S. Agatston M.D. - The South Beach Diet: Th... |
In today’s newspaper October 15, 2003 were two articles on more adults becoming extremely obese and another with a study on Low-carb diets and weight lose. The first article stressed that since the 1980’s American were becoming at least 100 pounds overweight. The number of extremely obese adults has quadrupled to about 4-million and causing many health problems. In the second separate article was a survey study done by Penelope Greene of the Harvard School of Public Health for The American Association for the Study of Obesity in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. To their surprise they found people who used the low-carb diet and ate 300 calories more per day than those on a standard American Heart Association low-fat diet, still lost weight. It was a surprise to this group because of all the controversy concerning the Adkins and other Low-Carb diets but maybe the Heart Association will reconsider.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I have been trying many different low-carb diets starting with Adkins, Sugar Buster, Suzanne Somers, and now THE SOUTH BEACH DIET. I became aware as I got older it was harder to stay within my normal weight. On my annual physicals they noticed my blood pressure was high and wanted to put me on the medication. After trying that for one month, decided to do this on my own. I did the usual cutting the salt and going on a diet as these were things I found out caused high blood pressure. The Adkins diet was tried first but it was too extreme and hard to follow. I lost some weight so tried the Sugar Buster, this too was too hard to follow. Next came Suzanne Somers and I did lose more on this plan but my cholesterol was higher. But then life steps in and my husband was hospitalized and I found out hospital cafeteria’s are not the place to diet. There are more obese people around the hospitals that really amazed me as you would think they would have better foods available for their workers.
Now comes the THE SOUTH BEACH DIET and I am finding this plan and variety of foods available was much easier to stay with plus it stressed more low-fat items. My cholesterol is down and blood pressure normal. I ordered this book from Amazon.com plus another cookbook on Good Carbs and Bad Carbs which I reviewed earlier. The reason this book was last to be reviewed was I loaned it to my neighbor as she needed to lose weight. It helps if you have someone to share experiences with and we share recipes as well. I am careful to check labels for saturated fats, sodium, carbohydrates and sugar so it is taking me more time getting my groceries.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The book is written by Dr. Arthur Agatston a cardiologist from Florida who was finding his patients were having trouble losing weight on either the low-carb and low-fat diets he decided to design his own. He said he needed something that they could stick too to become successful. It became so successful by word of mouth it pressured him to write this book. He sought the help of Marie Almon a dietitian and received support and counsel from his colleagues.
PART ONE
The book is divided into two sections the first section is twelve chapters that explains the diet and how it works:
Losing Weight, Gaining Life
Good Carbs, Bad Carbs
A Brief History of Popular Diets
A Day in the Life
Good Fats, Bad Fats
Hello, Bread
It’s Not Just What You eat, It’s How You Eat It
How Eating Makes you Hungry
Is it Diabetes Yet?
How to Eat in a Restaurant
Back to Cardiology
Why Do People Occasionally Fail on This Diet
These chapters give you good information on following this diet. If you are just starting out on a low-carb diet I would suggest buying this book as you will return to it for much help as you move along in the diet. I paid $14.97 and when I ordered the Good Carb Cookbook I got the free shipping for books over $25.00. I certainly have made great use of these two books, they were worth the price.
SECOND PART
The second section is meal plans and recipes, this is a great help for those just starting out on this diet. You can follow the suggestions as written or substitute from one meal to the next. I found living in a smaller community it was hard to find some of the items in the recipes given in this book. I love to experiment with foods so staying with the original version was able to create new and different tastes. These chapters are as follows:
Phase One Meal Plan
Phase One Recipes
Phase Two Meal Plan
Phase Two Recipes
Phase Three Meal Plan
Phase Three Recipes
Credits
Index
Your first two weeks on this Phase One will be the hardest so you will need your will power to stick it out. Just remind your self it is just for two weeks and keep your mind involved so your stomach doesn’t take over. Cravings for sugar and starches are what you want to overcome and it will happen if you stay with it. A sample day in the first Phase is as follows:
Breakfast
6 oz. Tomato juice
1/4-1/2-cup liquid egg substitute
2 slices Canadian bacon
Decaffeinated coffee or tea (this is a must-my recommendation)
Midmorning snack
1-2 Turkey roll-ups – (turkey rolled up in lettuce leaves)
2-Tbsp Celantro Mayonnaise – recipe included for both
Lunch
South Beach Chopped Salad with Tuna – recipe given
Sugar free flavored gelatin dessert
Mid-afternoon snack
Celery stuffed with 1 wedge laughing Cow Light Cheese
Dinner
Baked Chicken Breast
Roasted Eggplant and Peppers – page given for recipe
Tossed Salad
2-Tbsp Balsamic Vinaigrette – page given for recipe
Dessert
Mocha Ricotta Crème – page given for recipe
This is typical of all fourteen days on this Phase One at the end of this you will find a list of foods to enjoy and foods to avoid. This is very helpful when you go shopping at the grocery store. I found some items very hard to find so had to flip flop some of the menus, I find it hard to find many low-fat cheese in our stores and laughing Cow I have never heard of. The recipes are great to have them just following each phase of your diet plan at the end of each recipe the nutrition value per serving is listed. Try to stay as close to these suggestions and you WILL feel less hungry.
REMAINING PHASES
As each phase of THE SOUTH BEACH DIET progresses new things are added to your diet. You will be gradually introduced to more healthy carbohydrates which includes fruit, whole grain products and your weight lose may slow somewhat during this time. At the end are the list of foods introduced and foods to avoid plus many new recipes that goes along with each Phases Two and Three. The recipes get more interesting and some are hard to duplicate. He has eight Chefs from Miami Beach who have added recipes to this book which were interesting. Many of those were quite lengthy and with items hard to find in small communities.
I will include a short recipe in Phase two that works for breakfast:
SUNRISE PARFAIT
1-cup sliced strawberries
1-cup non-fat sugar-free vanilla yogurt
½-cup Uncle Sam cereal
Layer strawberries, yogurt and cereal in two stemmed dessert glasses. I make my own non-fat yogurt with dry milk, sweetened with Splenda and vanilla. Instead of the Uncle Sam Cereal I used crumbled Shredded Wheat or Oat Bran or Wheat Germ and this makes a nice morning start. Another suggestion put it all in a blender with ½ cup cranberry juice sweetened with Splenda, Wheat Germ and Frozen Strawberries. Makes a great smoothie. It’s all in the creative aspects of a diet.
In the back of this book is an Index so you can look up special items. There are items listed I have never heard of but am learning such as; Arugula, Baba Ghannouj, Hummus, Macaluso and Rumi. I am in the Phase Three so am able to do more experimenting with whole grain muffins with recipes out of the Good Carb Cookbook. I don’t overdo it and that is the whole point of these diets, everything in moderation. YOUR HEALTH IS THE DOOR TO YOUR FUTURE!!
Recommended:
Yes
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