in order to get the most out of the diet you also need to understand what comprises the foods you eat and how those foods fit in with the diet’s principles. That’s the purpose of this guide: to tell you what you need to know about more than 1,200 different foods and dishes.
Of course, we don’t expect you to sit down and read this from cover to cover, as though it were a hot, new page-turner. So how can you get the most out of it?
One smart way to begin is just to browse the sections that hold some particular interest for you. If you love bread, for in stance, we present four pages of information on various kinds. If you’re a true blue carnivore, you can turn to the section on meat and find nine pages on how your favorites stack up.
You can also use this guide when planning meals. It’s easy to flip from one category to another. We want to make it as effortless as possible for you to put together a healthy and delicious lifestyle, meal by meal. We’ve designed this book to be portable, so you can take it along when you’re shopping for groceries or carry it to your favorite restaurant.
Foods are listed in alphabetical order, by category. For a serving of each, we give the following information:
Portion Size
On the South Beach Diet, you don’t count calories, but that doesn’t mean calories don’t count. Be mindful of how much you’re eating, especially when it comes to certain foods like nuts, where it’s easy to eat two or three times the recommended portion size, and whole grain breads and other starchy foods that are reintroduced in Phase 2.
Total Carbohydrates
Although we provide this information, the South Beach Diet does not make you count carbs. I feel that learning about good carbohydrates is more important than tracking grams of carbs. By paying attention and eating the right carbs, you’ll eat healthfully and lose weight.
As I’ve said before, the best carbohydrates are the unprocessed ones—those that provide fiber and are nutrient dense. These include whole fruits and vegetables and whole grain breads, pastas, and rice. Avoid refined carbohydrates that are packed with calories, sugar and/or fat, and usually offer very little nutrition: candy, pastries, white bread, instant rice, sugared cereals, and the like.
Total Sugar
Research shows that the average American presently eats about 33 teaspoons of sugar a day—per person! That’s be cause many foods and beverages contain white sugar, corn syrup, and high-fructose corn syrup as one of their primary ingredients. All of these contribute to weight gain and should be avoided. Natural sugars, like those found in fresh fruits and low-fat dairy products, do not have the same effects on the body. That’s why we recommended eating a variety of these foods in Phases 2 and 3.
Honey, molasses, and pure maple syrup are also natural sweeteners. They should be avoided in Phase 1, but may be used sparingly for flavoring in Phases 2 and 3. Brown sugar, while still a natural sugar, is processed by the body in the same way as white sugar and should be avoided.
Total Fat and Saturated Fat
We’ve also improved the information about the fat in foods. As you probably know by now, bad fats (such as saturated and trans fats) not only cause weight gain, but also can be hazardous to your overall health. These so-called “bad” fats clog your arteries and promote heart disease. But there are plenty of good fats, like the monounsaturated fats found in olive oil and canola oil, and the omega-3 fats found in fish, flaxseed, nuts, avocado, and green leafy vegetables. Starting with this edition of the guide, we give figures for both total fat and saturated fat for each food. The South Beach Diet doesn’t ask you to count fat grams as part of your weight loss program; but for the sake of your heart health, keep your daily saturated fat intake below 10 percent of your daily calorie intake. This means that if you consume 2,000
Of course, we don’t expect you to sit down and read this from cover to cover, as though it were a hot, new page-turner. So how can you get the most out of it?
One smart way to begin is just to browse the sections that hold some particular interest for you. If you love bread, for in stance, we present four pages of information on various kinds. If you’re a true blue carnivore, you can turn to the section on meat and find nine pages on how your favorites stack up.
You can also use this guide when planning meals. It’s easy to flip from one category to another. We want to make it as effortless as possible for you to put together a healthy and delicious lifestyle, meal by meal. We’ve designed this book to be portable, so you can take it along when you’re shopping for groceries or carry it to your favorite restaurant.
Foods are listed in alphabetical order, by category. For a serving of each, we give the following information:
Portion Size
On the South Beach Diet, you don’t count calories, but that doesn’t mean calories don’t count. Be mindful of how much you’re eating, especially when it comes to certain foods like nuts, where it’s easy to eat two or three times the recommended portion size, and whole grain breads and other starchy foods that are reintroduced in Phase 2.
Total Carbohydrates
Although we provide this information, the South Beach Diet does not make you count carbs. I feel that learning about good carbohydrates is more important than tracking grams of carbs. By paying attention and eating the right carbs, you’ll eat healthfully and lose weight.
As I’ve said before, the best carbohydrates are the unprocessed ones—those that provide fiber and are nutrient dense. These include whole fruits and vegetables and whole grain breads, pastas, and rice. Avoid refined carbohydrates that are packed with calories, sugar and/or fat, and usually offer very little nutrition: candy, pastries, white bread, instant rice, sugared cereals, and the like.
Total Sugar
Research shows that the average American presently eats about 33 teaspoons of sugar a day—per person! That’s be cause many foods and beverages contain white sugar, corn syrup, and high-fructose corn syrup as one of their primary ingredients. All of these contribute to weight gain and should be avoided. Natural sugars, like those found in fresh fruits and low-fat dairy products, do not have the same effects on the body. That’s why we recommended eating a variety of these foods in Phases 2 and 3.
Honey, molasses, and pure maple syrup are also natural sweeteners. They should be avoided in Phase 1, but may be used sparingly for flavoring in Phases 2 and 3. Brown sugar, while still a natural sugar, is processed by the body in the same way as white sugar and should be avoided.
Total Fat and Saturated Fat
We’ve also improved the information about the fat in foods. As you probably know by now, bad fats (such as saturated and trans fats) not only cause weight gain, but also can be hazardous to your overall health. These so-called “bad” fats clog your arteries and promote heart disease. But there are plenty of good fats, like the monounsaturated fats found in olive oil and canola oil, and the omega-3 fats found in fish, flaxseed, nuts, avocado, and green leafy vegetables. Starting with this edition of the guide, we give figures for both total fat and saturated fat for each food. The South Beach Diet doesn’t ask you to count fat grams as part of your weight loss program; but for the sake of your heart health, keep your daily saturated fat intake below 10 percent of your daily calorie intake. This means that if you consume 2,000
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