WHY am I on this diet??
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| Wed, 01-07-2004 - 11:34am |
My friend wrote me today, asking the following: "Isn't your new eating lifestyle based on The South Beach Diet? My mom is considering trying it and has asked me what I thought of it - and I know nothing about it. I'm doing some research online to see what I can find - but want to talk to someone I "know" that is doing it. What do you like about it? What don't you like about it? Any comments?"
Here is my answer to her:
Min, I love it!!! It has changed my life. I know that I've finally found my "way of eating" for the rest of my life. I'm not just basing my diet on the South Beach Diet, I'm doing it, hook line and sinker.
I haven't even been exercising...between first smashing my toe with a heavy glass jar and then being sick for a month, I haven't gotten my exercise program back in gear (but am determined to)...and in spite of that have easily lost 21 lbs. in just over 2 months! Many people were put on this diet by their doctors for medical reasons, including high BP, cholesterol and other blood chemistry problems, heart problems, and all of their results are good. The South Beach Diet wasn't created to be a bestseller or a fad...it was developed through lots of clinical research and nutritional research over many years by a top cardiologist, for the purpose of providing his heart patients with a way of eating they could do for life.
Even my co-workers are becoming converts. Our employer sponsored a weight-watchers program here. Many people here tried it, haven't lost a thing, and are searching. The husband of one of my co-workers read the South Beach book, started doing their cooking and shopping following the Beach, and since Thanksgiving the hubby has lost 25 lbs. The wife had very little to lose and just wanted a healthier way of eating, but she's doing great, too. She and I are being asked to conduct a "course" on how the South Beach Diet works, and our organization is looking into having us run a support group for employees!
The South Beach Diet is all about "whole" foods, the least processed. The reason there aren't instant meals on this plan like bars and shakes, is that "whole" foods are the foundation and the key to the whole plan. Nearly all processed foods have additives such as corn sugars, fructose and other junk which is the stuff that makes America so fat.
I highly recommend that your mom start by reading the book. It's an easy read. It looks like a big book, but much of it is really filled with sample meal plans and lots of recipes. Really understanding "why" we are eating this way is a key in sticking with it, I believe. The principles of it are the most important part.
What I like about it:
1. It's extremely flexible. There is no portion control; nothing to measure, weigh, no points to count, no grams to count. You simply eat the "foods to enjoy" and avoid the "foods to avoid", in any recipe or combo you like.
2. It's healthy: there is no food group left out of the mix. It's not "low-carb", which is a popular myth....this is not a modified Atkins as many people think. Even in Phase 1 (the first two weeks of "starch detox") we're eating plenty of carbs in the form of vegetables, legumes (beans), etc. Very quickly, we're adding back in more dairy, multi-wholegrain breads, high fiber whole cereals, fruit, long-cooking oatmeal, brown and wild rice, etc. This is about eating the "good" carbs and leaving out the starchy, junky, trans-fatty, highly processed ones. It's about eating the "good" fats, the heart-healthy ones, and leaving out the bad ones, especially the man-made trans fats, hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated...the worst of all for our bodies.
3. I don't crave junk anymore. Not kidding! Within a couple of weeks the cravings for starches and sugars really diminish. I got through the holidays being faced with mounds of junk, and didn't even want any of it. :)
4. It's doable for life. This is very important to me, because I've lost weight on a hundred other diets but since I couldn't eat like that forever, I gained it back. Nearly all diets make you feel as if you're suffering. You just don't suffer on this diet (though the first few days of "detox" there are headaches and fatigue for some people, but this is just your blood chemistry adjusting and changing for the better.) There are so many food choices and combinations that you never feel deprived. There are thousands of recipes to try, or you can modify old favorite recipes. There are desserts. You eat all day long. You eat out. There are snacks that are very easy to tote. I find it just so darned easy! :)
5. Before I started, I was having chest pains, daily (bad angina). I didn't tell anybody...I was scared to death. Within the first few DAYS on the SBD, they were gone. I'm not exaggerating. I feel 100% more healthy than I did two months ago. I believe that this diet is saving my life. Many people feel this way about it. I go to my Doc at the end of this month for new bloodwork, and I just know that the results will be great. I saw him about a week ago to get antibiotics for my sinus infection, and I shared with him. He saw how much weight I'd lost already. He's thrilled. The South Beach Diet is the most doctor-recommended diet going. Here's a quote from the book, page 5: "You will improve invisible factors that only cardiologists and heart patients worry about. Thanks to this final change, you will substantially increase your odds of living long and well -- meaning you will maintain your health and vitality as you age." On page 30, the book tells us that the blood chemistry improves as quickly as 24 hours after starting this diet. I believe it! Page 36: "So many doctors have lost weight and improved their blood chemistries on the South Beach plan that it's become known as something of a "physician's diet."
6. I'm starting to look good, and by the time I get married in April, will be looking real good. ;-D
What I don't like about it: Not a darned thing!!
Maggie

That is SO well written! I enjoyed reading your letter very, very much. I imagine she will be picking up the book very soon!
Julie
MN