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South Beach Under the Spotlight - Juliette Kellow
South Beach is the latest diet craze to come out of the States,
this time from the sun-kissed bays of Florida rather than the
glitz and glamour of Hollywood. So far, more than five million
copies of the book have been sold and, with a place in the New
York Times bestseller list for more than a year, it's popularity
seems set to stay.
So just what is all the buzz about? Quite simply, this diet is
top of the popularity stakes because it promises great things.
As well as claiming you can lose up to a staggering 13lb in just
two weeks, it suggests you can also expect to lose most of that
weight from your tummy. And who could resist a promise like that?
What sort of diet is it? Dr Agatston, a leading American cardiologist,
originally created the South Beach diet for his heart patients.
While his main aim was to improve their heart health, he discovered
that as a side effect of the diet they also lost significant amounts
of weight. He claims this isn't a low-carb or low-fat diet - instead
it focuses on eating the 'right' carbs and the 'right' fats. In
fact, the South Beach Diet is based on the GI Diet. In practice,
the diet severely restricts carbohydrates in the first two weeks,
before gradually re-introducing those with a low glycaemic index.
Plus it recommends swapping saturates for unsaturates.
What do the experts think?
Nutrition experts and dietitians are generally in favour of diets
based on the Glycaemic Index, but while most believe in eating
more foods with a low GI value, they don't necessarily think all
high GI foods should be banned. This is because the GI value of
a meal changes considerably when foods are eaten together. That
said, few experts would argue with a diet that recommends cutting
down on processed carbs and swapping foods rich in saturates for
those containing monounsaturates.
Most nutrition experts are less happy with the recommended weight
loss. General guidelines recommend losing no more than 2lb a week
for good health and so experts are concerned that this diet promotes
such a large weight loss in the first two weeks. They say this
is unhealthy and is simply the result of a severe calorie restriction
caused by cutting out all carbs.
As for losing weight specifically from your midriff, most nutrition
and fitness experts believe it's impossible to lose fat from just
one part of your body. Nevertheless, losing weight will almost
certainly result in a reduction in waist size - and this is linked
with a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes.
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