One of the healthier diet options that is currently spreading around right now is the South Beach Diet. I've seen a variety of different diets in my day and I have to say out of most of them, this one seems to be very nutritionally sound. It incorporates healthy lifelong principles into the diet which will not only help you lose weight but will also help you keep it off long term - and isn't that what we are all looking for?

There are diets upon diets out there that while they may work, do not instil good eating habits that will promote not only weight loss but also proper health. Sure, if you eat nothing but cabbage soup for a week you will lose weight. How could you not? After all, weight loss is going to boil down to consuming less calories than you are burning and as anyone who has ever tried a cabbage soup diet knows, you will have a heck of a time trying to eat enough of it to maintain your weight - be it from the sheer volume of liquid and food passing through your system or because of the taste.

How To Start

When you first begin the south beach diet you are going to start with phase one. This stage will last for two weeks and is going to be the most restrictive stage of the diet. There are a few reasons for this. First, it will help to really kick-start your weight loss. Obviously the lower you take your calories the faster you will lose body fat (to a degree, starvation diets will actually slow the metabolism thus making it harder to lose weight - so this point can be overdone!). Secondly, you will find that once you cut out all the foods that used to cause you problems, namely highly processed carbohydrates, your cravings will go away.

What happens when you eat highly processed carbohydrates is that you get a sudden rise in blood sugar and serotonin. This is going to give you energy from the glucose in your blood and the serotonin, also known as the 'feel good' hormone will likely put you in a better mood. Unfortunately this will be short lived as a great deal of insulin will be released by the body to handle this load of glucose in the blood (moving it to muscle, liver or fat stores) and then you will come crashing down, feeling hungry and irritable. That will lead you to want more of these processed carbohydrates, thus creating an ongoing cycling that is devastating to any dieter.

By eliminating these foods for two weeks, your body will get used to a steady diet of lean protein, fat and some complex carbohydrates coming from vegetables, which will provide a steady release of energy and keep insulin levels stable. You will likely find too that once you are 'off' refined carbohydrates, you just do not want them anymore. This makes sticking to the diet even easier yet.

What Will You Eat?

What you will get to eat during phase one of the south beach diet are plenty of lean proteins and healthy fats. The protein can come from sources such as lean beef, chicken breasts, turkey, egg whites, seafood, soy foods (for vegetarians), fat free and low fat dairy products, beans and reduced fat cheese.

Your fat intake will be centred around sources that are mono or polyunsaturated, therefore avoiding all saturated and trans fats. Great sources you will want to include are peanuts, walnuts, almonds and olive oil.

Lastly, you are encouraged to eat as many non-starchy vegetables as you want during this entire diet. Vegetables are not only an excellent source of vitamins and fiber but contain so few calories that they will not significantly contribute to your daily calorie total. They will help to keep you feeling full and satisfied though, helping make eating less on a diet much easier. Just watch out for peas, corn and carrots on this phase of the diet as these are higher in carbohydrates and should be avoided.

What To Avoid

The foods that you want to avoid completely during this stage are any types of starchy carbohydrates. This would include fruits, pastas, rice, potatoes, cereals, granola bars, pretzels or other 'chip' type snack foods, bread, cakes or baked goods and alcohol.

As stated above this is the most restrictive phase and after the first two weeks are up and you move into stage two you will be allowed to add some of the healthier carb sources back in such as fruits, whole grains along with wine if desired.

Planning Your Day

When planning what you will eat on phase one, you are encouraged to have three main meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner supplemented with two smaller snacks. Each meal should contain a lean source of protein, some vegetables and a small amount of fat. A few good suggestions would be a chicken breast with salad along with some olive oil vinaigrette, a can of tuna on a bed of lettuce with some low fat cheese melted on top or some cottage cheese with a tablespoon of peanut butter mixed in.

You will want your snacks to also include a lean protein and a vegetable, so try some celery with tuna, raw vegetables with bean dip or else a salad with peanuts sprinkled on top.

During this phase you are also allowed to have unlimited amounts of water, sugar free cola, and sugar free coffee or tea. Make use of the variety of artificial sweeteners and syrups out there. For more on low sugar beverages have a look at this article.

If you follow phase one of the south beach diet correctly, you should see a good amount of weight loss, sustained energy levels, reduced hunger cravings and a sense of overall well-being. Moving to stage two you will be slightly less restricted in your food choices but will continue to see the same benefits. Don't be alarmed if once you add a few carbs back into your diet you see the scale go up a pound or two. This is likely just going to be water weight (as the body holds 3 grams of water for ever 1 gram of carbohydrate you consume) and will be lost within a day or so as you adapt.

The south beach diet is definitely one diet that you could choose to stick with over the long haul to drastically improve your health status so I would highly recommend looking into it.