Contents
Losing weight up to 16 kg in 6 weeks.
The average daily calorie content is 1080 Kcal.
The Southern Diet (aka the South Beach Diet) was developed in 1999 by Florida-based cardiologist Arthur Agatston. The doctor was prompted by his desire to help patients lose weight, because, as you know, excess body weight creates an increased load on the heart muscle. The peculiarity of the southern diet is not a sharp decrease in caloric intake, but in the regulation of the balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Southern diet requirements
Arthur Agatston suggests first of all to remove harmful carbohydrates from the diet, which are quickly processed by the body and contribute to the flow of excess glucose into the bloodstream. Refined products, sugar and all products with its content, baked goods made from white flour unconditionally get here. Unhealthy foods should be replaced with foods rich in good carbohydrates, in particular, whole grains, vegetables, and legumes.
The author of the technique proposes to carry out similar manipulations with fats. Animal fats and trans fats are harmful. Thus, we refuse from butter, margarine, bacon and lard, various sauces, mayonnaise, ketchup. And we will draw the polyunsaturated fats necessary for the body from fish and vegetable oils.
The southern method is divided into 3 phases.
The first phase diet is aimed at “switching” the body from harmful products to useful ones. Need now refuse from:
– fatty meat;
– high fat cheese;
– sugar, various shop sweets;
– all flour and confectionery products;
– rice;
– potatoes;
– carrots;
– corn;
– any fruits, berries and juices squeezed out of them;
– milk;
– yogurt;
– alcoholic beverages.
Establish a diet the first phase is needed for:
– lean meat without skin (it is especially useful to eat poultry fillets);
– fish and seafood;
– green;
– mushrooms;
– non-starchy vegetable products (cucumbers, eggplants, legumes, cabbage, turnips, tomatoes);
– low-fat cottage cheese and low-fat hard cheese.
You can also consume a small amount of nuts. And the dishes should be seasoned with vegetable oil (preferably olive oil), which has not been heat-treated.
It is recommended to organize 5 meals – 3 main meals and 2 small snacks. If you’re hungry after dinner, don’t torture yourself and grab a small amount of permitted food (but not just before bed). The exact amount of food consumed is not indicated, listen to your body. Try to eat in a way that satisfies hunger, but do not overeat. The first phase can last up to two weeks, weight loss on it is 4-6 kilograms.
The second phase southern diet will last until you reach your desired weight, but Arthur Agatston advises sticking to such a diet for no longer than two months. If the weight has ceased to decrease, then, most likely, the body has reached its mass minimum at the moment. Then proceed to the next phase – consolidating the result. And if you want to lose more weight, you can return to the technique later.
So, in the second phase, you can eat in moderation all the foods that were previously prohibited. Only it is worth limiting the presence of sweets, sugar, confectionery, white rice, potatoes, starchy fruits and juices from them in the diet as much as possible. From previously undesirable products, you can now eat: unsweetened berries and fruits, milk, empty yogurt, kefir with minimal fat content, rice (ideally brown), buckwheat, oatmeal, barley, dark bread, pasta from durum wheat. If you want to drink alcohol, drink some dry red wine. You can also pamper yourself with a slice of dark chocolate (try to choose one with a cocoa content of at least 70%) and a cup of cocoa. It is better to indulge in sweets in the morning or, in extreme cases, at lunchtime. But the basis of the diet, if you want to lose weight at a rapid pace, should be made up of the products recommended for the first phase of the diet. It is they who are still in the food priority.
The third phase returns us to the usual way of life and maintains new weight. There are no clear rules of eating behavior here. But, of course, if you don’t want to face the lost pounds again, you should indulge in bad fats and carbohydrates as little as possible. The basic principles are avoiding overeating and not snacking (especially just before going to bed).
Phase 1
Breakfast: scrambled eggs from a couple of egg whites with slices of bacon and mushrooms; A glass of tomato juice; tea or coffee.
Snack: a slice of minimally fatty cheese.
Lunch: salad of tuna, canned in its own juice, tomatoes and green beans, seasoned with olive oil.
Afternoon snack: a couple of tablespoons of low-fat cottage cheese.
Dinner: grilled steak; steamed broccoli; fried or baked with cheese and basil sauce.
Phase 2
Breakfast: oatmeal on the water; a few strawberries in chocolate glaze; a cup of tea or coffee.
Snack: hard-boiled chicken egg.
Lunch: a salad of boiled chicken fillet, tomatoes, lettuce and basil with a few drops of vegetable oil.
Afternoon snack: pear and a slice of low-fat cheese.
Dinner: stewed salmon fillet with spinach; vegetable stew; a handful of fresh strawberries.
Phase 3
Breakfast: a couple of oatmeal cookies; half a grapefruit; a cup of tea or coffee.
Lunch: sandwich (use wholemeal bread, lean beef, tomato, onion, lettuce).
Dinner: fresh vegetable salad or vegetable stew; a slice of baked chicken breast; a peach or a couple of apricots; a glass of low-fat yogurt without additives.
Contraindications to the southern diet
- The southern methodology has no special prohibitions regarding its compliance. You cannot sit on it only for pregnant and lactating women, however, for them any diet is prohibited.
- You should be careful when drawing up a diet and in the presence of chronic diseases, especially in the acute stage.
Advantages of the Southern Diet
- The Southern Diet is popular and well received for its effectiveness. Often, after the first phase of the technique, an overweight person loses 3-7 kg. In the second phase, it escapes, on average, 2-3 kg per week.
- Compliance with these dietary rules, according to many doctors and nutritionists, has a positive effect on health. The blood sugar level is normalized, the deviations of which are known to lead to many problems, including obesity.
- Reduces the risk of meeting heart disease by minimizing animal fats in the diet. Vegetable oils (especially olive, walnut oil) have a positive effect on the general well-being of a person and the state of the body.
- The proposed diet, in comparison with many other diet programs, is properly balanced and satisfying enough. It is unlikely that you will have to suffer from hungry colic, feel weakness, fatigue and other “delights” of rigid diets.
Disadvantages of the southern diet
- Compliance with the first phase of the southern diet is often difficult. Sometimes dry skin, strong thirst, a metal taste in the mouth can appear on it, because due to the abundance of protein products in the diet, the load on the liver and kidneys increases.
- As a rule, with the transition to the second phase, these symptoms stop. If even in the second phase you feel some unpleasant processes occurring in the body, stop the diet, otherwise you can seriously harm your health.
- It can also be difficult to survive for two weeks without sufficient fiber on the menu.
Reintroducing the southern diet
If you want to lose weight more tangibly, if you feel well, you can return to the first phase of the southern diet whenever you want.