South Beach Diet Phase One Meal Ideas

The South Beach Diet is based on the premise that fat is caused by bad carbohydrates. According to "The South Beach Diet" author Arthur Agatston, bad carbohydrates lack fiber, are highly processed, and are often founds in breads and snacks. Phase One of the diet lasts two weeks. It addresses the body's tendency to convert food into body fat when bad carbs are eaten, wrote Agatston. Phase One is very strict because bad carbs are prohibited but there are dozens of meal ideas. Dieters are expected to lose eight to 13 lbs. in Phase One.

Breakfast

Eating eggs is discouraged by most nutritionists because one egg has 274 mg of cholesterol and the U.S. government's daily cholesterol recommendation for one day is 300mg. The South Beach Diet, though, encourages eating eggs because "eggs contain no saturated fat and raise the good cholesterol along with the bad."

The diet's Phase One meal plan includes several breakfasts that feature eggs. The recommended day four breakfast includes Eggs Florentine, which is one poached egg on spinach, and two slices of Canadian bacon. The next day's recommendation is a Western Egg White Omelet. On day six, Agatston recommends scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and mushrooms along with two slices of Canadian bacon again. Other egg-oriented meals include baked eggs, an Easy Asparagus and Mushroom Omelet, and an Artichokes Benedict that includes two eggs, two artichokes and two more slices of Canadian bacon.

Lunch

Phase One of the South Beach Diet emphasizes salads for lunch although it isn't because salads are low-fat. In fact, "The South Beach Diet" urges you to "don't even think about limiting the amount you eat---the point of this diet is to eat well." One reason that salads are recommended is that bread and fruits are prohibited during Phase One.

The very first meal idea in the Lunch section is Greek Salad. This meal includes romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and reduced-fat feta cheese. Other recommended lunch meals include Chopped Salad with Tuna, Chicken-Pistachio Salad, Dilled Shrimp Salad with Herb Dill Dressing, Crab Cobb Salad, Mixed Greens with Crabmeat Salad and Salad Nicoise, which include green beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, anchovies, olives, tuna and chestnuts.

Dinner

Pastas, potatoes and rice are also prohibited during the two weeks of Phase One. Thus, the South Beach Diet's dinner meal plans emphasize fish, lean meats and fresh vegetables.

There are a number of vegetable-only dinners on the Phase One meal plan. One meal, Oven-Roasted Vegetables, includes zucchini, squash, peppers, asparagus and onion. A second meal, Roasted Eggplant and Peppers, also includes onions. Other vegetable-only dinners include Spinach-Stuffed Mushrooms, Stewed Tomatoes and Onions, Broiled Tomatoes and Broiled Tomato with Pesto.

Non-vegetable dinners include Marinated Flank Steak Broiled Flank Steak, Marinated London Broil, Grilled Steak with Grilled Tomato Relish, Pepper Steak, Poached Salmon with Cucumber-Dill Sauce, Grilled Salmon with Rosemary, and Orange Roughy in Scallion and Ginger Sauce.