The South Beach diet was designed by cardiologist Arthur Agatson. Its original purpose was to help lower risk of heart disease, but the diet soon gained popularity as a weight loss diet. The South Beach Diet is a moderately low-carbohydrate, high protein diet. It emphasizes low glycemic index foods and heart healthy monounsaturated fats, encouraging whole grains and colorful fruits and vegetables.
The Mediterranean Diet
As an alternative to the South Beach Diet, the Mediterranean Diet is also a heart healthy diet. It is considered a moderate carbohydrate, heart healthy fat diet. Like the South Beach Diet, the Mediterranean Diet encourages high intakes of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats. The diet also recommends fish and poultry be consumed a few times a week, and suggests red meat be limited to a few times a month. The Mediterranean Diet is an very healthy diet and has been shown to reduce risk of cardiac disease, diabetes, some cancers, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The American Heart Assocition Diet
The American Heart Association Diet was designed to reduce risk of cardiac disease, but also promote weight loss. It is a low trans fat, saturated fat, calorie controlled diet. The American Heart Association, or AHA, recommends people following the diet choose more nutrient dense foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and limit their intake of high fat meats and dairy products. The AHA no longer restricts total fat intake, but recommends limiting saturated fat intake to less than seven percent of total calories and trans fat to less than one percent of total calories, while increasing the intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The AHA diet also recommends fish twice a week. The diet also limits salt intake to 1,500 mg a day.
Glycemic Index Diet
The South Beach diet recommends low glycemic index carbohydrates to help control blood sugar and appetite. The Glycemic Index diet was initially designed for people with diabetes to aid in blood sugar control. Non-diabetics also use the glycemic index diet for weight loss. The diet is not carbohydrate, fat or calorie restricted. The goal is to allow the dieter to control hunger by choosing foods that do not cause spikes in blood sugar. Foods high in fiber also tend to have a low glycemic index and may also aid in appetite control by slowing down overall digestion, explains the Mayo Clinic. Examples of low glycemic foods include spaghetti, rolled oats, pumpernickel bread, grapes, oranges, brown rice and garbanzo beans.
References
- MayoClinic,com: South Beach Diet
- "Circulation"; Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations Revision 2006: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association Nutrition Committe; A.H. Lichtenstein, etal; 2006
- MayoClinic.com: Mediterranean Diet
- MayoClinic.com: Glycemic Index Diet
- RD411: Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load
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