The South Beach Diet and Mediterranean diet are two ways of eating that may help you lose weight and improve your cardiovascular health. These diets have a lot in common, and both focus on consuming healthy foods. Understanding the similarities and differences between these two plans can help you decide if one of them is right for you.
South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet is a commercial diet plan that involves three distinct phases in which specific foods are allowed or disallowed. The South Beach Diet is considered a modified low-carbohydrate diet because it limits carbs, but not as much as a true low-carb diet does. The South Beach Diet was created by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, with the goal of improving cardiovascular health while also causing significant weight loss. The latest updates to the South Beach Diet, as of 2011, encourage moderate exercise along with the eating plan.
Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is a style of eating and living, not a specific diet plan. Instead of having prescribed amounts of foods or food groups, the Mediterranean diet plan emphasizes eating foods common in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean diet includes eating a lot of plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, consuming fish and poultry twice a week, eating red meat only about twice a month, cooking with monounsaturated fat, such as olive oil, using spices to season food, and drinking red wine in moderation. Regular physical activity is also a vital part of the Mediterranean diet.
Similarities
Both the Mediterranean diet and the South Beach Diet emphasize the consumption of healthy foods. Both diets instruct you to eat whole grains in place of refined grains and monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats in place of saturated or trans fats. Highly refined foods, such as breads produced with white flour and sugary snacks, are discouraged on both diets.
Differences
The Mediterranean diet is higher in fiber, especially during the beginning stages. The first phase of the South Beach Diet forbids breads of all types while from the first day of starting a Mediterranean diet you will be eating whole grain breads as part of your daily meals. The initial phase of the South Beach Diet also prohibits alcohol, while the Mediterranean diet encourages moderate consumption of red wine.
Outcomes
The South Beach Diet has testimonials and anecdotal reports of people losing as much as 13 pounds during the first phase, but since it has only been around since 2003, evidence of long-term benefits are unavailable. The evidence from the few studies done on low-carb diets compared with low-fat diets is mixed, so more research is necessary before any definitive claims can be made about their effectiveness. The Mediterranean diet has been an established eating style and is associated with lower levels of heart disease and maintaining a healthy weight.
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