The South Beach Diet restricts simple carbohydrates and sugar, and focuses on consumption of complete protein and healthy monounsaturated fats. This diet style aims to maintain stabilized blood sugar and insulin levels to achieve weight loss. Insulin helps transfer food throughout your body and stores extra calories as fat for future use as energy. If your insulin levels are high, your body stores fat more easily. The South Beach Diet provides free recipes and meal planning tips on their website to help you stay on track.
Breakfast Menu
The South Beach Diet consists of three phases. The first phase is the most restrictive, vastly limiting carbohydrates and sugar. The second and third phases reintroduce complex carbohydrates with a maximum allowance of approximately 100 g of carbohydrates per day. Eggs are recommended for breakfast in all three phases of the diet. The South Beach Diet recommends a Parmesan and Swiss chard omelet, which only contains 3.5 g carbohydrates and provides over 16 g of protein. This recipe calls for extra-virgin olive oil, finely chopped shallot, chopped Swiss chard leaves, minced garlic, finely grated Parmesan cheese, eggs salt and black pepper. You can have coffee, tomato juice or green tea with your breakfast.
Lunch Menu
Salads that are packed with protein and non-starchy vegetables are appropriate for any phase of the diet. South Beach provides a recipe for edamame salad with grilled salmon, which contains edamame or green soybeans, seasoned rice vinegar, vegetable oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper, thinly sliced radishes, chopped fresh cilantro leaves and a small salmon steak. This lunch provides 15 g of protein and 18 g of carbohydrates. Other recommended lunch options include a warm beef salad, shrimp stir-fry and vegetarian chili with avocado salsa.
Dinner Menu
Lean meats and seafood are popular dinner items on South Beach menus. Lean meats and seafood are packed with protein. With seafood, however, you don't have to choose lean options because even fatty fish provides healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Prepare South Beach's beef with asparagus and mushrooms for dinner in any phase of the diet. The ingredients for this dinner include London broil, minced garlic, crushed dried rosemary, extra-virgin olive oil, onion slices, asparagus, white mushrooms, grated lemon zest, salt and freshly ground black pepper. This dinner contains 12 g of carbohydrates and is packed with 42 g of protein.
Warning
You may notice a loss of energy during the first phase of the South Beach Diet because carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy and this phase vastly limits them. If you continue to experience fatigue during the South Beach Diet, consult your doctor because it could be a sign of a more serious condition such as ketosis. Ketosis occurs when your body does not receive enough glucose to properly break down fat and can cause dehydration, weakness, nausea and dizziness.
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