The South Beach Diet was created by cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston and released to the public in 2003. The diet is divided into three phases. There are suggested meal plans and recipes for each phase, which makes the diet easy to follow and takes the guesswork out of meal planning. The diet restricts simple carbohydrates and sugar to stabilize blood glucose levels. The focus is on healthy, unsaturated fats and complete proteins, which provide nutrients and satiety.
Phase 1 Meals
Phase 1 is the most restrictive period in the diet. You are not allowed to have any breads or fruit during this phase. An easy meal plan for phase 1 includes scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and mushrooms, two slices of Canadian bacon and a glass of tomato juice for breakfast. Lunch can include a salad with non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and cauliflower and a complete protein source like shrimp or strips of skinless chicken breast and green tea to wash it down. For dinner, you can have grilled flank steak on top of sliced avocado, which provides healthy fat. Season your steak strips with fresh lime juice, minced garlic, freshly ground black pepper, salt, red onion rounds, extra-virgin olive oil and tomato salsa.
Phase 2 Meals
Phase 2 works in some fruits and complex carbohydrates such as whole grains. For breakfast, you can have a small berry smoothie with buttermilk waffles made with whole wheat flour and rolled oats. For lunch, make lemon couscous chicken with slices of tomato and cucumber. For dinner, prepare seared scallops with summer vegetables with extra-virgin olive oil and your choice of non-starchy vegetables such as cooked zucchini slices, onion slices, minced garlic, cherry tomatoes, edamame and corn. This dish contains approximately 11 g of carbohydrates and 18 g protein.
Phase 3 Meals
Phase 3 is meant to maintain your weight loss and is the long-term phase. Half of a grapefruit is a healthy addition to breakfast in this phase; you can have it along with a Monterey Jack cheese and salsa omelet and one slice of whole grain toast. Have a lean roast beef wrap for lunch on a whole wheat tortilla and a nectarine. Make grilled salmon with tomato salsa and a tossed salad containing mixed greens, cucumbers, bell pepper slices and cherry tomatoes for dinner. Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar on your salad for dressing.
Snacks
The South Beach Diet recommends having a snack between meals to keep your metabolism up throughout the day. Reduced-fat string cheese is a quick snack you can grab on your way out the door. Nuts are also allowed as snacks during any phase of the diet. South Beach recommends their nut snacks such as Southwest pepita and pecan mix, and spicy nut mix. Turkey roll-ups are also allowed snacks in all three phases. South Beach provides a recipe for easy muenster and turkey roll-ups with nut butter, which calls for thin slices of Swiss or Muenster cheese, thinly sliced turkey breast and macadamia nut butter or natural peanut butter. This snack contains 2 g of carbohydrates and 7 g of protein.
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