By Elena Voropay

The South Beach Diet is the latest diet promising to help you lose weight, lower your cholesterol, reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, and get rid of cravings without feeling hungry. It is not low in fat or carbohydrates, but the ones allowed are considered the "good fats" and "good carbs". Promising weight loss between 8 and 13 pounds in 2 weeks, South Beach Diet is no different than any others - it demands sacrifice, deprivation, and determination. In other words, you need to cut out all the delicious food that helped you to gain those extra kilos. Here is how it works. The diet is divided into three different phases.

During Phase I, you're not allowed to eat foods such as bread, rice, potatoes, pasta or baked goods. Fruit, candy, cake, cookies, ice cream and alcohol are also off the menu. This is the strictest part of the diet and lasts for two weeks only. What you CAN eat includes normal-size helpings of meat, chicken, turkey, fish, and shellfish, plenty of vegetables, eggs, cheese, and nuts. You'll have salads with real olive oil in the dressing.

You might lose weight, but much of this will come from stored carbohydrate and water, rather than fat. It definately sounds like low-carb or high-protein diet with a different name.

In Phase II of the South Beach Diet, you start adding some unrefined carbohydrates — including some types of fruit, sweet potatoes, whole grain bread, whole grain rice, and whole wheat pasta. According to the author, "the physical cravings that ruled your eating habits will be gone, and they'll stay away for as long as you stick with the program". The weight loss you might experience is not the result of eating less overall, but because you minimize eating the foods that caused your body to store excessive fat.

You remain in Phase II and continue losing weight until you reach your goal. How long it takes depends on how much weight you need to lose.

By Phase III, you should be at your ideal weight. At this point, the South Beach Diet is supposed to have become a way of living and eating that you can sustain for the rest of your life. Promising to change your body chemistry, South-Beach-Diet plan should be the basis of your menu, meaning that you will stay on a diet for the rest of your life without feeling deprived.

Typical Menu

A typical day on the South Beach Diet might start with a two-egg omelet with asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, or peppers, cooked in a spray of olive oil. For lunch you might have a salad made of lettuce and tomato mixed with grilled chicken or fish, dressed in a vinaigrette made with olive oil. A snack might consist of plain almonds, cashews or pistachios, while dinner is based on fresh vegetables, fish, and lean meats.

Considering that South Beach Diet includes ample amounts of fat and protein to help control your appetite to a greater extent than refined carbohydrates, this sounds like low-carb and revised Atkins. Replacing some of the carbohydrate in your diet with fat can also make it easier for you to lose weight and keep it off for longer.

On the South Beach Diet Online, you'll find complete meal plans for each day of the diet-up to a week in advance-with links to hundreds of delicious recipes. If you want to swap dishes, simply click on the change meal feature and choose from a wide selection of healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack alternatives.

Phase 1 Meal Plan Sample

Breakfast
6 oz tomato juice
Scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and mushrooms
2 slices Canadian bacon
Decaffeinated coffee or decaffeinated tea with nonfat milk and sugar substitute

Midmorning snack
1 part-skim mozzarella cheese stick

Lunch
Chicken Caesar salad (no croutons)
2 Tbsp prepared Caesar dressing

Midafternoon snack
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese with 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes and cucumbers

Dinner
Mahi mahi
Oven-roasted vegetables
Arugula salad
2 Tbsp balsamic vinaigrette or low-sugar prepared dressing

Dessert
Lemon zest ricotta crème

Phase 2 Meal Plan Sample

Breakfast
1 cup fresh strawberries
Oatmeal (1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
mixed with 1 cup nonfat milk,
cooked on low heat, and sprinkled with cinnamon
and 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts)
Decaffeinated coffee or decaffeinated tea
with nonfat milk and sugar substitute

Midmorning snack
1 hard-boiled egg

Lunch
Mediterranean chicken salad

Midafternoon snack
Fresh pear with 1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Cheese

Dinner
Spinach-stuffed salmon
Vegetable medley
Tossed salad (mixed greens, cucumbers, green peppers,
cherry tomatoes)
Olive oil and vinegar to taste

Dessert
Chocolate-dipped strawberries

Phase 3 Meal Plan Sample

Breakfast
1/2 grapefruit
Egg-white omelet with salsa
1 slice multigrain bread
Decaffeinated coffee or decaffeinated tea with nonfat milk and sugar substitute

Lunch
Roast-beef wrap
Fresh apple

Dinner
Moroccan grilled chicken
Steamed asparagus
Couscous
Mediterranean salad
Olive oil and vinegar to taste

Dessert
Strawberries with vanilla yogurt

Regardless of what diet you follow, remember that the best one is the diet you can keep for life without feeling deprived. Trading sugar, white flour, refined breads and pastas for fruit, honey, whole grains, such as buckwheat and brown rice, and choosing wholemeal or rye bread will add lots of health benefits to the way you feel. For one, it will guarantee good mood, calm character, efficient brain and nervous system function, sustained blood sugar levels, and the most important - energy! Protein and fat also give you energy, but only when it comes to calories. You don't feel energized after eating nuts, cheese or bacon, both high in fat and protein.

Have an apple with peanuts butter or a slice of cheese and you will feel rejuvenated and lively again. Eating rotein-rich foods with a little fat with every meal will keep your hunger at bay for longer, and will set limits on the rising levels of insulin. Protein and fat are extremely important for the body to function, but they should not substitute nature-given grains and fruit. All of these will help you lose weight if you eat in moderation and move your body more.

 The bottom line is that the South Beach Diet is one of the better weight loss diets around at the moment. It's relatively simple, and doesn't rely on complex menus, supplements taken at certain times of day, or foods eaten in precise combinations. Of course, the South Beach Diet — just like any diet — will work a lot better when you combine it with a proper program of resistance and aerobic exercise. Remember too that the most important part of any diet designed for weight loss is to consume fewer calories than you burn. Don't believe anyone who says you can eat an unlimited amount of food and still lose weight.