SouthBeach Diet Tips and Guide
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SouthBeach Diet Tips and Guides

The SouthBeach Diet is different from the Atkins diet in that it is not a low carbohydrate diet. Regardless of which phase you are currently in, you should follow these recommendations:

• Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water, decaffeinated beverages such as club soda, tea, coffee, or decaffeinated sugar-free soda every day
• Limit your intake of caffeine-containing beverages to 1 cup each day
• Take one multivitamin and mineral supplement daily
• Take 500 mg of calcium for both men and women under the age of 50, and 1,000 mg for women over the age of 50, each day

Eating can be both pleasurable and healthy as long as you eat the proper foods. All the meals in the SouthBeach Diet consist of healthy combinations of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Dishes can be made by anyone and the ingredients can be found in most grocery stores. These foods will satisfy your hunger without depriving your system of the low-quality starches and sugars that caused problems with your blood chemistry in the first place.

The SouthBeach Diet does not involve counting calories, fat grams, or portion sizes. This plan was designed to be simplistic and will help you understand the principles of metabolism and put it to work for your own body. A major key to success with the South Beach Diet is the Glycemic index (GI), which ranks carbohydrate foods based on the effect on blood sugar levels. When you start adding foods back into your diet in Phase 2, keep your focus on low-GI foods such as apples, berries, grapefruit, high-fiber cereal, and whole grain breads.