This is the food list that you will want to refer to for your phrase 1 shopping and meal planning. I recommend picking a few different meals from the South Beach books that look interesting and simple to prepare and buy the ingredients neeed ahead of time. Then buy some additional items from the list to prepare other meals more spontaneously. It will also help to keep some of these items on hand so that you have healthy snacks and plenty of phase one acceptable foods when you get puckish.

South Beach Phase 1 Shopping List

• Beef - lean cuts like tenderloin, ground beef and top loin are great options.
• Poultry – skinless turkey and/or chicken breast and even turkey bacon.
• Pork – this can include things like loin, tenderloin and even veal.
• Meat substitutes – soy based items.  Some of the items may include Tofu of any variety, chicken patties or nuggets or even burgers.
• Cheese - fat-free or low-fat is the best options and may include American, Cheddar and Swiss to name a few.
• Milk/Dairy - only 2-3 cups daily, including any yogurt.  Some of these options include soy milk, fat-free yogurt and low-fat milk.
• Beans/Legumes - it will be important to start with 1/3 – ½ cup servings and then the portions may grow.  Some of the options available would be Chickpeas or Garbanzo, kidney beans, lentils and Lima beans.
• Vegetables - May be frozen, fresh or those that are canned without any added sugar.  Some great options would be Brussels sprouts, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Okra, Onions and Fennel.  Making sure there is a variety of color is a great option as well.
• Nuts and seeds – limit them to only one serving per day.  These options include sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews, and Peanut butter.
• Fats/Oils – The monounsaturated oils are recommended.  Some of the possible options are Canola Oil, Olive Oil or Peanut Oil.
• Other Fat Choices may include things like Avocado, Margarine and Mayonnaise.
• Spices and Seasonings to help when cooking many of the above options include broth, lemon juice, salsa and/or pepper to name a few.
• Sweet Treats – Sugar free items are the best choice available.  They may include things like hard candies and gelatin.
• Sugar substitutes are options if a little extra something is needed.  These may include saccharin, sucralose and Nutrasweet (aspartame).
• Beverages – Everyone needs to make sure they are getting plenty of fluids.  These fluids include Decaf Coffee, tea and soda, herbal teas and vegetable juice, and of course you should be drinking plenty of water.

Now remember, healthy portions are just as important with the South Beach Diet as they are with any other diet. So don’t eat until you are stuffed. Just eat until you are satisfied and eat slowly so you recognize that almost full feeling as it is creeping up on you.

Also, if you have any dietary restrictions due to various medical issues, it is always a good idea as well to check with your medical doctor to see if any of the foods that will be part of the diet will cause any problems with anything that may going on with your body, for example, arthritis, etc.

First of all, I want a diet that does not require tons of cooking and fiddling around with ingredients. I’m not a chef and I don’t want to spend tons of time in the kitchen. I like easy diets and any diet that requires a lot of time in the kitchen, where the food prep takes longer than the eating, isn’t my idea of an easy diet plan!

I’m also not a huge fan of weighing and measuring every bite of food I put in my mouth and I hate having to look up and register all of the calories I eat every day. It’s time consuming, annoying and the majority of the time I’ll just forget to do it anyway, so what happens is I’ll spend the next day guessing on what I ate the day before and estimating the quantities. That’s the fast track to failure for me as I’ll just give up out of frustration.

This is pretty much why I’m not a fan of Weight Watchers where you have to always be counting stuff. Sure, it may be easier to count “points” rather than calories, but for a lot of foods you still wind up looking up or calculating the stupid points. I tried Weight watchers twice and found it a completely frustrating experience. It is also not a particularly fast way to lose weight. Plus I really hate going to meetings and the weigh-ins and pretty much everything else about it! So I guess that is another criteria — no meetings. I’m not interested in “checking in” once a week, even by phone. If that’s a requirement of a specific diet, that knocks it off the list for me. I’m a big fan of just ordering my food online and waiting for it to arrive at my front door.

I also do not want to be hungry! I find a lot of regular low fat diets leave me starving and that totally breaks down my will to leave, never mind my dieting willpower. So for the most part, I stick to carb-restricted diets, rather than low fat diets. Lower carb and either higher protein or higher fat diets leave me much more satiated than other types of diets.

So let’s talk about some specific diets then that more or less meet my criteria.

The Medifast Diet

Medifast is the diet I’ve had the most success with. I’ve lost between 50-60 lbs on it and while I still have quite a way to go, I feel like it can sustain me through the long term. This is my second go round with Medifast and I kick myself for quitting it previously. At the time I was giving up smoking and I was feeling too deprived to both diet and quit smoking at the same time LOL That was pretty stupid though as I gained back nearly 25 lbs over the year or so I wasn’t dieting!

The two big advantages of Medifast for me are that 1.) it is a meal replacement program, so I don’t have to worry about meal preparation all the time; and 2.) hunger is not an issue. If you are looking for an easy diet plan to follow, that will also provide stunning results by providing the fastest weight loss possible, I think Medifast is the way to go.

With Medifast, you do eat a self-prepared lean and green meal every day, but I keep that very simple — most of the time I end up having a huge salad with lots of chicken. I can pretty much eat that every day and it is easy to prepare. Or I have some fish and a nice side of asparagus or spinach with mushrooms cooked in just a little bit of olive oil and with plenty of garlic.

As for hunger, as long as I stick to the Medifast program and don’t cheat, I’m not ever unreasonably hungry. You eat frequently on this plan! Six times a day, in fact. That’s five Medifast meals and the lean and green. So you are never more than a few hours from your next meal. Also, after the first few days on Medifast, you are in ketosis and that really helps curb the appetite substantially. it also contributes to the fast weight loss you will see as well. Most people who start with Medifast will lose a good 20 lbs the first month (though results really will vary, I find this is the case in a lot of stories I’ve seen on the topic of how quickly Medifast can help you lose weight.)

If I’ve convinced you that Medifast is the way to go, you can Order Medifast now and just wait for your product to arrive. I am an affiliate of theirs, because I believe strongly in their program and it has been working for me (and lots of other people too!). So I hope you will try and it see how great it works.

Diet to Go

Diet to Go is a diet delivery program, so that takes care of my first criteria — limited meal preparation time involved. They have multiple plans to choose from and I think their low carb is not only the best option for avoiding hunger, but the food also tastes better. The plan is very low in carbohydrates, maxing out at net 30 carbs per day, so it might even be suitable if you are following Atkins diet rules (after induction) or even South Beach. However, if you prefer low fat, there is that option as well. In addition, Diet to Go also has a diabetic menu which is great if you need to carefully monitor your blood sugar levels.

South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet doesn’t completely meet my criteria for diets that work, mostly because you will spend more time with meal preparation. But how much time you spend is really up to you. You can get away with making very simple meals, but you will probably enjoy the program more if you like cooking. While South Beach don’t really advertise themselves as a “low carb” diet, they definitely have some carb restrictions. On the other hand, they allow a much great variety of food choices than the Atkins plan does. I tried the Atkins plan once and ultimately found it so restrictive that I felt I just could never really eat. Also, the food was expensive! Try leaving on a diet of steak and high fat foods like Atkins recommends? It will make diet delivery programs like Medifast, Nutrisystem and Diet to Go seem cheap by comparison. But like I said, South Beach has a higher carb count and so for most people it would probably be a bit easier to stick to and if you actually like to cook, then this might be a better option for you than either a meal replacement plan like Medifast, or a meal delivery plan like Diet to Go.

Now that I’ve given you a few options to consider, and they are all pretty easy weight loss diets, your best bet for choosing diets that work is to really figure out for yourself what you need from a diet. Would you do better not having to worry about food? Then meal replacement is probably the way to go. But if, on the other hand, you like to spend time trying out different recipes, etc. then a carb-restricted plan like the South Beach Diet might be the diet that works best for you.

Once you get through the first two weeks of the South Beach Diet during phase one, it’s time to move on to the second phase of the diet. Phase two is a bit different from phase one because it is at this point that you will start making some choices of your own about what to eat, rather than simply following the food list from the first phase. It also lasts longer than phase one. Once you fully progress into phase two over the course of six weeks, you’ll stay with it until you read your weight loss goals before moving on to phase three.

Throughout the first six weeks of the second phase of the South Beach diet, you’ll slowly be adding more carbohydrates back into your menu. You’ll do so gradually though, one week at a time, in order to make sure that you are continuing to lose weight and that you aren’t having adverse reactions, such as food cravings, dips in your energy, or weight gain.

So what kind of foods will you be adding to your diet in Phase Two?

Mostly you will be experimenting with low-glycemic starches such as oatmeal, whole grain rice and whole grain bread. Each week you will add an additional carbohydrate to your meal plans. During the first week, you’ll select either a starchy carb or a fruit. Make sure it is just one or the other and not both! If you do decide to try the fruit, don’t eat it for breakfast as that can lead to spikes in your blood sugar as you will be eating on an empty stomach at that point.

On the second week, it is ideal if you have one of each, making that two carbs, both a starch and a fruit. For your starchy carbohydrate, you’ll want to make sure you are still selecting a high fiber choice, so no white breads or rice or anything of that nature. You’ll stick to whole grains and fiber rich foods.

Weeks 3 through 6 

For weeks three through six on phase 2, you’ll continue to add an additional complex carbohydrate to your daily meal plan, however you will want to keep a close watch on your reaction to them. Since everyone’s body is completely individual, you may need to stop adding additional carbohydrates at week four due to food cravings or a stall in your weight loss, while someone else can continue to lose weight successfully all the way up to week six, continually adding carbs as they go.

It is basically an experimental process and once you figure out the right number of carbs to add back into your diet, while still continuing to lose weight and hold off the cravings, you’ll remain with that choice until you meet your goal weight.

As part of the publicity for South Beach, they tout that you can lose weight without feeling hungry. With the amount of food that you are allowed to have on the plan during phase one, this is actually pretty true. But hunger and cravings aren’t really the same thing. You really are not likely to be hungry, i.e. feeling your stomach growl and holding on by your fingernails until your next meal rolls around. What are you likely to experience though is cravings for the carbs that you’ve suddenly been weaned off of.

During phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, starchy carbohydrates such as breads, rice and pastas are completely banned from your diet, as well as all of the sugary stuff like ice cream, candy, sodas, etc. While two weeks may feel like a long time to do without any of these foods, if you persevere, most dieters find that the cravings start to subside around the 4th day or so as you get used to not eating those foods. They’ll be reintroduced gradually during phase 2.

In order to deal with your cravings during those crucial first few days, it’s best to take the bull by the horns. Tell yourself you will not cave! And then, when the craving strikes, get up and do something different to what you are doing at that moment. Get outside and take a quick walk around the block. Go make yourself a tall glass of ice water and drink all of it. Call a friend on the phone just to say hello. Just break what “craving moment” by doing something else and let your mind settle onto a different task.

Another important aspect of phase 1 success is to make sure you go to the grocery store and use your South Beach shopping list before you start phase one. Don’t wait until you’ve already started and then head out to do your grocery shopping. Get stocked up before you begin and don’t skip the good stuff – enjoy fine cuts of meat, seafood that you might not normally make part of your regular weekly diet (such as lobster!) and try doing a little experimenting with your vegetables. Find a few recipes for artichokes or spaghetti squash instead of eating salads, spinach and broccoli all the time!

Phase one of the South Beach diet may seem tough at first, but it will get easier and it won’t be long before you will be able to just jump right into Phase 2, which is a bit more relaxed than Phase 1.

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