South Beach Diet

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to take a few minutes and thank every one for tips
and recipes that i found on the group.
I also wanted to take afew minutes and tell my story. In november
04 i was diagnosed with diabetes. I had a fasting blood sugar of
over 350 my glyco hemoglobin was 14.2, my blood pressure was above
140 over 96, i also weighed over 400 pounds, i was wearing a size 58
pants(and they were tight), i also was wearing a size 5x shirt.
well when my doctor sat me down and said things have to change i
listened. i have a member of my family that does kidney dialysis and
i have seen almost every bad thing that diabetes can lead to. My
doctor suggested the south beach diet, i did some research found
this groups as well as some others and now my succes is an
inspiration to all of my friends.
let me tell you about my succes.
my blood pressure at my last doctors appointment was 122 over 66.
wow.
my glucohemoglobin level down to 6.2 average for normal people is 5.1
wow.
my blood sugars are hovering around 100.
wow.
my pants are down to a loose size 46. wow 12 inches lost
my weight (drum roll please) 330 pounds
wow.
what did i do? followed the south beach diet removed sugars and
white flour from my diet. smart eating. also i started walking 3
times a week for 10 min. slowly working my way up to 30 minute a day
for 6 days a week.
wow.
my wife can hug me again. we both love that and when i look at
pictures of the old me i can’t beleive that i only have 80 pounds
left to go to my goal of 250 pounds.
any way just wanted to relay my story and possibly some inspiration.
any questions or if you would like to read more of my story e mail
me.

Hi Linda,
I’m truly no expert, but I did read your post and didn’t really
understand your lunch and dinner meals. Why so much vegetable with high
fat dairy but no lean meat protein?
My understanding was different. I eat a lot of lean chicken and fish and
the recommended cheeses are low or non fat such as the light Laughing
Cow, reduced fat ricotta or reduced fat mozarella sticks.
hope this helps,
Suzan

Hi Everyone :o)
My name is Linda and I live near Dallas, Texas. I am 47 years old
and began the SBD September 21, 2004 at 285 lbs. By the first part
of February 2005 I weighed 222 lbs., having lost 63 lbs. I stayed on
Phase 1 for more than 2 months because of the terrible hypoglycemic
symptoms I was having and the insulin resistance and triggering on
foods with a Glycemic index higher than about 60. I am on Phase 2
now, but conservatively so, if that makes sense. Around the first of
May of this year I weighed in at 195 with a weightloss of 90 lbs.
averaging 10 lbs a month. I would do a calorie count just every so
often - about two or three times a month and saw I was eating about
1,400 calories a day. For some reason the past month the weightloss
has been very strange. Just about a week after I reached 195 lbs. (I
weigh about once a week)the scales showed a weight gain of about 4
lbs. and then around my period, it went to another 3 or 4 lbs
increase. Today the scales show I have lost all the extra weight
(water weight?) except by now I would think I should weigh about 5
lbs. less than that even - Keeping on my monthly average I should
weigh about 190 lbs. or maybe a little less.
I have definitely reached a weight plateau and am trying to figure
out what to do about it. I am quite sure I must need more exercise
and maybe add more variety to what I eat? Also, could artificial
sweeteners interfere with weightloss? I have been staying away from
Nutrasweet and Splenda and using Sweet ‘N Low to Sweeten my tea (all
kinds of teas) and coffee (decaffeinated instant). Over the last
couple of weeks I have been drinking about 3 bottles a week of Fruit-
2O (flavored water that is slightly sweetened with Splenda) and SoBE
Lean diet drinks approved by South Beach diet, but they are also
sweetened with Splenda and very sweet, so I water mine down as I am
not use to that much sweet taste any more. I drink about 12 8 oz.
glasses of either water, tea, flavored drinks or a little of the
decaf every day so I know I am drinking enough.
If I still weigh about 195 lbs. then I have 60 lbs. to my goal (I
stand 5 feet 8 inches tall)I am not in a hurry to lose it since this
is now a way of life from here on out for me (my maternal great
grandmother, paternal grandmother, father and brother all diagnosed
with diabetes and I am NOT going to go there!!!, but I don’t just
want to be stuck here for weeks or months either. I want all the
excess weight off and to be as healthy as possible.
Maybe I am eating too much fat for the amount of calories I eat? I
think my diet may be too limited. I react so badly to many foods so
that out of sort of a fear, I stay away from a lot of things. For
instance, I had been on the SBD for about 2 months and decided to
eat an apple, but about 30 minutes after I did, I was so weak I
could hardly stand. That’s how I do, if what I eat is reacting
unfavorably with my blood sugar.
I used to have to eat about every 2 or 3 hours. Now I can easily eat
only 3 meals a day and not be hungry in between as long as I have an
evening snack as well. Once in a while I will get hungry in the
afternoon, so I usually grab something I know is okay for me to eat.
A good representative of what I eat in the course of a day or two:
Breakfast:
1/2 cup garbanzo beans
1/2 cup 4% cottage cheese
1 tomato sliced
Lunch:
BIG salad of LOTS of shredded lettuce, 1 serving of tuna in water or
skinless, boneless chicken, 2 Tbsp. Salad Bistro dressing (1 and 2
carbs per serving), 4 tsp. dry grated parmesan
Dinner:
4 cups steamed or lightly boiled broccoli florets, 1/2 red bell
pepper, 1/3 cup onion, 2 Tb. Salad Bistro dressing over all with 4
Tsp. dry grated parmesan over all.
Snack in the evening:
2 oz. M & M Peanut candies
I know the M & M Peanut candies seems a wild snack, but the Glycemic
index is only 19 for this, it’s only 300 calories, I have no
negative blood sugar reaction to it and have been doing this for 6
months with no bad side effects that I know of. I measure out 2 oz.
into snack-size plastic zipper bags and NEVER eat more than that
allotted amount. This also keeps me from feeling like I have to have
any other kind of chocolate or dessert.
All during the day I drink the liquids mentioned above. About half
of that is water.
On another day, my menu may go as follows:
Breakfast:
Salad with shredded lettuce, grilled marinated chicken breast
(boneless and skinless) 1 serving, 1/ avocado, 1 Tb. Hellman’s
Mayonnaise
Lunch:
3 cups frozen green beans that have been boiled, 2 summer squash, 1
tomato - sliced with 4 tsp. parmesan over tomato and 1/2 cup 4%
cottage cheese
Dinner:
2 low carb small whole wheat tortilla on which I put 2 scrambled
eggs with a little mustard or salsa.
Snack:
2 oz. M&M Peanut Candies
I usually don’t eat any other beans other than garbanzos and my
vegees are pretty much the ones I have mentioned above. I eat a lot
of tuna and chicken and turkey with no fat on them. I eat no red
meat or sea food. I eat no more than 2 or 3 eggs a week. My
cholesterol is 129, HDH/LDL ratio very good, BP averages about
112/72. After losing all the weight I have my energy level has gone
from feeling like I am actually about 70 years old and barely able
to cope and out of breath with everything I did and NOW, I can
actually run, do my every day work normally and am no longer out of
breath and even though I am 47, I feel about 15 years younger.
I hope to be a support for others here and also hope to gain support
since I could sure use some help right now. :o) I am not feeling
tempted to go off this way of eating as I truly love how I feel, but
I would like to see some progress again.
I am now reading all the archived messages starting at the beginning
and see if I can learn something from there.
Best wishes to all,
Linda

I am new to this and still trying to find the little tricks to make it work for me. I am eating enough but find I get hungry very quickly. Any thoughts on filling foods that will work with phase 1? Are kidney or garbanzo beans ok to add to salads to get some fiber?

Its just feeling like a lot of meat, cheese and lettuce at this point and while its only 2 weeks, some suggestions will help me to complete this phase 1.

Thanks!

I have pcos and is trying to find a way of life that works, do any of
you women have this problem? And have had sucess with Sb diet?
Thanks,
kat

Hi, I’m new to the group and thinking about starting the SB dirt.
I’m currently on the Atkins, so the Phase 1 (no carbs) is out of the
way and I’m trying to deside whether to stay with Atkins (which I’ve
seen success with not only in friends in co-workers, but in my self
in the 3 weeks to a month I’ve been on it) or switch to SB. Just
intuitively, it seem that the SB would be healthier long term because
I have a hard time believing that all fruits are bad (which is pretty
much the case with Atkins!).
I do seem to be picking up some confusing info though…
The mantra of SB seems to be White bread and pasta are evil (along
with anything else made from highly processed white flour) because of
the high GI, yet on some of the GI charts (ie http://www.southbeach-
diet-plan.com/glycemicfoodchart.htm ) I see white spaghetti listed as
low GI and low fat ice cream listed as medium compared to the High
rating for regular ice cream, even though the SB book says that fats
with sugars will actually SLOW the absorbtion of sugars giving a
lower GI. Who or what am I to beleve?
Also, I am over weight. My cholesterol is high end of normal with
the good to bad cholesterol ratio good according to my last physical
(good genes? - my family dies from cancer not heart attacks). How
critical is the low fat portions of the SB? One of the things I like
about the Atkins is that a high fat dish like Creme Fraiche with a
few strawberries is VERY satisfying keeping me from getting hungry
for a long time.
One last question - while I’m not the sugar junkie some people are, I
do sometimes want something sweet. I’ve discovered that some of the
low carb candy bars (ie Atkins or Pria) or the low carb Atkins shakes
are quite satisfying. While they are low carb (2-3 carb) it doesn’t
give info to determine if it’s good or bad carbs. With that low of a
carb count, does it matter?
BTW - I’m not quite half way through thebook yet, so if the answers
are there, sorry.

Good luck to you and your son.

Carmen

Many people will walk in and out of your life. But only true friends
will leave footprints in your heart. Anger is only one letter short of danger.
He, who loses money, loses much; He, who loses a friend, loses
much more; He, who loses faith, loses all.
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to
make them all yourself.
There is no beginning or end …
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift.

hi
dh and I are starting sbd again on monday. we were on it about a year
ago and lost lots of weight - felt good. needless to say we got
careless and here we are….dh gained a lot and I have put on more
than I want to. We want to eat healthy again and feel good again….
we have purchased a Total Trainer so that we will be able to include
at home workouts which I am eager to do. going to the gym was tough
with little kids. We are eager to get back into our “nice” clothes
again!!!
Does anybody do freezer cooking and do sbd? We are going to try it.
Hoping to have all the planning done by next weekend so we can have a
cooking day. Want to put about 30 dinners & 30 lunches and maybe 25
breakfasts in the freezer. Going to make them sbd friendly if possible.
Eager to get that done so that I don’t have to cook whole meals each
night!!
look forward to reading about what everyone else is doing
E

I enjoy eggs too, but somedays I am just not in the mood for them so
I use the low carb yogurts, they hit the spot, and don’t seen to slow
down the progress any.
Just my two cents.
Kelli

Hello everyone,
Just thought that I would toot my own horn. I am down 5 pounds on the
first 4 days on SBD. Am thrilled. Have a long way to go, but am
enjoying the food immensley, even cheated a little ( ice cream cone
last night and a couple of no sugar but had caffiene drinks to kick
the no energy and blahs on a couple of days.)
My 16 year old son is also on day 3. He likes that he can still have
some milk.
Anyways, Hope we can both keep it up. I have 65 pounds to go, and my
son has about 140 pounds to go.
Kelli