South Beach Diet

Hi All,
After a scare with chest pain, and a night in intensive care, I’m
motivated to lose weight, to get off some blood pressure meds, and
live the rest of my time here on the planet in good health. At 6′1″,
and 280 pounds, I need to take off some pounds. I’ve heard good
things about South Beach, but I’d sure like to find some relatively
easy recipes that an average guy can cook. I mean, Cherry Snapper
Ceviche, Smoked Salmon Frittata, Crab Cobb Salad, Chicken en Paillote,
etc., are way beyond me. Any ideas for something with lean hamburger,
frozen or canned vegetables, jello, — that kinda thing??
Kevin

I am new here and have also joined a South Beach Florida group hoping
for much support which I will definitely need.
I have spent most of my life going up and down and finding it much
harder anymore to go down though. But recently ran into some friends
who have lost well on this diet and so I decided to try this.
To Linda: I have read that artificial sweeteners can cause in some
people a reaction as though they were sugar. I don’t know.
To Gregg: There is someone named James in a South Beach Diet group
here on the Boards (it’s called something like South Beach Doing It
Right) who is male and really expounds the success he is having on
South Beach. I went in and out of that one for too many posts for me
to keep up with. I like a group where I can get to know people,
hoping to get to know people here.
In reading what you write, I am wondering if you shouldn’t try
coconut oil for your heart. They say that oil got a bad rap by the
rest of the industry but that those islanders who used that virgin
oil years ago didn’t ever die from heart or kidney disease. They do
since they went “Western” in diet and stopped naturally refining the
coconut oil. I started using it a while back for I was having some
kidney problems and I come from a family who has a tendency to that.
(3 dead so far.) Actually, I no longer feel good off of it for very
long. It is antiviral and antibiotic. It really helped me so I am
tending to think it might be that good for the heart too. It could
be fitted in with this diet.
Will look forward to seeing your progress everyone and hoping to go
back and read some of the past posts in order to get to know more of
you. Jan in Apopka, Fl

So, I started Phase 1 yesterday. I’m basically doing this diet to
support my husband who needs to lose about 30 pounds and to see if I
can actually cut out bad carbs for two whole weeks. I don’t need to
lose any weight but I’m definitely a carb junkie and all of the bad
press that refined sugar and, especially, high fructose corn syrup are
getting has motivated me to give it a try. Also, two weeks without
alcohol can only be a good thing! Well, this morning I feel terrible.
It’s like a severe hangover. Headache, stomachache, diarrhea, the
whole nine yards. Anyone else suffer like this after the first day?
Does it do away quickly or can I expect the next few days to be more
of the same? I do feel as if my body is detoxing so maybe it’s not
such a negative reaction.
I’ll let you know how the next couple of days go. It’s pouring rain
here in Massachusetts so I can’t even get out for some exercise to
clear my head to make me feel better (which is what I would do if I
had too much to drink last night and this was a true hangover!).
Melinda