The journey of reaching your weight-loss goals starts in the kitchen. Taking stock of the foods that you will be cooking and eating and knowing which to avoid as you follow the South Beach Diet is a good way to set yourself up to succeed. This means removing certain foods altogether. To help you get started (or to serve as a reminder), we’ve created this checklist of foods that should be eliminated during Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. Most of these foods can be reintroduced two weeks later, once you enter Phase 2. Learn how to create a healthy kitchen with this easy Phase 1 cheat sheet:

Foods to Avoid in Phase 1

Baked goods: Breads (even those made with whole-wheat flour), cakes, cookies, crackers, cupcakes, muffins, pastries, and waffles

Beverages: All fruit juices, sodas, and any other drinks containing sugar, fructose, or corn syrup, as well as all alcoholic beverages

Cereals: All varieties of cereals

Condiments, dressings, and seasonings: Barbecue sauce, honey mustard, ketchup, and any other condiment, sauce, or salad dressing made with corn syrup, molasses, or sugar

Dairy and cheese: Whole milk; full-fat cheeses; creamy cheeses except for low-fat cottage cheese

Flour: All cornmeal and flour, including pancake and waffle mixes

Fruit: All fruit and fruit products, including dried fruits

Meat and poultry: Anything processed using sugars (honey-baked or maple-cured ham, for instance); fatty fowl such; pâté; dark-meat chicken and turkey (legs and wings); processed fowl (such as packaged chicken nuggets or patties); beef brisket, liver, rib steaks, and other fatty cuts

Oils and fats: All solid vegetable shortening or lard, butter, and hydrogenated oils

Pasta: All pasta, even whole wheat

Rice: All rice, even brown

Snacks: All packaged snacks are off-limits, both sweet and salty varieties, except for sugar-free gelatin and one-ounce packages of dry-roasted nuts

Soup: All powdered soup mixes (many are full of trans fats)

Sweeteners: All sweeteners, except sugar substitutes

Vegetables (starchy): Beets, carrots, corn, green peas, sweet and white potatoes, pumpkin, turnips (root), winter squash, and yams

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