If you subscribe to the South Beach Diet™ Online, you will...
Find out what to eat at your favorite restaurants—from Italian to Mexican to Chinese—with our new and improved Dining-Out Guide.
Get the latest updates to our Fast Food Guide—we've just added McDonald's, In-N-Out Burger, KFC, and more.
See the most popular South Beach food choices, from chicken to salads to soups, and try the top 50 recipes.
Diet Updates - November 15, 2004
Diet Updates - June 10, 2004
Get the latest news on the partnership between Kraft Foods Inc. and the South Beach Diet™.
Diet Updates - March 22, 2004
Diet Updates - November 15, 2004
Some New South Beach Diet™ Clarifications
For our latest round of updates to the diet, you'll see that some of the changes are really clarifications of existing guidelines. We hope this helps make the plan even easier to follow.
Artificial Sweeteners
Because it's not FDA-approved, we've removed stevia from the Foods to Enjoy and Avoid list (all Phases).
Meat Alternatives/Soy
We've updated the guidelines on soy products. The old version used to recommend products with 3 grams of fat or less per 2-3 ounce serving. You may now enjoy products with 6 grams of fat per 2-3 ounce serving.
Meats
Prime rib, jerky, and pork rinds have been added to the Foods to Avoid list (all Phases). Low-fat turkey sausage has been added to the Foods to Enjoy list (all Phases). Please note that low-fat turkey sausage is acceptable for occasional use—roughly once a week.
Milk/Dairy
We've updated the daily serving of milk/dairy (including yogurt) from 2 cups to 2-3 cups (all Phases).
Vegetables
Fennel has been added to the Phase 1 Foods to Enjoy list.
Diet Updates - June 10, 2004
Bananas on The South Beach Diet™
Good news! You can now eat a medium-sized banana as part of Phase 2 of The South Beach Diet™.
Why the change? In reviewing the 2002 International Table of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load, a 4-ounce medium (120 gram) banana has a low glycemic index and an intermediate glycemic load—making it an acceptable fruit for Phase 2 .
Here's what this all means: Although the glycemic index (GI) of a food is helpful information in choosing which foods to eat, it is only one part of the picture. The effect a food has on blood sugar levels depends on both the amount of carbohydrate as well as the glycemic index of that carbohydrate, which together is known as the glycemic load (GL).
For this reason the latest international table of the GI ranks foods based on both the GI as well as the GL. The GL better reflects a food's effect on your body's biochemistry than either the amount of carbohydrate or the GI alone.
Many foods can be misrepresented by just looking at their GI. Other nutrients in a food must also be considered. Good carbohydrates are nutrient-dense, slowly digested (usually due to a higher fiber content), and have a low to intermediate GI and GL. Whole fruits offer fiber, vitamins, minerals, and plenty of phytochemicals.
Since bananas vary in size, they had previously been listed as "avoid" or "eat rarely" on The South Beach Diet™. However, with the more complete picture offered to us with the combination of GI and GL, as well as the nutritional contribution of the banana—a fruit packed with fiber, vitamin C and B6, and potassium—we are pleased to offer a medium banana as a fruit choice beginning in Phase 2.
As always, continue to monitor your response to the fruits as you reintroduce them.
In reviewing and investigating the GI and GL (and the constant evolution of information), we strive to update you and provide you with the tools and information to help you make appropriate food choices.
Kraft Foods and Dr. Arthur Agatston Form Alliance
On June 9, 2004, Kraft Foods Inc. announced that it signed an agreement forming an alliance with Dr. Arthur Agatston, cardiologist and creator of the South Beach Diet™. As the deal develops, we will post the details on the site. Here's the latest information from a Kraft press release:
Kraft, which markets many of the world's leading food brands, including Kraft cheese, Maxwell House and Jacobs coffees, Philadelphia cream cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Boca products, Balance bars, and Post cereals in more than 150 countries, will use the South Beach Diet™ trademark to promote some Kraft products that can be used by people following the South Beach Diet™ program. In addition, Kraft and Agatston will advance their mutual goals of helping people eat and live better through nutrition research at the Agatston Research Institute, which the company will help support.
"With 64% of adults in the U.S. considered overweight and 46% on some form of diet last year, we are looking for innovative new ways to make weight management easier and more enjoyable," said Lance Friedmann, Senior Vice President, Global Health & Wellness. "Dr. Agatston's lifestyle approach to weight management—along with his focus on increasing whole grains and vegetables while lowering saturated and trans fat in the diet—are consistent with Kraft's commitment to improved nutrition. Given the continuing popularity of the South Beach Diet™ and healthful eating in general, we will use the South Beach Diet™ trademark as a flag on certain Kraft products to identify some convenient, great-tasting food choices that fit within the doctor's recommendations."
"My goal is to change the way America eats," said Dr. Agatston. "I look forward to working with Kraft, one of America's most trusted companies and brands, to help achieve this together."
Diet Updates - March 22, 2004
The South Beach Diet™ (SBD) continues to evolve as new nutritional studies and information come out. Recently, the results of new studies have shown that some of the "foods to avoid" may not be as bad for us as the original studies on glycemic index demonstrated. There are also some new, exciting studies about the role calcium plays in weight loss. The end result is that you can continue to enjoy all of the foods recommended for the SBD—as well as adding back in a few of your favorites! Here are the major changes:
Milk
Old Version:
Avoid all dairy in Phase 1, except for less than 2 tablespoons fat-free 1/2 and 1/2, nonfat milk, 1 percent milk, or soy milk allowed with coffee.
New Version:
Phase 1:
Now includes 1 percent or fat-free milk, low-fat plain soy milk (4 grams of fat or less per serving), 1 percent or fat-free buttermilk, and fat-free plain yogurt on the Phase 1 "foods to enjoy" list. Limit dairy to 2 servings a day. Note: Feel free to flavor your fat-free plain yogurt like a ricotta creme.
Phase 2:
May introduce artificially sweetened nonfat flavored yogurt, but limit this variety to 4 ounces daily. Note: Since the SBD is still low in saturated fat, high-fat whole milk products will remain on the "foods to avoid" lists for all Phases.
Tomatoes
Old Version:
Limited to one whole tomato or 10 cherry tomatoes per meal in all Phases.
New Version:
Not limited in any Phase.
Onions
Old Version:
Limited to 1/2 per day in all Phases.
New Version:
Not limited in any Phase.
Carrots
Old Version:
Avoid carrots in Phase 1 and 2; allowed in moderation in Phase 3.
New Version:
Allowed, starting in Phase 2.
Jicama:
Allowed, starting in any Phase.
Chayote:
Allowed, starting in any Phase.
Lean Pastrami:
Allowed, starting in any Phase.
