Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: south beach diet guidelines

Question:
Hi, I'm on my third week of SB and have lost 20 lbs. I find nowhere in the hard covered book or the little book where it gives you a guide line on how many carbs one should be eating ? Does anyone know out there a number? I see number for Atkins and I'm thinking about using those if there is none for the SB diet. Thanks

Answer:
The South Beach Diet is not about quantifying carbohydrate intake, so there is no recommended number. The fact that you don't have to count anything is what some people like about it. I wasn't comfortable with it - I needed quantification - so like you I looked to Atkins for guidance. But the thing is, if you adopt an Atkins-like approach, you are likely not going to be following the South Beach Diet any more. There are several reasons for this. First, the sample menus in South Beach Phase II include many more carbs than a typical Atkins OWL dieter will eat in a day. Second, South Beach advocates certain lowfat foods that most Atkins dieters will avoid, in part because to make up for the lost fats they are higher in carbs. Finally, remember that Atkins teaches a process by which one determines one's critical carb level for losing by gradually increasing carbs and checking for ketosis. So everyone's carb level on Atkins is a little different. What I did when I got frustrated with the lack of quantitative guidance on South Beach was to pick a rather arbitrary carb level - 50 g net - and aim for that. I picked that number as it seemed not impossibly low and more or less in the range where I had read typical Atkins dieters' critical carb levels were. However, 50 g net is far lower than I would be if I were eating the things South Beach allows. Occasionally I will have a small amount of fruit or half a cup of brown rice - really occasionally. If I were using South Beach's suggested meal plans as a guide, I'd be eating three servings of fruit and 1-2 servings of whole grain carbs in a day - resulting probably in a net carb level closer to 100 g or more.