Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: south beach diet guide

Question:
I just started phase II of the South Beach Diet. My goals are to lose a little weight but mainly to eat healthier than I normally do. I have lost 10 lbs. and 2 inches off my waist which was my goal, so already I am pretty happy. But I am still confused about the portions sizes. I have read The South Beach Diet ISBN 0-312-99119-3 for the overview. I use the The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook ISBN 1-59486-292-3 for all my meals, and I use The South Beach Diet Good Fats, Good Carbs Guide ISBN 1-59486-198-6 to make my grocery lists. But these books don't seem to paint the whole picture unless I am reading something wrong. For example, Multigrain bread is listed as 1 slice under the portion column of the Guide. Does this mean I can have only 1 slice per meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner)? If so what about as a snack? In the Cookbook, there is a Phase II recipe for Multigrain Watercress and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches. This recipe uses 2 slices per portion for a meal and 1.5 slices for a snack. So these seem to contradict each other. This is just one example, but there are others. Other than nuts, I can't find a lot of information on portions. I am not overly concerned because the way I am following the diet seem to work for me. However, I do prefer to understand rather that just blindly follow things. Can anyone shed some light on this or point me to the right resource of south beach diet guide ? Much appreciated,

Answer:
As I see it, there is a two step process. 1) Define a Portion for each food or food type......(ounces, slices, pounds, cups, gallons, barrells or tons or even handsful.). This is your convenient measure of stuff. It is often considered a single serving size. Sometimes people eat two servings of something and to make up for it zero servings of something else in about the same food group during a day. 2) Set limits on Portions allowed per day for the food type and the stage of the diet plan you happen to be in. A recipe may specify the number of slices, cups, ounces, bean bags, or carloads of an ingredient to add into the pot, pan, skillet, casseroll dish or cannibal cooking pot. You know that cooks are not scientists, accountants or lawyers, so sometimes a recipe will have more of a food than you are nominally allowed in whatever stage of the diet plan you happen to be in. Don't expect perfection in this portion business, most folks are basically merely plain old well meaning humans, not programmed computers. Portion - a size (often, but not always, the standardized size of a gob of stuff you eat)