Is the South Beach diet really all that good?

Lately, I've been on phase one of the South Beach diet. I swear, it's kicking my rear end!! I feel hungry ALL THE TIME. I get hypoglycemia REALLY bad, so not eating grains makes me feel hungry a LOT longer after I eat. I'm ready to just give up. Are there ANY diets out there where I DON'T have to feel like I'm starving myself? Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Just a well-balanced vegan diet & exercise?

Cutting out grains is not healthy, period.

 

my sister's on this diet. she felt hungry alot during the first few weeks. but she's lost weight.

 

It works really well for me because I'm insulin resistant. Without cutting out simple carbs, I cannot lose weight- simple as that. However, recently I was diagnosed with celiac disease and since I go to college and eat in a cafeteria, I don't really eat grains except when the college is so gracious enough to have brown rice. It doesn't really both me health wise though.

If you are doing SB diet right, you should feel like you can't eat anymore- not like you're starving yourself!!!! You should be eating 7-9 servings of veggies a day, plus a ton of beans. Since that's quite a bit of food and you should be snacking all day, you should not be hungry. Can you post a sample menu of what you eat? How many days have you been on it? Perhaps you should move right to phase 2 if you have hypoglycemia- that's what's recommended for diabetics. Phase 1 isn't super important except that you lose a lot of water weight. If you can keep your cravings in check and make sure you only eat whole grains, eat enough veggies, get at least 10 glasses of water, and don't eat sugar, then you should be good.

(PS: I'm not a South Beach diet expert but I've been on it for 6 months and am pretty active on support sites, so I know enough to hopefully be able to help you out!)

 

Thanks!! To SilverClover14: I usually wake up between 12 and 3 p.m. (I just got back from a vacation in Asia a week ago, and I'm not quite ajusted to the time change.) I usually eat 2 eggs either boiled or scrambled for breakfast. A little while later (between 1-2 hourse, at the most), I eat some cheeze and a peeled cucumber. I will keep eating light cheeze, broccoli, and meat, until we either go out to a restauraunt or my sister makes dinner, usually consisting of lightly saute'd vegetables and a sizable portion of meat. 1-2 hourse later, I dig into the vegetables, cheeze, or sliced deli meat before getting to bed.


I've been on this diet for 5 days so far, and for that entire length of time, I have felt at least moderately hungry. Any information and suggestions you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

You're not eating enough, that's why. For breakfast, could you eat a side salad or some steamed veggies? You should try to get at least a serving of veggies with breakfast. Maybe throw some chopped veggies into an omlette or scramble them into your eggs. I know I ate poached eggs on salad (but salad doesn't bother me for breakfast- it takes a bit of deprogramming to get over not eating "typical" breakfast foods). Maybe drink some V8 to get extra veggies in too? Also, if you drink it, milk with breakfast or yogurt with flax seeds help round out your breakfast. Beans (like maybe a bean chili or bean dip/ hummus for your veggies) can also help with energy.

Also, make sure you're drinking a lot of water. I have a big glass (about 30 oz) that I drink 5 or 6 of a day. It'll really help getting water weight off too.

Another suggestion is to try fitday.com It's free and you can plug the foods you eat into it (with some guesswork). It's not 100% accurate but might point out some problems in your diet- like how many calories you are eating. At the least you should be eating around 1300-1400 calories a day. Anything less and that could also point out why you feel hungry.

If that doesn't help, maybe slowly move into Phase 2. You only add one grain/fruit a week to see how you react. Maybe you could throw in some quinoa which is super healthy and it would make you feel better. Good luck!

 

Thanks for your help!!! I'll definately check out the website, and there's a great omlette recipe my dad has that involves variouse veggies. I'll ask him for it. It also wouldn't hurt to stalk up on beans. Thanks A LOT for your input!!!!