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Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of what the South Beach Diet is all about, this chapter is going to discuss why this diet is important and what the benefits are when you follow this diet. As you are going to see after reading this chapter, many of the advantages that the South Beach Diet can provide your health and your life are ones that other types of diets cannot offer. The advantages of the South Beach Diet are again reasons why the South Beach Diet is sustainable as a long-term form of dieting. After reading this chapter, it’s likely that you’ll be even more convinced than you already are that the South Beach Diet is the right diet to fit your health needs.
Benefit 1 of the South Beach Diet: It’s Balanced
One of the biggest benefits that the South Beach Diet can offer you is that it’s a truly balanced diet. Unlike other diets such as Atkins where the diet is asking you to concentrate on one specific type of nutrition, the South Beach Diet is extremely balanced. Obviously, this balance refers to the diet techniques that occur after phase one of the diet plan. Phase one itself is a bit unbalanced, but that is why it’s only supposed to be followed for a period of two weeks. The creators of the South Beach Diet want you to eventually be able to walk away from the strict terms of the “diet” itself so that you can live a life where you feel as if you’re not constantly dieting. Instead, you get to feel as free as you did when you were not dieting. The only difference is that you’re more educated because of the knowledge that the South Beach Diet has provided you and therefore you can make better nutritional decisions for yourself.
Benefit 2 of the South Beach Diet: There is Absolutely No Calorie Counting
Unlike Weight Watchers and other types of diets that require you to count calories to some extent, the South Beach Diet does not ask this of you at all. In a way, you can interpret the South Beach Diet to have already counted the calories of your food intake for you, based on what you’re allowed to eat and what you’re not allowed to eat. The fact that you don’t have to count calories while on the South Beach Diet seems to speak to the bigger message that the South Beach Diet is trying to convey in the sense that counting calories is not something that should be done when you’re not “dieting”. It simply isn’t realistic to think that you’re going to count calories for the rest of your life, so in the eyes of the South Beach Diet, if you start to develop calorie-counting habits, it’s not going to do anything for you over the long-term. You can relax on the South Beach Diet, knowing that the mathematical work of counting calories has already been done for you.
Benefit 3 of the South Beach Diet: You’re Always Eating
There are some types of diets out there that insist that you can only eat a certain number of meals per day, while also limiting what it is that you’re consuming. For example, the Cabbage Soup Diet encourages you to only eat certain meals per day, while offering that you can eat as much cabbage soup that you want throughout the course of the day. Of course, the cabbage soup that they want you to make at the beginning of the week is almost entirely made of water, so this does not do much to sustain your body properly. The South Beach Diet is different in the sense that it is a diet that actually encourages you to eat small snacks and meals throughout the day. If you’ve ever been interested in weightlifting or bodybuilding, then you probably already know that it is better to eat smaller meals throughout the day, rather than larger ones that take longer for your body to process. This is the exact idea behind the logic of the South Beach Diet, and it’s one that is incredibly important for your body’s overall balance and stability.
Benefit 4 of the South Beach Diet: You’ll Have fewer Cravings
If you’re someone who tends to sit on the couch after work and constantly eat because you’re bored, there’s a chance that you are developing cravings that are unhealthy in nature. Both sugar and salt are two of the biggest types of additives that are used in the production of processed foods. On the South Beach Diet, you’re going to be forced to cut out carbohydrates and sugars for a full two weeks. Afterward, you may be surprised to find that the carbohydrates that you do eat will taste a bit different to you. You’ll be able to taste any added sugar that is found in processed foods because your body will have regulated over the two-week period to a lower salt and sugar threshold.
Benefit 5 of the South Beach Diet: Making Your Own Recipes is Simple!
We have already discussed the money that you can spend to receive South Beach Diet approved meals directly to your home, but you definitely do not need to invest this type of money into the South Beach Diet if you don’t see the point or are looking to save some money. The book that you’re reading right now is loaded with recipes that will save you a ton of money while you’re still able to lose weight. If you’re someone who is not great at cooking, starting the South Beach Diet is the perfect way to learn how to cook quickly. When your health is on the line, there’s no reason why you should delay learning how to cook in a healthier and more informative manner.
Benefit 6 of the South Beach Diet: You’ll See Results Fast
If you’ve ever tried to remove gluten from your diet in the past, then you know that your belly is going to flatten very quickly if you don’t have much fat to lose and you’re truly dedicating yourself to a gluten-free diet. The first two weeks of the South Beach Diet work similarly to a gluten-free diet, although it can be argued that the South Beach Diet is even stricter than simply a gluten-free diet because sugar is also regulated while on the South Beach Diet. Additionally, the Diet promotes the elimination of saturated fats from your diet, and this also contributes to the loss of weight much faster than what is typically seen in other diet programs that are on the market.
For those who are unaware, saturated fats are those types of fats that bond certain types of foods together. For example, butter is a type of saturated fat, as is cheese and other dairy products that are made with two-percent milk. One of the biggest proponents of the South Beach Diet is that it asks you to engage in a healthier lifestyle of eating. One of the ways that you can do this successfully is to look at the nutritional labels on your food. If you see information that says that there are hydrogenated oils in the item in question, this is a key sign that the food should not be consumed while on the South Beach Diet. It may be surprising to you, but coffee creamer is one example of a drink additive that is loaded with hydrogenated oil. While you may be thinking that you’re simply drinking milk when you open the little packet of creamer from your local diner or convenient store, this is far from the truth. As you become more aware of what is actually in the food that you’re eating, you’ll be able to make better decisions for yourself and your health. This is the ultimate goal of the South Beach Diet, so that one day you can step back from the strict guidelines of the South Beach Diet, yet still maintain a healthy lifestyle.
