What Do You Eat on the South Beach Diet Menu?

If your idea of a diet is an eating plan which will allow you to make healthy choices about the food you eat, you no doubt will have been disappointed on more than one occasion in the past. There are numerous diets where you are so restricted, you just end up craving for those things on the "forbidden" list, and your chance of succeeding at losing those surplus pounds is practically non-existent.

Well, say hello to the South Beach Diet. The South Beach Diet is highly successful because the list of "allowed" foods is much longer than the list of "forbidden" foods.

There is no "forbidden fruit" on the South Beach Diet. This program simply teaches you how to enjoy the foods you love in a healthier way. For example, if you are a meat lover, the South Beach Diet doesn't say, "You can never eat red meat again!" Rather, the South Beach Diet teaches you how to eat red meat sensibly, by choosing smaller, leaner cuts.

When you are first considering the South Beach Diet, have a long look at Phase 1. This is the most restricted part of the diet, yet you will find it is surprisingly varied and quite a few of the things you would expect you are not allowed are there on the menu.

For example, you can eat sweets during Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. Yes, you read that right. You are allowed to eat up to 75 "sweet" calories per day during Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. You can also eat beef, eggs, low-fat lunch meat, pork, poultry and cheese, as long as it is low-fat or fat-free. And if you're a seafood lover, the South Beach Diet won't feel like a diet to you at all, because seafood is allowed - and promoted - on all phases of the diet plan.

Many people who do their own cooking are often unsure about appropriate ingredients when adapting their usual recipes. At the start of the South Beach Diet, you are restricted to canola and olive oils and non or low fat milk and yogurt but these bans are lifted as soon as you have made your way past phase 1 and home-cooking becomes far easier and much more straightforward.

Fruits, normal dairy products and grains are re-introduced to your choice of foods during Phase 2 of the diet but you will find your cravings for these are not nearly as strong as previously. By eating food which your body can break down easily your weight will continue to drop, until you have reached your goal.

The most important question to ask when you are choosing a diet program is, "What will I be able to eat?" You will be more than pleased with the answer to this question on the South Beach Diet. And the weight loss that comes with it won't be so bad either.