Comparing the South Beach Diet and Food Pyramid Recommendations

Comparing the South Beach Diet and Food Pyramid Recommendations

Recently, new ideas for diet and weight loss, such as the South

Beach low carbohydrate diet, have been replacing the previously chosen

ideas, particularly, the Food Pyramid. Both eating patterns recommend

consuming larger quantities of some food groups than others, although

which groups varies between the diets. The former emphasis on diet and

exercise is also beginning to shift with the new diet choices.

In previous years to lose weight a person was told to

eat “healthier”, lower caloric intake, and exercise more. Many of these

advocates promoted the food pyramid. The food pyramid, completed by the

U.S. Department of Agriculture, recommends 6-11 servings from the “bread,

cereal, rice, and pasta” group, 3-5 servings from the “vegetable” group,

2-4 servings from the “fruit” group, 2-3 servings from both the “milk,

yogurt, and cheese” group and the “meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and

nuts group,” and “fats, oils, and sugars” are to be

consumed “sparingly.” Serving sizes can be found on the label of most

food products under the Nutrition Facts. Obviously, with the food

pyramid, it is recommended that the group with the highest consumption

per day should be from the bread, cereal, rice and pasta group, or the

foods with the highest portion of carbohydrates.

The South Beach diet does not recommend specific quantities of

any one group. The diet consists of three phases. Phase one is the

strictest phase with a very low intake of carbohydrates. Bread, cereal,

rice, and pasta are completely excluded from the diet for two weeks.

Instead, the initial two weeks consists mostly of eating meat, poultry,

fish, eggs, cheese, and nuts. Phase two begins by reintroducing “good”

carbs back into the diet. Good carbs include fruits and sparing

consumption of whole wheat/grain bread and cereal. Phase two lasts until

a person reaches their goal weight. Phase three is a maintenance phase

in which a person takes everything they have learned and makes it a

lifestyle change. Arthur Agatston, the cardiologist credited with the

South Beach diet says that if you crave something in phase three you