Modified Aktins/South Beach Diet

VEGETABLES                                                                          CARBOHYDRATE COUNT
6 fresh or frozen asparagus spears                                                                   3
½ cup cauliflower                                                                                               4
1 cup Jicama                                                                                                      6
1 stalk broccoli                                                                                                  8
½ cup green beans (boiled)                                                                               3
½ cup cabbage (boiled)                                                                                      4
3 pieces celery                                                                                                   4
1 ear of corn                                                                                                     16
1 cup cooked sweet peas                                                                                 22
baked potato (4 ½ X 2 ½)                                                                                25
½ cup potato salad                                                                                           20
1 tomato (medium)                                                                                           10
1 cup Navy beans                                                                                            40
1 cup black eyed peas                                                                                     34
1 cup split peas                                                                                                52
1 cup lima beans                                                                                              50
1 cup red kidney beans                                                                                   42
1 cup soy beans                                                                                               22
1 cup sauerkraut                                                                                             10
1 cup peppers (red, green or yellow)                                                               5
½ cup spinach                                                                                                   4
sweet potato                                                                                                   38
1 small squash                                                                                                16
½ cup Italian style vegetables                                                                       14
½ cup Japanese style vegetables                                                                  10
1 cup mushrooms (raw)                                                                                  10
½ cup coleslaw                                                                                                10

FRUITS                                                                                    CARBOHYDRATE COUNT
1 apple                                                                                                             18
1 banana                                                                                                          26
1 cup blackberries                                                                                          19
1 cup blueberries                                                                                            21
1 cup raspberries                                                                                            13
1 peach (2 ½ inches)                                                                                       10
1 cup pineapple                                                                                               19
1 orange (medium)                                                                                         18
1 cup strawberries                                                                                          14
½ cantaloupe                                                                                                  14
½ cup cherries                                                                                                13
½ grapefruit (pink)                                                                                         12
1 cup grapes                                                                                                   16
1 pear (3 ½ inches)                                                                                         24
1 kiwi (medium)                                                                                              10
½ honeydew                                                                                                    17

BREADS, CEREALS, GRAINS                                             CARBOHYDRATE COUNT
2 tablespoons all purpose flour                                                                      12
2 tablespoons cornmeal (whole grain)                                                           10
2 pieces melba toast                                                                                         4
½ cup pasta (noodles, macaroni, spaghetti)                                                  25
1 slice pizza (9 inch diameter)                                                                        30
1 cup brown, wild, long grain rice                                                                  30
1 small dinner roll                                                                                          14
1 waffle (plain)                                                                                                26
1 small bagel                                                                                                  27
1 large bagel                                                                                                   50
1 slice bread (White)                                                                                      22
1 slice Whole Wheat, (Stone Ground)                                                             8
4 regular crackers                                                                                            7
1 pancake (from mix)                                                                                     12
1 bun (hamburger or hot dog)                                                                        22
1 cup oatmeal                                                                                                 22

CARBOHYDRATE FATTENING ITEMS                            CARBOHYDRATE COUNT
1 blueberry muffin                                                                                          17
vanilla shake                                                                                                  60
banana split                                                                                                    95
¼ lb. cheeseburger                                                                                         30
1 waffle                                                                                                           28
1 pancake                                                                                                       15
1 slice apple pie                                                                                              62
1 cup ice cream                                                                                              49
glazed donut                                                                                                   22
2 slices French toast                                                                                     40
1 slice pizza                                                                                                    26
1 egg roll                                                                                                        30
½ cup lemon sherbet                                                                                     40
onion rings (fast food)                                                                                   40
onion rings (fast food) one bite, then sucking the onion out                       10
1 slice pecan pie                                                                                            42
1 hot dog with roll                                                                                          22

The heart of the program is counting "usable" carbs and a scale to weigh yourself, (get a good digital scale). Your body needs carbs: you have to have carbs in your diet, just not as many, nor processed,(dietary fiber removed). My program is NOT a "diet". It is a change in mindset. You have to change what and the way you eat. Like "SBD", it has 3 phases: a body conversion phase, a weight loss phase and a maintenance phase. Here is my program: next Saturday ... hehehe ...... pig out!!!! Start your new way of eating on Sunday. For the next two weeks, limit your carb intake to 20 carbs per day .... you should loose 8 - 13 pounds from your g+b, (gut and butt) during these two weeks.. Thereafter, limit your daily carb intake to 30 - 40 carbs, (you want to loose 1/2 - 1 1/2 pounds per week), 30 -40 carbs per day as a function of your individual daily activity levels. Stay on phase 2 until you loose the weight you want. Once there, go to 70 - 80 carbs per day.   Weigh yourself EVERY DAY before you take your bath/shower ..... that is the only way you will know YOUR necessary carb intake levels, (they vary from person to person, as a function of activity level).

PLEASE NOTE

There is no way in hell you are going to lose weight munching down 5,000 protein or low carb calories a day ..... gimme a break! Look, one gram of protein contains 4 calories, 1 gram of carbs also contain 4 calories: one gram of fat on the other hand, contains 9 calories. If you take in more calories than you burn ... Duh!!! you gain weight. A good rule of thumb, is to keep your caloric intake to around a low fat 2,200 calories per day, for men and 1,600 for women. To calculate how many calories you should limit yourself to, click HERE. Oh ... and don't limit your diet to "red" meat, (we are omnivores ... we evolved eating dead stuff and kibbles and twigs). Use some common sense :) Let me share with you why the diet works, (all BS and hype aside!). Fat has more calories, but it takes your body longer to break fat down, (so you feel full longer, you are not hungry and so, don't eat as much). Protein and Complex carbs also take longer to break down, (with protein, (meat), taking longer than complex carbs, (whole grains)). Your body breaks "simple or processed carbs", (sugar, white bread, processed rice, pasta, potatoes, etc.), down very quickly ... (ever wonder why you are hungry an hour after pigging out on Chinese?) While your body is "digesting", breaking down what you have eaten, you feel "full", you are not hungry and therefore less likely to eat. Because you eat less, you consume less calories. Because you consume less calories, you lose weight. The difference between protein and carbs, (they both have 4 calories), is, how quickly your body breaks them down. It takes your body longest to break down fat, less time to break down protein and less time to break down complex carbs. It takes your body less than an hour to convert a slice of white bread, (22 carbs), into blood sugar. Your body senses a flood of blood sugar and produces a flood of insulin to process it. Because your body produces more insulin, (because of the blood sugar spike), than it needs ... you have insulin left over ... which tells your body to eat more. You are hungry again. Make sense?

The Diet has one simple rule: be aware of what you eat! If you have too many carbs one day .... have a few less the next. It is extremely flexible. Snack in between meals. Drink lots of fluids. Have a glass of red wine every night, (it has powerful antioxidents). If you have a sweet tooth, check out all the candies, shakes, etc available from Russel Stover, the Atkins folks and Carbolite. Keep in mind, however, most of these candies contain alcohol sugar, (remember, your body has to burn that off before it starts burning fat)..

You a bread/muffin freak? Here is a site that lists dozens of recipes, including breads, muffins, pancakes , etc. (Atkins plain bagels are excellent!!) Here is a site with over 5,000 low carb recipes of all types. Here are more recipes. Check out the other Links, listed above.

This is not a diet: diets just don't work. This is just a way of eating differently, (for the rest of your life). Get slim!!! Stay slim!! Live longer and in better health :)
Huggers
Karl

I'm "big boned" ... am now and always have been but my bones have shrunk a tad :) After researching the "Atkins Diet",(AD), "South Beach Diet", (SBD), and others, but after reading an interesting article by Dr. Mercola, I've come up with my own diet. The "AD" and "SBD" for me, have flaws. "AD" is restrictive ... almost no carbs .... difficult to make into a "life style". "SBD" sets a limit on the intake of carbs, (doesn't share how many) but counts on eating a combination of protein and "complex" carbs. For me, too difficult on a day to day basis. After reading that 10,000 years ago .... as a species .... our bodies had evolved to "store" carbs as fat, (seems we used to run around the forest eating dead stuff and "kibbles and twigs" .... our bodies stored the "kibbles and twigs" as fat ... to give us time to find more dead stuff). I elected to go with my own diet: a high protein and measured usable carb, low fat diet. "Usable" carbs are total carbs minus "dietary fiber" carbs. My diet is based on the "glycemic index", (how long it takes your body to process a given carb). Simply put, (I'm not a doctor), when you eat "processed carbs" and some naturally occurring carbs, (like potatoes), your body quickly converts them into "blood sugar", causing your pancreas to secrete insulin, an insulin spike. Insulin causes lipoprotein lipases to quickly convert available blood sugar/fatty acids into something your muscle cells can use and causes fat cells to store what is not, (for later use). Once insulin causes lipoprotein lipases to deplete blood sugar/fatty acids, (by feeding the regular cells and storing the balance in fat cells), you are hungry again ... so you eat again. It takes your body longer to break down complex carbs and protein: no insulin spikes ... so blood sugar is released slowly, feeding muscle cells and when done right, none being left to be stored in fat cells. While your body is processing food, (breaking down complex carbs or protein), you are not hungry ... and if your blood sugar/fatty acids are low, your body dips into it's fat stores to feed the muscle cells. The result? You lose weight! Since August 15, 2003, I have gone from a size 48 "Portly", (the "Portly" means I wore 48" x 32" pants instead of 46" x 32" pants) suit, to a 44 Regular suit. I can now buy my cloths "off the shelf": don't need to go to "Emil the Tent Maker" any more :) I 'm not a dietitian .... I'm just sharing what has worked for me: eliminate simple carbs from your diet, (simple carbs are any "processed" carbs i.e. sugar, processed bread, (any bread not made from whole grains), processed rice, pasta, potatoes etc. .... in short .... anything your body can turn into blood sugar quickly). Take a multivitamin and a fiber supplement, (like "Fiber Choice" sugar free tabs). Eat an apple every day. Limit your alcohol consumption, (every drop of alcohol has to be "burned" by your body first ... before your body starts to burn stored fat). The following are carb count tables, compiled and averaged from several different sources: