South Beach Diet And gluten-free Compatible?

[elfkin]

I really need to loose some weight (okay, alot of weight). Both of my children are on gluten-free diets for celiac, my dh needs a special diet for health issues as well. It has been overwhelming to take on another "diet" and worry about the food for one more person (myself). But, the time has come to take control of the situation. I went in for a medical exam (as instructed before starting a new diet), my Dr. thinks that the South Beach diet gets very good results and is healthy. Does anyone here have experience with that? Do you think that blending gluten-free and South Beach would work out? We have a gluten free/nut free household.

Thanks for any thoughts!

[elonwy]

South Beach diet is awesome. Phase 1 is completely gluten free.

Phase 2 and 3 depend on adding in whole grains, but you can substitute with grains that are gluten free. Its not super strict either, so you can change it to suite YOU, as long as you stay within the guidelines.

He does add in nuts to alot of things, but again, easy to just leave it out.

South Beach diet isn't so much a "diet" as a "Here's how you eat like a healthy person, and you happen to lose weight when you do it". You lose weight during the phases, but its more about training your body to want healthy stuff and getting rid of the craving for bad things, like sugar.

I personally can't do artificial sweetners ( they make my stomach hurt, and they taste gross) which he also relies on heavily, but I substitute honey and that has worked well for me.

I recommend getting one of the cookbooks as well as the diet book if you're going that route, or subscribing to the website. The original book which outlines the diet and gets you going is somewhat limiting recipe-wise. I also found that I spent less money on groceries cause I was planning my meals more.

Hope it works well for you

Elonwy

[GeoffCJ]

South Beach diet is awesome. Phase 1 is completely gluten free.

South Beach is actually how I figured out the solution to 10-12 years of symptoms! I went on the South Beach diet last October, and lo and behold, my GI issues got better!

That put me on the track to figuring out the Celiac/Gluten link. Still waiting on the biopsies and enterolab, but dietary response has been good, not perfect. I suspect either I'm not doing a great job of avoiding gluten, or I have other sensitivities. But I feel better now than I have in years.

I didn't really end up sticking with South Beach, because I got more focused on the other issues, but I have lost weight.

Geoff

[blueeyedmanda]

I am glad to see someone else is wondering the same thing as I was. My fiance has been told he needs a low-card diet to help with some weight issues and I could use a little work too. It would be great if I could do some of the South Beach. He has been looking at Southbeach and really likes what he sees.

[elonwy]

Yeah, I didn't really add it up until after the fact, but when I was on phase one I felt great, and then when I added in bread and stuff in phase two I would feel icky again. Same thing when I did that Atkins thing way back in the day (which eventually made me feel sick just cause its not healthy, just in a different way). After the celiac diagnosis it all made sense. Even when I'm not following the SBD (like right now ;P) I use the cookbooks, the recipes are awesome, easy to make gluten-free and usually taste amazing. The best part of it is the food is Yummy.

Elonwy

[lorka150]

I am glad to see someone else is wondering the same thing as I was. My fiance has been told he needs a low-card diet to help with some weight issues and I could use a little work too. It would be great if I could do some of the South Beach. He has been looking at Southbeach and really likes what he sees.

The South Beach Diet, actully, focuses on good carbohydrates - lots of veggies, fruits, and whole grains.

It's a good choice, but like any diet, it's just logics - eat whole, fresh foods, avoid processed garbage and added sugars, and eat balanced portions of carbohydrates, good fats, and proteins. Combined with exercise, it's the basic lifestyle change to improve your health and aid in weightloss (if you need it).

[jnclelland]

Just agreeing with everyone else. I've been doing South Beach since May, and it's no touble at all to do it gluten-free. It's actually less trouble than the way I was eating before, because it's *much* less focused on eating lots of grains than the typical American diet, so there are fewer gluten-free substitutions to worry about.

What's more, I feel better than I've ever felt in my entire life: I've lost weight, and my blood sugar is LOTS more stable than it's ever been before. I have more energy, no food cravings of any kind, and I plan to keep eating this way for good!

There's lots of info/support for South Beach available for free at Open Original Shared Link. Give it a try; you've got nothing to lose but the cost of the book!

Jeanne