South Beach Phase 1, help me eat better?

March 5, 2008 10:11 AM

I am currently on the South Beach diet (Phase 1, one week into it, please do not reply if you are going to criticize). I am not following their meal plans because they are overly complicated and in many cases require ingredients that I can't get here in this small town. If you've got very simple filling recipes that would qualify for Phase 1 and 2 (please specify which), I would really appreciate hearing them!

Please note that my biggest problem is taking Phase 1 too far right now...as always I tend toward strong willpower and too stringent self-imposed rules and end up making myself suffer unnecessarily. Some simple recipes that qualify but help me eat well are best.

Thanks!

posted by Kickstart70 to food & drink (11 comments total)

We make a turkey lasagna using sauteed eggplant in place of noodles. It helps to make your own tomato sauce, since the commercial varieties tend to be full of sugar.
posted by electroboy at 10:38 AM on March 5, 2008

I found this site to be helpful. For me the quick shopping list for Phase One was great. Like you I didn't use any of the recipes from the book. Since I only stayed on Phase One for two weeks I figured I could handle not having much variety. So here was what I ate:

Breakfast: 2 eggs (w/ a little pre-shredded low fat cheese), 2 strips turkey bacon, & glass of tomato juice.
Snack: Cheese Stick
Lunch: Salad with some meat (usually chicken)
Snack: Carrots
Dinner: Salad (or other veggies) and a chicken breast.
posted by bove at 11:03 AM on March 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Get a pack of the pseudo crab meat; divide in half. Add it to 1/4 lb. of cole slaw or a quarter cup of snap peas. A good, quick lunch. I think technically the cole slaw is not on the meal plane for Phase I or II but I ate it all through my SBD days and lost weight like crazy.

However... At least for the rest of Phase I, really, really, REALLY try to stick to the diet as laid out in the book. In Phase II you can be a little lest strict, but the first two weeks is diet boot camp. It's an adjustment to your system and the low-carb thing doesn't feel natural yet. But as long as you stay as close to the diet as possible in Phase I, I think you have a good shot at losing all the weight you want in Phase II.

SBD does work, and works well (I lost 70 lb. in 6 months). As long as you stay as close to the spirit of the diet as possible. Good luck; you can do it.
posted by Doohickie at 11:04 AM on March 5, 2008

As a former South-beacher, I don't really have any recipes... I looked at the whole process as more "following rules" than eating different food, but I do wish you best of luck. I did very well on phase I, but couldn't handle phase two. Because as soon as discretion was introduced I started saying things like "maybe 7-11's taquitos would be a good carb to introduce". Yeah, I know. That was my bad. But in phase 1, I dropped close to 20lbs.
posted by indiebass at 11:05 AM on March 5, 2008

When I tried it, I found out that most of the recipe sites on the web have SB recipes, you just have to search for them. Try querying sites for "phase one" or "phase 1" and see what you get. Here are 124 from recipezaar.com, for example.
posted by cdmwebs at 11:32 AM on March 5, 2008

Congrats on starting this diet! I think it's life changing and has been nothing but good for me.

For phase one, you can pan fry some turkey cutlets and eat them with vegetables - or cut up the turkey and toss it with a salad that includes 1/2 cup of beans.

The surprise south beach fake mashed potatoes (with cauliflower) are good.

I like the breakfast quiche cups to go - that recipe is on the net many places.

Be leery of overindulging in cheese, beans and nuts -- really try to stick with 1/2 cup of beans total per day, or 2 TB peanut butter per day.

I don't know what you mean by taking it too far -- you can't really overeat vegetables for instance.

Phase two - the sky is the limit! What has worked for me is to eat no more than 3/4 cup of whole grains per meal.
I eat some turkey kielbasa sauteed and wrapped in a WW tortilla with mustard.
Lentil salad with dill and tomatoes (recipe on epicurious)
Tabouleh

I marinate fish or chicken in a mix of miso paste, sesame oil and fresh ginger - then broil. Great with vegetables and brown rice.

I make my own tomato sauce that is sugar free and keep in the freezer.

Hummus is easy and south beach friendly. (actually that is ok for phase one and two).

These Light Turkey Meatballs are phase 2 friendly.

- makes about 34 meatballs -

Adapted from Everyday Food magazine.
Ingredients

3 slices whole-wheat sandwich bread
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 small garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg
Salt and pepper
Procedure

1. Pulse the bread in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Mix bread in a bowl with the milk. Let stand at least five minutes.

2. Combine the turkey, scallions, garlic, parsley, egg, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add breadcrumb mixture, mix together gently with a fork.

3. Form mixture into balls (about 2 tablespoons each). Freeze meatballs on a baking sheet for two hours, then transfer to a resealable plastic bag or an airtight container and freeze for up to three months.

I keep these in the freezer ready to go and then eat them with wholegrain pasta and marinara sauce.

Grapefruit chicken - phase 2

Line a baking sheet with foil
scatter with 2 TB flaxseed meal and 1/2 cup almonds

Take four boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise - dip them in beaten eggs. Then in Whole Wheat breadcrumbs.

Lay them on top of the flaxseed meal and the almonds. Spray with cooking spray.
Bake at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes.

Make a salad with lettuce, grapefruit, and green beans

Whisk the juice of half a grapefruit with 3 TB olive oil, 2 tsp dijon mustard, and some chopped fresh basil.

Cut up the chicken into the salad.


I have tons more ideas. Let me know if you want more.
posted by chickaboo at 12:19 PM on March 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

THere is some support to be had at this website also

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=110
posted by chickaboo at 12:25 PM on March 5, 2008

A lot of the recipes in the book seem complicated, but I can vouch for the miniquiches being easy once you have the foil/paper cupcake things they recommend. I'd mix up the eggs and throw in whatever okay-for-phase-I stuff (spinach, onion, mushrooms, various meats, etc) I felt like having for breakfast for a few days.
posted by gnomeloaf at 12:28 PM on March 5, 2008

Some genius tips from a friend.

Stuffed eggplant is a great dinner - I slice in half, hollow it out a bit (within 1/2 inch of edge), par roast at 375 for about 15 minutes, then fill with ricotta mixed with an egg yolk and parm cheese, a tomato-meat sauce made with ground turkey, and top with a bit of low fat mozz cheese. Bake for 35-45 minutes - yum. You can just eat the whole thing - skin and all.

So good luck - during the week's easy, the weekends are the hardest (what, no pancakes?!?), so PERSEVERE!

PS - I almost forgot my NUMBER 1 GREAT TIP: I love Buffalo wings, so I use falafel mix as a coating for chicken breast strips (preseasoned - you don't even need salt; use the Near East brand - tastes best). Throw the mix in a Ziploc bag and then throw in the chicken. Seal and toss around to coat. I usually fry in a bit of canola oil, but I'm sure you can oven fry it too. Toss with Buffalo sauce and throw on a salad - delish. Leftovers are great for lunch the next day.
posted by chickaboo at 12:29 PM on March 5, 2008

Kalyn's Kitchen is a great South Beach recipe blog - well designed and written, and all the recipes are South Beach friendly and marked with what phase they fit into. In the right sidebar is an "Easy South Beach Recipes Five Ingredients or Less" section that might be right up your alley. I am not on a diet of any kind, but I still think lots of these recipes are awesome (especially the vegetables and salads).
posted by Wroksie at 1:56 PM on March 5, 2008

The two sites I couldn't do without when I go on the SBD are Kalyn's Kitchen, mentioned above, and the South Beach Diet Group at MSN Groups.

http://groups.msn.com/SouthBeachDiet/homepage.msnw

Generally I spend more time at these sites the week before I start the diet and during the first week when I am having some withdrawals from the things I like best. By the time the second week rolls around, I find that I am better off NOT thinking so much about the "diet" and recipes, and just make meals that I know have "allowed" ingredients. I make things that I would usually make if I were not on a diet. I have scrambled eggs or an omelet for breakfast, a chopped salad with some protein (water packed tuna, hardboiled egg, chicken) for lunch, and for dinner I just broil a lean steak, pork chops, hamburgers or bake chicken breasts, all heavily seasoned with some new spice mix I found that doesn't have sugar. Obviously the above are all served with a different vegetable each night. This last go around with SBD, I found a recipe the first week for boneless pork chops at Kalyn's that is primo. She recommends fini balsamic vinegar when making it, and I couldn't agree more. It is quite expensive for a vinegar, and you may have to do some searching in a small town to find it, but well worth the extra expense and effort because I am sure this recipe will become a family favorite, diet or not.
posted by LiveLurker at 3:01 PM on March 5, 2008