# The Schwarzbein Principle and South Beach Diet



## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I've been reading two books.

The Schwarzbein Principle
http://www.schwarzbeinprinciple.com/pgs/home.html

and the South Beach Diet
www.southbeachdiet.com

Schwarzbein is an endocrinologist, and the author of the South Beach Diet is a cardiologist. BOTH discovered that the official doctor recommended diets for their various fields do NOT work.

The eating plans they both came up with are the same and work to lower cholesterol, normalize hormone and insulin levels, and make people healthier.

Both plans are low carbohydrate. No refined flour, no rice, no white potatoes, no white pasta, no refined sugar.

I find it very interesting that two professionals in different fields came to the same conclusions about what works in our bodies.


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## Zookeeper (Sep 7, 2006)

I can not say enough good things about SBD. DH and I have both been eating this way for close to a year now, and it WORKS. Not just for weight loss, but we had bloodwork done before and after using the diet, and DH's cholesterol/triglycerides went from off the charts, to NORMAL!!! And mine weren't bad to begin with, but I recently bought a life insurance policy, and I received the best possible premium rates available, based in my bloodwork and physical :sing:

We lost approx. 75 lbs. between the 2 of us, and the amazing part is we've kept it off...first time in my adult life I have not yo-yo'ed back and forth from being 30-40 lbs. overweight.

Having your blood sugar under control naturally does amazing things for your body!

Yes, it is nice to see more corroboration that this is a medically-proven, healthy way to live.


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## Candace (Jan 14, 2008)

So, did you do their testing or was yours part of your usual medical check-ups? I haven't heard of the Schwarzbein Principle before. What is a typical day for you, meal-wise?


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## Zookeeper (Sep 7, 2006)

We had physicals through our private physicians (which is why we started SBD in the 1st place, DH's #'s were BAD and he was quite overweight, I was also overweight so I went along w/ him on the diet), and then had physicals again several months after starting SBD (including bloodwork).

SBD is NOT anything like Atkins (which I hear a lot)...you do NOT cut out food groups on SBD, just change your selections from each food group to more healthy choices, i.e sweet potatoes rather than white, whole-grain spaghetti rather than white, etc. There is a "Phase 1" on SBD in which you do not eat many carbs, but this is optional and the diet can be done without ever doing Phase 1, it's just designed for people who have a severe sugar addiction and want to really cleanse their system at the beginning to feel faster results.

Gosh, there's so much you CAN eat on SBD, it's hard to tell you a typical day, we eat a varied diet. And let me say that we do not stick *strictly* to it either, part of SBD is you learn just how much you can "get away with" carb-wise, and still maintain your desired weight. We do still stop by DQ on occasion, etc. 

But we eat a LOT of salads (with "regular" dressings such as creamy caesar or blue cheese, or olive oil/vinegar...ones with no sugar but NOT low-fat or fat-free), lots of vegetables with most meals, especially those with low sugar contents (and we add butter)...broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, lettuces/greens/spinach, etc. (we mostly avoid peas, carrots, corn). We eat only whole-grain pastas, brown rice, whole grain breads, etc. and I try to eat those things not more than twice a day...I very often only eat meat and vegetables for dinner if I've had say a whole grain waffle for breakfast and some kind of carb with my lunch. Often lunch is a salad with some meat, cheese, and/or boiled egg added for protein. We use "real" foods, such as half-and-half in our coffee, real butter, etc. Snacks are nuts, cheesesticks, green apple w/ peanut butter, salads...We do use Splenda though, which some people are opposed to, but for now we are okay with it. Figure it's better than being on the verge of a heart attack and diabetes.

There are principles in the SBD book that we follow such as having some butter or olive oil with your bread or pasta, because is slows the digestion of the carbs even more and therefore does not "dump" sugar into your system, the whole thing you're trying to avoid. Or eating/drinking an acid with your food, such as lemon juice, tomato juice, vinegar, has the same effect (tomato juice for b'fast, vinegar in your salad dressing...)

When DH wanted to try SBD, I was totally NOT on board at first :hand: as I had been on "diets" much of my adult life and was "done" with that, but I went along with him since I was going to have to cook the food for him anyway and to give him moral support...I am still amazed at how well it works and how EASY it is!! We eat better than we ever ate before. 

Sorry I went long but there is a lot of info in the book and I'm trying to summarize!

HTH!


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## Candace (Jan 14, 2008)

This was great, thanks! I think I want to find out more about this system.


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## fitwind (Aug 27, 2005)

I have heard that SBD is suppose to be the best diet. They did a comparsion of many well known diets and SBD came out as number #1 for weight loss.
I am trying a diet called the Sacred Heart Diet, I just started I am going to try this then convert over to the SBD. This diet has me eating alot of vegetables and fruits. I also get a couple of days of steaks. I think this diet will cleanse my system and make me alot more healthier. SBD diet will be perfect for me to stay on to maintain my weight and health after I lose some weight.


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