Cleaning Out Your Cupboards

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Cleaning Out Your Cupboards

The following Daily Dish is part of a series on starting The South Beach DietT.

Congratulations on your decision to make changes to your lifestyle and improve

your health in the New Year! The first step is to rid your kitchen of some

unhealthy items. Having these foods around, even if you don't plan to eat them,

can be a source of unnecessary temptation. If it's unrealistic to completely

clean out your cupboards, you can, at the very least, devote a shelf to the

foods that you will be eating and cooking with as you follow The South Beach

DietT lifestyle. Once your family sees all of the delicious foods you're able to

enjoy while losing weight and improving your health, they may be inspired to

help you clean out the rest of the pantry, too!

During Phase 1 of The South Beach DietT - the first two weeks of this

weight-healthy eating plan - you'll enjoy completely normal, satisfying portions

of nuts, reduced-fat cheese, lean meats, beans, low-fat dairy, and veggies. But

that's not all! You'll also enjoy sweet treats and desserts daily! And we

encourage you to eat two snacks every day. (Remember, this program isn't about

deprivation. It's about learning to make weight-healthy food choices.) You won't

eat any bread, pasta, rice, or the like, because eliminating these foods allows

you to gain control over cravings, which will help keep you from overeating.

You'll be surprised how quickly the first two weeks will pass by - and how your

cravings for refined carbs (like white pasta, pastries, and white bread) will

virtually disappear by the end of this period.

To help you get started, we've created this cheat sheet - a list of foods that

should be eliminated for Phase 1 of The South Beach DietT. Many of these foods

can be reintroduced once you enter Phase 2. In these cases, we recommend storing

them for later use.

a.. Foods made with any type of flour, including breads, cakes, crackers,

cookies, pastries, and waffles. (Items made with whole-wheat flour that contain

at least 3 grams of dietary fiber can be stored and added back in Phase 2.)

b.. All fruit juices, sodas, and other drinks containing sugar, fructose, and

corn syrup. Stock up on sugar-free sodas, drink mixes, and seltzer water

(including flavored varieties; but be careful, some of these are flavored with

high-fructose juice), as well as tomato juice and vegetable juice cocktail. As

for alcoholic beverages, put them aside for Phase 2. Then feel free to enjoy one

or two glasses of wine, vodka, gin, whisky, scotch, bourbon, tequila, or rum a

day (with a meal, which helps to slow the absorption of alcohol). When you do

reintroduce alcohol in Phase 2, make certain that any mixers you use are

sugar-free.

c.. All cereals, including ones that are high in fiber and have no added

sugar. Once you enter Phase 2, you can enjoy cold whole-grain cereals that have

8 or less grams of sugar and are on the upper end of the " good " fiber range.

(Cereals in the good fiber range have 3 to 4.9 grams of fiber per serving.)

d.. Condiments with added sugar (such as ketchup, tomato sauce, and barbecue

sauce).

e.. Commercial salad dressings, unless they contain 3 grams of sugar or less

per 2 tablespoons. The best dressing choices contain canola or extra-virgin

olive oil.

f.. Whole milk, plus yogurt made with whole milk. To meet the recommended two

servings of low-fat dairy per day, stock up on low-fat or nonfat plain yogurt,

fat-free or low-fat cheeses, and 1 percent or nonfat milk. Soy milk is also a

good choice: Look for low-fat plain, vanilla, or sucralose-containing flavored

varieties with 4 grams of fat or less per 8-ounce serving.

g.. Fruit. Once you transition to Phase 2, you can stock up on high-fiber

fruits.

h.. Processed meats like bologna and honey-cured ham, and fatty cuts of meat

like bacon (except turkey bacon), brisket, liver, rib steaks, and dark-meat

poultry.

i.. All pasta and rice, including whole-wheat pasta and brown rice (which you

can store and add back starting in Phase 2).

j.. Butter, vegetable shortening, and lard. Keep trans-fat-free margarine,

extra-virgin olive oil, and canola oil.

k.. All packaged snack foods (chips, pretzels, and popcorn).

l.. White sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, and corn syrup.

m.. Potatoes, corn, carrots, beets, and yams. (You can reintroduce carrots and

yams, as well as limited amounts of beets and corn, in Phase 2.)

Once your cupboards are reorganized, you're all ready to start your healthy new

lifestyle on the Beach!