If you want it, commercial intrests will provide it,
vegetarians can now go low carb
:
South Beach Diet attracting vegetarians By CORALIE
CARLSON, Associated Press (Published June 16' 2004) MIAMI
BEACH, Fla. (AP) - The South Beach Diet is known for
producing svelte bikini-clad bodies on its namesake
sands, but now the diet's promise to melt away belly fat
is drawing an unlikely group into the low-carb craze:
vegetarians.
For years low-carb and vegetarian diets have been on
opposite ends of the eating spectrum - when an Atkins
dieter orders a bunless burger, a vegetarian orders a
burgerless bun.
But Dr. Arthur Agatston, a Miami Beach cardiologist who
created the South Beach Diet, said he developed a
vegetarian version of his plan long before it became a
best-selling book and diet to the stars.
Now about 4,000 vegetarians use his diet's Web site,
which offers meatless meal plans and recipes. Vegetarian
Times magazine featured the diet in its January edition.
And vegetarians inundate Agatston with calls when he
appears on radio and talk shows.
"I have been surprised that so many vegetarians have
called," he said.
He isn't the only one.
"I get, 'What do you mean? Isn't that low-carb? How do
you do low-carb and be a vegetarian?'" said Deborah
Pavek, a 42-year-old vegetarian in Salt Lake City who
lost 13 pounds after nearly two months on the diet.
David Patlak, a 6-foot-5 retired Coast Guard officer,
said he has kept off 50 pounds on Agatston's plan. The
Floridian lives mostly a vegetarian lifestyle but can't
help indulging occasionally on South Beach's famous
stone crabs.
A family history of obesity and a weakness for sugar had
contributed to his previous weight of 300 pounds.
"We were just eating sugar," he said of him and his wife,
Maryanne. "Whether it was in root vegetables, whether it
was in vegan chocolate, or it was in vegan desserts."
Part of the allure of the South Beach Diet is that it
allows more carbs - followers call it modified-carb, not
low-carb - than some other diets.
"I haven't done Atkins because I don't eat meat and
there's no way I could eat all that tofu," said Jann
Marks, 45, of the Chicago suburb of Darien. But she's
lost 15 pounds on the South Beach Diet and is "not eating
a ton of tofu."
So what does a South Beach vegetarian eat?
Lots of vegetables, beans, legumes and soy products.
Fruit and whole-grain foods - like whole-wheat pasta and
old-fashioned oatmeal - are allowed in moderation in the
second and third phases of the diet.
If the vegetarian eats eggs and dairy products, those are
allowed too
- as long as dairy is low-fat.
The first phase of the three-phase diet is the most
restrictive, cutting out all fruit, bread, pasta, rice,
potatoes and baked goods. It lasts for two weeks and
promises eight to 13 pounds of weight loss.
Vegetarians might not see a dramatic weight loss in
the first phase, said South Beach dietitian Marie
Almon, because they are eating more carbohydrates than
meat eaters.
In the next two phases, more fruit and other carbs are
reintroduced.
Dawn Jackson, a dietitian and spokeswoman for the
American Dietetic Association, said the South Beach Diet
is generally healthy - even for vegetarians - because it
helps people make better food choices.
But she suggests most vegetarians could just "take their
current diet and just make modifications to it."
Vegetarians might be turning toward the popular diet
because, like other Americans, many are getting fatter.
"It is more in the era of processed carbs that people say
they're a vegetarian and they're still overweight,"
Agatston said.
"Ice cream is vegetarian," notes Lynne Forti, 41, of
Middleboro, Mass., who dropped 10 pounds in two months on
the South Beach Diet. "There's a lot of things that are
vegetarian that aren't necessarily good for you."
The 48-year-old Patlak says he's replaced root vegetables
with green leafy ones and the vegan deserts with a
homemade yogurt-based pudding.
He's gained so much confidence and motivation from the
weight loss he's made other changes in his life -
including running for Congress.