I am confused about the rules for legumes on south beach phase 1 and 2.
I have a phase 1 food list that includes beans/ legumes in the vegetable list. It does not indicate limiting them. I also have the revised May 2008 list from this sight that lists beans/legumes in a seperate category and indicates starting with 1/3 to 1/2 cup.

Before seeing this revised list, it seemed to me that it couldn't be right that your 2 cups of veggies at lunch/dinner could be all (i.e garbanzo beans) but I find it pretty unclear.

Could someone clarify? Thanks

Legumes don't count toward your veggies. I believe the suggested quantity is both a serving size recommendation and because not everyone is used to eating that much fiber. One more thing - if you are buying canned beans make sure to check for sneaky sugar. Some brands include added sugar and you don't want those!

It does say to start with 1/3 to 1/2 c. of beans/legumes but what does that mean?? Can you have more and if so, how much?

Curiously, the amount of beans/legumes is the same for both the basic plan and the vegetarian plan. And if you compare the two plans, the vegetarian one appears to be much lower in calories/fats (but probably higher in carbs). I like it though as it seems to be more whole foods w/o artificial sweeteners. I guess I should run both menus thru FitDay and see how the stats really add up.

As Cyndi said it is a suggested starting point due to issues with digestion and gas. If your not used to eating beans and you eat a whole cup of them, you may pay for it later. I don't have a problem with them but was worried about the calories at first, so I used 1/2 cup servings. Now I eat a cup at a time fairly frequently.

I also often eat 3/4 c beans at meals, usually a couple of meals, with no trouble.

This was a duplicate post but here's my response.