Mark me down as another who found SB due to my nurse/practitioner recommending it.
I am doing a SB/WW hybrid. Basically tracking the points of my foods off the SB list. I really don't discuss it as I don't want to hear all the arguments for/against this plan or another.
Nessa-I thought I was the only one who thought of some people as "diet ****s." I've used low carb pasta and gotten read the riot act for it. Now I just ignore the naysayers and do what works for me.

It simply amazes me the sheer number of Americans who feel this way. My husband (who is otherwise supportive of my lifestyle change) is one of them.

However, because I know the futility of trying to force someone else to change, I'm not trying to get him to exercise or change his eating habits. If/when he decides he's ready, he will change.

All I can do is keep supplying our refrigerator with whole foods and keep things sliced and divided up into convenient single serving sizes.

A family friend of DH and I had a heart attack about 1 1/2 yrs ago. Her cardiologist told her to go out and buy the SB book and follow it to the letter. Some people just feel like they need to get on their soap boxes without being completely informed.

I'm doing the same thing with the SB/WW. I need to eat SB because of my PCOS but the WW keeps my portion control in check or I'll eat non-stop.

I read all of your posts before adding my 2 cents worth. I was doing WW Flex Plan prior to this. WW has a long established history and it seems that everyone on the planet (probably the moon too) knows about WW. However, I was allowing myself to eat too many "not-so-good-for-me" foods while following that. It's not WW's fault, it was mine. Having said that initially I actually stumbled onto this forum within 3FC's. I followed it for about a month and I got the book, read it and decided to do a semi-Phase 2 for about 6 weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's before actually doing Phase 1.

I decided to follow South Beach for two reasons

1) health- I had been beginning to show telltale signs of heart disease and diabetes for a couple of years which this food plan specifically addresses---the first of its kind that I am aware of.
2) I read the food list very carefully and it had enough of the foods that I already liked to eat to "convince" me that I could stick with it.

Granted, I did have to re-read the food list over to get some of the nuances like some things are portion-controlled and some are not. However, I would say that I feel better, I have more energy, I look better (some people say younger-bless 'em!) and I am more and more convinced that this is the way for ME.

I have just decided that rather than try to defend South Beach or any other diet/food plan or whatever, I let my actions speak for themselves. My sister has commented about how healthy I eat. This past Sunday she "treated" me to an all you can eat buffet. I've been to better but a piece of pie comes free with the meal so she went ahead and picked one out for me. I had two bites, said I've had better and pushed it away. I thought the look on her face was "priceless". Only because of being on SB was I able to do that without exercising much willpower (something I had in short supply before when I was overloading on processed foods and getting the "carb crazies"). She said to me, boy, you sure eat healthy.

I am really sorry that some of you got entangled in those no-win debates. Again, I agree that the best thing to do is go where you know you are understood and the rest of the world can eat their pie, if that is what they want.

pamatga: I have just decided that rather than try to defend South Beach or any other diet/food plan or whatever, I let my actions speak for themselves.
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I can so relate to this. My food plan is very similar to South Beach or WW Core, with an "exchange" system as a backup for portion control (I can overeat even the best of carb-rich foods) but I generally don't really "call" it anything, especially in the "real" world, because doing so always seems to draw unwelcome commentary.

Either from people telling me how "unhealthy" South Beach is, or telling me how I'm doing South Beach incorrectly. The thing is I never say I am ON South Beach, or Core, because I'm not. They're just the popular plans closest to what I'm doing, so when I'm asked about my food plan, I say "it's sort of LIKE South Beach or Core."

Even if I avoid the terms completely, and say that I'm just trying to eat more whole foods, there can be alot of disagreement over what are and are not whole foods (I once had a twenty minute debate with a friend over canned cream of mushroom soup).

My MIL has decided to "go vegetarian." Now, she means that she is eating far, far less red meat, but who am I to tell her that fish isn't a vegetable.

Seriously though, I think that "what I choose to eat," is a much more accurate (if rather vague) description.

My doc told me to try SB because of my PCOS and just about everyone in my family has turned up their nose at it. they all think that phase 1 is the long term phase. i, too, have decided to just ignore it and move on. i do WW counting too. it helps keep me in check.

I have PCOS too. We have exactly the same reasons for doing it the way we do.

I really thought I was the only one (or at least one of only a few) who needs a portion-control method as a back-up for low carb or low GI plans. Don't get my wrong, whole food/controlled-carb eating really does drastically reduce my appetite and hunger, but I can still overeat if I'm not careful.

It's such a relief to feel a little less freakish.

Nah, I think I'm looking at doing more portion control, myself. I need to pay attention to fruits, grains, and fatty foods a bit more--this is all healthy stuff, but it's very easy for me to have too much of these things for MY body. South Beach has some built-in portion control, but it doesn't seem to really be enough for me. I'm not sure entirely yet, though...I'm still working it out.

You're definitely not the only one who worries about portion control! I remember when I did SB before getting pregnant with my 3 month old.. When I first started, I truly thought I could eat as much as I wanted of whatever I wanted as long as it was on the list. I soon discovered though, that's not quite true haha

My "trick" so to speak is I eat all my veggies first. So if I have a piece of grilled chicken breast, green beans, and broccoli (Phase 1 here!), I eat the green beans, then the broccoli, and then I get a second serving of both of those, and THEN eat the chicken. It has REALLY helped with my portion control. Otherwise, I'm quite likely to eat all the chicken, a bite or two of the veggies, and go off in search of more chicken.