Cycling on South Beach?

[SadieKate]

Phase 1 is the difficult part. I can't remember how long it lasted.

As you work into Phases 2 and 3, I think you'll discover it's how we should all eat anyway.

My schedule is a typical M-F workweek with Sat and Sun off. I found the afterwork non-high intensity rides under an hour were just fine during Phase 1, but to cope with long rides on the weekends I had to "carbo load" starting with Friday lunch and then go back to strict Phase 1 with Sunday lunch. My glycogen stores couldn't cope with the super strict part of Phase 1 for anything of extended duration. As long as I followed this regimen, I was OK. I did NOT try to change my exercise level or train with any added intensity during Phase 1.

Unfortunately, I don't know how that regimen would affect your insulin. Basically, South Beach focuses on lean protein and complex carbos, getting rid of processed foods and simple sugars.

[moonfroggy]

i know nothing about the south beach diet but when i was having some insulin issues and was worried i might become diabetic i started following the nutritional advice in a book called eat to live by dr furhman and it really changed my life. it is a way of eating where you eat a LOT of really healthy food but it is low calorie very nutrition food it is about nutrient density and he has good advice for people who exercise a lot. dr furhman was an Olympic figure skater at one point so he takes stuff like exercise into account.

[zoom-zoom]

South Beach is good. I lost a ton of weight on Atkins and South Beach is similar, only with more low-glycemic whole grains. It's kind of like Atkins maintenance phase.

I have had a heck of a time losing my last 20#s...I started running to lose weight, but running makes me ravenous and the carby stuff that helps the run makes me want to eat everything in sight. I have thought a lot recently about making a conscious effort to eat more South Beach-like. I think the whole grains and quality food would be far better for all of us than the overly processed garbage that is so prevalent in most of our diets.

[KnottedYet]

Just wanted to throw into the mix that the maintenance level of the South Beach diet (not necessarily the 2 week prep part) is also very good for hypoglycemics. (I'm hypo and have been for decades, with diabetes in my family... I gotta watch my p's and q's)

I eat the "good" diet and fuel carefully with complex goodies before a ride, but use somewhat simpler carbs during rides (fast in, fast out) with wild abandon. Mind you, I'm doing Clif Shot Blox which are fairly complex in the carb universe.

My nutritionist saw no problems at all with this approach. Ask your doc or nutritionist for guidance. Those folks are awesome!