South Beach Diet: the Glycemic Index and other pseudo-science mumbo jumbo

You might remember the big South Beach Diet fad of the mid-2000's. Thrown in the lot with other "low-carb" diets like Atkins, I think a lot of people really abused it as a crash diet or misunderstood what South Beach is all about. I'll try to clarify.



South Beach is not truly a low-carb diet. Yes, for the first phase, you must cut out carbs completely. But hey, you get them back after only a few weeks.

The diet is actually about the "Glycemic Index", a measurement of how a food affects your blood sugar. For example, a potato is about as bad as it gets. With a Glycemic Index of 158, it's going to hit your blood sugar like a slug to your chest ("Pack a vest for your Jimmy in the city of sex"..nothing? Tupac? Common people). What I mean is, you're going to get a sharp blood sugar spike. The downside? That spike is followed by a sharp drop-off, and pretty soon you're tired and hungry again. It simply doesn't stick with you.



You know how it feels. You eat that packet of skittles, and within an hour you're not only coming down off your sugar high, but you're also starving.



A diet rich in simple sugars and "bad" carbohydrates (like those in the evil potato) is going to result in oscillating blood sugar. Up and down, where the ups are periods of high energy followed by deep valleys of lethargy and hunger. Furthermore, your body isn't making use of its reserves of fat. In fact, what with all that excess blood sugar, your body just packs it away. No bueno.



Enter the South Beach Diet. It's all about regulating blood sugar and "teaching" your body to process its food wisely. To do so, we first eat foods with low glycemic indexes. If we choose to eat a food with a higher glycemic index, we pair it with an oil or healthy fat to slow digestion. It's all an effort to prolong the release of that energy and prevent a blood sugar spike.



That's the theory anyway. Is it scientifically accurate? Eh, to a point. There's no way you can convince me that throwing some sour cream on your baked potato will actually make it healthier, because you're slowing its digestion with that dairy fat. But largely it makes sense.



I also know that it works for me. After a few days (at least after the initial blood sugar fall out, more on that later), I feel better and have better, long-lasting energy. The weight loss isn't usually drastic for me - about 5 pounds - but the difference in how I feel is remarkable. Which is just fine. I only want to drop that 5 pounds of pizza and ice cream I packed on during final exams, and mostly want to reclaim that all-day stamina I used to have.