Hello Everyone,

I am giving SB a try. I was previously successful on Atkins, but fell of the wagon and gained it back. Recently, I tried Atkins again, but was having a hard time staying focused. So, I'm starting SB today. I have bought everything I need to begin. But, I'm confused about which cheese is allowed. The book says to get rid of full fat cheese and buy 2% or 1%, but the food list shows that cheese with 6gm of fat per ounce or less is allowed. I still have lots of full fat American cheese left over from Atkins that has 6gm of fat per slice.

I'm also confused about dairy vs cheese. Am I allowed 2 servings of dairy (yogurt, milk), and cheese? The book has them in 2 seperate categories.

I am also new to south beach (day 3 phase 1) I am really loving it so far. As far as the cheese goes I am following the 6g fat or less rule more than always lowfat rule. I just bought some regular feta with 5 g fat per serving even though there was a lowfat option with less. I guess it depends on your preference and if you can lose weight or not while keeping some regular stuff. Coming from atkins though I would assume your tastebuds are accustomed to higherfat dairy (like me) and the lowfat might taste weird. My take would be that a cheese with 6 g fat is okay but 7g would not be cause if you allow 7 then you will go for 8 next time and then you would not really be doing south beach anymore.

I'm thinking you should ditch the full fat cheese and go for the reduced fat....at least for now and until you get into a groove. The reduced fat may definitely taste a bit strange...that's for sure. But you'll get used to it...I seem to like the reduced fat cheeses that are not "American"...like maybe provolone or mozzarella.

As far as the dairy - I'm not too sure???

Welcome to the beach.....

Welcome!!
I'd eat up the FF american cheese you have in your fridge slowly, and when you need more, then buy reduced fat. I hate wasting food.
As for the dairy and cheese thing being confusing, you're right, it is.
I happen to think that they made an error in telling us that cheese can be eaten as an unlimited protein. So what I did a few years ago when I was losing my weight, is begin to count hard and all other cheeses in with my dairy daily totals of 2 cups...and keep my hard cheese intake to about 1-2 ozs daily.
I think that 2 cups of dairy daily is a good amount to play around with.

Thanks for your help.

I normally use just a little of the reduced fat shredded cheese on salads or in recipes and have had no issues doing this. Sometimes, I will also have gargonzola cheese in a broccoli salad.

However, I am not in full agreement with Dr. Agaston on fat. I believe saturated fat or full fat in moderation is good nutrition but I am very judicious in how I choose to use them because of the calories. I always look at the calorie count and if it isn't significant, I will use the full fat product just in a smaller amount. The additives in some of those fake cheese products scare me away.

Not trying to confuse you with my opinion Roadshow. After thinking about it more, I'd do what Judy and GMMD suggests and do it by the book.

I am using several methods at once, not just South Beach, to try to lose a small amount of weight (like intermittent fasting and HIIT workouts etc.) I have cut out the cheese and dairy to such a small amount daily and that's one reason I made the decision I did to eat the real stuff when I wanted it. I say this now because it is hard to tell when you do as many things as I am doing which method is actually causing my weight loss.

Like you though, I was previously successful on Atkin's and found it impossible to like some of the fat free or modified cheese products. If I were only trying one thing to change my weight or reduce my bodyfat, then I'd stick to my plan of choice as written.

I have a different situation than some in that I also have a thyroid issue so had to add in carbs (my system became sluggish on Atkin's and I was consuming too many calories also.)

It takes a while to figure out what works for you and what you can really live with. If you like the lighter versions of these foods, go for SB as written. If you hate them, then maybe consider teeny tiny portions like I did.

Well, technically the full fate cheese I have falls within the guidelines of the SB diet. I am going to attempt to try the 2% after it's gone.

Yeah I am only eating full fat cheese that falls under 6g fat or less per serving too. That is what the book says so I go with it.

In my opinion, I have tried to eat some of the fat free dairy products and I just didn't like them at all....actually, yuk!!
I do use reduced fat( 50%reduced) cheddar cheese blocks as I don't taste much difference. Same with sour cream, reduced fat is fine but fat free is yuk to me. I find that mozzerella from skim is good enough.
I, however can't tolerate the taste of reduced fat cottage cheese, blech! So I do eat full fat when I do eat it which isn't every day.

I think that a max. 6 grams of total fat is a generous amount to use as a guideline.
The thing is that when we eat a bit higher level of carbs, as SBD is a bit higher but not high by any means, our total calories have to be reduced and cutting them out of sat. fat calories is the way we on SB, make this happen.

On Atkins, when you actually follow all the phases and raise your carb levels as you approach your goal weight, its important to reduce the total fat calories to compensate for this. You can't eat high fat and raise your carb levels at the same time without seeing gain.

True what Judy wrote about Atkin's and that is probably why so many people quit losing on it. They don't cycle through the program properly.

Only 4 days in, but I feel pretty good. I have to find some good easy vegetable ideas though. 4 1/2 cups a day is a lot more than I'm used to. I do like vegetables, but I prefer meat.

What do you mean by "good easy vegetables"?
In my mind, its about which ones you enjoy to eat.
I don't obsess about if I get up to the 4 1/2 cup per day, but I do eat a lot of veggies naturally though.
I made a pot of chili the other day and used many different veggies(onion, celery, peppers, mushrooms, carrots and zucchini) in it along with lean grd beef. When I used it inside an omlete, I knew I had my veggies inside.

Last night I roasted brussle sprouts, broccoli and a few mushrooms to have with lemon sole filet. it was about 2 1/2 cup of veggies.
We can have veggies(celery, tomato and cucumber) with our snacks too, to use to dip into hummus.
Veggie soups count also.

I agree....Really the ONLY fat free dairy product I like is the Greek Yogurt. I hate FF cheese, cream cheese, etc. Reduced fat is tolerable - just not fat free. Blech!!

Quck and easy to prepare