The South Beach Diet: Reviewed

The South Beach Diet and Finally Losing Weight

The South Beach Diet became incredibly successful after the diet book by almost the same name was put to print, released and snowballed with rapid speed in neighborhood niches as dieting success ‘before’s and after’s’ were quietly discussed and fanatically talked about. The book, in question, The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss. I’d however suggest buying the South Beach Diet book used since, because of how popular the diet book became (second best selling diet book in the United States within the last ten years – as of the year 2006) there have been massive printings, which has resulted in new and used copies for less than a buck, including hardcover versions.

The doctor now famous and behind the book is a cardiologist from as you might suspect, Florida, (as in ‘South Beach’) named Arthur Agatston. He created the diet plan after creating a dietary routine and meal plan for his patients out of necessity, not able to find something that lived up to his demanding expectations and emphasized “good carbs” and “good fats”. Commonly confused with the Atkins Diet, a completely different monster that pushes the philosophy of a low carbohydrate (low carb) diet, The South Beach Diet instead encourages cutting out the bad carbs and bad fats, while replacing each with good carbs and good fats.

Good carbs are explained as (according to Doctor Arthur Agatston) being high in fiber or good fat, and have a low glycemic index, which basically means those types of foods are digested and absorbed at a much slower rate in your body. Also recommended is adding more fiber or good fat whenever good carbs are consumed in order to retard the digestion of the carbohydrates. Good fats are defined as poly-unsaturated or monounsaturated fats, while the bad fats being saturated fats or trans fat.

The South Beach Diet is not meant to be a short term dieting solution. It is not a one week or one month solution to melt away pounds to be able to fit into a new summer bikini. It was made for the long haul.