The South Beach diet by Arthur Agatston is about the book called The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss.

The South Beach diet was first created for Agatston’s overweight heart patients needing weight loss and soon became well know throughout the United States. The book wasn’t out untel April 2003 and has been a hot buyer at the diet and book stores.

So What Is The South Beach Diet?

The South Beach diet is not a low-carb or low-fat diet but instead a diet that teaches you to change the balance of food you eat to emphasize health and weight-loss!

Dr. Agatston’s weight loss advice focuses on a healthy balance between good proteins, carbs and fats. Highly processed foods like baked goods and soft drinks are not to be eaten. Dr. Agatston even says decreasing the bad carbs will help you metabolize what you eat more effectively and will also improve insulin resistance, leading to weight loss.

The South Beach diet is based on the Glycemic Index.

Dr. Agatston says you will become accustomed to eating the good carbs and fats and leaving the bad ones behind. He says by doing so you can lose anywhere between 8 and 13 pounds in the first two weeks.

The South Beach diet is broken down into three phases that allows different types of foods as with meal plans and recipes each phase. Even though the South Beach diet and the Atkins diet might seem similar, the only thing they have in common is the first two weeks of strick dieting.

1 Phase - Start losing weight

Whether you’re shedding a few vanity pounds or working on a major weight-loss goal, this is the realistic and delicious way to start losing your extra pounds.

In the first phase you cannot eat fruit, rice, breads, potatoes, pasta, sugar, alcohol, and baked goods in these two weeks of the diet. Many people will stay on the first phase is they want to lose weight faster but this phase should not be permanent.

Some good foods to eat in the first phase is meat, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, and shellfish. some more good foods are vegtables, cheese, nuts, and salad veggies.

Your responsibility on the South Beach diet is to eat untel you are satisfied. So you can see this diet is not that hard and the cravings will decrease very quickly.

The South Beach Diet™ will also help you banish cravings and avoid the sensation that you need more food. You’ll be urged to have snacks twice a day. You can have dessert after dinner. You can drink diet soda. You can even eat out!

The principle requiring the stringent Phase 1 is that by following the specified plan, you can correct the way your body reacts to food. By the time begin to add some of the forbidden foods back into your diet, your body has had a chance to adjust.

Conclusion of first phase: The first phase will last for weeks to give your body a jumpstart to weight loss.

2 Phase - Reach your goals

Now in phase two the dieter is able to start eating certain types of foods but only a couple selections are avaliable for the choosing. You can not include all the types of food back into your diet but some are ok.

The key with this phase is to re-introduce these foods in moderation and sticking to eating healthy protein, carbs, and fats.

What you’ll eat now: Now that you have rebalanced your diet and body, you’ll be able to bring back a number of foods. You’ll still be on a diet, but if it’s bread you love, you’ll have bread again. You’ll bring pasta, rice, cereal, and potatoes. You’ll bring back fruits, wine, and even chocolate. The South Beach Diet will teach you exactly which carbs are good and which are bad. You’ll make the smart-carbs a part of your everyday meals!

Conclusion of second phase: You will stay on the second phase untel you reach your desired weight and goals.

3 Phase - A diet for life

Now into the final and third phase of the diet that is less restrictive while haveing Agatston saying “as long as you continue follow some basic guidelines, the diet has become your way of life and you’ll continue to maintain your weight.”

The final change: Not only will you maintain your weight, but you’ll be eating right. The foods that the South Beach Diet™ emphasizes are almost universally considered healthy eating choices. Your diet will be rich in minerals and vitamins. You’ll eat healthy fats like olive oil and omega-3 oils from fish. You’ll eat whole grains, smart-carbs, chocolate, wine, and more. You’ll eat well, look good, and maintain your ideal weight life-long!

Conclusion of third phase: Maintain your ideal weight and goals for long-term and even for life.

Experts Opinion of the South Beach Diet

I believe it is one of the best diets ever created with teaching the basics of eating healthy proteins, carbs, and fats in moderation. Other fitness professionals and nutritionist believe the focus on the glycemic index is great but don’t believe all the high glycemic foods should be elimanated from the diet.

Experts are also worried about that amount of weigh loss you will achieve as they only recommend 1 to 2 pounds a week. By cutting out all the carbs in the first phase is not recommended as it leads to calorie constriction but I myself don’t see any problem as it has been showed that times of eating healthy and less than normal are good for our bodies.

Spot reduction is impossible and that is a fault the South Beach diet has but while sticting to this diet your waist line will go down.

South Beach Diet Drawback

Have a great day and God bless!