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Overview

The South Beach Diet was written by Dr. Arthur Agatston is a cardiologist from Miami Florida. The premise is that processed carbs make you fat, and cutting them out of your diet will make you thin. Agatston recommends a diet high in lean protein along with plenty of green vegetables, nuts, and modest amount of legumes. At first glance this diet might seem strikingly similar to the Atkins diet, however it has a few noted differences, which make it much more doable. First and foremost he does not advocate a diet high in saturated fat, and encourages eating only lean protein. The fats he does recommend are monounsaturated fats that can be found in olive oil and salmon. Also he recommends plenty of vegetables and a moderate amount of fruits and legumes later in the diet, with the occasional piece of whole grain bread allowed. South Beach Diet now offers an online program that provides personalized support, along with an interactive community and plenty of virtual tools.

Pros

Quick Weight Loss If you have the willpower to stick with it you can lose a ton of weight on this diet, and in a fast amount of time. It’s not uncommon for people to lose 20 or more lbs on this diet in the first month.

Cons

Hard to maintain: Though the diet is far less restrictive then Atkins, it still may prove too tough for some to maintain over a lifetime.

Bottom Line

The South Beach Diet really does work when it comes to taking the weight off. The question is, can it be sustained over a lifetime? For some yes, for others….not so much. When it comes to low carb diets, this is the best option out there.

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About the Author

Trusted Diet Reviews is a free, easy-to-use diet review site that evaluates over 100 of the most popular diet and weight-loss programs on the market today.

Dr. Anita Bhandia speaks about what you can do to lower your triglycerides levels. This presentation is in Hindi and the slides are in English. This was created for the South Asian Wellness site, www.pamf.org for the South Asian Community.

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The South Beach Diet is considered to be a healthy diet, which is concerned on the right carbohydrates and the right fats for a healthy body. As such, many people were drawn to it believing that the South Beach Diet is really the best diet for them.

However, out of this good reputation that the South Beach Diet maintained, still there are some attacks and bad comments about the diet. Well, we don’t need to be surprised about this, for this is how the world is set.

What then is the importance of the principle of “yin and yang” if there is only one side for everything? There could be biases, prejudices, and imbalances, right?

So, even though there is really no noted “big” South Beach Diet danger, still there are certain resources which hold that the South Beach Diet danger surface when the improper application of the diet is made.
Lack of Information and Understanding

Numerous resources have noted that part of the South Beach Diet is the lack of information or understanding about the diet. From the word “lack” alone, a sort of South Beach Diet danger is then viewed.

According to many studies, the South Beach Diet danger surfaced for the reason that the South Beach Diet is very demanding for those that are accustomed to carbohydrate-rich diets.
Lapsing Into the Old Eating Habits

In line with such view for the South Beach Diet danger, it is also noted that one of the largest South Beach Diet dangers surface when there is a lapsing into the old eating habits.

This was considered to be a South Beach Diet danger for the reason that this lapsing will result in speedy weight gain. Along with that, this part of the South Beach Diet danger may then be a new way of life.
Lack of Willpower

In relation to such fact, another support states that a great South Beach Diet danger will also surface when there is a lack of willpower exerted for the diet, especially from the carbohydrates lovers.

In fact, it is a common view that there is always the South Beach Diet danger of lapsing back into old eating habits and increasing the carbohydrate consumption without even realizing it.
Steps To Overcome These South Beach Diet Dangers

So to battle this one of the common South Beach Diet dangers, Dr. Arthur Agatston himself recommends that the dieters who do lapse and end up on placing some of the weight back on should then be immediately switch back to the first phase of the South Beach Diet for a short while.

This recommendation is given not only to battle such South Beach Diet danger but also to prevent from the occurrence of several South Beach Diet dangers. It is also interesting to know that if this South Beach Diet danger is not prevented earlier, this will lead to an excess in weight gain.

With such mentioned possible South Beach Diet dangers, the South Beach Diet then received mixed reviews from most dieters. Despite the South Beach Diet dangers, many people still consider the South Beach Diet as an updated version of the Atkins diet that is a far more balanced diet.

Only one thing that this diet plan does do is really to educate the dieters in eating the correct food to reduce heart disease, high cholesterol levels, and other South Beach Diet dangers.

As a practicing cardiologist Dr Arthur Agatson was getting more and more frustrated when his patients failed to lose weight. They were faithfully following the standard, low-fat American Heart Association diet on his advice, with no results. He noticed that, not only didn’t they lose weight, but their blood chemistry did not improve. The results he was looking for was an increase in HDL (good cholesterol) and a decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol). Eventually, he developed a new diet specifically for his patients, which later became the basis for his best seller book, The South Beach Diet, which was first published in April 2003. The South Beach Diet was on the New York Times best seller list for more than 96 consecutive weeks, and in excess of 8.5 million copies have been printed. The book was listed as #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list for 38 weeks.

Like many other so-called “low carb” diets, the South Beach Diet assumes that many of us are addicted to carbohydrate-rich foods. The South Beach Diet is very similar to the Atkins Diet. They are so similar that many people believe the South Beach Diet is just a revised version of the Atkins Diet. The first phases for both diets are designed to get rid of the body’s addition to carbohydrates. Where the Atkins Diet has four phases, the South Beach Diet only has three, with a single phase replacing the second and third phases of Atkins. The last phases of both diets, again, are very similar. Since greater variety of foods are introduced earlier on in the South Beach Diet Plan, dieters tend to lose weight at a slightly slower pace than those on Atkins, but many find the South Beach Diet easier to follow because it is less restrictive.

This diet focuses heavily on balancing the blood sugar levels, and as such, the Glycemic Index plays a very important role in this diet. The Glycemic Index is a ranking system for carbohydrates based on their effect on blood sugar. On the South Beach Diet, carbohydrates are selected using the Glycemic Index tables; the lower the ranking the better. This also leads us to one of the South Beach Diet’s major differences from the Atkins diet. The South Beach Diet allows most carbohydrates (preferably only those high in fiber, like multi-grain bread and wild rice), while these products are typically just too high in carbohydrates for an Atkins follower, even on the maintenance phase.

Another area where the approaches of Atkins and Agatston differ quite drastically is on the healthy intake of fats. Atkins followers are encouraged to ingest saturated and monounsaturated fats in the first phase, and then gradually reduce the saturated fat content of meals during later phases as more carbohydrates are introduced. Dr. Agatston advocates mostly monounsaturated fats, like those found in olive oil, nuts and oily fish like salmon, throughout his diet. You will not find butter, bacon or anything fried in the South Beach meal plans, whereas they are positively encouraged during the first Atkins phases.

One of the benefits of the South Beach Diet over many of its competitors is that Kraft Foods entered into an alliance with Dr Agatston. Together they launched a whole range of South Beach Diet convenience products, which covers breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and even snacks. Examples of the convenience food on offer include breakfast cereal, meal replacement bars, frozen pizzas and frozen entrees. Dr Agatston once stated “My goal is to help change the way America eats, and these great-tasting, nutrient-rich products from Kraft are convenient, making it easier for people to follow The South Beach Diet – whether for a healthy lifestyle or weight loss.”

As with many of the other popular diet books on the market, it is very difficult to find specific scientific proof for the South Beach Diet. Some aspects of the diet may have been scientifically studied and reviewed, for example the benefits of monounsaturated fats, or the benefits of regulating your blood sugar. In general though, it is safe to say that the South Beach Diet is based on sound principles, and can offer you a well-balanced and sustainable way of life.

The South Beach Diet is well known for being followed by many celebrities and is frequently linked to other low-carb diets, most of which have received considerable bad press.

It is important whilst following the South Beach Diet that you follow the basic rules of the program to ensure that you lose weight and maintain good health. Most importantly, if you want to achieve success, you must make sure you consume the right types and amounts of carbohydrates and fats.

Celebrity Diets that work like The South Beach diet have been shown to lower cholesterol levels and some claims have even been made that the diet can also reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

One of the side effects of dieting is often the development of food cravings. However, followers have said that eating this way eliminates food cravings because you don’t feel hungry while on the South Beach Diet.

Losing weight whilst adhering to any weight loss program takes quite a bit of motivation and determination and the South Beach Diet is no different. Make sure you commence the diet with a positive mental attitude and you will get you off to a good start.

As well as losing weight, learning to eat healthily on the South Beach Diet plan and discovering which are the good carbs and fats, will help you to care for your heart too.

The Diet Plan is not a low-fat, low carb diet like so many of the other high profile diet fads and whilst on the South Beach Diet you will discover that not all carbohydrates and fats are bad for you.

Learning how to eat the right sort of carbohydrates and fats is key to making this program work for you. Eating the right proportion of “good” carbohydrates and fats will take some getting used to but will quickly become second nature.

Weight loss is often rapid in the first two weeks of following the South Beach Diet program and you can expect weight loss of up to 13lbs. However, things soon start to slow down and you must remember this is entirely normal and not start to worry that you are doing it wrong.

Realistically, it is possible to achieve long-term weight loss as opposed to just losing weight in the short term when you stick with this special eating plan.

Celebrity Diet Secrets like the South Beach Diet, when correctly followed, is highly effective at ridding your body of excess weight whilst also keeping you healthy and improving your well-being.

Although it is similar to the Atkins diet in that it works in stages, the South Beach Diet program could really be said to be a lifestyle rather than an actual diet. By following the plan, you will eat three meals and two additional each day, taken from the flexible meal planner that comes with the program.

To help you achieve your weight loss goal whilst on the diet program you should first write down how much weight you would like to lose. The written goal should then be placed somewhere highly visible so that it can act as a constant reminder of why you are on the diet.

To avoid temptation, rid your home of any forbidden foods before starting the South Beach Diet to help you stick to the plan.

Drinking lots of water serves two purposes whilst on most diets. Firstly, it will help you to feel fuller and secondly, it will help to flush any toxins in your body that may be released as a result of following the diet plan.

It is important, regardless of whether you are following a diet program, that you make the time to fit exercise into your schedule. Regular exercise, as well as improving your fitness levels, will help to speed up your weight loss.

It’s hard to stay motivated all the time and you may occasionally slip up when on the diet. If this happens, don’t be tempted to give up. The South Beach Diet works so simply pick up where you left off and you’ll soon start to see the weight dropping off once more.

Some celebrities on the South Beach Diet program include people like Bill and Hillary Clinton and Bette Midler.