The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss

I received the book with a mark (very small mark) but works perfect for me. I recommend it to everyone, no matter if you want to be on a diet or not.

Clearly the guy that wrote about exercising being the only method of losing weight as never tried this book. Its not a diet, but a complete life style change. I have only been on it for a week so I am still in the strict phase, but I have already lost 6 pounds. I feel better about myself and I have more energy. If you are serious about getting healthy, I highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed.

In brief, the South Beach Diet was originally developed by a Cardiologist (DR. Agatson) in conjunction with a Nutritionist as a diet to recommend to his patients who needed a diet to help alleviate their heart problems. It proved successful for many of its target audience. It's a low carbohydrate diet that differentiates between "good" carbs and "bad" ones. Simplistically speaking, good ones are found in vegetables, some grains, etc., while those that we can categorize as "bad" are most often found in flour based products (bread, cereals, cakes, etc.) and in starchy foods such as potatoes and rice. The diet itself is broken into three phases which I like to compare to the gears in a car: Phase one, the two week phase, is comparable to first gear. It gets you off to a start from a stndstill, and lasts for about two weeks. It is the most restrictive phase, and the average dieter loses around ten to twelve pounds during this start-up phase. Phase two, like second gear in a car, is used to get you up to full speed in automobile terms, or down to your desired weight in diet terms. It is less restrictive than the first phase, and lasts, as I mentioned, until you are up to speed, or in dieting terms, down to goal weight. Phase three is sort of like cruise control. You use cruise control to maintain a steady speed on the open road, and you use the even less restrictive diet in this phase to maintain your weight loss. Yes, as mentioned in other reviews there are daily meal plans for each phase, and some of the foods are expensive and some of the recipes are complicated. I personally looked at these meal plans as guidelines to be followed, not as absolute requirements. I stay away from all the forbidden foods, eat a few more of the foods I really like, particularly salads, and avoid those too complex menus, etc, and it works out very well. A little personal background, I am diabetic, have hypertension, and was considerably overweight. I am also not young and not particularly prone to exercise other than taking daily (or almost daily) brisk walks a half an hour or so in duration. Last May (2004) some routine blood work indicated that my cholesterol was out of whack, and my physician said I really needed to lose weight. He thought weight loss might handle the cholesterol problems without my taking additional medication. After some discussion, we, together, decided that the South Beach diet was probably the best approach for me. I got the book, read it, and started on the diet. In the first two weeks I lost the ten pounds that are expected. Over the next four months I lost an additional forty pounds for a total of fifty. I have maintained this weight loss easily by avoiding those foods that are "no-nos," and I never go hungry or feeling unsatisfied. Additional benefits are that controlling my diabetes now requires less medication, and my blood pressure has dropped considerably. This is the only diet plan I have ever tried with

I purchased this book right before the new year. I had just seen the picture of the bride's maid's dress I was going to have to wear in front of 400 people in a matter of months. It took only a few minutes to read the narrative portion. I then took the thorough listing of foods that were good carbs/good fats and made a grocery list. Between December 27th and May 8th (the wedding day), I lost 30 pounds, dropped 4 pants sizes, and feel healthier than ever! I did not follow a meal plan and rarely used recipes. I just ate the foods that were allowed and didn't eat the ones that weren't. I highly reccommend this book!

I just picked this up at our local Wal Mart. As the title indicates, this offers you a guide to the best foods that are low carb in nature and good fats which are typically so lacking in most diet programs.I love the South Beach Diet. Having been on and off Atkins too, the benefit of South Beach is more carbs and less fat. Protein is about the same. I have more energy with South Beach than with Atkins although sometimes to break a plateu, I will go back on Atkins.I highly recommend this books along with the South Beach Diet book to help you reach your weight loss goals.