The South Beach Diet Cookbook

You will only be interested in this cookbook if you are a committed follower of The South Beach Diet. If you are an Atkins freak, go elsewhere! I lost 50 pounds on the South Beach Diet. To me, that accomplishment was less impressive than the fact that I couldn't lose weight on any diet before I tried this one. I think I had become insulin resistant, and everything I ate turned to fat . . . even when my calorie count was low. I found the diet appealing for some other reasons. First, I already ate a low fat diet and felt comfortable doing that. So I didn't have to change that part of my healthy eating. In fact, I was also being sure that I got "good" fats like omega-3 fatty acids from eating fish. Second, I could still eat carbs . . . I just had to avoid the ones that turn into instant blood sugar. Third, Dr. Agatston also introduced some new staples into my diet that I enjoy such as low-fat cheese snacks, having a few salty almonds, and eating steaming bowls of old-fashioned oatmeal. Fourth, and here's where the cookbook comes in, he introduced to me the idea of tasty, healthy ingredients I can use to spruce up simple foods. As a result, my cupboard has about twice as many spices as before (I love to put cinnamon on almost everything!) and my refrigerator has lots of new kinds of vegetables and fruits that I stir into all kinds of dishes. Suddenly, the ordinary becomes special and interesting! In this cookbook, Dr. Agatston once again calls on top chefs to show you how to make delicious, healthy dishes. Most recipes have fewer than 10 ingredients, and you probably already have most of them. The preparation and assembly are pretty straightforward. Even I can do these recipes! Each one also comes with nutritional descriptions of calories, saturated fat, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, cholesterol and sodium on a per serving basis. Presentation is at least half of the value of fine food. This cookbook comes with beautiful color photographs of ways to serve the final dish. Your mouth will water with healthy saliva when you get a look at these beauties! This book would make a great birthday or Christmas gift for a friend who is on the South Beach Diet. And it would make an ever better gift for you. Great work, Dr. Agatston!

We've now had over 30 patients in our cardiology practice "road-test" and try many of the recipes in Dr. Agatston's companion volume to his popular South Beach Diet. The response has been overwhelmingly favorable, both in taste as well as in weight loss. The condiment recipes, like South Beach Barbecue Sauce and South Beach Teriyaki sauce, have gotten rave reviews from our patients, as well as some of the unique vegetarian entrees, like tofu cacciatore and baked Portobello caps with melted goat cheese. Dr. Agatston, a professed chocoholic, concludes with 20 recipes for desserts that use some clever substituting to avoid excess sugar, flour, and unhealthy oils. The Cookbook is also a graphically-beautiful book, with full-color photos accompanying many, if not most, of the recipes.

Many of us are SB fans, but needed and sought relief for more recipe variety from other sources. Now Dr. Agatston provides more aid, two-hundred of them.This is worthy collection of "for sure" SB diet met winners for all three phases. Some here are so good, for example in Phase 1 that I continue to make them even now in Phase 3, e.g. Baked Tomatoes with Crab and Smoked Ham Souffle.There are included special dishes created for the SB diet by famous chefs such as "Joe's Stone Crab" of Miami Beach who offers an unbelievably good "Sweet Onion Dressing" which works on not only salads, but I use it on veggies, fish, chicken, etc.The desserts are even appetizing and satisfying, such as Peachy Walnut Torte, Apple and Almond Souffle, and even NY Cheesecake.It covers the menu gamut, from Appetizer to dessert, with great sidebars on questions with answers given from diet users. This is huge incentive to stay on the menu and shows one how to mix and match ingredients and techniques to even go on and create your own SB masterpieces.

If you've read the South Beach Diet, it did include some preliminary recipe ideas, but they were few and far between. This follow-up cookbook is being marketed as if it were looking to dovetail on the popularity of its predecessor, but I believe if you have this, you don't even need the original. The variety of recipes is fascinating, and the diet phase they correspond to in the original diet (which you can easily comprehend from this book alone) is clearly marked. Mind you, this is not a "low carb" book. It is about lowering "bad" carbs while allowing "good" carbs. The South Beach idea veers around keeping the Glycemic Index low and Agatston does a pretty good job of explaining the nutritional logic for doing so. The recipes that I have tried so far are quite good in terms of taste. The best thing for me is that none of the recipes includes any fancy condiments that you'd only find in some super-elite department stores on the other side of town. Very handy for a health-conscious bachelor. Give it a try. Healthy *and* tasty recipes can't be a bad investment anyway!

Having lost more than 18 pounds since starting the South Beach Diet in mid-January, I'm clearly committed to the changes in eating habits Dr. Agatston promotes. This is the easiest weight-loss I've ever achieved and I only plan to lose about 5-8 pounds more. My primary motivation, however, was to improve blood chemistry.I love cooking and love eating. While it's easy to convert most recipes to accomodate South Beach guidelines, it's great to be able to pick up a book full of well-written and nicely illustrated selections that tantalize the taste-buds but fit within the plan without modification. I bought the book yesterday and was impressed with the variety of spices and colorful ingredients melded together in recipes ranging from simple to sophisticated, with many an ethnic touch. Many fine restaurants have also contributed recipes.This evening I made two of the selections for dinner: Zesty Crab Cakes with Creamy (Red) Pepper Sauce with a side of Overnight Slaw. My husband isn't on South Beach - so I added hot rolls for him. The meal was delicious - and it's a sign of a good cookbook when the recipe looks and tastes the way one thinks it will! Tomorrow I'm going to try Oven-Fried Chicken with Almonds.The book clearly identifies which Phase of the diet each recipe is appropriate for. The major categories are: Breakfasts, Appetizers and Snacks, Soups, Salads, Side Dishes and Accompaniments, Fish, Shellfish and Poultry, Meats, Vegetarian Entrees and Desserts (which sound too good to be true!).My only caution is that some of the more complex recipes require spices and items that one might not readily have in one's pantry. But I know I'm going to be making many of these meals over and over so the ingredients will be put to good use!