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The South Beach Diet Information You Want To Know

The South Beach Diet became wildly successful after the weight loss and recipe book by similar name was published, released and snowballed with rapid speed in inner circles as dieting success testimonials were whispered about 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 suggest buying the South Beach Diet book used since, because of how popular the diet book became (second best selling diet book in the U.S. in the last ten years - 2006) there have been over zealous printings, which results in new and used copies for less than a buck, including hardcover versions.

The now famed doctor behind the diet 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 system for his patients out of necessity, not able to find something suitable that emphasized "good carbs" and "good fats". Commonly confused with the Atkins Diet, a completely different beast 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 defined 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 slowly into the body. But, also recommended is eating fiber or good fat whenever good carbs are eaten in order to retard the digestion of the carbohydrates. Good fats are defined as polyunsaturated or mono-unsaturated fats, versus the bad fats being saturated fats or trans fat.

The South Beach Diet isn't meant to be a fad. It isn't a one week or one month solution to melt away pounds to fit comfortably into a new summer swimsuit. It was created for long term success.