The South Beach Diet: In Just 7 Minutes

The South Beach Diet Inside Skinny

The South Beach Diet became wildly successful after the diet book by similar name was put to print, released and snowballed with rapid speed in inner circles as dieting success results were whispered about and raved 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 the diet book’s popularity (2nd best selling diet book in the U.S. in the last ten years - 2006) there have been massive printings, which results in new and used copies for less than a buck, hardcover included.

The now famed doctor behind the book is a cardiologist from as you might suspect, Florida, (as in ‘South Beach’) named Arthur Agatston. He pioneered the diet plan after creating a dietary routine and meal plan for his patients out of necessity, not being able to find something that lived up to his demanding expectations and emphasized “good carbs” and “good fats”. Commonly confused with the Atkins Diet, a completely different monster that pushes the philosophy of a low carbohydrate (low carb) diet, the South Beach Diet instead encourages getting rid of the bad carbs and bad fats, while replacing each with good carbs and good fats.

Good carbs are explained as (according to Doctor Arthur Agatston) being high in fiber or good fat, and have a low glycemic index, which basically means such 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 slow down 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 is not meant to be a fad. It is not a one week or one month quick fix answer to shed enough pounds to be able to fit into a new summer swimsuit. It was made for the long haul.

Discovering no b.s. health content and real resources about the healthy living you want to achieve, doesn’t require a Masters Degree in Physics. No matter your interest: from how to lead a healthy life to how to really lose weight once and for all, you name it. Deciding to have a healthy life doesn’t have to be sacrificial, or at all challenging if you don’t want it to be, nor do you have to sacrifice all the tastes, fun and adventure you now appreciate as often is the misconception.

- Robert McMackey