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Summary: I'm a healthier eater!
Review: This book has caused me to be aware of what I put in my mouth. After a week of hell with sugar withdrawals, I don't crave garbage foods any more. Sure I would love that piece of dark chocolate cake, but it doesn't keep calling me like it used to. Drawbacks includes recipes that are too time consuming and difficult with too many ingredients. I have simplified a lot by eating scrambled eggs with spinach every morning, deli meat and swiss cheese wrapped inside romaine lettuce leaves for lunch and meat with veggies for supper. Of course, lots of tomatoes and V8 juice. It's a winner. I've lost 25# in three months and am continuing to lose about 1# every 10 days. It's slow but it's sure.
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Summary: Rehash of The Zone & Sugarbusters, but harder to follow...
Review: This diet is a pain in the ass. You have to follow a daily menu based on complicated, time-consuming recipes and expensive ingredients. So a lot of time, money and above-average cooking skills are required. The worst part of this book is that it gives virtually no guidance on substitute foods, or how to use this diet without following its difficult menu regime.
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Summary: Rethink the way you eat
Review: If nothing else, this book made me rethink the way I eat and change my eating habits. This book, unlike the other trendy "low-carb" diet books, has a sensible eating plan. Although it is poorly written (it has a very conversational tone, jumps around a bit) he gets the point across and I read it in a day. Since I am nursing my four-month old baby, I have not followed the 3-phase plan. The first phase is too restrictive for a nursing woman (no grains or fruits for two weeks). Instead, I merely adjusted my diet based on what I learned from this book. So far, after only 5 days, I have lost a couple of pounds. I also no longer crave sweets or breads, and I don't feel deprived at all. I am eating even more healthfully than I was before. As for the menus and recipes, they are very helpful if you need ideas and are not sure what to eat (he is not clear on what exactly to eat in the different phases). They may be a little time-consuming and expensive, though, and I think that may be a turn off for some people. My advice is to look at the glycemic index part of his book and/or buy another glycemic index guide to help you get an idea of what foods to avoid or enjoy if you don't want to follow the diet to the letter (i.e., eat this on Day One and this on Day Two, etc). Overall, I think Dr. Agatston is right on the money. We eat far too many processed foods that have been stripped of their nutrients and we need to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. He says this, though not in so many words. I like his idea of "good carbs and bad carbs" and "good fats and bad fats." That helps us understand that you DO need to eat carbs and you DO need to eat fats, you just need to know what kind to eat. Remember, though, this is no quick-fix and this diet involves a change of eating habits FOR LIFE in order to keep the weight off. What sets it apart from other diets is that it is feasible to do so, it is healthy to do long-term, and you can still enjoy eating!
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Summary: South Beach Diet: Great book, Super Diet Plan
Review: I've tried a lot of different diets and found that South Beach and The Atkins Diet were the only programs that worked for me.South Beach offers results comparab to Atkins with the added advanage of a more liberal eating plan that includes moderate carbs and even desserts.On both programs I lost excess water and fat whereas on other programs I lost lean tissue and water and generally looked like a smaller fat person. I was generally always hungry as well. Not with The South Beach Diet! I felt full and had lot's of energy.If you are considering either the Atkins Diet or The South Beach Diet, why not do what I do, try both and switch back and forth.
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Summary: Inconsistent, and lacks information....
Review: Check this book out of the library before you decide whether you're going to buy it. While the plan seemed somewhat sensible, it really bothered me that this book never says anything about restrictions. For example, pregnant or nursing mothers are given no guidelines one way or the other. In the glycemic index chart, I'm supposed to believe that brown rice (whole grain) has a higher glycemic index than instant rice? Or that a PB sandwich is not healthy under any circumstances. The testimonials throughout the book were also a bit obsessive. Most of them were too scared of food to go off the phase 1 diet. I know the basic idea works (tried it under a few different names), but I don't think this book is the best version. Too many foods are labelled "bad" to enable the reader to make rational decisions.
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Summary: This book can help - My Story
Review: I bought the South Beach Diet book because I wanted to lose weight. My wife, a registered clinical dietician and a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), had me on a low fat diet "American Heart Association" diet for years. I kept gaining weight. We read the different low carb books and I decided, with her help, to try the South Beach Diet because it includes moderate fruits. She agreed I should try it, perhaps she had grown embarrassed because I was so heavy given her profession. Week 4.
In the first phase, which I had been on for 3 weeks, I have dropped 6% of my total body weight. I seem to have leveled off for the last week as I have begun to add more things back. This is what the book predicts. I had a BMI of 32.5 and now have a BMI of 30.6. I will go back into the strict phase soon to push that even lower. I am targeting less than 25. I include 30 min of exercise per day. The best news is that at no time have I felt deprived. Week 10.
I now have been in the maintenance mode for some time with a few meals where I had fries or bread that are not included in the diet. My BMI is now 29.7 which is .9 less than the 4 week reading. I am still exercising and feel great. I still do not feel deprived. A significant item in the book is the suggestion to add a sugar-free fiber supplement. I highly recommend this as well. It has made this diet very tolerable, plus adds to my satiety. My wife is now a quiet, but enthusiastic believer in this type of approach. Thumbs up Dr. Agatston, this plan works.
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Summary: Why it worked for me
Review: I have been a compulsive eater for as long as I can remember. When bored or stressed, I head for the refrigerator and often don't even know what I'm eating. But, things have changed for me because I have worked on the problem from two levels -- emotional and nutritional. This diet is the easiest diet I have come across. I like it. So the nutritional part has been easy. I am working on my emotional problems with Optimal Thinking and I feel more powerful than I ever thought possible. So I recommend Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self together with this book to deal with the emotions that stand in the way of making the most of the moment, making the most of ourselves and life.
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Summary: I lost 14lbs in 10 days and wasn't hungry!
Review: In the past, I have tried everything from Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig to Slim Fast and the Fat Burners. I would lose some weight, usually was hungry, but as soon as I went back to my old eating habits, kaboom, the weight came back on again. Not with the South Beach diet! I lost weight quickly, felt great and was never hungry. Best of all, I got to eat foods I really liked. What a change! Have fun and lose weight at the same time. What a deal! Sure beats the boring tasteless foods that other diets recommend. The South Beach Diet is the diet for the new millenium. Try it, you won't like it, you'll love it. I know I do.
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Summary: I lost 25 lbs in the first month and feel great
Review: I love the South beach Diet. It offers so much variety and the menues are so enjoyable too. When I had my last visit with my doctor, he noted that my cholesterol, blood pressure and pulse rate along with my weight were all way down. He said I looked great and asked me what I was doing. When I told him "The South beach Diet" he asked me a few questions about the program. Said he had heard about it but thought it was "just another fad diet." But now, saw absolutely nothing wrong with it and in fact, went out later that night to buy a copy for himself. He is now recommend this deit plan to other patients. People who compare this to Atkins obvioously haven't read either book. People who callit "another fad diet" clearly don't know what they are talking about or like my doctor just dismissed it as such without investigating the program. The South Beach Diet is an outstanding program...so is the book. So easy to read. So complete. So many menues and variety. If you are struggling with the yo-yo diet syndrome, need tolose some weight, then I highly recommend the South Beach Diet. Read the book then don't try, but do the diet--it works!
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Summary: Sugar=poison
Review: Okay so it's poorly written and the recipes aren't great (101 things you can do with Ricotta cheese) but the diet really does force you to think about your food choices and what you're putting in your body. Pick up a loaf of bread, a granola bar, a box of instant oatmeal and look at the ingredients. They're full of high fructose corn syrup. Why is there corn syrup in bread?? Because it's cheap that's why. And because food manufacturers know that we're all addicted to sugar (carbohydrates), whether we think we have a sweet tooth or not. I've been thinking about this for a while, but this book really gave me the extra push I needed to change the way I eat. There are no easy answers. We just have to start buying whole foods and cooking for ourselves. It's more work but in return you get to live longer.
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