Rating: 
Summary: I have made up my mind: no way am I doing this
Review: After reading reviews of this book in which people describe becoming constipated,dizzy,listless or even fatter, I have decided not to follow the plan.(That and one has to read 110 pages before finding the meal plans)
The one good thing? I've discovered a good h'ors douvres recipe(the vegetable quiche cups) as well as a new way to make spinach.
Rating:
Summary: Please Find An Editor.....
Review: The diet might be okay but the writing, editing and overall care to detail in this book is terrible. I'm not the dieting type but my wife wanted to try this so I went on it too. I normally lose weight quickly when I stop eating junk foods so did drop about 12 lbs in the 2 week period. So it's not a bad diet and easy to live with. Phase 2 is really just adjusting back to normal so it's not too bad. I found quickly that I just ignored his menus and receipes and substituted my own. So as a diet it's okay but only if you've reached that point that you want to change. I give it credit for helping me eliminate the need for carbohydrates. I don't crave bread, rice or potatoes. I did miss nachoes with salsa so added baked one back into my diet. What makes this book hard to accept is just the bad writing, type setting and editing. Two major points: Excessive words. I notice this because I write like this. I know I need someone to reread my writing. Dr. Agatston does too. For example on pg.67 one paragraph starts... "If we eat white bread, we're getting no fiber with our carbs. That's like drinking on an empty stomach:" (Skip ahead 2 sentences and he says "Eating white bread is analogous to drinking alcohol on an empty stomach;" Duh!. Did he think we forgot his first statement in the intervening 55 words? This repeating of content is frequent. Flow of narrative. There are sections that just don't flow well. For example on pg. 64 he's talking about Carb's Competitors. He gives a quick summary "The reason is simple...slower digestion of carbs, less insulin. Less insulin, less dramatic drop in blood sugar. Less of a sugar rise and fall now, less hunger later." The only problem is that he has not yet described the role of insulin up to this point. So the reader, if ignorant of insulin and blood sugar, doesn't have a clue what he means. It's on the very next page in the section on "The Body's Response" that he describes the role of insulin. Let me go back to pg. 64 and the section on Carb's Competitors. Besides the insulin example mentioned above, this 3 paragraph section is a good example of the bad writing style. First off, "Carb's Competitors" is the section subtitle. It is spelt wrong. Competitors is spelt "Competitiors". I thought maybe this is some alternate spelling but I checked both my Oxford and Webster dictionaries and this is just an incorrect spelling. And it is in a bold subtitle heading. So this is the section subtitle. But what does it mean? In this section he describes those qualities of food that slows the absorption of carbohydrates. But those are not competitors. To me a competitor is something that attacks or counteracts or competes with carbohydrates - that is not what he is talking about. The first sentence is "Which substances get in our bodies'way?" What does this mean? What he wants to say is "Which substances reduce or slow the intact of carbohydrates?" I can understand he wants to use colloquial English but the actual words he uses do not describe what he is talking about. The short 3 paragraphs then try to give us an understanding of how fiber, fat, acidic foods all slow digestion thus are good. But there is not enough content for the reader to have a clear understanding of how any of them work. So while I started with this diet and it has helped me change some life long eating habits - it's been because I can read around the excess words and poor writing and figure out the content of the material.
Rating: 
Summary: Complex, Time-consuming, Expensive,Delicious, and, It Works!
Review: Anyone who follows these recipes should plan on spending three hours a day in the kitchen, and spending a good deal of money to buy a variety of exotic foods, not likely to be found in most kitchens. However, it one can do that, the food is DELICIOUS and the weight will pour off. Best of all cravings are non-existent in the month we've been on this diet, and 25 pounds have been left behind, most of them from the belly, as promised. It's obvious that this diet came from a wealthy area, where many probably have maids who can whip this food up and have incomes that will allow the purchase of these rather exotic -- though very interesting -- ingredients. If one can afford both the time and the money, this is a delightful way to improve one's overall health ... and physique.
Rating: 
Summary: this is the Atkins diet, don't give money to this thief
Review: This book is a barely modified Atkins Diet with no acknowledgement of the lifelong work of Dr. Atkins. The book is poorly written. The ideas are stolen. The author is dishonorable. Please get it at the library if you want to look at some new Atkins Diet recipes. Indeed the South Beach Diet was doctor designed: by Dr. Atkins.
Rating:
Summary: Good in Concept, Flawed in Some Details
Review: The basic principles of the South Beach Diet (SBD) are fairly sound: minimize high glycemic index (GI) foods, minimize saturated fats, watch your portions of low GI foods and get adequate protein. The book is well written and easy to read for the layperson. Some of the recipes are excellent, others tend to the boring side in my opinion. Overall, if you're looking to change your diet and want to find something you can live with long term, the SBD isn't a bad place to start. But there are minor problems with some of the specifics in the book, such as the GI values for certain foods like carrots. And I don't understand why the author used the old way (white bread as reference) rather than that currently accepted (glusose reference). I'm guessing that GI values from the early 80s were used in the writing of this book, but there are much more accurate and thorough sources available today, such as "The New Glucose Revolution". Nevertheless, one could easily formulate a sound diet plan using the SBD, assuming fats were kept to a reasonable level. My major beef with the SBD is the first 2 weeks of the plan. I feel that limiting carbs so much isn't needed and can be unhealthy. I suspect that this fairly radical first two week plan is there to give people hope. By starving the system of carbs, people will deplete their glycogen stores and in the process lose quite a bit of water, resulting in rapid weight loss. a better plan is to be patient and gravitate towards the right balance of foods, avoiding high GI items and saturated fat.
Rating: 
Summary: A Clinical Basis for a Livable Diet
Review: Arthur Agatston, M.D., has formulated a livable diet which he offers in his book, THE SOUTH BEACH DIET. Dr. Agatston is a well-respected cardiologist who designed this diet with a recognition of problems rampant in modern America, such as obesity and an aging population. The SBD is a spin on the old protein diet--which, itself, finally is gaining scientific favor--but it is a more workable version in terms of sustaining the plan over the long haul. Dr. Agatston offers a thorough and scientific analysis of the varied types of insulin disorders which, together, now plague millions of Americans. Unlike many diet books, the recipes provided are excellent. Try it! You'll like it!
Rating:
Summary: Just Another Fad Diet
Review: First of all, I did read the book. I read the doctor's credentials, I read the Foods to Enjoy/Foods to Avoid list, I read the Meal Plans, etc. I want to declare that this is the last diet book I'm ever buying, because the answer is not in fad diets. I hate to repeat what you've all heard like a broken record, but long-term weight loss lies in regular exercise and healthy food moderation, not in excluding certain foods like this book tells you to do. BTW, I'm from Miami, so I can tell you that people from South Beach don't eat like this. They have personal trainers and chefs. So, don't fall for this.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Atkins, but misleading in its own way
Review: Agatson's diet is far superior to Atkins' because Agatson is much more careful to distinguish between different kinds of fat and different kinds of carbohydrates. However, Atatson's book is misleading in its own right, mainly because it is too optimistic. That misleading optimism starts on the book jacket where someone writes that "Dr Agatston's diet has produced consistently dramatic results (8 to 13 pounds pounds lost in the first 2 weeks!)." Agatson knows, of course, that much of that early weight loss is just water--that it's virtually impossible to loose 1/2 pound of actual fat per day. Further, while a large initial weight loss can give one a psychological boost, it would be more helpful to know how much dieters lost over longer periods of time and how well they did at keeping their weight down. A better book, in my judgment, is Walter C. Willett's "Eat Drink and Be Healthy.
Rating:
Summary: Skip all three phases
Review: I haven't started this program and I'm not sure I'm going to,
but I had to see what all the fuss was about, so I bought it. The first problem I have with this is that you have to read 110 pages before you get to the Phase One menu plan and while I like the conversational tone of the book, I didn't appreciate having to search for the plan itself. The other thing that puzzles me is all the eggs he has you eating; I thought the most a person should eat was maybe two or three a week, and spinach for breakfast?! under an egg? YUK! and VEGETABLE juice?! I don't know about most people, but I get up at 6am and eggs and vegetable juice that early turns my stomach. if you want to lose weight, eat less and exercise more..like mom might've said.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry I wasted my money
Review: Just another Atkins diet. Save your money.
| 
