Rating: 
Summary: Lost Fat Fast. Easy To Follow. More Choice. More Food!!
Review: This is a great diet and a great diet book. There is a strict early phase for a couple weeks and then a more relaxed phase. In both but especially the latter phase, you can have lots of good carbs, even whole grain bread. The diet eliminates hunger and cravings within a week or so and it PRODUCES RAPID FAT LOSS. That is the best part of this diet. Having tried many diets what I noticed most is that my clothes were getting bigger FAST and I was losing FAT much more than more traditional diets. This diet is easier to read and follow than Atkins and emphasized eating good carbs and good fats more than Atkins (though Atkins in moving in this direction). The book reviews other diets and explains them and how the South Beach is different. Basically, besides being easier it is more oriented toward ensuring better healthy choices of food in addition to avoiding bad carbs. There is an emphasis on Glycemic Index or how a food raises blood sugar. This is why whole grain bread is OK --because it requires lots of digestive work before it raises blood sugar--while processed breads (white or wheat) are not good--they quickly produce high blood sugar. Overal a very good and easy to read diet book for a diet that is easy to use and produces rapid fat loss. If you can manage to eliminate the bad carbs--and it gets very easy after a couple of weeks when the cravings leave--it is a great diet choice because you can eat all the food you desire. Finally, someone recommended "Effortless Wellbeing" by Evan Finer and I read it and was blown away by it! I think it can help people with dieting and a lot more than that too. It helps me to get my act together overall to be successful with dieting. I lost about 35 pounds and still losing. Highly recommended as long as you are willing to eliminate the bad carbs.
Rating:
Summary: No more "Blah" diets
Review: I've been on so many diet programs where the food tasted just....BLAH!That is not the case with The Southbeach Diet. The foods are delicious and nutritious.The Southbeach Diet also beats taking these chalky powders that taste horrible and many are just low calorie sugar i.e. Slimfast.With Southbeach you are also getting many nutrients that would normally miss on other programs like Atkins which is prmarily a high protein diet. Southbeach has all of the good of The Atkins Diet, is lower in fat and better balanced. You get ore vitamins and minerals and trace minerals.And best of all...Southbeach ended the BLAH diets. It's great.
Rating:
Summary: Works like a diet while you eat like your at a banquet
Review: The Southbeach Diet is without a doubt the easiest diet program to follow. It works like a diet, you get results fast while your at like your at a banquet. You get to eat a lot of good food.The Southbeach Diet is liberal. It's nutritionally balanced. You lose weight without deprivation. No hunger pangs. High energy and a feeling of well being, the opposite of what I have experienced on other diets and programs. I highly recommend The Southbeach Diet. Great program.
Rating:
Summary: Not a fad but a thriving new trend!
Review: You can hardly watch television, read the paper or go anywhere without hearing about low carb this or low carb that. Even Subway, McDonalds and SlimFast have or are going low carb. Compare this to ATKINS? Read both books and you'll understand the diefference. I've used both and Southbeach is more user friendly. I know a lot of people who couldn't stay on Atkins but are doing very well on Southbeach. This is not to knock Atkins, it has worked for me and many other people, I just feel that Southbeach is better. Don't worry about the fat intake. Keep the carbs low and watch the fat melt away. If you like eggs like I do and are afraid of fats and cholesterol, try the low fat eggs with omega fatty acids and vitamin E added in. And like Dr. Agatston recommends, eat the whole egg. The Southbeach Diet is a excellent program for permanent weight loss and most importantly, fat loss. Any program can deliver temporary weight loss that never lasts. And most programs cause you to lose muscle and water only, not fat. You usually end up looking like a smaller fat person. ENT! Try The Southbeach Diet and experience the difference. You'll love it. We do.
Rating: 
Summary: I Don't Think So
Review: My good peoples. You ain't gotta be wastin yo time on this sheezy. You gots to dig who you is, large or small, black or white, rich or poor. I tellin ya, if I can't have my Roscoes Chicken & Waffles or my mama's red beans & rice with jambalaya then life ain't worth livin ya'lls.
Rating: 
Summary: How to be on a diet without being hungry!!!!!!!!!
Review: Ever since I heard about the South Beach diet, I thought it was another fad. South Beach diet! yeah right...
It turned out that the doctor who developed the diet works at the prestigious Mount Sinai hospital in Miami Beach (hence the name of the diet). Like many women with slow metabolism, I've tried every diet under the sun but I've always been hungry (even if I ate all I wanted). I never knew why I was hungry after eating snacks! everyone told me to eat 6 meals a day to speed my metabolism but the more I ate the hungrier I was.
I used to snack on fruits, watermelon, cantaloupe... no wonder!
Of course, every body is different!
For over a year I've been trying to change my eating habits. After re-gaining 20 lbs in the last 2 years a friend recommended me the diet. I decided to give the diet a try. I started to follow my friend's advice (without buying the book) I had a list of allowed foods and made my own recipes. The first two weeks are very restrictive but to my surprise I was not hungry at all!!! I did not crave bread or pasta or fruits (my biggest concerns). Cut down alcohol??? well, dont we have to do that anyway?
This is not a magic solution. We still have to watch what we eat, but unlike most diets, this one is very easy to follow.
Eating right is not cheap. The truth is that, cheap food is loaded with sugars and simple carbohidrates. But all the money we save now on unhealthy food we will spend later in doctors... The diet use simple ingrediets you find in most supermarkets. Also, following a healthy lifestyle requires a lot of planing. Yes, you will be preparing most of the foods and exercise is not required but recommended.
The book has a lot of testimonials I could care less (because I was already sold on the diet) I just skipped those and read how the system works... The recipes included are great (like the ricotta limon zest, the mashed "potatoes") but also they give you ideas how to use the ingredients allowed in creative ways.
I've lost 8 lbs in two weeks and feel great!!!!. Dr. Agatston deserves my $15!
*** Update: Almost two months later I am still on the diet! No mood swings, I am down one dress size. More than a diet it has become a lifestyle!
Rating:
Summary: The pros and the cons
Review: I do enjoy this diet. The meals are filling and tasty and I lost 12 pounds in the 2 weeks of Phase 1. I have only 2 complaints.
One is that - if you're single or cooking just for yourself - only the breakfasts are for 1 person. Most recipes vary between 4 to 8 people and aren't always easy to break down or how much is a portion. (For example, you make a pound of pistachio bark for dessert in Phase 2 - but much is one portion?) Much as I love this diet, my main problem is the book's structure. Part 1 is background info - the history and science behind the diet itself. Part 2 is all recipes and meal plans. But I've been through the book several times and there's *nothing* in that ties the parts 1 and 2 TOGETHER! There's no mention of recommendations for substitutions within recipes, whether you can mix and match days on the meal plan or within days on the meal plans, or even if you need to follow them at all or if they're just suggestions. I looked for even a single sentence on this. Given how liberal Phase 2 is, some dieters need more structure or guidelines than a list of "foods to avoid" and 2 weeks of meal plans. (Alternatively, there are the free forums at Prevention.com.) Overall, if you really follow it, it does what it promises: eliminates cravings and loses pounds. For those dieters who do better with a more structured long-term program and at the same time have a lot of pounds to lose, this diet may require a little more effort over the long haul.
Rating:
Summary: A noteworthy change of life
Review: First off, if you want to save money, check this book out from your friendly local library. Only about a third of this book is information--useful information, but information you are not going to need to refer back to, if you understand it upon the first reading. The other two thirds of the books are meal plans and food lists--all of which are available for free at many places on the internet. also, the menus, while delicious, are impossible to follow, even for people like myself with loads of free time. if you use them, you will use every pot and pan in your house in days, and your fridge will be stocked full of 50 varieties of produce you only use once. That being said, the SBD seems to make sense to me. I've only followed it for a couple of weeks and I have not lost weight--I'm getting the impression that this entirely dependant on the individual and those mysterious forces of nature--but I have noticed that for the first time I am planning meals, eating regualar doses of veggies and proteins. for the first time in my life, I am not feeling an urge to put every sugar-laden item that is in the house directly into my mouth. This alone makes it worth it to me. also, if you check it out, there's a forum online with fellow dieter's recipes, questions, foibles, journals, etc. it's pretty helpful when the rest of the world seems to be following Atkins (which is NOT the same thing).
Rating: 
Summary: My first ever negative review
Review: I feel a little silly writing a negative review of this book, especially since there are so many 5 star ratings already listed. In fact, I doubt many people will find their way to this review, but I'm glad that you're reading this now... maybe I can save you $15... First of all, the book is just over 300 pages, but only the first 100 are "about" the eating plan. The remaining 200 are just pages and pages of daily menus and recipes. Personally, I don't need or want menus... I just want to know what I can and cannot eat. I understand that these are just suggestions to give you an idea of the type of day eating plans you can have... but, I don't know... these daily plans sure look an awful like any other Weight Watchers type of diet plan. Please don't tell me to eat orange roughy one day, and then sirloin burgers the next. Just tell me that I can eat FISH, or LEAN BEEF. Also, I find that there are contradictions between the 'written book' part the and the menus. In the body of the book, you are told that there is really no limit to real eggs, and that you may eat egg substitutes IF YOU WISH. But, in the menus.. you see egg substitute primarily (if not only). The same goes with caffenated coffee. He tells you, in the book, that, there is really no problem, diet-wise with the caffeine except that, for some, caffeine enhances the appetite. But, in the menus, only decaf is suggested. To me, it looks like two different people wrote the two sections of the book, and didn't even find a chance to discuss it with each other first. I look at this as a mistake, which makes the whole book seem worthless to me. Afterall, if you see dirty ashtrays on an airplane, it makes you wonder if the engines are well-maintained. I would rather have seen the 200 pages be listings of good and bad carbs and fats, instead of menus... but, of course, that information comes in a separate book... hmmmm, wonder why the good doctor would do that? I'm not saying that the basic plan is bad... it's probably very good, and I'm almost doing it already, as I've been on a low-carb plan for a while. It's just that, it could have been said in about 5 pages.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a diet book with results!
Review: I'm sick of all the usual diet baloney about eating in moderation, getting physical excercise, and all that yada yada. It's never worked for me. But this book was totally different. There's a lot of information in this book: sciency stuff about blood sugar and carbohydrates, specific diet plans and recipes, and a long-term schedule to follow. Whatever. All I care about is whether it works, and boy, did it ever. I weighed myself before I read the book, and I tipped the scales at 285. I weighed myself after, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw 281! Yes! At that rate, I just need to read this thing another twenty or so times and my weight will finally be under control. Thank you Dr. Agatston.
| 
