Rating: 
Summary: Basic healthy eating.
Review: The South Beach Diet is your basic eating healthier diet. You will lose weight on it--I did--and it will will work--for a while. Once you go off the diet, you have to watch your weight again. I found this a good starting off point to get some of the weight I want to lose off and I am combining it with another weight loss book called "Fatass No More" which is helping me get my bad eating habits under control.Bottom line: Use it to lose initial weight and then maybe do another program. That's what I've found works best, anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Much Here
Review: There's no real reason to purchase this book, other than furthering your low carb' curiosity. He writes well, it's casual almost to the point of just so much fluff. Many things seem to come straight from Atkins' work. The recipes in the back sound delicious but frankly, most people I know don't have the time or inclination to make some of these 5 Star Hotel Meals - low carb' or not. Read the Atkins book for some in depth work on how our bodies work, diabetes and so forth. If you read this one, it's just so you can say you did.
Rating: 
Summary: Slower weight loss for thinner people - lots of energy
Review: Bought the book 7 days ago. This is the first "diet" my husband and I have ever been on. We were both about 10 pounds over-weight (but are both rather small-boned ectomorphs so that an extra 10 pounds on us looks like an extra 30 pounds on a mesomorph), so we didn't have too much to lose to begin with. For my husband, the fat was all in his belly. For me, it was mostly in my belly and hips. Left to our own devices, we have not been able to lose this extra weight. After 6 days of being faithful to this diet, each of us has lost 2 pounds. Proportionally, this seems about right considering that a friend who wants to lose about 40 pounds lost about 5 pounds the first week. The additional benefit is that this past week I have been feeling so energized that its been difficult for me to get to sleep earlier than 12PM. When I awake at 7AM, I am wide awake - not groggy like I normally am. When I come home from work, instead of feeling wiped out, I feel pretty peppy. Another very striking thing my husband and I have both noticed is that we have lost our cravings for yummies which says a lot considering that we adore ice-cream, m&m's, caramel corn, etc. I can walk by a jar filled with large m&m's and they mean nothing to me. I might as well be walking past a jar of colorful beads. We have tried several of the recipes in the book and they are actually good! The ricotta deserts are quite nice (especially the lemon and the mocha ones). We made the Chicken in Papillote the other night and it was easy and delicious. One thing I want to emphasize is the importance of drinking water on this diet! I have never been much of a water drinker and initially found it difficult to consume the 8 glasses or more that the diet requires. This left my upper chest area feeling very achey. A friend told me it sounded like I had a build up of ketones (who knows if she was right or perhaps the achiness was a coincidence). I started drinking 4 bottles of water a day and the achiness went away after the first day of doing that. All in all, my husband and I are happy with this diet and believe that we won't have a problem sticking to it. For those who say that they don't have the time required to chop veggies and cook, I think you have to make the time - even if you are not on this diet, I think that preparing fresh food every day is a requirement for healthy living.
Rating:
Summary: How long will it last?
Review: Losing 20 pounds in three weeks: how long will that last. I would like to see how many people keep this kind of weight off over the course of one year. There are millions of diet books sold each year in this country, enough for all the overweight folks to have lost huge amounts of weight by now. Why the need for another diet book? Because in the long term, diets don't work, especially diets in which one loses weight rapidly.
Rating:
Summary: The diet is better than the book
Review: First off, I can't really give the diet less than four stars, because it is a month into this diet and I have lost 18 pounds (of a goal of about 40 lb) and my husband has lost over 30 pounds (of a goal of 90 lbs). This diet is not Atkins; it allows a far larger palette of foods. We feel we've done well and not felt deprived, though, because we've gone somewhat beyond what the book says in black and white and made some of our own decisions. In general, the book espouses a diet low in saturated fat, one that avoids refined carbohydrates and uses limited portion sizes for unrefined carbs. It recommends a high fiber content and regular small meals as a way to keep from feeling hungry, and that does work. Because carbs aren't cut out entirely, we feel we can stay with this way of eating indefinitely. We haven't followed the menu plans, but we feel we have followed the "spirit" of the diet. And that is my main problem with the book. The editor needed to have made sure that the "spirit" was more easily accessible. Nobody wants to have to study a diet book to "get it." Rules are restricting, but some of us number-heads want easy methods for decision-making. Among my other problems with the book:
The author uses glycemic index to determine which foods are okay and which aren't. Glycemic index is an experimentally-determined value. Not all foods have been tested, and the tests vary as to whether healthy or diabetic subjects were used. This leaves lots of foods in a limbo of "who knows"? I think he could go out on a limb, though, and suggest similar foods based on their contents of simple carb, complex carb, fiber, etc.
The summary lists of "allowed" or "to avoid" foods for each phase of the diet is too limited. The lists should give the general guidelines used to decide what makes or doesn't make the list, especially with regards to meats and other proteins after Phase 1. A guide as to what is acceptable "whole wheat" bread (e.g., #grams fiber per #grams carb or something similar) would help, too. (Our doctor suggested 4-5 grams of fiber per 100 calories of bread, for instance.)
Coucous is recommended, even though it is a food with a high glycemic index... and that number is on a list in the book! Some editor should have caught that, but the South Beach website still gives menus with coucous on them. (Although many think it is a whole grain, couscous is a form of semolina pasta, a South Beach no-no.)
Whole grains, and especially delicious fast-cooking whole grains such as millet, quinoa, buckwheat(kasha), and bulgar aren't given much attention. Once in Phase 2, reasonable portions of these grains fit very well into that "hole" on the plate where the potatoes and pasta used to be.
The author allows legumes in the first two weeks, but they rarely show up in the Phase 1 menus. If you miss your "starchy" side dish, these fit the bill even in Phase 1. A small (less than 1 cup) portion of black beans with tomato, bell pepper, and "Latin" spices is a satisfying, fiber-rich side... the internet has recipes that are easy and the mixtures freeze and reheat well. (And by the way, we did not have any problem with gas on this diet, even with the added beans and raw vegetable salads.)
The chapter on why the diet might fail you is inadequate. It lists the problems, but gives essentially no help in overcoming them. It may as well be titled, "Why Many of You Won't Lose Weight Unless You Buy Dr. Phil's Book"
The allowed meats for Phase 1 make it a bit of a rich person's diet: the breast only of chicken and turkey, tenderloin of pork and beef, Canadian bacon. Even canned tuna is not cheap unless you like the kind that tastes like cat food. The same goes for ham. The Phase 2 and Phase 3 "allowed food" and "restricted food" lists don't mention meats... are the Phase 1 meats what we get forever? My husband has also said he would have died on this diet if I had not been home finding interesting ways to prepare meals within the limitations of the food "palette." Still, in a form, this book worked for us. Grocery stores are picking up the trend and offering high-fiber, low-carb versions of stand-bys such as tortillas and even pasta. Unless you need help with issues surrounding your eating that go beyond menu choice, this book is worth a try.
Rating:
Summary: This really works
Review: The first 2 wks I lost 10lbs just like it says. You'll lose your cravings for carbs and sugar. It's an easy diet. You just have to change your lifestyle. I am now eating sugarless things and will try making sugar substituted desserts. Just try it, it's great!
Rating: 
Summary: Low Carb
Review: Not a bad book, certainly, but much of the advice is either homespun or just impossibly to follow. I don't mind a healthy diet program, but this book has a feeling of "fad" about it that I just didn't find useful.
Rating:
Summary: Great diet..confusing book
Review: This diet is pretty easy to follow, but the info in the book is a bit confusing and contradictory.On the "foods to avoid" list it includes carrots and beets, yet many of the menus include a glass of vegetable juice cocktail.. which contain carrots and beets! The foods included on most of the menus are time consuming to prepare, and no alternatives are listed, which is especially tough for people who are allergic to, say, seafood! There are alot of contradictions in this book, but the basic principle is easy to understand,. In the beginning of phase 1, expect to feel dizzy and lightheaded.I also get some pretty intense headaches.That should have been mentioned in the book. I haven't weighed myself yet, and I am still doing phase 1...But I DO feel lighter and I AM finally sticking to a diet, something I have NEVER done.Good luck to all of you who try it!
Rating:
Summary: 10 pounds in week 1
Review: I give the overall book 3 stars, the overall diet 5 stars. There is some confusing/conflicting information... for example not to use reduced-fat this or that, but then seeing reduced-fat this or that in the recipies. They give you a food list of goods and bads, so if you don't want to follow the recipes, you don't have to. I walked for .5 mile per day (only about 10 minutes) and followed everything so far for 7 days. I cheated once, more out of convenience (ran out of lettuce and was too tired to go out) and had some pizza. I weighed in today with 10 pounds off. I have never lost 10 pounds on any diet and comparing this to Atkins, I think you can stick with this more for the long haul since there are healthier and sweeter choices to eat. I'd recommend giving it a try!
Rating:
Summary: South Beach Diet and Ordinary People
Review: The beginning of the book is easy to read and interesting, Dr. Arthur Agatston, describes how he came to write this book and why. Avoiding blood sugar drops and feeling full are the main focus.
The rest of the book covers three phases of the daily diet recipes. While the diet produes results, the book lacks specific amounts or in some cases no recipe at all, leaving a person frustrated while trying to remain faithfull.
Produts, that are recommanded, can not be found in some local areas and a kitchen that has to be setup by a professional cook.
Still the recipes are varied and tasty, producing results.
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