The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss

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Summary: good recipes and flexable
Review: I think it is easy to follow. Since I only have 10 pounds to lose, I skipped phase one and stayed on two. I am slowly losing about 1-2 punds a week. Which is fine with me because I have only 10. I can only speak for those who have this to lose. I love veggies, I love protein now---I was a major carb overloader (breads!Pasta! etc) I find I eat less often, have far less cravings then ever in my life, and I feel great. My workouts with the weights are better then ever. I am feeling the protein is helping....not sure. I drink more water now. I can not complain. But, it meets my goals for slow weight loss, long term eating plan, more energy, less cravings for sugar, and not feeling "fat"! Works for me---

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Summary: CD Version is terrible Buy the book!
Review: Let me first say, I love the diet, 6lbs in 1 week so far, but I only learned how to do the diet by using my friends written copy and purchasing the online memebership. I have never written a review before, but found this expensive audio version so disappointing that I felt I had to let others know, specially since I can't get my money back. I'm not even sure how they can sell this as the SBD because it doesn't give you the information to actually do the diet. The CD version is lacking in almost all the information on what specific foods you can eat nor how to structure your eating during the day. What is left is just medical "why it works" and "why these foods are bad for you". I have purchased other diet books on CD and they normally include either a CD-ROM or booklet with anything that really can't be read, like meal plans, food lists and recipes. The SBD CD did not have any of this information. I really like the actual book so if you interested in the diet BUY THE BOOK BUT DO NOT BUY THE CD VERSION!

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Summary: A 204 page infomercial
Review: While it is clear that the diet will work for many people, it does not include all the neccessary information to make good decisions on food choices by yourself. In many respects, it's information is contradictory. For example, It says that during phase one of the diet, you should try to stay away from all dairy products, then so many of the phase one recipes call for low fat cheese products and ricotta cheese. Dr Agatston suggests that the web site for an additional 39.95 for six weeks can be helpful as well. To me, the book itself, chock full of testimonials and recipes but gives little hard core information. It did not give me the information I need to make decisions about different products by reading the nutritional information on the packaging or make informed decisions on my own.

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Summary: This book sucks.
Review: This is not a diet - it's called starving. You don't need a book to do that. Everything on the menu is tasteless and/or horrid. People want miracles - but I truly believe moderation is the best solution. Why eliminate everything enjoyable from your diet? The only thing you have to do is eat LESS - rocket science and miracles are not involved. Anyone can lose weight eating shrubbery and calorie-free genetic defect-inducing sugar - no book necessary. Do yourself a favor and avoid the freaky 10-calorie sugar-fee gelatin "snack".

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Summary: Thank You Dr. Agatston
Review: This is a wonderful way of eating! You name the diet - I've done it (yes, Atkins too). I lost 7 and 1/2 pounds the first week and I'm sticking with it. You truly lose your cravings (and I was a pretzel and popcorn person not to mention gummi bears!) Yes, you do need to plan your day but it's not a big deal. I truly like the no pressure of measuring at first - eat until you're satisfied - not stuffed so you're not stressing out about ounces. The first couple of days of any new way of eating is difficult but it's worth it - you'll be happy that you did.

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Summary: Be prepared to COOK!
Review: I was so excited to get this book. I heard of friends doing it and being successful. So my husband and roommate decided to do it together. Good thing, too. We're done with phase one and we all lost at least 5 pounds each. Part of it is the diet and all the running around you have to do. Every night, we would prepare, cook, prep the next day's lunch, and eventually eat. There is a lot of cooking involved, and we didn't even go by the menu plans exactly. There isn't much mention of what to do with the leftovers so we would alter the menu plans to fit them in. (That's why I gave 4 stars instead of 5.) I won't say that this diet is easy. The first week was hard, but it does get better. You start figuring it out and you will feel better. But, you have to read the book to know why you're eating what you're eating.

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Summary: Quick Results and a Healthy Process
Review: My husband and I went on this diet together from day one and into our 5th week he has lost 25 pounds and I've lost 14. I lost 14 by the end of 4 weeks so now I'm just maintaining since I've reached my goal. My husband is also exercising and lifting weights on a regular basis and I'm not doing any real exercise right now. The book is a great guide to eating healthier, portion control to what's sensible and in the end you really learn how to eat when you're out even if you don't have the book to refer to. The first 4 days were difficult for me while my body got use to not having bread, fruit, milk and just all the things I usually ate throughout the day, but by the end of the first week it got easier and when I looked at the scale it was worth the effort (and intermittent hunger) . It was kind of labor intensive for Phase 1 - the first 2 weeks because I was preparing all of my meals and his and I felt like I was constantly chopping vegetables and running to the supermarket for things I didn't normally buy so that took some dedication BUT loosing 14 pounds in 30 days, measuring 3 inches off my waist and seeing a slimmer me in the mirror was worth it all. I recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind cooking and chopping every day and wants to be slimmer AND be healthier which is the biggest bonus of all.

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Summary: Great Diet if you have a personal chef
Review: I've never been on a diet before so I was a bit nervous going in. I'm one week into it now and have lost 6 pounds. So far so good. The food tastes great. Yes I was a bit weak the first day or so, but now I feel fine and am never hungry. Fantasies about a bag of Doritos with a chuckwagon and a Mountain Dew? Sure but not often.
The thing that is driving my wife (an experienced dieter) and I crazy is that we are cooking like caterers to stay on the menu. Bad carbs are the most convenient carbs - but stuffing 10 cherry tomatoes with cottage cheese? a hamburger patty for lunch? We have to work. The meals are not designed for two people working full time. I've come to imagine they are designed for "Mr. South Beach," a wealthy slightly overweight retiree from Florida who has got a bad ticker so he gives this book to his personal chef. Almost there Agatson - just make the menus more convenient.

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Summary: Book bad, diet good.
Review: First, The South Beach diet book is poorly written, as it is very disjointed, and conclusion leaves the reader up in the air. However, as I come from a family of type 2 diabetics (none of my family members are overweight based on BMI, except me) I decided I wanted to try this. I wanted to lose at least 5% of my weight (7-8 lbs) to be under the "overweight" BMI. Prior to this, since I do not believe in "diets," I tried the Atkins since this was something I thought I could do for a long time (I am a meateater). After 6 weeks on the Atkins, I lost 6 lbs. and was tired to having ketone breath and checking my urine for ketones. Yuck! And the weight came back. I couldn't maintain this diet. Then I heard about the South Beach diet and I've lost 10 lbs. and a dress size in a month. During this month I have gone to the Western Washington State Fair and had a scone, corndog, curly fries and BBQ ribs. I've also had a high butterfat content ice cream cone, real chocolate cake, Snickers bars and Dove Promises dark chocolate candy during this month. This is a food plan I can work with for the rest of my life. 1] It emphasizes eating low fat protein, not the bacon and butter that is in the Atkins. 2] It emphasizes the glycemic index when incorporating carbs back into your diet. 3]There is no counting carbohydrate grams. I loved this since I love to eat fruits and vegetables. I feel satiated sooner and longer. I can walk by the goodies at work and I don't eat until I'm past full. It helps that I regularly exercise although less than I used to since my glycogen stores have been depleted on this diet and I exhaust a little quicker. But my husband and I just came back from an 8 mile hike on Mt. St. Helens yesterday. Two things that I have to say though is I had an intractable headache the first two days in phase I and I have to drink a lot of water so I'm going to the bathroom a lot at night (same as Atkins). I heard people on the Atkins also use starch blocker pills when they start eating carbs. I'm trying that too. I'm not sure that works but I think (as do my friends, co-workers and husband) I look better, I'm wearing my "skinny" clothes again and I feel great. WooHoo!

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Summary: Judge a Book by Its Cover
Review: I don't know how Arthur Agatston claims to have invented a new diet. And I don't know how Rodale published this. He is bordering on plagarism. This is not an Atkins redo - this is Atkins! He copied the Induction Program. He copied the Ongoing Weight Loss and the Maintenance diet. Rodale jazzed it up with a glitzy cover and title. There is no description of the diet anywhere - allowable or unallowable foods. Just examples of recipes for each phase. It is a poorly written and poorly organized copy of Atkins in a beautiful cover! If you want to judge a book by its cover, this ones for you!