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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Summary: Sorry I wasted my money
Review: Just another Atkins diet. Save your money.
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Summary: Poorly edited.
Review: I was disappointed when I found the publisher was Rodale. Shame on you. The index was minimal and I couldn't find what I was looking for. What is 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light Cheese? I don't want to read every word in the book to find this. Yet many of the recipes have this. I saw this as a revamped Atkins and nothing more. There is no "true" instruction for the diet. Just follow the recipes for 2 weeks. The book is sort of divided in half. The first half follows a lot of the Atkins mind-set. Then ends. The second half has sceduled meals and recipes for Phase one, two, and three. Sounds like Atkins doesn't it - only with less clarity. I'm disappointed. I think this HAD the potential to be a good book, but the editor didn't edit or suggest.
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Summary: Haven't I read this book before?
Review: Eh. Just another Atkins copycat. It's nice to get a variety of perspectives on low-carb dieting, and this book does add a couple good suggestions not covered in Atkin's book, but by and large it's simply an uncredited duplicate of the same plan.
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Summary: Complex, Costly, Time-Consuming, and It Works!!
Review: Having been on the South Beach Diet for a month, I've lost 17 pounds and feel wonderful. The diet, very restrctive meal plans for each day, results in REALLY tasty meals and one certainly doesn't get hungry. There are many things about this diet, and this book, that I highly recommend. However: 1) No one warns you that fixing all of these complex meals means that you [in South Beach it would be your maid?] will be spending about three hours a day in the kitchen, meticulously making these complex menus, many of which have rather unusual chi-chi ingredients. 2) Speaking of chi-chi, it's easy to see why this came from South Beach Miami; the food for this diet is expensive! Many people will be buying a whole range of foods they've NEVER bought before, including rather exotic things like a wide variety of vinegars, fresh spices, tahini, hummus, Edamama soybeans and on and on. If you've got lots of time to cook and money, this diet is tasty, complex to prepare, and very satisfying ... as is the easy loss of weight.
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