Though typically put into the low-carb category, Dr. Agatston spends the first sentence of his first chapter informing us that, “The South Beach Diet is not low-carb.”  The difference between the South Beach Diet and the Atkins Diet, then, is that Atkins eliminates all carbohydrates, including those contained in vegetables, whereas The South Beach Diet, which is availabe at the South Beach Diet Page at Amazon, only eliminates “bad carbs”.

The South Beach Diet explains, the bad carbs are the “highly processed ones found in baked goods, breads, snacks, and other convenient favorites.”  Dr. Agatston is especially concerned with the ones that are stripped of fiber, like white bread, and he encourages people to eliminate these highly processed carbs forever, which is an entirely sound idea.   

Dr. Agatston admits that he, like most physicians, was largely uninformed about nutrition.  But when he saw such an increase in his cardiology business, he decided to learn as much as he could.  He came upon the link between highly processed carbohydrates and insulin resistance.  Though most people are most concerned with Type II Diabetes in relation to insulin resistance, many diabetics eventually die from the heart attacks due to the cardiac disease that accompanies insulin resistance.

So the take home message The South Beach Diet is getting at is that one needs to watch out for insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome by cutting out the bad carbohydrates.   

How it Works 

The South Beach Diet works in three stages.  The first, lasting two weeks, requires a complete elimination of fruits and processed carbohydrates, including bread, cookies, cakes, sodas, beer—and practically anything else that will taste best to someone who is insulin resistant.  The South Beach Diet promises weight loss of up to 14 pounds during this stage.  

After two weeks, there is an introduction back into fruits, breads, pastas and other processed carbohydrates.  This stage is continued until one reaches his or her goal weight.  The key to this stage is to eat carbohydrates that have the lowest glycemic index (the ones that digest the carbohydrates into sugar most slowly). 

The third stage is the rest of your life.  And the idea is to remember a few simple rules about consuming carbohydrates. 

Analysis

The South Beach Diet has been tremendously successful for many people.  The idea of the first stage is to completely change the body’s reaction to insulin.  And there is no doubt that this works.  The difficulty is in keeping with this initial stage, which can be very hard for many people.  Two weeks without most carbs is a pretty tall order for anyone in our carb-crazy world, where food preparation is left to others about half the time. 

Unfortunately, people who feel they can’t do the two week long first stage don’t get the increase in insulin sensitivity that the diet promotes, and it is thus difficult for them to follow the rest of the diet.  At this point, many give up on it entirely, which is neither necessary nor advisable.   

The other difficulty I have with The South Beach Diet is that there is very little focus on exercise, which is one of the greatest ways to increase insulin sensitivity and lower ones addiction to highly processed carbohydrates.  In fact, The South Beach Diet spends less than two pages on exercise.   

This makes little sense to me, as it seems like a solid exercise program (like the HRH Program) could eliminate the need for such extreme vigilance during the first stage, which will inevitably be the stage where most people lose the battle. 

Conclusions

Out of all the new diet “fads” out there, I consider the South Beach Diet to be one of the most effective and, overall, reasonable.  People who are able to follow it will derive tremendous short- and long-term benefit. 

By combining the HRH Program with the South Beach Diet, I believe the success process will be greatly simplified and that one has a better chance of following it for the long-term.  As far as I can tell, nothing in the HRH Program would be in direct conflict with the South Beach Diet, and the South Beach Diet provides much more thorough recipes than I do in the HRH Program.   

Well written, concise, and highly recommended!

If you want to check out the book for yourself, please go to South Beach Diet Page at Amazon.