The South Beach Diet

What Is the South Beach Diet?
Cardiologist Arhur Agatson, director of the Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Miami, Florida invented the South Beach Diet and introduced it to the world through his best-selling book The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss.

The South Beach Diet is similar to the Atkins diet in the sense that they both restrict carbohydrates – especially simple carbs like sugar and starch – but with some major differences as well.

The Difference Between the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet
Unlike the Atkins diet, the South Beach approach does not count grams of carbs. Instead, it focuses on eating the right carbs – that is, those with a low glycemic index. The Atkins diet lets you eat as much as you want in any portion as long as it is the correct ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrates. The South Beach diet takes a much more conservative approach in which your portion sizes are limited. Because there is a time lag between when the stomach is full enough to have satisfied your caloric needs and the time it takes to send that message to your brain, we often eat larger portions than we really need. That excess energy gets stored as fat.

Let’s be clear about this, the Atkins Diet works but you can’t be expected to eat that way for the rest of your life. It is a good way to lose a lot of weight quickly if you are getting cut for a bodybuilding competition or need to fit into your old wedding dress. But don’t expect to keep that weight off permanently once you stop the diet. On the other hand, the South Beach Diet is a lifestyle change that promotes healthy foods and healthy portions. This you CAN keep up for the rest of your life. And it will probably be a longer, healthier, happier life because of it.