South Beach Diet

 

This is the most famous diet to date. According to this diet, since we eat too much processed food stripped of essential nutrients, many become overweight and prone to cancer, heart attack, and other diseases. A cardiovascular doctor came up with this diet. He thought of a method to beat the unhealthy trend by prescribing his patients to undergo the first two weeks on a high lean-protein diet with an assortment of vegetables and low-fat cheeses. Alcohol and even fruit are not allowed. That’s what Dr. Arthur Agatston, the founder of this diet, calls Phase 1. In Phase 2, the dieter can have some fruits and alcohol in a measured way, while using whole grains from bread, rice, and pasta. Finally, Phase 3 is more of maintenance of the previous phases in little indulgent versions.

The name of the diet is South Beach, but Dr. Agatston has a better name for it that best describes this diet: the Modified Carbohydrate Diet, as he originally named this diet. It became more famous with a more glamorous name – South Beach Diet – referring to from where it originated, South Beach, Florida. Agatston currently lives there.

Salad south beach diet

Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor and former chairperson of the department of nutrition at New York University, lambasted the diet as another low-carb fad creating frenzy and then dying a natural death sooner than expected. Dr. Nestle is quoted as saying: ”I don’t understand why it’s gotten the attention it has. For the first two weeks it’s a standard low-carbohydrate diet. It’s very hard to argue with restricting bread, white rice, pasta, soft drinks, and all great ideas when trying to lose weight. But the hype is he never talks about quantity. It’s calories that make a difference in losing weight or not.”

“I am an accidental diet doctor,” Agatston said. Unlike the Atkins Diet, which advocates a similar low-carb method, Agatston said that ”even in the first two weeks you eat enough vegetables and salads that you don’t go into ketosis (“a state in metabolism occurring when the liver excessively converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies which can be used by the body for energy.” – Wikipedia.com)

There is heated debate on the issue of the ketosis effect in the Atkins Diet. But since Agatston’s South Beach Diet does not advocate a diet that does not cause ketosis, Agatston has for now kept the critics silent. That is except for Dr. Nestle, who criticizes the diet on the quantity of food it recommends.

Agatston replies to Nestle’s criticism. ”When choosing the right fats and the right carbohydrates, in general, the quantity takes care of itself,” Agatston said. “Weighing foods is not a lifestyle. Also, I’m not claiming any unique vision; I’ve learned a lot from other people. The diet is a consensus of current opinion. Whether you need to lose weight or not, this is the healthiest way to eat.”

Agatston’s book, South Beach Diet, remains one of the bestselling diet books and enjoys a great following from dieters around the world.

Recommended articles are found on these links:
http://www.southbeachdiet.com/sbd/publicsite/index.aspx
http://query.nytimes.com