The South Beach Diet and How it Works

As I settled into my newly married life in 2005, I began to put on a few pounds here and there in places that I never knew existed. It was a fatal combination of my wife's delicious Southern cooking, as well as an extreme lack of exercise that led to my gaining of twenty pounds in just over eight months. I wanted to lose the weight, but between my real estate and writing career I had no time to hit the gym or take a run around the neighborhood. That left me with controlling my diet. My heart was truly broken because I knew that my romance with fatty foods was coming to an end. I heard from my mother-in-law about the South Beach Diet and how it worked wonders for her. I decided to give it a shot and, well, let's just say that it worked enough to prompt me to write this article. If you're curious about the how the South Beach Diet works then this article will discuss just that.

Let's start off with a little history lesson. The South Beach diet is commonly associated with the Atkins diet and both were actually the creation of medical doctors. The South Beach Diet is a book from author Dr. Arthur Agatston, who is a cardiologist from south Florida. He developed the book and diet as a solution to his overweight heart patients in the clinic. The book was released in 2003 and it has consistently been a bestseller. The book's success can be attributed 100% to the diet's success. This isn't an infomercial, folks. This is the real deal.

So how does it work, you may ask? It's really quite simple. The main focus of the South Beach Diet is to restrict carbohydrates. With that said, the South Beach Diet is divided into three different "phases," all of which help you gradually reduce carbs and fat. Each phase includes different foods that are allowed and the book even has suggested recipes.