I'm Larry; and I'm a Carboholic
Written: Jun 27 '03 (Updated Mar 18 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to read, to follow, and works
Cons: No bread or pasta
The Bottom Line: A diet book for those who have failed on all the others.
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| gamblin_man's Full Review: Arthur S. Agatston M.D. - The South Beach Diet: Th... |
I carry around a few (understatement) extra pounds and as I have gotten older the quantity of cloth needed to girdle the center of me has increased.
My honey is a few years younger than I and was always thin until that terrible thing called menopause snuck up on her. She is an insatiable listener to talk radio and so I have tried most of the fad diets out in radio land. I have popped pills, eaten cabbage soup, cut out fats, then carbohydrates, then ... well, you get the idea. Each one worked for a while. They were either too hard to follow or too yucky to stay on. We lost on them and gained even more when we went off.
Dr. Agitston found the same problem with his cardiac patients. In his practice he believes that if a person has a heart problem that requires intervention he has failed. His goal has been prevention before corrective, invasive action is needed. When his patients seemed generally not to do well on the American Heart Association low fat, high carbohydrate diet, he began his own investigation. He examined all the diets available from low carbohydrate, high fat to the other extreme. What he found was that none of them worked well for the bulk of people.
Dr. Agitston practices through Mt. Sinai Hospital and began working with their chief dietician to develop something that might work better. His goal was not weight loss, but improved blood chemistry. He was trying to help the heart. The diet regimen they worked out together tried to counter the failings he perceived in the diets he had tried on his patients and those he had studied. He tested the diet’s value by the improvement in blood chemistry, not weight loss. As he knew, however, the two went hand in hand.
Dr. Agitston’s diet became a raging success in the Miami area through word of mouth and then radio promotion. It was successful because it was easy to follow, easy to stay on, and it worked. Most who tried it were doing it to lose weight and they did. They also improved their chances of living to enjoy the better look because of lowered risk of heart disease.
The South Beach Diet
Dr. Agitston finally decided to expand the knowledge of this new diet method through publishing a book about it. The publisher’s convinced him to call it the South Beach diet because of the connotation of youth and vigor the area of South Beach in Miami conveys. I got the book through walmart.com after reading several reviews on it and doing some independent research on the theories he uses in establishing the diet guidelines.
The book itself is a quick and interesting read. The first half of the book is devoted to explaining the why’s and how’s of his diet plan. Interspersed throughout this section are anecdotal stories apparently written by users of his diet. One even tells of failure when trying it. The second half of the book is devoted to meal plans for the three phases of the diet, lists of foods to enjoy and avoid, and recipes, some from famous restaurants in the South Beach area.
This diet is based on the assumption that the main cause of bad blood chemistry, beyond genetics, is a too rapid rise in blood sugar from poor eating habits. The theme is good carbs vs. bad carbs. The second prevailing theme is good fats vs. bad fats. The key to the broad success people trying this diet have enjoyed is that it is easy to follow and simple to understand. The book tells of many users who only had a brief, edited view of how the diet worked and were successful with it.
About the diet
The diet takes a three Phase approach. Phase one lasts two weeks and is the hardest to follow, both because it severely restricts carbohydrates and fats and because it begins a change in your body chemistry. Phase two lasts until you have reached your desired weight and have, coincidently, stable, good, blood chemistry. It is almost identical to Phase one with fewer carbohydrate restrictions. Phase three is the one you follow the rest of your life. It, again, is identical to Phase one with even more generous carbohydrate allowances.
In all of the Phases there are no portions to measure, calories or other numbers to count, or worries about how to prepare the food. The keynote is simplicity. Memorize or carry with you a short list of recommended foods, prepare them with good fat, the less preparation the better for carbohydrates, and eat enough to satisfy your hunger. Eat three regular meals a day at regular times, eat an allowed snack morning and afternoon, and have a sensible dessert after your dinner.
In all three phases, white bread, pastry, white flour pasta, and sweets are forbidden or severely restricted. The goal of this diet, lifestyle change might be more accurate, is to keep the sudden rise of blood sugar to a minimum, thus reducing the need for insulin production spikes and the bad changes in eating habits and blood chemistry this causes. The Doctor’s goal is to reduce triglycerides, improve the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to LDL (bad cholesterol), increase the number of large HDL and LDL molecules in comparison to the number of small molecules, and to reduce excess blood glucose (sugar). When this happens, the system makes better use of the triglycerides and blood glucose. Instead of depositing it to the fat cells which then get larger and show as the proverbial bulge around the tummy, it burns them more efficiently, equating to increased metabolism.
The first Phase is the strictest and, for that reason as well as others, is the toughest part of the diet. In this Phase all but the very lowest Glycemic Index carbohydrates are removed from your diet. Glycemic Index is a measure of how much a given amount a carbohydrate in food, usually 50 grams, raises your blood sugar level in the first hours after ingesting it. It is measured using real people and is listed in tables easily found on the internet. Bad fats are replaced with good fats. You won’t go hungry since you are expected to eat three meals, two snacks, and a dessert each day. You eat from a list of foods supplied, avoiding another list of foods. To help with this is a fourteen day meal plan. The meal plan makes use of the accompanying recipes. The recipes range from simple to complex. If you eat out, there is a chapter on how to cope with that and still stay on the plan. One piece of advice is to stay far, far away from fast food establishments.
The second Phase adds back some of the carbs that were forbidden in the first Phase. Fruits begin to play a role as do healthful but higher carbohydrate vegetables. Some breads and pastas, made from whole grain, can be added sparingly. Sweet potatoes, but not white potatoes, appear on the Phase 2 list. This Phase can easily take more than a year to complete if you are seriously above your goal weight. The benefit to your cardiovascular system will be much swifter, though.
Phase three is the maintenance Phase. Even less is forbidden here. The watchword is moderation. This phase will last the rest of your life. Rather than weighing regularly, the doctor recommends you watch how your clothes fit. If they get tighter, jump back to Phase one for a couple of weeks and then, if necessary, Phase two until the fit is right again.
Nowhere in the diet is a requirement to exercise. The book states you will lose without exercise. There is a chapter on exercise, though, and the importance it plays in your overall health and well being. The book recommends twenty minutes of aerobic exercise like brisk walking. It also points out that weight training to improve muscle mass will reduce inches more quickly by replacing fat with denser muscle. Muscle also increases resting metabolism, helping to use up those extra triglycerides and blood glucose even when you are sleeping.
I look at this book as two books, really. The first half is an explanation of the science behind the diet. It is well done and, where science isn’t sure, it says so. The pieces of the diet are backed up with results of scientific studies. The other diets you may have tried are noted and their shortcomings outlined. The thread in this half is logical, beginning with what, then some history, then why, and ending with how. When you have read this half, you will be well prepared for the second half of the book.
The second half of the book I think of as a user’s manual. It is clearly marked on the edge of the pages by a black stripe and is easy to find quickly. Each phase of the diet is covered in detail. The phase coverage begins with a fourteen day sample meal plan. For the first two Phases, a list of “foods to enjoy” and a list of “foods to avoid” is provided. This in itself is enough to allow you to execute the diet. The meal plan section heavily uses the recipes which are in the third part of the section information. The recipes are quite useful and range in complexity of both ingredients and preparation time enough to allow you significant variety. Each section’s recipes include recipes from some famous South Beach restaurants.
One we like is the vegetable quiche, good for even Phase one. It is prepared in quantity and frozen. It can be quickly microwaved when you are ready to eat it. It is delicious. Another interesting one, with mixed votes in our family, is mashed "potatoes". The potatoes are replaced with boiled or steamed cauliflower. It isn't bad if you don't watch it being made.
The index is easy to use and well organized for finding what you want to know. There are few pictures and only enough charts and tables to make the book useful. It is available in hard cover, in a large print edition, and as a talking book, so there is no excuse for not trying it.
I have been on the South Beach Diet for only five weeks so you will have to depend on the other stories in the book for long term results. The diet promises a weight loss of from 8 to 13 pounds the first two weeks. I lost 10. The diet expects you will lose 1 or 2 pounds a week without exercise on Phase 2. I have been beating that so far with an average loss of nearly 3 pounds a week.
The first two weeks were hard but not impossibly so. I felt, not bad exactly, but different, as my body adjusted to low carbs and regular meals. I miss the pasta and potatoes the most on Phase 2, but not so much that I want to quit the diet. I do know that if I am tempted beyond my self-control I can just go back to Phase 1 for a week or two and lose the pounds I put back on.
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My Review References
The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet Good Fats, Good Carbs Guide
The South Beach Diet Quick And Easy Cookbook
Carbohydrates
Good Carbs, Bad Carbs
The New Glucose Revolution
Fats
Good Fat vs. Bad Fat
The Good Fat, Bad Fat Counter
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Larry
Location: Pacific Northwest
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I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers
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