If you want to reduce your weight permanently, the diet South Beach might just be the one for you.  The key points to this diet is a well designed menu plan with tasty recipes. You will eat the right type of carbs in the right proportions and have the right type of oils. You will not have to feel hungry and this was designed with a healthy heart in mind.  It was developed by Dr Arthur Agatston, a well respected cardiologist practicing in southern Florida.  He developed this diet in South Beach while at Mount Sinai Medical Center because he was not getting results from the recommended diets of the day.  The common diets of  the day focused on reducing fat and increasing complex carbohydrates which had no long term effect on cholesterol or weight and had a very negative effect on people who were prone to diabetes. Another added benefit to this diet is that he has a way to get you back on the diet if you have fallen “off the wagon” and have eaten foods not on the program.

The South Beach Diet is divided into three Phases:
Phase 1
This phase lasts only 2 weeks and is the strictest part of the entire diet.  The purpose of this phase is to “retune” your body.  Because of all the “bad carbs” that we eat, our bodies do not handle the processing of sugars well at all.  The phase is necessary because it helps our systems to handle sugars correctly.  In the first two weeks of this diet, people typically lose about 8 to 13 pounds, but the long term effect of the South Beach Diet is where it can really make a difference.

Phase 2
After the first two weeks, and the body is processing sugars in a much healthier way, then go to phase 2.  Phase 2 is not as strict as phase 1 and he says to stay on this phase until you have reached your target weight.  You will not lose weight as fast as in phase 1 but there are more dietary choices available to you.  One of his principles is that dieters will tend to stay on the program if there are more interesting choices available to you. 

Phase 3
Once you have achieved your target weight then phase 3 begins.  This phase is designed to help you maintain your ideal weight and is focused on principles of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Even thou this diet started in South Beach Florida, it is clear that it is not only for those who live an affluent lifestyle.  It is about eating the right kinds of foods. You do not stay away from fats, but you eat the right kind of fats, and the same is true of carbohydrates.  Parts of this diet are like the Mediterranean diet in the type of natural type foods you can eat.  It also makes use of cutting edge research so that dieters can achieve their ideal weight, lower their cholesterol and live a healthy life.