The South Beach Diet is the latest diet promising to help you lose weight, lower your cholesterol, reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, and get rid of cravings without feeling hungry.

"The South Beach Diet is not low-carb," writes author Dr. Arthur Agatston. "The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats — the good ones — and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. As a result, you're going to get healthy and lose weight — somewhere between 8 and 13 pounds in the next 2 weeks alone."


Does it work? Let's take a closer look at what the South Beach Diet has to offer.

South Beach Diet
The diet is divided into three different phases.

During Phase I, you're not allowed to eat foods such as bread, rice, potatoes, pasta or baked goods. No fruit, even. Not surprisingly, candy, cake, cookies, ice cream and alcohol are also off the menu. This is the strictest part of the diet and lasts for two weeks only.

In Phase II of the South Beach Diet, you gradually introduce more carbohydrates — including some types of fruit, sweet potatoes, whole grain bread, whole grain rice, and whole wheat pasta — into your diet

You remain in Phase II and continue losing weight until you reach your goal. How long it takes depends on how much weight you need to lose.

By Phase III, you should be at your ideal weight. At this point, the South Beach Diet is supposed to have become a way of living and eating that you can sustain for the rest of your life.


A typical day on the South Beach Diet might start with a two-egg omelet with asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, or peppers, cooked in a spray of olive oil.

When lunch rolls around, you may have a salad — lettuce and tomato mixed with grilled chicken or fish, dressed in a vinaigrette made with olive oil.

A snack might consist of plain almonds, cashews or pistachios, while dinner is based on fresh vegetables, fish, and lean meats. Phase I, for example, features dishes such as grilled salmon with lemon, roasted eggplant and a salad, or chicken made with balsamic vinegar.

Hunger
One of the main attractions of The South Beach Diet is the claim that it will help you beat your cravings without feeling hungry.

"Nothing undermines a weight-loss plan more," says Agatston, "than the distressing sensation that you need more food."

That's why the South Beach Diet includes ample amounts of fat and protein, which help control your appetite to a greater extent than refined carbohydrates.

In one of the most recent trials to compare calorie-restricted diets of varying protein content (15 or 30% of total calories), both groups lost weight [1]. But the high-protein group reported more satisfaction and less hunger than the high-carbohydrate group.

In fact, two subjects in the high-carbohydrate group dropped out because they were fed up feeling hungry all the time.

Research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine also shows greater weight loss with a diet higher in protein [3].

The study, which Dr. Arthur Agatston was involved with, examined the effects of consuming either the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) diet or a protein and monounsaturated fat (MLC) diet [isocaloric modified low carbohydrate, which is lower in total carbohydrates but higher in protein, monounsaturated fat, and complex carbohydrates].

Weight loss was significantly greater in the MLC (13.6 pounds) group than in the NCEP group (7.5 pounds) after 12 weeks.

Replacing some of the carbohydrate in your diet with fat can also make it easier for you to lose weight and keep it off for longer.

In a study of 101 overweight men and women, half were instructed to eat a low fat diet (20% calories from fat) and half to eat a moderate fat diet (35% calories from fat, mostly from peanut butter, nuts, olive oil and avocados) [2].

Eighteen months later, the average weight loss in the group consuming the moderate fat diet was nine pounds. In contrast, the group consuming the low fat diet had gained over six pounds.

Moreover, 8 out of 10 subjects on the low fat diet quit after 18 months, compared to only 5 out of 10 on the moderate fat diet.

The bottom line is that the South Beach Diet is one of the better weight loss diets around at the moment. It's relatively simple, and doesn't rely on complex menus, supplements taken at certain times of day, or foods eaten in precise combinations.

That said, the book does perpetuate a few popular nutrition myths. In Phase I, for example, author Dr. Agatston recommends that you should "only choose foods with a low glycemic index."

Even in Phase II, foods like carrots and bananas are classed as Foods to Avoid or Eat Rarely because of their glycemic index. That's despite the fact there are more than a few problems with the assumptions and experimental methods used to develop the glycemic index.

You're also supposed to lose 8-13 pounds during Phase I of the diet. However, much of this will come from stored carbohydrate and water, rather than fat.

Of course, the South Beach Diet — just like any diet — will work a lot better when you combine it with a proper program of resistance and aerobic exercise.

Remember too that the most important part of any diet designed for weight loss is to consume fewer calories than you burn. Don't believe anyone who says you can eat an unlimited amount of food and still lose weight.