Everybody nowadays wants to lose weight. This is not very surprising as the cases of cardiovascular diseases affecting millions of people all over the world is staggering. Surely there is something that can be done about it. While proponents of exercise continue to innovate the current needs of individuals, the other facet of fitness and health which is diet lags behind. One may ask why? The answer to that question can be a little complicated because everyday there are diet programs that spawn at every corner, yet not many are successful at the basic premise they wish to pursue: weight loss. As you may observe, most diet plans fail to give you continuous energy throughout the duration of the program and leaves you with sapped energy and you wonder why dieting feels like you are actually punishing your body just to get off from a few pounds of weight. The real solution is now at hand and it is called the South Beach Diet Plan. If you have any preconceived notions about dieting, now is the time to throw those ideas out of the window and welcome yourself to something that is totally new and healthy.

The South Beach Diet Plan, was conceived by cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston. The good doctor designed the program with varying phases, the first two phases work at a designated timeframe that you should observe, while the last phase will help you find your groove and keep this diet plan a part of your life! The most radical thing about this diet plan that novice users are up to the time they have benefited from it continue to talk about is how non-restrictive this diet plan can be. You can still enjoy evenly spaced meals with dishes that are mouthwatering that you never thought dieting was supposed to be this way. When it comes to snacking, the South Beach Diet Plan allows you to do just that too! At the core of this diet plan is the replacement of bad carbohydrates and bad fats with good ones. It is a stark contrast to what most cardiologists recommend to their patient which is a low fat diet. The creator of the South Beach Diet Plan discovered that a low-fat diet even though it can potentially steer patients away from heart diseases is a double edged sword. The doctor learned that people who are usually on a low fat diet resorted to compensate their hunger pangs with bad carbohydrates like sugar for instance. The increased consumption of sugar led to a boost in insulin production and lower blood sugar. The overall result is that patients tend to eat more and thus gain weight. What was envisioned as a solution became the cause of weight gain. Hence, the South Beach Diet was born.

The South Beach Diet tries to minimize and eventually eliminate the consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods that are quickly digested by the body. Foods which are made up of refined sugars and typical grains are restricted and replaced with whole grains and carbs which are unprocessed. The diet is usually composed of vegetables, beans and those carbs which are low in the glycemic index. On the other hand, when it comes to fats, the South Beach Diet plan espouses eating unsaturated fats and omega-3-fats. These can be had from lean meats, oily fish and nuts. As stated earlier, the phases in the South Beach Diet will teach a person to eat sensibly. The first phase will help the patient to eliminate all processed sugars and carbs not to mention vegetables which are high in the glycemic index. This phase typically lasts for two weeks. During this time, the patient will experience weight loss. The succeeding phase, allows the patient to continue weight management if he or she desires it to be so. Finally, the last phase which is more liberal than the two previous phases gives the patient enough tools to understand what his or her diet should be consisting of.