The South Beach Diet Supercharged: Faster Weight Loss and Better Health for Life Mass Market Paperback – December 29, 2009

If you have never read The South Beach Diet, buy this book instead: It's much more helpful due to the exercise section and latest research on healthy eating and physical activity. If you already have a copy of The South Beach Diet, you need to buy this one as well so you can do the exercises.I'm a big fan of The South Beach Diet. It helped me lose a lot of weight when nothing else worked. I felt comfortable losing the weight and looked great when I was done, rather than like a survivor of starvation. Whenever I gained a bit of weight since then, returning to Phase 1 quickly took it off.But there was a problem: I clearly wasn't exercising enough. In the past, I've done a lot of walking and weight lifting . . . but I didn't get much benefit in terms of medical measures like reduced triglycerides. In fact, eating oatmeal and taking omega-3 supplements does more for my cholesterol level than exercise. I know that I need something different.My eyes opened wide when I got to the section of this book that talked about how moderate amounts of walking (20 minutes every other day) with short intervals of fast movement spaced between moderate walking would do me more good for burning fat than doing all that walking that I used to do at one speed. Now, that sounded great!Between walking days, you do some moderate body toning. Here is where I had some concerns about the book: The photographs show a lot of stress being put on the back. That's not a good idea for me: I have back problems. I'm not quite sure what to do, but I've ordered the DVD to see how these exercises are to be done and hope there will be detailed instructions there for people with bad backs.In this book, Dr. Agatston does a good job of describing the various physical ills in joints and feet that baby boomers develop from the wrong kinds of activity and exercise. He even helped me understand how I create vast shoulder pain when I shovel snow the wrong way . . . and now I know what not to do.If you are under 30, you can probably use this book just as is. If you are older, be careful with the body toning!The remainder of the book is the same wonderful material on eating good carbs and good fats while avoiding bad carbs and bad fats . . . plus the latest validations of scientific research supporting the assumptions underlying the diet. There are lots of phase 1 and phase 2 recipes, and you can buy separate cookbooks if you want more.But the best part of the book comes in reading the personal testimonies. They make the book come alive.Great work!

The South Beach Diet recommends three meals and two snacks per day, and has three phases:Phase 1: 2 weeks—moderately fast fat loss. The main purpose of this phase is to stabilize blood sugar and eliminate cravings. The main restriction in this phase is complete abstinence from starchy foods (grains, potatoes, etc.) and sugar. No fruits, or high-calorie vegetables, are allowed. Meat and dairy are restricted to lean cuts of meat and low-fat dairy.Phase 2: 2 weeks (or longer)—transition phase. This phase reintroduces healthy carbs into the diet, which were completely restricted in phase 1. Healthy carbs are whole grains and fresh fruits (high fiber + low glycemic) as opposed to refined grains, processed junk food, beets, corn, white potatoes, canned and dried fruit, honey, sugar, or jelly. This phase begins by adding one portion per day of healthy carbs plus one piece of fruit per day, and gradually raises carb intake to three portions per day plus three pieces of fruit.Phase 3: Continuous lifestyle. This phase continues where phase 2 left off with the addition of “occasional sinful treats.” In all phases trans fats are off-limits, and saturated fats are minimized.Pros:1. This very simple and conservative approach is easy to follow and does not upset one’s equilibrium. Other more aggressive weight-loss methods lead to the yo-yo effect of fast weight loss followed by the inevitable rebound.2. The book has educational value, teaching important basics of diet and exercise.Cons:1. This diet is not potent enough to take off stubborn pounds or to take off many pounds for those who are severely overweight. This is essentially a list of healthy foods to eat, and unhealthy foods to avoid. For people struggling with obesity, this is insufficient. It merely qualifies as advice for weight maintenance, as opposed to fat-loss strategies.2. No advice is provided for reduction of the number of fat cells, or improving leptin sensitivity, both of which are necessary for long-term fat reduction.

I was playing around with losing my baby weight with no real direction so I finally decided to give South Beach a go. I did the first 2 weeks pretty solid, with only a couple cheats. I had about 20 pounds to lose and lost 5 in the first two weeks, then continued steadily for the following 6-8 weeks until it was gone. It is well written, easy to read, and gives a lot of good recipes, many of which I used for those first two weeks! I didn't feel too restricted because I ate a nice steak dinner a couple times and still enjoyed my diet cokes. I don't struggle too much with cravings, but I do like sweets a lot. When I'm on South Beach, I really don't crave much at all! One tip, be organised! Buy the ingredients for the recipes ahead of time so you have no excuse not to eat properly.

The SBD like many others being hyped at the moment promotes lean protein, fibrous green veg and unrefined carbs (so brown rice, noodles, bread etc). The first phase removes all carbs (sugars and starches) for 2 weeks. The result for me was quite surprising, it stabilized my energy levels and I didn't have huge hunger pangs between meals, so this was all great news. Phase 2 gradually re-introduces "good carbs", all in all within 4 weeks you are back to eating most foods (albeit alternative options for the carbs). Haven't got to Phase 3 (the last phase) but it really sounds like all it does is recommend you stay as close to the principles of phase 2 for life.In 4 weeks I've managed to drop 4 kgs (without the exercise routine and a couple of days that I gave myself off to celebrate major occassions). The diet itself is easy to follow and the reasoning makes sense.I originally tried the Dukan diet but realized fairly quickly it wasn't for me. Such large quantities of pure protein is both dull and difficult to manage for lengthy periods of time so I switched over to the SBD after reading a lot of reviews. The SBD may be a bit slower to lose weight, but it is definitely more sustainable and feels healthier.The only downside to the book is that it is very US centric, so ingredients and measures are a bit of pain to convert (I still can't figure out what some of them are such as 6g per oz??), but I bought some cup measures (since that's used a lot) and it makes things somewhat easier.

It gives good advice, but it is like any other diet book after a while you don't follow it. Only way to loose weight is to eat varied and little, move more and count calories. We eat way to much for our life style anyway. For example I'm sedentary and only need ~1400 calories a day, 1200 if I want to loose weight. No diet told me this, nor made me cut my portions. It is only when you start counting the calories in and out that you do that.

It is a good read and I tried it for a couple of months. This book has very small letters so if you like to try it, go for one with bigger letters. I lost weight but for all the dieters out there, I fell by the wayside and went back to my old habbits. (cookies with my coffee, sweet desserts after meals etc.)All in all - a good book and while I am writing this (xmas) I promise myself that I will give it another go in the new year!

Lovely receipes