Jan's Not Selling Any South Beach Diet Books With This Review
Written: Feb 25 '04 (Updated Feb 25 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: some good nutritional advice; well-organized and detailed
Cons: some bad nutritional advice; you will need chocolate and supplements
The Bottom Line: There's some good and bad in this diet. Wonder how many calories are allotted each phase?
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| jankp's Full Review: Arthur S. Agatston M.D. - The South Beach Diet: Th... |
Finally after what, five months, have I been able to obtain a copy of this widely-popular diet book, so called The South Beach Diet Book: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan For Fast And Healthy Weight Loss. I agree the doctor is from South Beach in Miami, Florida. I agree that it’s doctor-designed and can be fast weight loss. I don’t, however, agree that it’s all that delicious or foolproof or healthy. Before I get into how the book is set up, lets look at his claims one by one. Arthur Agatston, a renowned cardiologist, right off does not call his diet low-fat. He allows olive oil, canola oil, butter, nuts, cheese, yogurt, fish and bacon in all three phrases, then a little avocado in the last two, but doesn’t mention pure (not hydrogenated) coconut oil, which acts like a carbohydrate to speed up your metabolism and give you more energy and good health than any other fat (I researched this). It promotes fast, healthy weight loss. Why isn’t it mentioned?
Here’s a little more info on pure coconut oil for you dieters, diabetics, degenerative disease sufferers, pregnant or potentially-pregnant women, athletes...
Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which is known for being anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal. Studies have been done on its effectiveness in lowering the viral load of HIV/AIDS patients. Coconut oil is also being used by thyroid sufferers to increase body metabolism, and to lose weight. Virgin coconut oil is also used for making natural soaps and other health products, as it is one of the healthiest things one can put on their skin.
At one time coconut oil received negative press in the US because of its high level of saturated fat. However, modern research has shown that not all saturated fats are alike and that the fatty acids in coconut oil, the medium chain triglycerides, do not raise serum cholesterol or contribute to heart disease, but are in fact very healthy...
That was taken from coconut-info.com.
Agatston also claims that his diet is not low-carb. In the first phase, he allows many low-caloric vegetables which are complex carbohydrates, such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, celery, onions, brocolli, cauliflower, peppers and mushrooms. He doesn’t allow fruit, although tomatoes really are fruit. No breads, rice, potatoes or pasta, even if they’re whole grain or sweet potatoes, are allowed. I agree that white flour and white potato products are not healthy and cause many health problems, but whole grains and sweet potatoes do not cause health problems as Agatston admits in the book. He claims that dieters must not have these good complex carbohydrates for two weeks minimum so they lose their carbohydrate cravings or sensitivity. Get real. These dieters didn’t get fat eating whole grain products and sweet potatoes.
Agatston doesn’t claim The South Beach Diet to be high-protein or high-fat (not the best fat used), but it is. You must enjoy lots of lean cuts of beef, chicken, pork, veal (baby calves starved of mother's milk) and fish. Tofu is mentioned in parenthesis on one recipe that I remember. You must also like ricotta cheese most nights in the first two phases for a dressed-up dessert, other cheeses and yogurt for your calcium. Agatston doesn’t acknowledge vegetarians’ or vegans’ needs, most likely because they don’t need to lose weight from knowing how to eat whole grains!
CONTENTS
Part One: Understanding The South Beach Diet
In twelve chapters Dr. Agatston explains how as a cardiologist he was concerned over the connection between heart disease and obesity and that the high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet recommended by the American Medical Association was only contributing to those problems. He recognizes the attempts by other doctors to address the weight/heart problem found in the United States, but criticizes them for being too difficult to follow. His diet is easy to follow, of course, from personal and patients' experiences, and you’ll lose the weight.
For the first two phases you need to have a small protein/fat snack mid-morning, mid-afternoon and after dinner. The message is that you will become too hungry if you don’t. Must be because there are no or little fruit, whole grains and starchy vegetables because in the last phase you don’t need the snacks. Real easy? Not if you forget to bring your fifteen nuts and string cheese chunk to work. Not if you’re traveling or unable to keep to the schedule or meal plan.
He discusses what are good fats and bad fats and though he’s right about trans fatty acids being bad, he doesn’t know about coconut or medium-chain triglycerides being so good. He gives some interesting information that it’s how you eat something as well as what you eat that determines how good it will be for you. For example, baking a potato and eating it alone will be like candy to your body, but boiling/steaming it and topping it with yogurt or cheese or butter will prevent the big insulin rush.
Another good point made is that one must become aware of how foods make you feel and to experiment (after the first phase) with adding a little more whole grain and fruit to your diet. It’s important to take your time eating since it takes twenty minutes to realize you’re full. I think you could start out with this phase and lose weight more slowly, but in tune with your body. Though the dieters who give their success stories at the end of each chapter stayed on or went back often to phase one, Agatston admits some people do fail on this diet because they don’t eat enough of his allowed foods and cheat. Well, if it wasn’t so limiting or boring for them, they wouldn’t have to cheat, now would they?
Part Two: Meal Plans And Recipes
Agatston gives us a detailed meal plan and their recipes for each phase. He offers recipes from a number of chefs in South Beach that pretty much follow the guidelines and give ‘nutrition at a glance’ at the bottom, which includes calories, protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol and fiber. I wondered about potassium with all that salt on many recipes. We need 2000 mg of it a day and soy flour has far more than anything else with that plus hundreds more milligram, but soy flour isn’t on this menu. Is there enough absorbed calcium with no milk at first, then little, and all that meat?
If you don’t mind decaffeinated coffee or tea every morning and water or a glass or two of red wine the rest of the time, plus animal products, steamed or broiled vegetables and no grains, starchy veggies, fruit or chocolate, you’ll find phase one delicious. I’d go crazy. I’d be unhappy with the other two phases also because I like more avocado, brown rice syrup (a complex carbohydrate) and Agatston only advises sugar substitutes and no homemade muffins or cakes ever. There were a few recipes, besides the meat ones, that sounded awful. Strawberries in balsamic vinegar? Cottage cheese with cinnamon?
Final Thoughts
Agatston is a confessed chocoholic and I know why. Chocolate enhances serotonin absorption, which pasta, rice, breads and potatoes will do and largely aren’t able to do on this diet. Chocolate also releases endorphins and other things to make us feel good and less anxious. I have never really craved it except occasionally at a certain time of the month and it’s most likely because I eat plenty of whole grains, brown or wild rice and sweet potatoes. Many of the success stories say they’ve lost carbohydrate cravings, which means they don’t like whole grains or distrust them. That’s good nutrition and fiber they’ve lost.
A vitamin and mineral supplement, fish oil tablets, aspirin and expensive statin drugs are recommended, but if you’re eating a more balanced diet like I do, you probably wouldn’t need to after a while. I don’t recommend this diet on the whole, but in part. It is based on the glycemic index usually, but Agatston approves of white bread or potatoes after a strenuous work-out. That’s real smart, huh? He says we can get by with twenty minutes a day of exercise, so I guess this book is for non-exercisers.
If we start out the day with old-fashioned, cinnamon oatmeal, an apple and soy milk; if we eat soy, some oily fish perhaps, whole grains, veggies, fruit, olive and pure coconut oil; if we skip junk and fast food; if we drink lots of water, no beer and little or no caffeinated beverages; and if we use no sugar and white flour and don't eat baked white potatoes dry, but use sugar substitutes or brown rice syrup, then we’ll definitely lose weight and body fat. We might not need The South Beach Diet meal plans or recipes; just take some of his advice.
Recommended:
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jankp
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Member: Jan Peregrine
Location: Lincoln, NE
Reviews written: 1564
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