The South Beach Diet book became seriously successful as soon as the diet book with the fitting name was finally published and grew with rapid succession among friends, families and fellow dieters. Armed with their own dieting successes to brag about, the South Beach Diet book, authored by Doctor Arthur Agatston, The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss, continues to grow in readership, but the South Beach Diet Phase 1 continues to confuse readers.

The South Beach Diet Phase 1 is designed to be the shortest of phases 1, 2 and 3 of the diet, lasting for a 14 day period. It was designed to be intense, kick-start your body and how you think about how you diet from that point on. Contrary to popular thinking and one of the harder to understand parts to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, you don't have to hold yourself back only eating low carb foods.

In a nut-shell, Phase 1 instills in you the thinking to: rid yourself of bad carbs that aren't providing anything nutritionally for yourself, replace the bad carbs that are abundant in most American diets with substantial amounts of protein, good fats and low glycemic index (G.I.) carbs that solves your hunger and balances your blood sugar.

Foods that cause you more harm than benefit: fruit, candy, cereal, potatoes, grains, etc. all are eliminated, or the dieter must phase themselves off of during the South Beach Diet Phase 1. If in doubt, if you should have any difficulty, just eat as much salad, greens, and (most) vegetables you want, as they are right in line because of their nutritional benefit.

It's during Phase 1 that Doctor Agatston believes that one's body resistance to insulin will go down, so depending on your current weight and current health, you may lose 2 to 12 pounds initially, just in the first two weeks, as your body begins to eliminate surplus body weight.

The major purpose of the South Beach Diet Phase 1 has two objectives: to throw you into a routine that you can manage which keeps you free from hunger and to lay the groundwork for a frame of mind that ensures you get rid of the bad foods and move toward the food that sheds pounds, deliver energy and improve your lifestyle.

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