The South Beach Diet book became tremendously successful when the diet book with the obvious name was published and grew with fast succession among a grassroots following. Each with their own dieting success stories to tell everyone 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, is still growing in popularity, but the South Beach Diet Phase 1 keeps confusing readers.

The South Beach Diet Phase 1 is the shortest of phases 1, 2 and 3 of the diet, lasting for a 2 week period. It was created to be confrontational, kick-start your body and how you think about eating from that now on. The opposite to popular thinking and one of the harder to understand parts to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, you don't have to limit yourself only eating low carb foods.

In a nut-shell, Phase 1 instills in you the thinking to: get rid of bad carbs that aren't doing anything nutritionally for yourself, replace the bad carbs that are overwhelming in quantity in the American diet with ample amounts of protein, good fats and low glycemic index (G.I.) carbs that entertain your hunger and regulate your blood sugar balance.

Foods that do more harm than benefit: fruit, candy, cereal, potatoes, grains, etc. all are eliminated, or the dieter must wean themselves off of during the South Beach Diet Phase 1. A safe bet, if you should have any confusion, is to ingest all the salad, greens, and (most) vegetables you desire, as they are right in line because of their dietary benefit.

It's during this stage that Dr. Agatston has proven that your body's resistance to insulin will lower, thus depending on your body weight and current health, you may lose 4 to 14 pounds initially, even in the first 2 weeks, as your body begins to shed surplus body weight.

The major goal of the South Beach Diet Phase 1 is 2-fold: to test and discipline you into a routine that you stick with that keeps you from being hungry and to plant a seed and the groundwork for a frame of mind that ensures you rid yourself of the bad foods and gravitate toward the food that drops pounds, guarantee more energy and improve your lifestyle.

Finding straight talk and good for you information about the healthy living you want to achieve, doesn't require a Masters Degree in Physics. No matter your interest: from something as atypical as having an Ultram allergic reaction to what foods to eat to boost energy and shed pounds, you name it. Becoming more aware and creating a healthy lifestyle isn't boring, or at all challenging if you don't want it to be, nor is it mandatory that you have to forgo all the flavors, living like a rock star lifestyle and adventure you now appreciate as is often the misconception.