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The South Beach Diet book became seriously successful when the diet book with the fitting name was published and picked up with rapid succession among friends, families and fellow dieters. Armed with dieting success stories 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, is still growing 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 all phases of the diet, only lasting for a 14 day period. It was created to be in your face, kick-start your body and how you think about dieting from that now on. The opposite to popular thinking and one of the more difficult to grasp parts to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, you do not have to hold yourself back only eating low carb foods.

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

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

It is during Phase 1 that Dr. Agatston has proven that your body's resistance to insulin will decrease, thus depending on your body weight and condition, you may lose 3 to 9 pounds initially, even in the first 2 weeks alone, as your body begins to shed excess body weight.

The major goal of the South Beach Diet Phase 1 is two fold: to push you into a routine that you stick with that 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 better your quality of life.