The South Beach Diet: Heaven or Hell?

Probably everyone has heard of the famous South Beach Diet by now. It is a diet developed by the cardiologist Arthur Agatston especially for his cardiac patients based upon his various studies.

With Dr. Agatston's book sold in millions, the South Beach Diet has became extremely popular, bringing new hope to those unable to lose weight effectively. But how safe is this diet after all? Is it really healthy and harmless? Some experts tend to disagree.

Many people got the wrong idea that if a diet has success and sells well, it is completely harmless and effective. In fact, a book’s success is based upon a huge marketing budget. This diet seems to have its ups and downs.

For example, it can't surely work for everyone, as different people have different genetic needs for optimal health. But then again, the diet mainly focuses on the weight loss aspect, not on the health one. Although the main aspects and recommendations of the diet are solid, there are a few things that were never covered and are worth mentioning.

Throughout the book, the concept of good carbs and bad carbs appears, suggesting there are good carbs that dieters are supposed to eat and bad carbs that they should avoid. The problem is that in some cases, the diet may promote the bad carbs as being the good ones.

This could cause serious health problems to those who are not warned. Dr. Agatston also recommends fish and milk, which are of course very healthy and essential products. However, there is no warning about the water pollution that sometimes contaminates the fish, thereby posing a threat to everyone that consumes it.  Furthermore, pasteurized milk is not tolerated by everyone, and can lead to different kinds of allergies and other diseases. This is another aspect that is not covered in the book.

Eggs, indeed very healthy, are also recommended, which is one of the good aspects of this program.  Bottom line is, while this diet may work for a lot of people, it can't help everyone lose weight effectively, and more importantly, without any health risks. Those of who want to try this diet should take any claims of universal success with a grain of salt.