South Beach Diet Pros and Cons – Make Your Choice Wisely

South Beach Diet is originally created to prevent heart disease by cardiologist Arthur Agatston and dietician Marie Almon. The original purpose of the program is replacing low fat diet suggested by American Heat Association in 1980s which is turned out to increase the risk of heart disease instead of decrease it. It is gain popularity quickly in the early 2000s as a powerful weight loss program.

The diet basics are actually really simple: replacing "bad carbohydrates" and "bad fats" with "good carbohydrates" and "good fats":

1. Replaced foods that contain heavily refined sugar with relatively unprocessed foods such as vegetables, beans, and whole grains.
2. Eliminate trans fat and saturated fats which contribute to LDL cholesterol and replace it with unsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids which will contribute to HDL cholesterol.

The diet will not expect you to suddenly change your lifestyle and following its rules. Instead, it will divide the process into 3 phases where the first two phases are aim to make you familiar with the concept and lose weight at the same time. The 3^rd phase is a maintenance phase which will be last for life where you are expected to understand the basic principles and apply it in your every day's life.

Pros

1. Prevent heart disease; remember that weight loss is only the nice "side effect".
2. Low saturated and trans fats; most diet author, nutritionist, or physician will suggest you to minimize consumption of these kind of fats. South Beach Diet food list will help you do that.
3. Fast weight loss; up to 13 pounds during the first phase.
4. Restrict bad foods; it based on eating low Glycemic Index (GI)) foods which restrict junk food consumption.
5. Various food choice; it consists of various foods and doesn't eliminate certain food groups.
6. Simple; no calories counting or portion control, just choose your foods from the food list provided.
7. No hunger involved; it suggests eating in regular portion size with 2 snacks time, so hunger is not part of this diet.

Cons

1. The 1^st phase is very strict, limiting the consumption of all carbohydrates completely. Some people believe that the weight loss gained during the phase is all water loss, not fat loss; this will cause you to gain weight again after you resume your carbohydrates intake.
2. Various side effects; during the strict phase 1, there are lots of side effects, including fatigue, dehydration, lack of vitamins and minerals, and weakness.
3. Not all medical community agree on using GI as indicator; there are doubts in using GI to determine good and bad foods since the program will eliminate high GI food even if the food is nutritionally beneficial.
4. Lack of proper exercise; although there are some tips on exercising, some people still wondering if it is important while following this plan since the creator doesn't put exercise in the program priority.
5. The high protein intake will make the kidneys work harder.
6. Require extra cost; especially on the first phase since the high protein foods are more expensive than the carbohydrates foods.
7. Does not support vegetarian dieter or people who can't eat dairy products; soy, which is considered as meat substitute by most of the vegetarian is prohibited for the first two weeks and most of the snacks are dairy products.
8. It require the cook to be creative; this especially during the first and second phase since the food choice is limited and it could lead to boredom very quickly.
9. Most of the recipes are time consuming and complicated in preparation.

South Beach Diet is just another alternative for you to lose weight. After you read the pros and cons you should be able to judge whether it can fulfill your need or not. The main issues I want to pinpoint here are this diet offer lifetime maintenance, which is good; but ignore the importance of exercise in a healthy diet, which is not good. I recommend you to read my guide about selecting weight loss program and criteria for a healthy diet first before making any decision.