The South Beach Diet book became tremendously successful as soon as the diet book with the obvious name was finally published and grew with rapid succession among a grassroots following. Armed with 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, continues to grow in popularity, 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, lasting for a fourteen day period. It was created to be in your face, kick-start your body and your mindset about dieting from that now on. Contrary to popular thinking and one of the more difficult to grasp 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 force feeds you the thinking to: rid yourself of bad carbs that are not doing anything nutritionally for yourself, replace the bad carbs that are found in surplus in most American diets with large amounts of protein, good fats and low glycemic index (G.I.) carbs that entertain your hunger and balances your blood sugar.

Foods that cause you more harm rather 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 ingest as much salad, greens, and (most) vegetables you desire, as they are on target for nutritional benefit.

It's during this South Beach Diet Phase that Dr. Agatston believes that one's body resistance to insulin will lower, so depending on your current weight and condition, you may lose 2 to 15 pounds initially, initially in the first two weeks, as your body begins to shed excess body weight.

The major purpose of the South Beach Diet Phase 1 is two fold: to push you into a routine that you stick with which keeps you feeling full and to lay the groundwork for a mindset that ensures you get rid of the bad foods and gravitate toward the food that drops pounds, guarantee more energy and improve your quality of life.