Why the South Beach Diet was Created
The South Beach Diet is found in a book called The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss and online at southbeachdiet.com. The author, Dr. Arthur Agatston, is a cardiologist based in south Florida.Dr. Agatston initially developed this diet for his chronically overweight heart patients when he found that traditional low-fat diets were too difficult for them to stick to. Since weight is a crucial factor in heart health, Dr. Agatston decided to create a plan that his patients could follow -- and stick to -- in order to improve their health. Unlike low-fat diets, Dr. Agatston's diet is based on reducing "bad" carbs and increasing "good" carbs and favorable fats.
At first, the diet was just for his patients -- and, as he'd hoped, they were able to stick to it; they lost weight and became healthier. Soon, thanks to his patients' success, Dr. Agatston's diet became all the buzz in Miami ... and eventually, word spread across the nation.
The South Beach Diet book was released in 2003 and it has been flying off the shelves ever since. It came out in paperback in 2005.
Dr. Agatston has also released cookbooks, a food guide, and most recently, The South Beach Heart Program (December, 2006), which is geared towards stroke- and heart attack-prevention.
