The South Beach Diet was created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, director of the Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Miami Beach, Fla. Unless you have been living on a deserted island most of you are familiar with this best selling book. At first glance there are a lot of similarities between the Atkins diet and the South Beach Diet.

There are two major differences between the Atkins diet and The South Beach Diet. The Atkins diet tends not to distinguish as much between the good and bad fats, whereas The South Beach Diet encourages you to only eat healthy fats. The other major difference is with carbohydrates. The South Beach Diet focuses more on low glycemic carbs instead of an extreme restriction of carbs like the Atkins diet.

Is The South Beach Diet legitimate?

Short answer: Absolutely.

This is one of the better dieting methods out there. Not because it was designed by an MD or that it will make you drop 10 lbs in one day (it doesn’t). The great thing about this diet is that it teaches you how to eat right.

Bottom line:

If you are willing to put in the effort to make significant long term changes this is probably one of the best diets to get you started. You aren’t going to lose several pounds in a short period of time but then again you will be more likely to keep the weight off instead of having the yo-yo effect which is all to common with most other diets.