The South Beach Diet book became extremely successful as soon as the diet book with the obvious name was finally published and picked up with rapid succession among friends, families and fellow dieters. Armed with their own dieting success stories to tell everyone about, the South Beach Diet book, officially titled as, The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss, is still growing in readership, but the South Beach Diet Phase 1 keeps confusing readers.

The South Beach Diet Phase 1 is the shortest of phases 1, 2 and 3 of the diet, only lasting for a 14 day period. It was created to be confrontational, kick-start your body and how you think about eating from that now on. The opposite to popular thinking and one of the harder to understand parts to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, you do not have to hold yourself back only eating low carb foods.

In a nut-shell, Phase 1 force feeds you the thinking to: get rid of bad carbs that aren't providing anything nutritionally for yourself, substitute the bad carbs that are abundant in the American diet with ample amounts of protein, good fats and low glycemic index (G.I.) carbs that satisfy your hunger and regulate your blood sugar balance.

Foods that do more harm than benefit: fruit, candy, cereal, potatoes, grains, etc. all are to be eliminated, or the dieter must wean themselves off of during the South Beach Diet Phase 1. If in doubt, if you should have any difficulty, just eat all the salad, greens, and (most) vegetables you want, as they are right in line because of their dietary benefit.

It is during this stage that Dr. Agatston has proven that your body's resistance to insulin will go down, thus depending on your body weight and current health, you may lose 3 to 15 pounds initially, even in the first two weeks right off the bat, as your body begins to eliminate excess body weight.

The major purpose of the South Beach Diet Phase 1 is two fold: to throw you into a routine that you can manage that keeps you feeling full and to lay the groundwork for a mindset that ensures you get rid of the bad foods and move toward the food that drops pounds, guarantee more energy and improve your lifestyle.