The South Beach Diet book became extremely successful when the diet book with the fitting name was finally published and grew with fast succession among a grassroots following. Each with 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 popularity, but The South Beach Diet phase one continues to confuse readers.

The South Beach Diet phase one is designed to be the shortest of all phases of the diet, lasting for a fourteen day period. It was created to be intense, kick-start your body and your mindset about dieting from that point on. The myth to readers' thinking and one of the harder to understand parts to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, you don't have to limit yourself only eating low carb foods.

In a nut-shell, Phase 1 force feeds you the thinking to: get rid of bad carbs that are not doing anything nutritionally for yourself, substitute the bad carbs that are found in surplus in most American diets with substantial amounts of protein, good fats and low glycemic index (G.I.) carbs that solves your hunger and balances your blood sugar.

Foods that do more harm rather than benefit: fruit, candy, cereal, potatoes, grains, etc. all are eliminated, or the dieter must wean themselves off of during The South Beach Diet phase one. If in doubt, if you should have any difficulty, just eat as much salad, greens, and (most) vegetables you desire, as they are on target because of their dietary benefit.

It's during Phase 1 that Doctor Agatston believes that one's body resistance to insulin will go down, thus depending on your current weight and condition, you may lose 6 to 10 pounds initially, even in the first two weeks alone, as your body begins to eliminate surplus body weight.

The major purpose of The South Beach Diet phase one is 2-fold: to push you into a routine that you stick with which keeps you feeling full and to plant a seed and the groundwork for a mindset that ensures you get rid of the bad foods and move towards the food that sheds pounds, guarantee more energy and better your lifestyle.