History of the South Beach Diet The South Beach Diet is a dietary program created by cardiologist Arthur Agatston and dietician Marie Almon. In 1995, Dr. Agatston developed a diet to prevent heart disease for his heart disease and diabetes patients. According to the South Beach Diet website, Agatstaion knew that a low-fat diet would reduce cholesterol and prevent heart disease, but patients had difficulty sticking to the diet. Agatson wanted to find out why his patients had difficulty following a low-fat diet. Then he turned to David Jenkins, who was working on insulin resistance. After researching with Jenkins, Agatstion discovered the reason why low-fat diets didn't work was because patients on low-fat diets consumed more simple sugars and carbohydrates which caused insulin resistance and starvation cycles . Agastaion was also studying the low-carb diet but felt it didn't contain enough fiber and contained too much saturated fat. Agagaston wanted balance in his diet in order to produce the best results. (South Beach Diet Online, 2010) Agatstion created the South Beach Diet based on consuming healthy carbohydrates and fats and eliminating bad carbohydrates and fats. According to Mary Hager in her article "The South Beach Solution", the South Beach diet eliminates bad fats which are saturated fats which include hydrogenated oils and trans fats. It also reduces bad carbohydrates, refined and processed foods. Hager says, "His plan emphasizes eating good fats — olive and canola oils — and good carbohydrates, including vegetables, legumes and whole grains." (Hager, 2004, p.63). After Agatston developed the Southern Diet based on these principles, he began making evaluations of his patients who... halfway through the document ......how to follow Phase 1 (the first two weeks) and Phase 2 (the next ten weeks) of the South Beach Diet, eating three meals and two snacks a day. Research results showed that after Phase 1, participants decreased their weight, body percentage, and waist circumference. The results of the participants' blood tests and the researchers concluded that the South Beach Diet helped the participants lose weight and body fat. Evaluating the Nutritional Adequacy of the DietThe South Beach Diet during the first phase is not a well-balanced diet. Phase 1 focuses primarily on meat, vegetable, dairy, and oil food groups; leaving out the group of grains and fruits. To balance the diet well it is necessary that all groups are incorporated into the diet. After Phase 2 the diet is less restricted and more balanced because it incorporates all the food groups.