The South Beach Diet Cookbook
by Arthur Agatston MD
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Book Reviews of The South Beach Diet Cookbook
Book Review: I'm Not That Crazy About This Book! Here's Why!
Summary: 3 Stars
I will get to the bottom line first. This book is fair. I have three big complaints about it:
1) The recipes call for a lot of fresh herbs or other ingredients that are costly. Fresh herbs are expensive and I have found that I will use them for one or two dishes and then they go in the trash after another couple of weeks in the refrigerator. Some of the recipes require a small amount of ingredients that you would rarely or never use again. So you would have to buy an entire jar/package/can, use your tablespoon or two and then the rest will most likely get discarded. For instance, how often will you use chipotle pepper powder after you have used the 1 teaspoon or double-strength tomato concentrate (Italian tube). For how many other recipes have you used (or will you use in the future) ancho chilie powder, capers, flaxseed oil or tamarind paste? For those of us on a budget, I believe some of these can be expensive meals to cook.
2) There are not enough recipes from this book that I would ever cook, because my wife and I are fairly picky eaters. Recipes such as Grilled Clams Gremolata, Spiced Pickled Eggs, Cottage Cheese Stuffed Celery just did not appeal to us.
3) A good number of the recipes can take a fairly long time to put together and cook.
The recipes are presented in a very clear, concise manner. Each recipe lists the number of servings and the nutrition per serving, and which phase of the diet the recipe can be used for.
For the most part, there are not as many Phase I recipes in the book as I would have liked because Phase 1 is the most restrictive. That's where someone might need the most help in finding foods to eat. It's a two-week period in which most all carbohydrates are cut out of the diet. This is to wean the body from the carb cravings. I won't go into details. You can read the original South Beach Diet book (which also has some recipes) to get all that information. The Appetizer section has the most Phase I recipes and the least any of the other phases.
In Phase 2 of the diet, you can start adding back the 'right' carbs: wild or brown rice, sweet potatoes, sugar-free preserves, whole wheat bread, and several other no-no's that were not permitted in Phase I.
Phase 3 is the least restrictive and I have not gone to phase 3 or tried any of the recipes.
I read a couple of the other reviews of this book and the reviews make the the book look very appealing, especially the listings of some of the recipes. The problem is that many of those really good sounding recipes take a LOT of time to prepare and cook and/or they are Phase 3 recipes. It's MY guess that many people buying this book are looking for Phase 1 or Phase 2 recipes.
There is only ONE Phase 1 dessert in the book: "Chilled Espresso Custard" and I can tell you we won't be preparing that one!
There's probably a dozen recipes, at best, in this book that we'll use. Overall, I'm disappointed in this.
The book says there are over 200 recipes in this book making it sound like there's a huge selection. In my opinion, it's not that many. If you take those 200 recipes and break them out by each of the recipe section (appetizers, meats, etc.) then categorize each one of those into Phase 1, 2, and 3 you will find there really aren't THAT many recipes for each phase for each recipe type.
Book Review: Eating Thin and Healthy Can Be Beautiful and Tasty!
Summary: 5 Stars
You will only be interested in this cookbook if you are a committed follower of The South Beach Diet. If you are an Atkins freak, go elsewhere!
I lost 50 pounds on the South Beach Diet. To me, that accomplishment was less impressive than the fact that I couldn't lose weight on any diet before I tried this one. I think I had become insulin resistant, and everything I ate turned to fat . . . even when my calorie count was low.
I found the diet appealing for some other reasons. First, I already ate a low fat diet and felt comfortable doing that. So I didn't have to change that part of my healthy eating. In fact, I was also being sure that I got "good" fats like omega-3 fatty acids from eating fish. Second, I could still eat carbs . . . I just had to avoid the ones that turn into instant blood sugar. Third, Dr. Agatston also introduced some new staples into my diet that I enjoy such as low-fat cheese snacks, having a few salty almonds, and eating steaming bowls of old-fashioned oatmeal. Fourth, and here's where the cookbook comes in, he introduced to me the idea of tasty, healthy ingredients I can use to spruce up simple foods. As a result, my cupboard has about twice as many spices as before (I love to put cinnamon on almost everything!) and my refrigerator has lots of new kinds of vegetables and fruits that I stir into all kinds of dishes. Suddenly, the ordinary becomes special and interesting!
In this cookbook, Dr. Agatston once again calls on top chefs to show you how to make delicious, healthy dishes. Most recipes have fewer than 10 ingredients, and you probably already have most of them. The preparation and assembly are pretty straightforward. Even I can do these recipes! Each one also comes with nutritional descriptions of calories, saturated fat, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, cholesterol and sodium on a per serving basis. Presentation is at least half of the value of fine food. This cookbook comes with beautiful color photographs of ways to serve the final dish. Your mouth will water with healthy saliva when you get a look at these beauties!
This book would make a great birthday or Christmas gift for a friend who is on the South Beach Diet. And it would make an ever better gift for you.
Great work, Dr. Agatston!
Book Review: Yum and good for you too!
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Southbeach Diet Cookbook" was written to provide a number of recipes to complement the original "The Southbeach Diet" book. The cookbook opens with an overview of the diet program. It describes the diet though not in the detail of the original book. It explains what you need to do to get your fridge and pantry 'southbeach' friendly. It explains what is allowed in terms of diary, meat, oils, pasta, snacks, beverages and more.
Next the book has a question/answer session with Dr. Agatston. In this section he updates some of the information from the original book (milk and yogurt are now allowed in phase 1 for example) and he gets into more detailed regarding different types of food.
Then comes the core of the book. The recipe categories include breakfasts, appetiziers and snacks, soups, salads, side dishes and accompaniments, fish shellfish and poultry, meats, vegetarian entrees and desserts. Each recipe indicates what phase it is appropriate for and many of the recipes are pictured in mouthwatering photographs!
Sample recipes include Vegetable Salad with Feta, Homestyle Green Bean Casserole, Pan Seared Pecan Grouper, Whole Wheat Vegetable Lasagna, and Apple and Almond Souffle. Over 200 recipes.
One very nice feature is the inclusion of recipes so you can make many of your own condiments. Unfortunately ketchup, barbeque sauce and many other "toppers" are laden with high fructose corn syrup. So Dr. Agatston includes the details on how you can make your own.
Overall the quality of recipes is very good. The one negative I have is the total avoidance of sugar and reliance on sugar substitutes. I would rather use real sugar in moderation than sugar substitutes like aspartame. He has a recipe for strawberries with velvety chocolate dip and suggests you use sugar free chocolate syrup. Instead why not use a high quality cocoa bar and melt it down. This is healthier than the faux sugars like malitol,which are in sugar free products and so much more satisfying.
Dr. Agatston has some wonderful recipes in this book from top chefs and restaurants and they are worth buying the book for. But many of the desserts with the fake sugars and fat free sour cream fall flat. Moderation is key. Use the real deal in a tiny quantity like the French do.
Book Review: Diverse ingredients, poor organization, some bad advices
Summary: 3 Stars
I do not know how a cardiologist turns out to become a cook that can write a Cookbook. As a physician cooking was not part of any medical education, I know. However, the book has many delicious recipes, each list its contents in grams and milligrams without giving a reference on how such measurements were calculated. The recipes start with phase 2, then phase 3, then go on haphazardly, alternating among the three phases that the author suggests for his "South Beach Diet". More frustrating, is the scattered letters from others throughout the book without reasonable relationship to the sequence of issues. In addition, the book contains many advertisements to local restaurants while it is meager on photographs of many described recipes. After browsing through the chapters you get a feeling that the author is very sloppy in organizing the book materials, no proper chapter titling, no proper theme for choosing fonts, no proper sequence for listing recipes. The author does not explain the rationale of choosing two weeks for the starch-free phase One. Although, the book claims to reverse the epidemic of obesity, it contains meals that have over 500 mg cholesterol per servings (the U.S. recommended daily allowance suggests no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol), completely overlooks caloric counting, and condones drinking wine (one or two cups of red or white wine per day in phase Two).
The author expresses his apology for banning alcohol in phase One, then condones drinking wine in phase Two. This is a serious flaw on the part of a physician who claims to reverse the epidemic of obesity. Wine drinking will interfere with the ability to exercise actively and vigorously in a matter that promotes health rather than barely maintains minimal strength. The author seems to limit his scope of dealing with obesity to the quality of dieting alone without serious consideration to exercise planning for healthy lifestyle.
Since the author bases his approach to healthy dieting on stabilizing the blood sugar level, then why limit that to merely two weeks? If that is meant to appease readers by offering delicious and fattening recipes then the book defeats its purpose of reversing the epidemic of obesity.
Book Review: An outstanding compliment to the South Beach Diet
Summary: 5 Stars
Having lost more than 18 pounds since starting the South Beach Diet in mid-January, I'm clearly committed to the changes in eating habits Dr. Agatston promotes. This is the easiest weight-loss I've ever achieved and I only plan to lose about 5-8 pounds more. My primary motivation, however, was to improve blood chemistry.I love cooking and love eating. While it's easy to convert most recipes to accomodate South Beach guidelines, it's great to be able to pick up a book full of well-written and nicely illustrated selections that tantalize the taste-buds but fit within the plan without modification. I bought the book yesterday and was impressed with the variety of spices and colorful ingredients melded together in recipes ranging from simple to sophisticated, with many an ethnic touch. Many fine restaurants have also contributed recipes.
This evening I made two of the selections for dinner: Zesty Crab Cakes with Creamy (Red) Pepper Sauce with a side of Overnight Slaw. My husband isn't on South Beach - so I added hot rolls for him. The meal was delicious - and it's a sign of a good cookbook when the recipe looks and tastes the way one thinks it will! Tomorrow I'm going to try Oven-Fried Chicken with Almonds.
The book clearly identifies which Phase of the diet each recipe is appropriate for. The major categories are: Breakfasts, Appetizers and Snacks, Soups, Salads, Side Dishes and Accompaniments, Fish, Shellfish and Poultry, Meats, Vegetarian Entrees and Desserts (which sound too good to be true!).
My only caution is that some of the more complex recipes require spices and items that one might not readily have in one's pantry. But I know I'm going to be making many of these meals over and over so the ingredients will be put to good use!