This is a really great book that can be carried around and referred to easily. It has almost every imaginable food in alphabetical order so it is easy to reference. Great book, I use it constantly.

even if you r not doing the diet...it's just about eating healthy. Good shopping guide.

You need this book as a guide to take to the grocery story to make sure you are getting the right foods as well as the foods that the recipes in the companion diet books call for. We have referred to it every time we shop to be sure we're doing it right. Today's food labeling makes it a challenge. The best advice in the book is to check the ingredients to see where the fats and carbs are really coming from - don't just rely on the numbers on the Nutrition Facts on the package label.

I had this book before and lost it. Glad to have it again. Great reference source when not sure if something is worth wasting carbs on.

If you are on or want to be on the Southbeach diet, this small book will be a great help! Small enough to tuck in your purse, it has just about every food you can think of and which level of the diet you would be allowed that food, or not!

THis is the ONLY book you need to start losing weight!! I LOVE it. It is very simple to follow and if you don't care how or why South Beach works- you just want to lose weight- this is the book for you!!! The diet really does work and it's so easy - after the first week! Plus the South Beach foods are real KRAFT products! I've continued to lose on phases 2 and 3!!!!!!

EASY REFERENCE FOR CARB CONTENTS. I'M NOT ON SOUTH BEACH, BUT I LIKE TO KEEP TRACK OF MY CARBS. SMALL ENOUGH TO CARRY IN MY PURSE.

This book is a great reference guide, especially for beginners. It works for me.

This little book is very helpful for a quick reference guide. Highly recommend to anyone on the South Beach Diet.

Not exactly what I expected. Pretty small book, but good reference charts in there for lots of kinds of foods. A good guide for those committed to the diet for the long run.

This guide is fantastic for various reasons, as many have mentioned. My main use of it has been in connection with other cookbooks not specifically meant for the South Beach Diet. I love Italian food and have cooked out of "The Silver Spoon" for a long time. When I went on the South Beach Diet, though, I was terrified - no carbs meant no pasta! When I got my hands on this little guide, though, I was saved. Now I can flip through my Italian cookbooks and, in conjunction with this little volume, I can choose meals that fit my diet. Also, if I need to, I can use this book to replace some ingredients which may not be diet-friendly. A fantastic book and a definite winner!

This Good Fats/Good Carbs Guide is just the thing to leave on your kitchen counter. I do, and refer to it constantly! The first part of this little book describes the South Beach Diet. Next, an outline of how to use the Food Guide. Then the food guide itself. Easy to read, and use. This guide is a must for anyone on the South Beach Diet. And, even if you aren't, but watching your fats and carbs, it's amazingly useful. I am having greater success, and much less stress adapting to this healthy lifestyle, thanks to this guide.

This Good Fats/Good Carbs Guide is just the thing to leave on your kitchen counter. I do, and refer to it constantly! The first part of this little book describes the South Beach Diet. Next, an outline of how to use the Food Guide. Then the food guide itself. Easy to read, and use. This guide is a must for anyone on the South Beach Diet. And, even if you aren't, but watching your fats and carbs, it's amazingly useful. I am having greater success, and much less stress adapting to this healthy lifestyle, thanks to this guide.

A handy little pocket-sized guide book that's perfect to take down to the supermarket.

Easy to read and understand. Opened my eyes to healthly eating and how to combined certain foods. I think twice now before putting a carb in my mouth and it helps me understand when and how to use the correct fats. You could really apply this information to any eating program.

This book is the perfect size for your purse or bag. I carry with me to verify my food selections. It includes sections for Phase 1,2 and 3. Very easy to understand.

The South Beach diet has been great for me. I have not had cravings after the first couple of weeks and have been eating so many foods. I have meals at home and out that are very satisfying. This guide is a great portable way to keep within the guidelines with a quick reference. Both the diet and the books are highly recommended. Because drinking diet cola was a daily ritual my friend gave me a copy of a book called the T_r_u_t_h about C_a_f_f_e_i_n_e. I read that those who drink cola may experience a decrease in bone density -- a precursor to osteoporosis, it made me think twice. Carbonated sodas -- especially colas -- are highly acidic. There is a whole lot more in this book and I highly recommended it.

FOR A SOUTH BEACH'ER OR A LO CARB DIET FAN THIS REALLY IS A HANDY DANDY LITTLE ITEM TO HAVE WITH YOU. REALLY HELPS BOIL IT DOWN TO BASICS SO YOU DO NOT LOOK LIKE SUCH A GOOF IN THE SUPERMARKET JUGGLING 2 HUGE REFERENCE BOOKS. A GOOD BUY.

FOR A SOUTH BEACH'ER OR A LO CARB DIET FAN THIS REALLY IS A HANDY DANDY LITTLE ITEM TO HAVE WITH YOU. REALLY HELPS BOIL IT DOWN TO BASICS SO YOU DO NOT LOOK LIKE SUCH A GOOF IN THE SUPERMARKET JUGGLING 2 HUGE REFERENCE BOOKS. A GOOD BUY.

I use this book constantly to make decisions on what I should and should not eat. I am not following the "diet", but a low carb, low fat life style, and this book has it all. I would not be without it. I also have the book covering restaurant foods. Easy to follow and interesting.

I liked the fact that this book is small and a quick read. My favorite part is the tables in the back that show a listing of all foods and whether or not they are okay to eat in phase 1, 2 or 3. It's sort of an "in a nut shell" perspective and makes it really easy. I love the book and love the diet!

Dont Wait any longer. BUY THIS NOW An easy to follow convincing theory and Facts from a Practicing Cardiologist.
Its a DIET to follow for the rest of your life to LIVE.

The book can be purchased at discount stores for under five bucks. It was a fad. It's over. They got my money, don't give them yours.

This is a better good for good carbs guide.
It's definitely complete and easy.
A great food list that is nutritious and low-carbs. Helpful and comprehensive!

The guide was very good. I was not sure I wanted to start the diet full blown so I got the guide and read over it. Even if you do not want to start the diet it is a good guide to foods that you should avoid or eat occasionally.

I have the original South Beach Diet Book and thought this would be a more comprehensive list of what I could eat. There are 1200 foods listed in this book but close to half of them say to avoid them on all phases. I found a few foods to eat that I would not have known before buying the book but was disappointed that items such as pie, ice cream, french fries and other obviously off-limits foods were listed and like I said before, they took up a lot of the book.

The South Beach diet has been great for me. I have not had cravings after the first couple of weeks and have been eating so many foods. I have meals at home and out that are very satisfying. This guide is a great portable way to keep within the guidelines with a quick reference. Both the diet and the books are highly recommended.

Marina Kushner
Author
The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It

I really use this book and it's a great reference for a lot of common foods. However, I hope the next edition will include an index and a more complete list of foods. For example, there are several types of pudding listed. However, the sugur free/fat free instant isn't included. I would think that this would be of interest for those following a low-fat/low-carb diet.
After eliminating my coffee habit with the help of a wonderful book called The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote it Deceive Us and What We Can Do About It, I'm feeling so much better. My doctor recommended it to help eliminate my acid reflux called by the acid in coffee. Buy the book.

This is a better good for good carbs guide.
It's definitely complete and easy.
A great food list that is nutritious and low-carbs. Helpful and comprehensive!

It takes determination to lose weight and I've always thought the formula to be relatively simple: eat less calories and burn more through exercise. However, it is very difficult to do so. So I turned to South Beach diet. I've found this to be a very practical diet. Also, the science behind the diet especially regarding insulin and the benefits of the diet for the heart is very interesting and informative.
After the initial first two weeks (the strictest) I've lost about 5 pounds. But, I've done no exercise whatsoever and have eating quite a bit which accounts for the lower than the average weight loss. Another great book dealing with proper food combination leading to good health and losing weight is Can We Live 150. I also had great results with it

I am a big fan of the South Beach Diet. This book has much more information on foods to eat and which foods to avoid than the original SBD book. It's also a great size and can easily be carried in a purse for grocery shopping or dinig out.

This is a great book to carry with you all the time. It summarizes the diet and gives a handy reference to what foods you can eat for each phase of the diet. I keep this in my purse all the time. I'm now in the 4th week of the diet and have lost 12 pounds. I'm never hungry and feel better than I have for years. The book and diet are easy to follow.

I did find this bok very helpful whil on the south beach diet however I found descrepencies between the south beeah book, the cook book and the carb guide. It was a bit confusing.

This is a small book, and it's meant as something you can easily tote to the grocery store with you to help you buy the right things from week to week. The South Beach Diet's guidelines are simple enough that for the most part, with a little experience, you won't need a book, but for the first few weeks we found this guide invaluable. It also acts as a great quick-reference from time to time when you need info on corner-cases and little things you can't remember, and as a sort of summary of the diet.

The beginning of this guide answers a few frequently asked questions about the diet. For instance, do sugar alcohols (mannitol, xylitol, sorbitol) make viable sugar substitutes for the diet's purposes, or are you stuck with sucralose and the like? It also includes quick lists of good and bad foods for each of the diet's three phases. It serves as a good reminder that this is not a "carbs are evil!" diet, but rather a diet that encourages you to choose, as the title says, "good fats" and "good carbs."

The end of the book includes a quick supermarket cheat sheet about items you can easily grab that'll fit into the diet, as well as a brief guide to dining out.

The main attraction of the book, however, is its food listing. It contains extensive charts of foods, from beans and legumes to condiments, candy bars, fast food, sauces, nuts, pizza, poultry, meats, salad dressings, vegetables, and so on. Each of these comes with a handy set of check boxes for the various phases of the diet. A "G" in this box means that the food is good for you to eat during that phase. "L" is limited (once a week or so), "V" is very limited (once a month or so), and "A" is avoid. This makes it easy to tell at a glance whether it's okay to have something, and roughly how often, without having to get into all sorts of details. I found this contributed greatly over the first couple of weeks to my growing understanding of what I should and shouldn't eat.

Have you ever heard that TV Shows before? It's a British TV showing that "You are is what you eat", how terrible people can be.
I think it's correct.

It's good to know about total carbs and net carbs, total fat and saturated fat, fiber, and sugar that you eat every day.
The food listing is very helpful to find out which one is healthy which one is supposed to be avoided.

Excellent book! It will work and give you a result if you follow it patiently with full confident!

I own both the older edition and the new edition and I find that the new edition is much easier to use. Not only is there an index for most items, but there is a breakdown of the foods by phase, which was lacking in the previous version. It is very helpful, however, I still feel that it is lacking in some food choices. I hope that the next edition has more foods listed.

It takes determination to lose weight and I've always thought the formula to be relatively simple: eat less calories and burn more through exercise. However, it is very difficult to do so. So I turned to South Beach diet. I've found this to be a very practical diet. Also, the science behind the diet especially regarding insulin and the benefits of the diet for the heart is very interesting and informative.
After the initial first two weeks (the strictest) I've lost about 5 pounds. But, I've done no exercise whatsoever and have eating quite a bit which accounts for the lower than the average weight loss.

It takes determination to lose weight and I've always thought the formula to be relatively simple: eat less calories and burn more through exercise. However, it is very difficult to do so. So I turned to South Beach diet. I've found this to be a very practical diet. Also, the science behind the diet especially regarding insulin and the benefits of the diet for the heart is very interesting and informative.
After the initial first two weeks (the strictest) I've lost about 5 pounds. But, I've done no exercise whatsoever and have eating quite a bit which accounts for the lower than the average weight loss.

Very helpful was also another book that I have recently bought. The title is "Can We Live 150 Year" In addition to longevity issues there is also a very good chapter on obesity, proper food combination, etc. It is a very good addition to "South Beach Diet".

The South Beach diet was like a miracle for me. After several years of unsuccessful weight loss attempts on tiny caloric diets, the weight just dropped off me with the South Beach diet.

I originally memorized some foods that I could always count on to be low fat and low glycemic. Over time, my wife would ask me if I could have food X or Y. Since this question always came up at the grocery store or in a restaurant, I couldn't answer her . . . because my copy of the South Beach diet was at home.

I also found that I couldn't remember very well what a portion was without constantly referring to the original book. That was frustrating too.

The South Beach Diet Good Fats Good Carbs Guide proved to be a solution to all of these problems. It has all the information I want about what foods to eat and which to avoid . . . and what a portion size is. Whew! With this guide, the South Beach Diet becomes even easier . . . and tastier too. A lot of foods that I had been avoiding are actually all right on the diet.

The size of this book will fit into almost any purse and jacket pocket. It will even fit into a hip pocket (but it won't be very comfortable to sit on).

If you've liked the South Beach diet, I suggest that you give yourself the gift of this book as well.

If you haven't tried the South Beach diet yet, I suggest that you buy both The South Beach Diet book and this one. You'll do even better, I think, if you do.

Nice job, Dr. Agatston!

There must be something about The South Beach Diet that makes it so popular. However, I think that we in North America, while chasing the perfect body, forgot about what really matters - the perfect health.

I am a creature that trusts everybody, but not without a dose of skepticism. Therefore I always make a point of trying new approaches on my own before expressing any opinion. After going trough The South Beach Diet I realized that Agatston is just updated version of old Atkins. Although these two low carb approaches certainly bring good results from the point of loosing weight, I am not really convinced that this is what one needs to focus on. First of all, it is a hard diet to follow, and sooner or later one is bound to break some of the rules. Secondly, I find that in a healthy diet we need carbs the same way as we need fats and proteins.

Out of all approaches to losing weight, the one that makes most sense to me is presented by Dr. Tombak in his book "Can We Live 150 Year" Using simple language he talks abut all aspect of health and longevity. Following some simple food combination guidelines, and not letting your stomach direct your actions are the basic things that one needs to do. As the author advises: "Eat to live instead of living to eat!" I think that this is the most important thing when considering nutrition. South Beach Diet is good and working, but Agatston missed this one point...

This book is ok but far away to reveal the truth about the Diet and the bad impac on the body. I really like the new book by Jean Carrillo title "What's NEXT?" I learn so much with this book, and stop to lose my money on Diets, Miracles Products etc... A must to Have for the one who really want Burn Fat, Lose Weight and change the life style.

a pretty good reference for most foods. New kinds of foods are coming out all the time so it is a little behind on some things but up to date for the most part. I found it helpful.

This review was written originally in December, 2004 and was about the first edition. Since then, a new edition has appeared, and some of the faults I found with the original book have been addressed. Since the original edition is still available, I have left my review intact. However, I have added comments at the end to address the changes. If you are planning to buy the revised edition, see the comments at the end too.

Original review:
If you are looking for a diet that is easy to follow, does not leave you hungry, is effective, nutritionally balanced, and improves your overall health, the South Beach Diet may be for you. In this companion book to The South Beach Diet book, Dr. Agatston lists many common foods, as well as whether they can be enjoyed in abundance, limited, or avoided completely. While this could have been done with a simple food list, this information is presented in a table that also lists carbs, sugar, and total fat.

The beginning of the book gives a brief overview of the diet, and a discussion of trans fats and why they should be avoided. It also has a discussion of the glycemic index. Although the recommendations in the book are based on glycemic index, glycemic load, and other factors, this information does NOT appear in the tables, purportedly because it's not available for all foods. Leaving it out for that reason, even when known, defies credibility.

As followers of this diet know, it's not about following the glycemic index, or counting calories or carbs. While the GI may serve as a guideline to let you know where foods fit in, it can also be misleading since some foods with similar GI values may not be of equal value to your diet. All this is explained in the main diet book, which gives a brief list of GI values for common foods. Likewise, we are told that total fat is not the big factor, but how much is saturated or trans fat vs unsaturated fats is important. That distinction is not made in the tables, which list total fat.

If a strict look at those factors is not a necessary part of the diet, then why are they in the table? That's not clear. The portion that describes how to use the guide acknowledges that you need not be a slave to the numbers, but the real advice ultimately boils down to following the main diet book, in which case all but the last column (whether and how much to eat) seems irrelevant.

The other problem is that this supposedly complete book is far from complete. It has too many entries for items that are obviously not allowed on the diet, and few entries for what might be suitable substitutes.

If you look at breakfast foods for instance, you'll find bacon and eggs, cereals, and pancakes. Yet you won't find French toast. You may be able to figure it out based on the rules from the diet book, but then why do you need this book? It's not as if processed foods or foods prepared from recipes that may vary were left out. There seems to be no rationale for what's included.

If you do look at cereal, you will find a couple of pages of cereals that are limited or should be avoided completely. But do I really need this book to tell me to avoid Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops if I know how the diet works? Yet if I look at the myriad "healthy" cereals in my supermarket, not one of them is listed in this book. The same is true for the ones in natural food stores, even if they are available nationwide.

I might be able to figure out on my own that Uncle Sam cereal is a good choice, but then why buy the book? On the other hand, I might find another supposedly healthful cereal, and the label may show me that it's whole grain and high in fiber, but has more sugar than I would want. It's foods like these for which I would like the book to give me an idea if it's acceptable.

There are way too many common foods left off the list, which is surprising considering the exhaustive permutations and combinations listed for others. I don't need five pages to tell me that all baked and broiled fish is good, but breaded fish is not. If it's the recommendation that counts, I don't need a separate entry for tuna, canned, light, in water, and different ones for dark tuna in all its permutations, when ultimately, they fall into the same recommendation as other fish.

The bottom line is that if you stick to the main diet book, and manage to work around the flaws in the way it was written, you won't need this guide. This book might be helpful if you are on Atkins or even Weight Watchers, however.

UPDATE:

Although the original edition listed only the total amount of fat for each entry, the new edition lists both total fat and saturated fat. It also lists recommendations based on the phase of the diet, which makes more sense than the former blanket recommendation.

Saturated fats and trans-fats are culprits in a bad diet, so it's good to know the balance of "good fats" to "bad fats." Since trans fats are not listed, a reader cannot assume that whatever is not saturated is a "good fat." But since trans-fat levels will not be listed on nutrition labels until 2006, the advice given to read the ingredient list is the most sensible solution for now. This new way of listing fats is a welcome improvement, and the remaining issue with trans-fat listing is the fault of the food manufacturers, not the book.

The new edition covers many more foods, but still lacks much of what was missing in the first edition. I had mentioned that Uncle Sam cereal was inexplicably missing from the tables, and now it is there. So are many others, especially ones that are co-branded Kraft/South Beach Diet foods. This latter point seems a bit self serving. I doubt that anybody would reasonably expect that South Beach Diet foods would not be compatible with the diet, so it really adds little practical value. Other commonly available cereals that may border on acceptability are still missing, and those are the ones I would use a guide for.

As supermarkets add more and more whole grain foods, it would be helpful if they appeared in a guide such as this. For example, whole grain waffles that are as low in sugar and higher in fiber than SBD branded foods are now easy to find in the market, but are still not in this guide. Many common breakfast cereals are now marketed as whole grain and it's not necessarily clear why they are listed the way they are.

I wondered why something like SBD Whole Grain Crunch was listed as "good" for phase two and three, but Cheerios is listed as "limited," meaning once a week at most. They are identical in calories and almost identical in carbohydrates. But the SBD cereal has four times the sugar and only a gram more fiber. Then I noticed that both this edition and the previous one list six grams of sugar for Cheerios, while the cereal package lists only one gram per serving. A taste test makes it clear that it's the book that's wrong here. While I doubt that it's a deliberate effort to promote his own foods over competing products, having a guide book with such gross errors raises questions. I don't need a book to tell me to avoid virtually all commercial cereals except for the South Beach Diet branded ones.

The book continues to list total carbohydrates, while at the same time, telling the reader that total carbohydrates are irrelevant. Perhaps this column listing would help somebody who is on the Atkins diet, but the author is not recommending the Atkins diet.

The second edition is an improvement over the first edition. If a food is listed as good for a given phase, it's probably a good food to eat. But if it's not listed, reading the ingredients and the nutrition label for the food is still the best bet. Skimming through the book may help to give an idea of what foods are good or bad, but if you are in a supermarket, the package in front of you may be a better indicator than the book.

If you feel that it's more important to gain a strong understanding of how the diet works and to be able to figure out on your own what foods will work, then the main diet book is much more helful for that. If you are more interested in picking foods and using recipes because somebody gives it a stamp of approval, and you don't want to risk making a bad choice, then using this guide in conjunction with the South Beach Diet cook books will provide you with tools you need.

This is one of those books that guides you through the rocky waters of life to a smooth and happy existence living well.

Some others that I would also recommend along these same lines would be...

"Voice Lessons to Go" a CD by Ariella
and
"New Sex Now" DVD or Video guide to life's Ultimate Pleasure
and
"The Artist's Way."