Phase 2 is the long haul, so fortunately you get to add some tasty carbs back into the plan. You're going to start adding back in some fruit, sweet potatoes, whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, and brown rice. Your weight loss is going to slow down a bit when you do this, but it is important that you introduce these foods back to your plan for a balanced diet. Start by adding a serving a day, and continue as long as you are still losing weight. If you've quit losing, or begin to gain weight, you need to move back to Phase 1, or at least cut back on some of the carbs that you started.

Still out of bounds on South Beach are white flours and potatoes, carrots, corn, bananas, sugar, honey, cookies, cakes, etc. The key is low sugar, whole grains, and good fats. It can be hard to add in just the right amount of carbs. If you have problems with this, it is strongly recommended that you join an online menu service. eDiets has low glycemic menus, and you can also join online at The South beach Diet Online. (www.southbeachdiet.com) This can eliminate confusion, cut the distress from menu planning and looking up ingredients, and it can also calculate your portion size. Portion sizes are not very specific on the plan. Instead, you are to learn to eat until no longer hungry. Well if you could do that, would you be overweight? Makes an online plan look even better! You might be stumped on lunch, and are tired of a chicken breast, broccoli and brown rice. That might get old after a while, but if you have an online service, you might find tasty meals like Smoked Turkey Pitas with raspberries. Yum! That sounds like a diet that we can stick with.

As a side note, the South Beach Diet wants you to take a multi-vitamin daily, take calcium supplements, drink plenty of water, and cut caffeine down to a minimum.

Phase 3 is the rest of your life. Basically, you go back to 'normal' proportions, which is basically adding a handful to each phase 2 meal. You can splurge for dessert more often, or eat more bread, but you will need to watch your calories to see how it sneaks up on you. Again, an online service would supply you with shopping lists and menus so you don't have to do the work.

[Continue to part three of the South Beach Diet review -including sample menus!]