Extreme game of Tag (Parkour/Free Running)

If you would like the director to make a Q&A video to answer all your questions about the video, please email scotskid on youtube. This has to be seen to be believed, it has aired on TV channels worldwide and has been talked about in newspapers and magazines. Shot on location in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, and with music by The Beastie Boys (body movin’) this video is sure to get you watching again and again. Directed by Neil Stewart aka Scotskid.

Insoles Reduce Impact for Runners

MADISON – For many, running isn’t merely a sport or hobby. For the avid, running is an intricate system of punishments and rewards. And the rewards – health, fitness and the physical and psychological satisfaction of pursuing a challenging goal – are made more difficult because of a common punishment – injury.

Stress fractures, shin splints, plantar fasciitis – runners go to great lengths to avoid these obstacles that prevent them from pounding out their weekly miles. They search for the right shoe, the right stride and the right training routine.

In a study recently published in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, two UW Health researchers examined an affordable and easy method that may reduce impact force injuries common to distance running.

Katy O’Leary, a physical therapist at the UW Health Rehabilitation and Athletic Performance Clinic who specializes in athletic injuries, joined Bryan Heiderscheit, PhD, an associate professor in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and director of UW Health Sports Medicine’s Runners Clinic, to examine the beneficial aspects of shock-absorbing insoles placed in running shoes.

While the results of the study stop short of guaranteeing a reduction in injury for runners, O’Leary and Heiderscheit did find that insoles significantly reduce impact forces associated with running.

The Study

Podiatrychannel.com, a health information Web site maintained by board-certified podiatry physicians, lauds running as great exercise but cautions about the toll it takes on the body.

Jogging, the Web site states, "generates forces equivalent to at least three times the body’s weight (with each step). It is important to do everything possible to protect the feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back vertebrae."

To find if cushioned insoles provide such protection, O’Leary and Heiderscheit recruited 16 recreational runners from the Madison area. All were between 20 and 36 years old and screened to eliminate anyone with a recent history of lower-extremity injury.

"They had to run an average of 20 miles per week and couldn’t have any neurological or musculoskeletal impairments that wouldn’t allow them to run comfortably," O’Leary says about the selection process.

The subjects were given identical shoes and asked to perform 10 15-meter trials during which they ran at their own pace across a force plate, which measures a runner’s ground reaction force (the force projected back up through the body while running). To ensure the runners used their normal stride, they were not told to hit the force plate with their right foot, the foot from which O’Leary and Heiderscheit derived the data.

Accelerometers were attached to the subjects’ ankles to measure the amount of tibial acceleration that occurred while they ran. O’Leary and Heiderscheit were also careful to monitor the consistency of the subjects’ knee angles when their feet hit the force plate, because widely varying angles could have skewed the results.

Five of the trials were conducted with only shoes. For the remaining five, subjects used insoles, manufactured by the Ohio-based company Sorbothane. O’Leary and Heiderscheit both stressed that Sorbothane was not involved in any phase of the study, other than the insole donation.

"They were blind to everything until we sent them the final results paper," Heiderscheit said.

The Results

"We found a couple of good things," O’Leary says. "When the runners had the insoles in, there was a significant reduction in the ground reaction force at the initial contact point."

On average, the ground reaction force was nearly 7 percent less with the insoles. It may seem like a paltry number, but remember that’s 7 percent less force per step.

"When you think of a 7 percent reduction for, say, a 10-mile run, that’s a lot," Heiderscheit says.

Tibial acceleration also decreased, by 15.8 percent. Both factors are considered potential culprits for impact force injuries.

Ramifications

O’Leary and Heiderscheit emphasize the study results do not definitively prove that cushioned insoles reduce running injuries. That’s a much larger task and would require a more elaborate setup.

"We couldn’t come out and say it’s going to reduce injuries but it certainly has the potential to," Heiderscheit says. "The piece we’re missing is following these people over time. We’d have to account for their training differences."

Still, both are encouraged sufficiently to broach the subject with their patients.

"In my practice I’m willing to say, ‘Try it out,’ " O’Leary says. "If it’s uncomfortable, you’re probably not going to run normally. But if you have a pair of insoles that you’re comfortable with and you feel good about it, there’s a chance it might help reduce your risk. It’s something I’m willing to put out there."
And Heiderscheit believes the benefit of insoles is more likely to be reaped by casual runners rather than hard-core trainers who have their sights set on future marathons or Ironman competitions.

"If you’re putting in 10 to 12 miles per week, your body’s adaptation to those types of impacts will be much slower and you won’t have the same level of tissue strength as somebody who’s putting in 50 miles per week," he says.

Plus, the insoles could save money, because they protect not only the runner from impact force but insulate shoes from trauma, as well. With insoles at about $15 to $20 per pair, they’re a relative bargain compared with shoes that often cost $100 or more.

"Shoes are expensive but insoles are cheap," Heiderscheit says. "They can get you maybe an extra 200 miles out of your shoe."

 

Caffeine, exercise may help ward off skin cancer

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Exercise and moderate caffeine consumption together could help ward off sun-induced skin cancer, researchers said on Monday, but cautioned against ditching the sun screen in favor of a jog and a cappuccino.

Experiments on mice showed that caffeine and exercise together somehow made them better able to destroy precancerous cells whose DNA had been damaged by ultraviolet-B radiation, according to scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

"We think that it will be important in terms of prevention, and possibly not only for skin cancer but possibly for other cancers as well," Rutgers cancer researcher Allan Conney, one of the scientists, said in a telephone interview.

The researchers studied groups of hairless mice that were exposed to lamps generating ultraviolet-B radiation that damaged DNA in their skin cells.

One group drank water containing the human equivalent of one or two cups of coffee a day. A second group exercised on a running wheel. A third group exercised and drank the caffeine. A fourth group neither exercised nor drank caffeine.

Both caffeine and exercise alone increased by roughly 100 percent the mice's ability to kill off precancerous cells that could lead to skin cancer compared to the mice that did neither. But the mice that did both showed a nearly 400 percent increase in this ability, the researchers found.

The researchers are eager to discover if the findings would apply to humans, but in the meantime warned people not to give up the sunscreen.

"Don't go out and exercise and drink a lot of coffee and assume you're going to be protected," Conney said.

"Keep in mind that these are studies in mice. Although I think that they may be applicable to humans, it really has to be studied carefully before we can say that," Conney added.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers said some previous studies have provided evidence that exercise and caffeine consumption through coffee may be linked to reduced risk for some other cancers.

STUDYING COMBINATION

Conney said they want to figure out precisely how the combination of caffeine and exercise seems to have a protective effect against skin damage caused by the sun.

"It's great that people are doing research looking for different ways to help reduce the risk of skin cancer," dermatologist Dr. Bruce Katz, a spokesman for the Skin Cancer Foundation and the director of the Juva Skin & Laser Center in New York City, said in a telephone interview.

But the study provided "extremely preliminary data," and there is no evidence of such an effect in people, Katz added.

The foundation said skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, with more than 1 million people diagnosed with it annually.

 

Triathlon: The Early History of the Sport

Four years before the "Ironman", on September 25, 1974, the first triathlon was held on Mission Bay in San Diego (Usa/California). It was directed and conceived by Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan and sponsored by the San Diego Track Club. What follows is the story of the beginnings of this new sport as remembered by one of its founders, Jack Johnstone.

In 1971, at age 35, I joined millions of other Americans in the jogging craze. As was the case with so many others, I’d been growing increasingly disgusted with my ever-expanding waistline and general physical deterioration. One thing led to another, and before I knew it I was competing in road races, which at that time, were relatively small (and inexpensive) affairs. My previous athletic career had been eight years as a high school and college swimmer. Despite being named to the 1957 Collegiate and AAU All-American teams in the 100 yard breast stroke, my overall performances had been rather mediocre. After a year or so of competitive running, I was still struggling to regain my athletic mediocrity. Then, in 1973, I heard about the "Dave Pain Birthday Biathlon", to be staged for the second time on July 28. A 4.5 mile run followed by what was billed as a quarter-mile swim (the actual distance was between 200 and 300 yards). My race! I thought. How many of these runners can swim? I found out. I can’t remember my exact place, and the full results aren’t available, but I think I came in somewhere around fourteenth. Nothing to write home about, but a lot better than I’d been doing in road races.

In much better shape the following year, I broke into the top ten. That rather modest success got me to thinking, There should be more of these races, and the swim should be longer. Someone else wasn’t going to do it. If I wanted it to happen, I had to make it happen. I conceived of a run-swim biathlon with equal emphasis on the two disciplines, and several alternate legs. The initial run could be done in racing shoes, but subsequent running legs would have to be barefoot on a suitable surface (grass or sand). The Fiesta Island area of Mission Bay, where Dave Pain’s race had been staged, was almost perfect. I designed a course, then called Bill Stock, the San Diego Track Club Calendar Chairman, and told him of my plans. He said he would put it on the calendar, and the rest was up to me. As an afterthought, he suggested I call Don Shanahan, who also had some strange event in mind. Maybe we could combine our ideas so there wouldn’t be too many "weird" races on the schedule. I called Don and he told me that he wanted to include a biking leg. I wasn’t too thrilled with the suggestion, having never cycled competitively (I didn’t even own a bike). But what the hell, I thought, let’s go for it. We decided to call the event the "Mission Bay Triathlon".

Neither Don nor I had put on a race before and we had a lot to learn. We leaned on friends and relatives and signed up as many volunteers as we could. The race had to be held late in the summer to allow enough time for publicity. We chose Wednesday, September 25, 1974 as our date, there being no available weekend time slots on the calendar. Our brief notice in the September Issue of the "San Diego Track Club Newsletter" read as follows:

It seems strange to me now that we thought it necessary to include the sentence about bringing bikes. I think someone must have asked me if they’d be provided. I haven’t been able to find any record of the entry fee, but I think it was one dollar. One minor, but memorable experience I had was when I ordered the award trophies. The trophy maker called and asked how to spell "triathlon". He hadn’t found it in any dictionary. I thought, Well, if it’s not in any dictionary, the word must not exist. It’s up to me how to spell it. Given the spellings "pentathlon", "heptathlon", and "decathlon", I guess there wasn’t really much choice, but it seemed like a lot of power at the time.

Our main concern was having enough entrants to make the event credible. I was afraid the inclusion of a bike leg might cut down on the field to the degree that no one would take the race seriously. I drew up a map of the course and took it around to several of the track club events and tried to encourage the athletes to try something new. At one of these I ran into Bill Phillips, a previous winner of the "Dave Pain Biathlon". It took very little encouragement to get a commitment from him. Donna Gookin, who directed a running group at the time, said she’d bring her entire crowd to the race and have as many as were willing enter it. I prevailed on my surfing son Bill Swanson and two of his friends, Joel Rear and Rick Terrazis, to lifeguard along with Jeannie Lenheart, whom I knew from work.

The winner was expected to finish under an hour, but some competitors could take twice that long. Darkness could conceivably be a problem, so we arranged for a few cars to have their headlights directed on the last, short swimming segment (Don remembers this as a last minute, hurry up solution).

On race day 46 eager contenders toed the line. This significantly exceeded our expectations for a never before staged race being held on a weekday evening. An injury kept Don from competing, but I just had to do it. We shared the pre-race responsibilities, but he was the director once the event began. My recollections of the race are fuzzy after so many years years. I don’t recall the first run at all, but remember a little about the second leg. Most of the bikes I saw were beach cruisers and three speeds. Riding a primitive 10 speed Volkscycle, I had one of the quality machines in the field. On the second biking loop, I passed a young lady on a beach cruiser, still on her first time around. I later learned her name was Barbara Stalder. As I went by I remember thinking, Darkness is going to be a problem. I don’t know if Barbara ever competed in another triathlon, but that evening she earned the distinction of coming in last in the first.

As I dismounted my bike and tried to run, my legs felt like they didn’t belong to my body. I let out a moan of anguish and remember someone yelling to me, "Well, it was your idea!". Now, a quarter of a century later, I think, Inspired by Dave and along with Don, it was my idea. In this small way, I changed the world; the course of athletic history. Somehow I did manage to get my legs working again and picked up several places on the swim, though I remember Bill Phillips finishing his second crossing of Leisure Lagoon as I was starting my first. After finishing in sixth place, I started helping Don with the finish line. Sure enough, it was well after dark when the last of the first triathletes made their way across the inlet to the finish.

Most of the competitors went for pizza after the race, and I could tell that everyone, even Barbara, had had a great time. There was no doubt we were on to something. Reflecting now on that first event years ago, I marvel that we were able to draw such an impressive field under the circumstances. These were not triathletes. There was no such thing at the time. None were into cross-training, a term not yet coined. Most didn’t own racing bikes and some were marginal swimmers at best. Yet they had the adventuresome spirit to come out after a hard day’s work and with only two weeks notice to participate in a new athletic event. Few of the names listed in the results will be familiar to today’s triathletes, but if it weren’t for them, the new sport may have died on the cloudy evening on Mission Bay. One name which almost any triathlete will recognize, however, is listed in thirtyfifth place. John Collins, who four years later would found the event which brought international attention to the new sport, had just completed his first triathlon.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to the volunteers, who are necessary for the successful staging of any race. My wife Betty worked in many capacities, but remembers most being chief shoe collector. She headed the team that picked up the shoes from the start of the first swim, stuffed them in plastic bags, and delivered them to the staging area. They were wet, sandy, and smelly. It wasn’t a pleasant job.

Don and I planned three more races for the following summer. Tim Cohalen volunteered to direct the popular two person triathlon relay. During the next few years the events became more popular and saw the emergence of a few athletes who considered the triathlon their specialty. Among these were Tom Warren, winner of the second "Ironman", Wally and Wayne Buckingham, and two time "Ironman" champion Scott Tinley. The Coronado Optimist Club began to sponsor triathlons a short time later. Their races started with biking, followed by an ocean swim and a short run. To my knowledge, these were the only other triathlons to precede the "Ironman".

We stopped sponsoring the event in the early eighties, but by that time the "Ironman" had caught the attention of the media and the sport of triathlon was well on its way. On October 23, 1998, the "Founders Day Triathlon" was held on Mission Bay to commemorate the first triathlon almost a quarter century before. The next day Dave, Don, Bill, and I, along with Tom Warren, became the original inductees into Triathlon Hall of Fame.

Mission Bay Triathlon, September 25, 1974 – 1st Bill Phillips 55:44, 2nd Greg Gillaspie 56:49, 3rd Dave Mitchell 56:57, 4th Jim Young 57:05, 5th Gordon Lutes 59:40, 6th Jack Johnstone 62:18, 7th Richard Fleming 64.01, 8th Bob Letson 64:14, 9th Tom Rothhaar 64:26, 10th John Garty 65:31, 11th Dale Larabee 65:44, 12th Bill Lee 66:04, 13th Pain and Gervais 66:04, 14th Ed Gookin 66:04, 15th Joe Bruce 66:41, 16th Pete Negaard 67:29, 17th Mike Welch 67:38, 18th Armen Johnson 67:40, 19th Rubin Collins 68:18, 20th Rick Sacory 68:25, 21st Ed Stalder 68:49, 22nd Ron Sandvick 71:23, 23rd Eileen Water 71:43, 24th Steve Parson 72:44, 25th Dan Abbott 74:05, 26th Greg Holmes 74:39, 27th Bob Holmes 74:40, 28th Flo Squires 74:45, 29th Herman Platzke 75:29, 30th Judy Collins 77:21, 31st Richard Fromen 78:02, 32nd Gail Hanna 78:12, 33rd Kristin Collins 78:56, 34th Michael Collins 79:10, 35th John Collins 79:19, 36th George Moore 79:27, 37th Bob Potthof 81:16, 38th Arne Dixner 81:47, 39th Jim Waters 84:03, 40th Jerry Mailhot 86:15, 41st Donna Gookin 86:52, 42nd Mayanne Garty 89:14, 43rd Joanne Bartlet 89:25, 44th Karen Gookin 90:20, 45th Sharon Buntrock 90:30, 46th Barbara Stalder 94:51.

 

Break Your Bad Running Habits

 

In 2001, Melisa Christian was a 3:30 marathoner plagued by stomach cramps and frequent porta-potty stops. But she never sought a doctor’s help. "I thought it was either a normal part of training or race-day anxiety," says the 31-year-old Dallas dentist. Three years later, Christian was diagnosed with food intolerances. After she eliminated wheat and dairy from her diet, her symptoms vanished. In November, she ran a 2:41:57 personal best in New York City. "I no longer have the mindset that because I’m a runner I can’t benefit from a checkup," she says.

Running makes us fit, not invincible. When we neglect our bodies’ basic needs, we can’t go as far or, as Christian discovered, as fast. Breaking your bad habits with these easy fixes will make you a better runner, not to mention a happier, healthier person.

BAD HABIT: You Are Your Own Medic
We runners are often hyperaware of our bodies, and when something’s "off," we’re quick to self-diagnose and treat. We’ll ice a tight hamstring, pop ibuprofen, and hobble through lingering pain. Big mistake, says Lewis G. Maharam, M.D., medical director of the New York Road Runners and Team in Training. "Minor injuries could turn into serious issues like muscle tears or stress fractures."

BREAK IT :
When you have a nagging ache or pain, the sooner you see a doctor—preferably a sports-medicine specialist—the faster you’ll be back on track. An expert who recognizes that you’re an overpronator, for example, could offer better insights on treating your iliotibial band syndrome. If you’ve been sluggish on runs, schedule a checkup. Asthma, a heart murmur, high blood pressure, or anemia can sap energy levels. Ask your doc to test your blood’s iron stores. "Serum ferritin, a protein responsible for iron storage, can become depleted, which is associated with slower recovery and declining performances," says Dr. Maharam.

BAD HABIT: You Never Stretch
It’s hard to squeeze in runs some days, never mind stretching. But tight muscles can contribute to shinsplints, plantar fasciitis, and muscle pulls, which could sideline you for weeks. Improved flexibility also shortens recovery time; looser muscles are more receptive to glycogen replacement, which accelerates healing, says Skip Stolley, director of VS Athletics Track Club in Santa Monica, California.

BREAK IT:
Your muscles get the most benefit from stretching postrun. Ideally, you’d tack on a 15-minute flexibility routine to your workout. No time? Drop a six-miler to a five-miler and use those leftover minutes to hit your calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes. "You’re not hurting your workout—you’re enhancing it," says Stolley. "The benefits of stretching will do your body more good than could be done by running that mile."

BAD HABIT: You’re a Night Owl
Runners who shortchange sleep compromise recovery, immunity, and mental sharpness, which can turn an easy workout into a grueling one. "Sleep enhances the restoration of cells that are damaged from running," says Ralph Downey, Ph.D., chief of sleep medicine at California’s Loma Linda University Medical Center. Getting enough shut-eye can also ward off "effort headaches." A 1999 study found that distance runners experienced twice the number of headaches as nonrunners. Downey says this is most likely due to the dilation of blood vessels and sinuses that occurs during exercise. The good news: The headaches occurred less often when the runners got more sleep.

BREAK IT:
Some people are fine with five hours, others require 10. Runners who put greater demands on their bodies tend to benefit from the higher end of that range, says Downey. Note how many hours you get each night in your training log. Review it and look for patterns. Once you figure out your target number, try to hit it each night, particularly during the week leading up to a race.

BAD HABIT: You Forgo Sunscreen
In 2007, the Archives of Dermatology reported that runners are at a higher risk of developing skin cancer than nonrunners. Researchers found that the occurrence of skin abnormalities increased with mileage, not only because of increased sun exposure, but perhaps because training can suppress immune function, making the body more susceptible to the sun’s ill effects. Another study named sweat as a contributor to UV-related skin damage; perspiration increases the photosensitivity of skin, which makes it more prone to burning. "The sun is definitely a job hazard for distance runners," says Deena Kastor, 2004 Olympic Marathon medalist, who was diagnosed with squamous-cell carcinoma and melanoma in 2001.

BREAK IT:
Before every run, put on a water- or sweat-proof SPF 15 lotion that shields against UVA and UVB rays, says Rodney Basler, M.D., past chairman of the American Academy of Dermatology’s Task Force on Sports Medicine. If you have fair skin or a family history of melanoma, follow Kastor’s example: She slathers on sunscreen, wears sun-protective clothing, and avoids midday runs.

BAD HABIT: You Never Rest
Overtraining can cause persistent soreness, suppressed immunity, injuries, moodiness, and loss of motivation. "Rest isn’t the absence of training, it’s an important component of it," Stolley says. "During recovery periods, your cardiovascular and muscular systems are restored and rebuilt to a higher level—that’s where all performance gains are made."

BREAK IT:
Every training program should have a rest day in addition to two or three easy days (shorter, less-intense runs following harder efforts) each week. If you didn’t have a strenuous week, it’s okay to cross-train—go for a hike or swim, take a yoga class, or treat your dog to a long walk. But if you’re coming off a high-mileage week, reward yourself with a day of total rest. Schedule a massage or breakfast with a friend so you’ll feel like the time off was well spent.

 

 

 

That Little Voice Inside Your Twinge

 

South Beach Diet

 

Definition

The South Beach diet is a three-phase, carbohydrate-restrictive diet. It emphasizes foods that are low on the glycemic index (GI) and low in saturated fat, such as lean meats, vegetables, cheeses, nuts, and eggs. Unlike other carbohydrate-restrictive diets, such as the Atkins and Zone diets, the South Beach diet promotes "good" carbohydrates, such as whole grains and fruit.

Origins

The creator of the South Beach diet, Dr. Arthur Agatston, is considered a leading cardiologist and is the director of the Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Miami Beach. Originally, he had intended to design an eating plan to improve the cholesterol and insulin levels of his patients. However, Dr. Agatston soon discovered that his patients also lost weight on his plan. After further research, he approached Marie Almon, R.D., chief clinical dietician at the hospital, to help develop the eating plan into an effective diet. The results became the South Beach diet. Having sold more than a million copies since its publication in April 2003, The South Beach Diet book has remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year.

Benefits

The primary benefit of the South Beach diet is considered by many to be its initial rapid and significant weight loss—8–13 lb (4–6 kg) in the first two weeks. After the first two weeks, weight loss continues at a slower rate, averaging 1–2 lb (0.4–1 kg) weekly. In addition to weight loss, the diet reduces cholesterol and insulin levels, thus reducing the risks of diabetes and heart disease. It is claimed that the diet is easy to follow because it is designed to eliminate cravings and has more flexible food options after the first two weeks.

Description

In his book, The South Beach Diet, Dr. Agatston states that "this diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat." Instead, the diet focuses on eating the "good" carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and "good" fats (olive oil and nuts) rather than eliminating them from the diet entirely.

Dr. Agatston based the core of his dietary plan around the glycemic index –the increase in blood sugar levels by foods containing carbohydrates during a set amount of time.

After consumption, food is metabolized into sugars and promotes the release of the hormone insulin. When the blood contains excess sugar, insulin removes it from the blood stream by storing it in cells, including fat cells. High-glycemic carbohydrates (greater than 70 GI) are metabolized rapidly, which causes elevated insulin production. High levels of insulin result in more blood sugar being stored as fat, thus causing weight gain. This pattern induces craving for more carbohydrates, thus leading to the consumption of more high-GI foods. Low to moderate-GI foods, however, raise insulin levels more slowly and sugars are metabolized more effectively, thus reducing the amount of blood sugar stored as fat. Cravings for more food is reduced. In addition, by eating these low-GI foods, the risk of insulin resistance that can lead to atherosclerosis and diabetes is reduced. As such, Dr. Agatston designed the South Beach diet to promote foods low on the GI and eliminate the body’s craving for high-GI foods.

The South Beach diet consists of three phases. Phase one is the strictest part of the diet and lasts for two weeks. The purpose of Phase one is to banish the dieter’s cravings for high-GI foods such as bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, and sugar. Alcohol, fruits, cereal, and such vegetables as carrots and corn are also restricted during Phase one. Instead, protein-rich foods are emphasized, such as lean meat, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, and vegetables. Coffee and tea are also allowed. Three regular-sized meals are eaten each day, supplemented by mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks as well as dessert. During this period, the body chemistry will change dramatically until cravings for high-GI foods are eliminated and insulin resistance is improved/lowered. In addition, rapid weight loss is typically experienced.

Phase two reintroduces several of the restricted foods and encourages eating from all the dietary food groups, the expected result being that the body will neither crave high-GI foods nor store food as excess fat to the same degree. Such high-fiber carbohydrates as whole-wheat pasta and bread and most fruits are now permitted. Moderation remains the key to success for this phase and low-GI foods are strongly encouraged. Phase two continues until the dieter reaches his or her ideal weight, ideally averaging a loss of one to two pounds per week.

Phase three, the ultimate goal, focuses solely on weight maintenance. Having reached the ideal weight, the dieter now makes the changed eating habits a lifestyle from this point forward. Basic dietary techniques are still maintained. Only the high-GI foods and "bad" fats from the previous two phases continue to be restricted. Altered body chemistry will promote long-term cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of diabetes. Should weight gain occur, Phase one of South Beach diet is reintroduced until the weight goal is achieved.

Preparations

There are no initial preparations required for the South Beach diet. However, as with most diets, it is wise to consult with a physician beforehand. Blood testing for insulin, glucose, and cholesterol levels is suggested. It is strongly recommended that dieters taking medications for medical conditions such as heart disease consult a physician before going on the South Beach diet. Similarly, diabetics on insulin or other medications are advised to have a doctor monitor their blood sugar regularly and determine if they are at risk of kidney impairment while on the diet. It is also recommended that a registered dietitian be consulted to determine the dietary needs of certain medical conditions, such as pregnancy.

Precautions

The South Beach diet is not recommended for people suffering from or at risk of kidney problems. The diet’s high protein content can place increased strain on the kidneys, possibly causing long-term damage as well as kidney stones and bone loss. Additionally, the possibility of ketosis-induced dehydration during Phase one can increase the risk of further kidney impairment. Dehydration occurs when the body experiences water loss with accompanying loss of important blood salts like potassium and sodium. Ketosis occurs when carbohydrates are not available and the body burns an excessive amount of fat, during which some ketones, or fat fragments, are excreted. The restrictive nature of Phase one may also induce mineral and vitamin deficiencies. Remaining in Phase one of the diet for longer than two weeks greatly increases the risk of losing bone and muscle mass. Dieters should remain in Phase one for no longer than three or four weeks.

Some nutrition professionals contend that the South Beach diet menus provided in the book lack important nutritional information and detailed portion sizes as well as specific substitutes for foods the dieter cannot or will not eat. They claim that these aspects, combined with the restrictive nature of the diet, can make sticking with the South Beach diet on a long-term basis difficult for some people. Also, they assert that the diet does not emphasize an exercise regimen and that exercise is vitally important to avoid the loss of muscle and bone mass, especially during Phase one of the diet.

Side Effects

Despite Dr. Agatston’s claims to the contrary, the South Beach diet is both a low carbohydrate and a low fat diet. For this reason, one main concern regarding the diet is the risk of ketosis, especially during Phase one. Ketosis can cause such symptoms as dehydration, dizziness, heart palpitations, fatigue, lightheadedness, and irritability. Hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, headaches, and excessive fluid loss are also commonly associated with this diet. Cramping and tired muscles can be incited by salt depletion. Kidney functions can be impaired, possibly leading to serious health issues. Kidney function can be further impaired by the diet’s high protein requirements. These side effects typically lessen or fade at the beginning of Phase two, when a more balanced diet is undertaken.

Research & General Acceptance

Unlike the majority of low-carbohydrate diets, the medical community generally accepts the South Beach diet. The South Beach diet contains all the major food groups, promotes ingestion of "good" fats for maintaining heart health, and is flexible enough to accommodate most dietary needs.

However, many clinicians and dietitians agree that the rapid initial weight loss results mostly from water loss. Much of this weight can return once the dieter rehydrates.

Another important criticism by medical and nutritional professionals is the lack of evidence to support Dr. Agatston’s claims connecting the consumption of low-GI foods and weight loss. They assert that as of the early 2000s, there is no scientific proof that eating low-GI foods will have any more weight loss effect than eating a normal, calorie-reduced diet that includes carbohydrates; that Dr. Agatston also fails to take into account the interaction of different foods when eaten together, which can dramatically alter glucose metabolism; and that this failure means that utilizing the Glycemic Index as a gauge for what foods to eat is not only confusing but also slightly misleading.