South Beach Diet - US vs. World

 by: Laura Ciocan

Diets concern especially Americans as they do have a "national weight problem". So it would only be natural that dieting issues be so over proportioned in the US. Also, "miracle diet recipes" are very popular and make way rapidly into people's minds. This also happened with the South Beach Diet – the diet that will not only allow you get rid of a lot of weight rapidly without starving but will also help you improve your health condition.

Being so popular, diets have even gained the power of influencing the food commerce and industry. If you wonder how, well, food producers that have been educated for a while to flexibly follow the demands of the market in order to be competitive, came out with their offer of diet-friendly product versions, attracting customers in their yard.

It seems that in countries outside the US, although people have heard of the diet, generally they are not very anxious to give up their eating habits in favor of a not so very well studied diet. Yet, Dr. Agatston's "South Beach Diet" book is said to have been sold to more than 20 countries.

In Canada, low-carbs diets have gained some popularity but not to the extent they have in the US. And this happens only at mass level. The federal department Health Canada will issue new labeling rules and regulations to prevent manufacturers from making low-carb claims for their products, as the official opinion is that popular low-carbohydrate diets are nutritionally unsound.

Well, the question is whether the European and Asian countries, that have a food history and tradition will be influenced by the this low carb craze. And it seems that they have no reason to be as they are doing very well on their traditional eating.

Most likely to "enroll" are the British that have begun to face the same obesity problem. Popularization of the diet is being made in India, as well.

The low-carbs matter is hardly known in countries as France, Italy or Germany where French baguettes, Italian pasta and potatoes are almost sacred. From the European countries the healthiest diet that is being practiced is the Mediterranean diet that basically resembles the South Beach diet, only it is much older.