The South Beach diet is a diet plan started by Miami, Florida, area cardiologist Arthur Agatston which emphasizes the consumption of "good carbohydrates" and "good fats". Dr. Agatston developed this diet for his cardiac patients based upon his study of scientific dieting research. The diet first appeared in a book of the same name published by Rodale Press. The official website of the diet can be found at South Beach Diet Online.Dr. Agatston believes that excess consumption of so-called "bad carbohydrates", such as the rapidly-absorbed carbohydrates found in foods with a high glycemic index, creates an insulin resistance syndrome—an impairment of the hormone insulin's ability to properly process fat or sugar. In addition, he believes along with many physicians that excess consumption of "bad fats", such as saturated fat and trans fat, contributes to an increase in cardiovascular disease. To prevent these two conditions, Agatston's diet minimizes consumption of bad fats and bad carbohydrates and encourages increased consumption of good fats and good carbohydrates.The diet has three phases. In all phases of the diet, Dr. Agatston recommends minimizing consumption of bad fats.

Hot on the heels of a bill that proposes to ban obese customers from dining in restaurants, a new bill bans restaurants from hiding calories inside mixed green salads, paillards of chicken breast, mashed potatoes and chicken club sandwiches. I wish.

The complete meal is just 263 calories including dessert!

Giada De Laurentiis, host of Everyday Italian on the Food Network cooks with a lot of pasta, chicken, olive oil and Italian meats such as Pruscuitto and Pancetta. How many calories does each serving contain and how much does it cost?

The food served at neighborhood casual-dining chain restaurants is positively loaded with fat, calories and sodium, in amounts far surpassing those usually found in fast-food meals. Sodium ranged from a low of 245 milligrams (lightly dressed salad) to 4,450 (chicken fajitas). Also see http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2007/11/07/calorie_confidential

My favorite, the Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled, is a whopping 350 calories. Seems a lot, till you figure that its about the same as a McChicken (http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.index1.html) or a Whopper Jr. (http://www.bk.com/Nutrition/PDFs/brochure.pdf). I think I'll stick with the doughnut. How about you?