Many people who have heard about the south beach diet but not actually read the book themselves, wonder how the south beach diet works. And the answer is actually quite complicated. In fact, at least half of the south beach diet book focuses on how and why the diet works so well.

The human body is a complicated machine. Many people today however, have made their body fat by giving it the wrong fuels. Most American's live on foods which are very high in sugar and simple starches, and those foods are more fattening for most people than high fat foods are. The body experiences a sharp, drastic rise in blood sugar when these types of foods are eaten, and then responds by releasing extra insulin to dispatch the extra sugar. Once that excess sugar has been dealt with though, the body then has extra insulin circulating, and it screams out for more sugar so the insulin has something to do.

This creates a vicious cycle inside the body that involves food cravings. People eat something high in sugar and feel a quick rush of pleasure and energy from eating it. Then within just an hour or two, that rush is gone because the blood sugar levels have dropped quite low again, so they start craving more food. And when the body is craving food, it's usually in the form of sugar because this is the quickest energy source is knows.

By cutting out most, if not all the sugars we're eating, we can make drastic and fast differences with how our body processes and responds to foods. The problem though, is that simple sugar is not the only issue. Simple starches and foods which are high in quick carbohydrates are also converted to sugar in our bodies, so these need to be limited as well.

This is just a very brief overview of how the south beach diet works, but generally you severely limit the amount of simple sugars and starches that you eat on a daily basis. You're not limiting carbs in general though. Part of how the south beach diet works revolves around the concept of good carbs vs. bad carbs. By learning about good carbs, and learning about the glycemic load different foods put on your body, you can start making much healthier choices in the foods you eat. And those choices also help you lose extra body fat very quickly.

Most people carry their extra body fat around their waist, and the good news is that with how the south beach diet works, this is often the first place people start losing the extra body fat too. Carrying body fat on your stomach is usually a sign that your body is not handling the sugar loads and balances well. In fact, most people who have a lot of extra fat on their stomach are prime candidates for diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems.

The south beach diet works however, by teaching how all these things affect the internal workings of your body. It teaches you how and why the extra body fat is there, plus it teaches you the best way to get rid of it while not starving yourself and not eating unhealthy foods.