I always get caught up in fad diets and the South Beach diet was no different for me. I did have high hopes, though, that this book would help me with recipes that would be more filling and would taste better than the usual diet recipes. The cookbook, overall, is okay and somewhat encouraging but the recipes really left a lot to be desired. All of the recipes seemed really detailed and time consuming. While that may be fine for some, that wasn't what I was looking for. I consider myself to be pretty proficent in the kitchen, but these were pretty over the top. I did try a few of the recipes and didn't feel that the end result was worth the work. If you try this, I hope it works for you, but it definitely was a flop for me!