Finally, once you reach a healthy weight for you, you'll enter Phase 3. At this point, you'll know what you can eat while maintaining your health and your weight. Since there is no list of forbidden foods in Phase 3, you'll have more latitude when it comes to enjoying occasional items you were not allowing yourself in Phase 2. As long as you stick to the principles of your South Beach lifestyle and remember to monitor how your particular body responds to the foods you are eating, you'll continue to improve your health and maintain your weight, while enjoying a host of wonderful foods and a way of life that has now become second nature.

If you're looking after your family's health as well as your own, you're in luck. Kids will love the home-cooked meals you'll make from this book. Dishes like Baked Barbecue Chicken, Pork Fajitas, the South Beach Classic Burger, South Beach Macaroni and Cheese, and Tempeh Tacos will appeal to the whole family. It is important that they learn the principles of good eating as early as possible.

I know how easy it is to resort to convenient drive-through restaurants, especially when time is limited. So I've included many recipes throughout this book that take less than 15 minutes to prepare, plus quick-cook ideas that don't even require a formal recipe. In the same amount of time that it takes to pick up an order at a fast-food restaurant, you'll be able to prepare delicious, healthy meals. You'll see that it is possible to have a "fast-food" lifestyle that is also nutritious. In fact, the meals in this cookbook are so flavorful that your family may not even realize that they are also good for them!