Pierre Dukan is a French doctor and nutritionist who gained his popularity for his protein diet, before 10 years ago. His book was best seller in France at that time and was also translated in several languages. Dukan diet is a clinical research of 35 years, where his colleagues tell that this is the base of any diet plan, which is one of the thorniest problems of modern times.
What is the secret of his diet?
Doctor Dukan developed concept of diet based on protein food. In nutritionism, it is a well known fact that proteins are used for body building and as they enter the body, we feel satiated, whereas the intake of sugars and fats are only useful for providing energy for functioning. But the problem with food in the recent decades is that we have hundreds of “problematic foods” that contain mostly carbohydrates, fat and a little protein.
Because of that, Dr.Dukan made a diet rich in proteins where he realized that this diet is difficult to follow, so he split into several phases.
The diet is divided into four phases.
1st Phase – Attack (attack phase).
2nd Phase – Cruise (cruise phase).
3rd Phase – Consolidation (consolidation phase).
4th Phase – Stabilization (stabilization phase of the organism).
The duration of the phases directly depends on the number of pounds you want to lose.
Phase 1 – Attack! In this phase you should consume a lot of proteins. So you have to consume: beef, veal, beef, chicken, turkey (but not meat from goose or duck) without fat. The meat can be prepared grilled, roasted or boiled. Fried meat is not allowed. You can also consume seafood (only canned in water, not oil). Egg white in unlimited quantities, but not whole egg (whole egg only 2-3 times a week). Skimmed milk and cheese, non-fat yogurt are allowed too, ( do not cheat yourself with fruit yogurt, because that would destroy the entire diet regimen) and you should drink a lot of water.
Spices, vinegar, onion and garlic are welcome in this diet regimen. Salt and mustard in small quantities. You can drink diet soft drinks, but without exaggeration (no more than 1 liter per day). You can use artificial sweeteners and sugar-free candy.
If you plan to lose up to 10 pounds, this stage may last 2-3 days. During this phase you can lose from 1to 2 pounds. If you plan to lose 10 pounds, this phase should last 3 to 4 days and 5 to 6 days for more than 10 pounds. During the stage, you have to increase the amount of water and decrease the physical activity.
Phase 2 – Cruise! This stage is divided into two sub stages. One of these sub-phases is the time that you can consume everything that is mentioned in phase 1 (attack) and vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, radish, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, leeks, cabbage, mushrooms, celery, fennel, black tomato, all kinds of salads and carrot and beetroot in small quantities.
The other sub-phase is the phase in which you can consume only what is allowed in phase 1 (phase attacked). So the cruise phase is the phase in which you can alternately eat food rich in protein combined with vegetables and protein foods only. According to Dr.Dukan, these two phases should be changing every 4-5 days. In the second stage you can expect losing 1 to 2 pounds per week. This phase lasts until the moment when you have lost your desired weight.
Phase 3 – Consolidation! It should take nine days for every lost pound in the previous 2 stages. So if the first 2 stages you’ve lost 10 pounds, this phase should last 3 months. On this way we give the body time to consolidate and to get used to the new rules. Now you can consume everything that was allowed in phase 2 without changing the sub-phases. So, you should continue to consume daily meat and vegetables, and now you can eat 2 fruits per day (recommended for breakfast), but not bananas, grapes, cherries and nuts. Consuming of food should not be more than 40 grams per day. You can eat starch foods such as the spaghetti, couscous, lentils, rice and potatoes only 2 times a week, two pieces of bread a day, once or twice a week lamb, pork and ham.
The good news in the last phase is that you can afford two meals a week without having to deprive yourself of anything, but they must be separated by at least one day. So feel free to have a meal with wine and dessert.
Of course it does not mean to drink a bottle of wine and a half cake!
Phase 4 – Stabilization- Stabilization phase have to maintain the weight. The author of the diet promises that you will keep the same in the future if you have only one protein day during the week (menu as in the first phase, for example, Thursday), if you eat 3 tablespoons of oat flakes per day, if you walk every day for 20 minutes. We hope that you will eat “normally” and the term normal, now will have a new meaning for you. The 4th phase lasts forever.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It’s allowed to use vinegar and spices to enhance the flavor of food.
You can use chewing gum without sugar.
Take 1 multivitamin mineral per day.
Consume coffee and tea without sugar.
Do not apply Dukan diet if you have a health problems.
