People interested in body mass reduction often wonder which diet will bring them the best results. In the last years, Dukan Diet became very popular. According to a lot of people, it’s one of the most efficient way to battle the excess weight, which is why it’s worth taking a closer look at the diet, whose creator is a French doctor and dietician, Pierre Dukan.
Dukan Diet is sometimes called a protein diet, because its main idea is to increase the amount of protein consumed. Doctor Dukan developed his own method to fight weight excess, after years of work with people who were having issues with being overweight. In the years when he started his practice people believed, that in order to reduce the body mass, you should primarily eat small, low calorie food. One of the main problems with this type of eating is a quick return to the original weight after the diet is finished. After years of research, Dukan divided the diet process into four stages. He concluded his views on effective weight loss in a book published in year 2000, called “Je ne sais pas maigrir” (“I can’t lose weight”), which quickly became a bestseller. In Poland, this book was only published in 2008.
The first stage of weight loss, according to doctor Dukan’s diet, is so-called shock phase. In this phase, you’re only allowed to consume protein products that contain little to no fat, no more than 5%. Person who is on the first stage of the diet can only drink skim milk, and only eat light type products, which do not contain sugar. Forbidden products are mainly fruits, vegetables, sugar, potatoes, rice and groats. It’s really important to drink a lot of fluids, especially mineral water and tea. You’re not allowed to, however, drink alcoholic beverages, which is also included in the second phase of the diet. The first phase of Dukan’s diet usually lasts between five to ten weeks.
The next phase is so called balance phase. At that time you should still eat protein foods, but every other day you should add vegetables to your menu. It’s really important for the protein-only and protein-vegetable days to alternate. It’s also important to not pick just any vegetables, because it’s forbidden to use broad beans, chickpeas, peas, white beans, corn, lentils, green beans and potatoes. The second phase of the diet lasts until the person finds, that they have read a satisfactory weight.
Thirst phase is a fixation phase, therefore the main goal is to keep the body mass that has been reached at the previous stage. In other words, in this time period it’s important to avoid the yoyo effect. At this stage the diet can again include fruits, whole wheat baked goods and starch products, but the base of the menu should still be protein. One time a week you should only consume protein products. It’s recommended for the fruit not to include bananas, cherries and dried fruits. The baked goods should include wholemeal and wholegrain, eliminating white bread, rolls and baguettes. The length of this phase depends on the amount of weight lost. According to Dukan’s instructions, for every lost kilogram you should add 10 days.
The last stage of Dukan’s diet is described as protein Thursdays. After completing stage three, protein should be the only consumed product only once per week. Of course, it doesn’t have to be Thursdays, because it’s just the name of this diet stage. The last stage lasts for the rest of the life, which means that resigning from this form of eating will bring a high risk of losing the results of previous diet stages. Similarly to the previous stages, there is also a list of products that should be avoided. It mainly contains meat, such as duck and chicken wings and skin, also cheeses and full milk products, as well as fish: smoked salmon, sardines and tuna fish oil.
It’s worth noting that even though Dukan’s diet is considered very effective, it’s not without drawbacks. Not every person can use it without risking health issues. Especially important is the fact that a lot of proteins mixed with limited fat and carbohydrates consumption is a burden for your kidneys and liver. In case of a disease that include any of those organs, the Dukan Diet should not be used. Before starting this diet, it’s recommended to perform basic check-up, like full blood count or liver function tests. During this diet some recommend consuming vitamin supplements, especially during the first phase, as eliminating fruits and vegetables can lead to deficiencies that can be dangerous for one’s health. Opinions about the safety of protein diet are mixed. A lot of famous people have used it, including Kate Middleton and Jennifer Lopez, while Pierre Dukan himself ensures that he has not seen a case where his diet would be a cause for health issues, like heart disease. There are enough doctors, who think that protein diet can have a really bad impact on human health. All people interested in this diet, who would like to know how much weight they should lose and in what amount of time, can get this information from a special Dukan test.
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