Dukan Diet

The Dukan Diet is one of the most popular diet plans in France.^[1] It is a protein-based diet designed by French nutritionist and dietician, Pierre Dukan. Although Dukan has been promoting his diet for over 30 years, its popularity has grown since 2000. His book The Dukan Diet is a best seller in France while selling more than 10 million copies globally.^[2][3][4] The book has since been translated into 14 languages and published in 32 countries. The Dukan Diet was released in the UK in May 2010, and in the US in April 2011.

As with some other diet plans, Dukan has launched an online coaching service, as well as online shops.^[5]

History

In 1975, Pierre Dukan was a general practitioner in Paris when he was first confronted with a case of lardy obesity. At the time, being overweight or obese was thought to be best treated by low calorie and small sized meals. Dukan thought of an alternative way to prevent patients from regaining their lost weight. He designed a new approach in 4 phases, including stabilisation and consolidation. After 20 odd years of research Pierre Dukan published his findings in 2000 in his book Je ne sais pas maigrir (I don't know how to get slimmer) which became a best seller.

The diet became a best seller after Carole Middleton introduced her daughter Kate (now The Duchess of Cambridge) to the diet before her wedding to Prince William. Kate lost two dress sizes.^[6]

In July 2011 a French court ruled against Dukan in his attempt to sue rival nutritionist Jean-Michel Cohen for libel, after Cohen had criticised his method in the press.^[7] . Cohen is considered as the main reference in nutrition and earned 3000 Euro.

Stages

The diet is based on a list of over 100 allowed foods, as well as four specific ground pillars also known as phases: attack, cruise, consolidation, and stabilization.

The attack phase is designed to enable dieters to rapidly lose 2 to 3 kilograms (4.4 to 6.6 lb) in 2–7 days by kick-starting their metabolism. Dieters allowed to eat as much as they want of 72 protein-rich foods.

The cruise phase is designed to allow dieters to more gradually achieve the weight they aim for by eating protein-rich foods with the addition of 28 specific vegetables. The length of this phase is usually calculated as 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of weight loss per week, but this is based on specific personal conditions. Tolerated foods are also allowed as per the programme, but any weight gain will ban some of these.

The consolidation phase is designed to help in preventing any future massive weight gain. During this phase, fruit, bread, cheese and starchy foods are reintroduced into a normal diet, leaving two celebratory meals a week as directed by the plan.

Finally, in the stabilization phase, dieters can essentially eat whatever they want without gaining weight by following a few rules: protein day once a week, eating oat bran every day and making a commitment to "take the stairs". According to Dukan, dieters shall follow this last phase for the rest their lives to avoid regaining weight.

Symptoms, effects, and warnings for a mostly-protein diet

• Dukan is classified as the French counterpart to the more strict US protein rich diets. The diet is commonly believed to be a true protein diet, but actually deviates from these as it emphasizes adding vegetables and later on adding no-go foods as starch and carbohydrates.

• Flu symptoms: the common diet Induction Flu isn't a type of flu, but a colloquialism used to describe the withdrawal symptoms the body experiences when switching from fuelling it with carbohydrates to protein and body fat. Apart from not having a chill or fever, the symptoms are very similar to flu. In addition to headaches, nausea, lethargy, irritability and loss of concentration may be experienced. These symptoms should only last a short time.

• Ketosis: burning body fat instead of carbohydrates for fuel is known as ketosis and whilst it produces the obvious benefits of weight loss it can in some rare cases put some minor strains on the kidneys and liver and in extreme cases cause damage. Milder side effects of ketosis are bad breath, a metallic taste in the mouth and strong urine odour.

• The diet is not recommended for patients diagnosed with kidney problems, pregnant or breast feeding women and type I diabetics (as well as Type II insulin dependents).^[8]

Similar diets

• Atkins diet: This diet was created by Dr Robert Atkins in 1972 and focuses on high fats, moderate protein and oils rather than carbohydrates. This method was the first one to suggest no calorie counting which at the time was considered a dietary revolution. The Dukan diet is similar, although it does not allow fats and oils, recommends relatively lower calorie counts, and insists on the consumption of oat bran every day.

• Weight Watchers: This diet was created by an American woman who had difficulties losing weight. The diet is a low calorie diet points system. Weight Watchers was the first system to propose support groups to their customers. The Dukan diet differs in that animal protein-carrying calories (non-fat) are ignored but others are not. These calories often come from fats in dairy products, which are not allowed.

• The cabbage soup diet is a radical weight loss diet designed around heavy consumption of a low-calorie cabbage soup over a period of seven days. It is generally considered a fad diet, in that it is designed for short-term weight loss and requires no long-term commitment. It has inspired several copycats based around similar principles. The recipe for the specific soup ("miracle soup") is mentioned in The Dukan Diet and even welcomed as a cravings cruncher.

• The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that in medicine is used primarily to treat difficult-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet mimics aspects of starvation by forcing the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. As with Dukan and Atkins this diet focuses on burning fat by eliminating carbohydrates. The main difference is that the ketogenic diet is allowed for children with epilepsy whereas Dukan does not condone protein diets for children.

Exposure in the UK media

On May 14, 2010, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a 10 minute 3 sided interview/discussion, conducted by Jenni Murray, and including Dr Dukan on Woman's Hour, examining and evaluating the diet's strategy.^[9]

The French magazine L'Express' list of the top 20 non-fiction books for the week of December 27, 2010 ranked La Méthode Dukan Illustrée in 19th place.

Channel Four included the Dukan Diet in the program Will my crash diet kill me? on 26 January 2011.^[10] The diet was not represented correctly according to many viewers who left comments on Channel 4's website.^[11]

See also

• List of diets
• Atkins Diet
• dieting

References

1. ^ Dukan is No1 diet in France | The Connexion
2. ^ Dukan Diet Plan Review
3. ^ The Dukan Diet Bestseller Book In France Now In The US | Batangas Today
4. ^ The Toronto Star on The Dukan Diet: "The book has sold 10 million copies worldwide, but didn’t really make an impression on North America until [...]" (18 April 2011)
5. ^ "Ma boutique régime Dukan". http://www.maboutiqueregimedukan.com. 
6. ^ Nath, Dipanita (May 3, 2011). "the Duchess Diet". IndianExpress.com (The Indian Express). http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-duchess-diet/784775/1. Retrieved May 2, 2011. 
7. ^ Dukan Diet creator suffers 'total defeat' after losing libel case in French court | Mail Online
8. ^ "pros and cons". http://dukan-diet.info/2011/02/03/the-pros-and-cons-of-the-dukan-diet-an-honest-review/. 
9. ^ "Womans' Hour". BBC Radio 4. 14 May 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s8hz4. 
10. ^ "Will my crash diet kill me?". Channel Four. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/will-my-crash-diet-kill-me. 
11. ^ "the Dukan Diet". Channel Four. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/will-my-crash-diet-kill-me/articles/the-dukan-diet. 

External links

• (English) Official site for the US and Canada
• (English) Official site UK
• (English) Official Webshop UK
• (German) Offizielle Deutsche Homepage DE
• (Portuguese) Official site BR