It is easy to get confused in the modern variety of diets, but protein diets stand apart in the list. The Dukan diet is a prominent representative of protein food systems, which involve eating enough food, but in a different ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
Diet Basics
The Dukan diet is known in many countries. The effectiveness of this approach has been proven by numerous studies and applications. However, the nutritionist Pierre Ducan himself claims that he did not develop a diet, but a balanced diet so that the body does not experience hunger and stress.
Weight loss occurs due to the body burning subcutaneous fat and carbohydrate reserves, while the stomach is not empty, but is digesting protein foods.
A good competitor here will be the Lesenka diet, the essence of which is the daily passage of different levels of nutrition. Different products, different approach for 5 days does not get bored.
Those wishing to reduce their forms with the help of the Dukan diet need to familiarize themselves with the basic principles:
- Lead an active lifestyle, move a lot, run or walk. To carry out daily walks in the fresh air, lasting 30-40 minutes. Losing weight through diets is unreasonable, the body must perform physical activity, because it is in the muscles that fat tissue is burned.
- Drink plenty of water (not juice, compote or drink, but still water). During a protein diet, the body dumps accumulated fluid, and its daily replenishment is the number one task for losing weight.
- Strictly adhere to the diet and phases of the diet. If you make personal adjustments to the diet or do not follow the regime, then you should not hope for an effective result.
- Eliminate foods containing light carbohydrates from the diet. It is allowed to use complex and indigestible carbohydrates in the form of cereals, bran.
- Oat bran should be an essential ingredient in your daily diet. They prevent the formation of constipation during the diet and give the body the right portion of carbohydrates.
The main phases of the diet
The Dukan diet is based not just on following a certain diet, but on dividing the entire course of the diet into phases that correspond to your diet and the list of products. There are four phases in total:
- Attack.
- alternation
- Anchoring
- Stabilization
It is worth considering each phase separately.
Attack phase
This is the first stage of the diet, it involves eating only protein foods. The duration of the phase takes an average of 7 days, but the interval can include from 3 to 9 days. The choice of the duration of the first phase occurs individually and depends on the amount of excess weight and the state of health of the losing weight.
Extra 30 kg of weight or more suggest a maximum phase duration of up to 9-10 days, with an excess of 20 kg - 7 days, and with a slight excess weight of up to 20 kg - 3-5 days. During this period, maximum weight loss occurs, which is associated with limiting the intake of carbohydrates and fats.
Recommendations: the attacking phase accepts the consumption of protein products of animal origin: meat, fish, seafood and dairy products. You can use them in unlimited, but reasonable quantities, and in any form (fried, boiled, steamed).
As for accompanying additives, their list includes: oat bran (their daily use is mandatory), mustard, salt, onion, spices, tomato paste, crab sticks (no more than 8 pieces per day), lemon, olive oil. From drinks, diet drinks, fat-free kefir, tea and coffee are allowed.
The meat should not be fatty, pork, lamb, rabbit, duck, goose are excluded. If a bird is present in the diet, then it should be consumed without a skin. The restriction applies to vegetables and fruits.
During this period, the body is experiencing stress, there is a restructuring of internal metabolic processes. For some, this period can become critical: dizziness, weakness, loss of consciousness and other symptoms indicate that it is worth moving on to the next phase.
Alternating or "cruising" phase
The essence of this stage is the introduction of additional foods (vegetables, fruits) into the diet, but not on an ongoing basis, but selectively at a certain interval. The intervals should be equal to each other: in a day, in two days or more, it all depends on the amount of excess weight before the diet. If its value did not exceed 10 kg, then the interval can be minimal (1x1. 2x2), and if its value was more than 10 kg, then the interval is maximum 5x5.
The duration of the second phase is determined individually, as well as the first. The interval is from one to two months, the duration directly depends on the amount of weight lost during the first phase. The larger it is, the longer the second phase should last.
The diet should be more varied in the second stage, so you can add the following foods:
- all products from the first phase;
- vegetables that do not contain starch (cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, asparagus, cabbage, mushrooms);
- unsweetened fruits;
- skimmed milk and cheese;
- bread.
You can add fruits and vegetables only on those days whose menu corresponds to the second phase. That is, 5 days a protein menu from the first phase, the next five days a protein-vegetable menu from the second phase. Moreover, you cannot mix the products of the second phase with each other, you can choose only two ingredients per day and use them.
Among the forbidden vegetables and fruits are: potatoes, corn, legumes, bananas, cherries, avocados, grapes.
If during the first phase there was a deterioration in the state of health, then in the second phase the state should stabilize, the state of health should improve, and metabolic processes will be restored.
Phase "fixing"
The third phase helps to consolidate the result, its duration also depends on the number of "dropped" kilograms. For every one kilogram of weight lost, there are ten days of the third phase. The diet in this period is even more similar to the usual and should not cause discomfort to losing weight.
In addition to products from the first and second phases, the diet also includes the following:
- vegetables containing starch (potatoes, legumes, corn);
- pasta;
- cereals (rice, buckwheat, oatmeal).
At this stage, it is allowed to break the diet twice a week, but to the detriment of one meal. For example, you can eat your favorite carbohydrate meal for breakfast, but skip lunch or dinner instead.
An important rule at this stage is the daily consumption of any fruit, with the exception of bananas, grapes and cherries. They have a lot of sugar, which quickly turns into subcutaneous fat.
Phase "stabilization"
This phase is the final, and, in fact, a postulate for later life after the diet. Its rules are simple and following them will allow you to keep yourself in shape always, without resorting to diets:
- drink plenty of water every day (at least 1. 5 liters);
- to live an active lifestyle;
- once a week, arrange a protein menu that meets the requirements of the first phase;
- daily consumption of oat bran.
The implementation of the above recommendations will lead to the success of everyone who wants to overcome excess weight, and most importantly, to stay at the achieved level or surpass it.
Approved Products
You can summarize the list of allowed foods on the Dukan diet:
- meat (beef, veal, pigeon, chicken, quail);
- eggs (chicken, quail, preferably without yolk);
- low-fat dairy and sour-milk products (milk, kefir, cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt, cheese);
- seafood in any form and in any quantity;
- crab sticks;
- river and sea fish;
- oat bran;
- vegetables that do not contain or contain a small amount of starch;
- unsweetened fruits;
- various drinks without sugar, tea coffee;
- spices, seasonings, dressings.
In addition to the developed diet plan, nutritionist Dukan has published a cookbook with recipes. The dishes in Dukan's cookbook include only foods from the allowed diet list, which greatly facilitates the entire process of losing weight and inventing new dishes.
Among the simplest and most popular dishes, it is worth highlighting the following:
- "Crab salad". For its preparation you will need: half of Chinese cabbage, 4 sticks of crab sticks, 4 tablespoons of canned corn. Finely chop the cabbage and crab sticks, mash the cabbage and season with salt. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and dress the salad with lemon juice and homemade lean mayonnaise.
- "Fish meatballs with cottage cheese. "For cooking you will need: 0. 2 kg of fish (salmon), 0. 4 kg of low-fat cottage cheese, 1 chicken egg, 4 tablespoons of oatmeal. Preparation: mix cottage cheese with egg, add chopped small cubes of fish without skin. Add spices and seasonings to taste. Form balls from the resulting mixture and roll them in oatmeal, put in a pan or grill and fry over low heat. Do not use oil for frying, do everything in a dry frying pan.
- Yogurt Dessert. You can pamper yourself during the diet with a dessert, for which you will need: 0. 2 kg of low-fat natural yogurt, chicken eggs - 2 pieces, 50 g of corn starch. Place all ingredients in a bowl, except eggs. They need to be divided into proteins and yolks: immediately send the yolks to the finished mixture, and beat the proteins with a whisk until creamy and also add to the mixture. Dessert can be sweetened with a sugar substitute, as well as adding flavoring and salt. Pour the resulting mixture into a baking dish and put in the oven for 20 minutes.
- "Beef with eggplant. "For two servings you will need: 0. 3 kg of beef, cut into small cubes, 1 eggplant, 2 tomatoes, 0. 150 kg of mushrooms (champignons), 1 clove of garlic, parsley, salt, pepper. Preparation: cut the eggplants into rings or cubes and pour them with water for 30 minutes (bitterness should come out of them). Drain the water from the eggplants and dry them on a paper towel. Cut the tomatoes into slices, and the mushrooms into slices and put together with the eggplant in a saucepan. Add garlic and parsley, add water and cook for 30 minutes. Take a deep dish for the oven, put some vegetables on the bottom, then salted and peppered meat, and the rest of the vegetables on top. Send to the oven for 15-20 minutes.
It is not at all necessary to use recipes from Dukan's book; you can also come up with your own menu from allowed products that correspond to the diet phase.
How much can you lose a kilo
Before talking about the estimated number of kilograms dropped, it is worth clarifying the factors that affect them:
- the presence of physical activity and its severity: if you do not play sports or at least walk, then you should not talk about a good result;
- lack of sufficient water in the diet: water contributes to weight loss, especially with a protein diet;
- the amount of excess weight: nutritionists say that the higher the indicator of excess body weight, the more kilograms a person who is losing weight can lose;
- the duration of the diet and its individual phases.
The average indicator for weight loss can be considered 5-15 kg. Moreover, each phase has its own changes and weight loss. The first phase of the diet is the most important, as it contributes to the maximum rate of weight loss. The next second phase is marked by small losses, and the third and fourth ones completely consolidate the result.
Dukan Diet Reviews
First review
"I heard about the Dukan diet many times, but did not dare to try. Somehow scary, many talk about lower back pain, weakness and malaise. Maybe I'll look for an alternative to this diet. "
Second review
"My husband's sister often visits France. There, this diet is just a brand, even in supermarkets there are separate shelves for products that correspond to this diet. She herself tried this method of losing weight. The result is 10kg in 2 months. Not going to stop.
I am currently on a different diet, but in a month I will also start the Dukan diet in order to be in shape by the season.
Third review
"Girls, do not try this diet! I was careless and sat down on it to the fullest. A week later, I felt that the earth was leaving from under my feet, it was dark in my eyes, it was squeaking in my ears. Pain in the lower back or kidneys, I don’t know where, but it’s very scary and dangerous.
I went to the hospital, where the nurse said that I was not the first with such a diagnosis. Before trying this diet on yourself, you need to undergo an examination and consult a doctor. A protein diet is very dangerous for the kidneys and can cause tissue damage, so don't experiment on yourself. "
fourth review
"I have experienced this diet more than once. Thank God I didn't notice any side effects. Maybe because the first phase did not last so long (5 days), but in the second phase I did not alternate the days of the protein and protein-vegetable menu, I ate both proteins and vegetables every day. I was pleased with the results (-8 kg). It would be possible to resort to this diet more often, but it is very expensive, especially in winter.
Fifth review
"I recently watched a TV show, and there the endocrinologist told me that it was impossible to do without carbohydrates and glucose. Our brain feeds on them, and if they stop entering the body, then the brain first starves, and then dies. I don't know if this is true or not, they can say anything on TV. But I thought, what if negative reviews on the Internet are not without reason, and in fact you can harm your health?