The dukan diet review

As most of you, I grow up with a mixed diet, including products of animal origin as well as fruits and vegetables.

I have a skinny silhouette, but after the pregnancy, it was not easy to get rid of the extra weight. I start again with aerobics classes, which I used to practice before getting pregnant, but after months of practice, I was not able to get back to my slim figure.

I never followed a diet, but I decided to give it a try and in today’s’s article I will share you my experience in the dukan diet review.

Are you familiar with this diet? Have you ever heard about it? OK, if not at all or if you have less info, let’s see first who created this diet.

The diet was created by Dr. Pierre Dukan using his 40 years of experience.

With the help and results of his patients, he developed the Dukan Diet which is a weight loss plan structured in 4 phases, 2 for weight loss and 2 for maintaining the new weight. The diet consists of 100 foods list that you can eat without restrictions.

This diet is based on consuming natural proteins, with its advantages and disadvantages and some say that this diet is the most effective and easy methods to fight with obesity, but it the same time is a controversial method according to some specialists as being dangerous for health.

Advantages Of Dukan Diet

Mainly, the diet is based on consumption of proteins: meat, eggs and dairy products and limiting consumption of foods that contain carbohydrates.

1. It helps you lose weight and prevent obesity, a condition that increases the risk of diabetes, hypertension, heart attack and stroke.

2. Kilograms disappear rapidly from the first days of the diet. In 10 days you can get rid of even one kilo a day, if you are motivated enough and have the ambition to resist culinary temptations.

3. You do not have to keep track of calories and portions of food you eat, because the inventor of the diet has already thought about the fact that there is no person who is able to keep a diary of calories for the rest of his/her life, or to limit himself to a steak the size of a hand.

4. The diet is designed to work in the long run, so to become a lifestyle. This ensures that you lose weight, but it also helps keep you up after reaching the ideal weight, with the condition to follow the basic plan.

5. It’s easy to follow because it’s based on everyday foods such as meat, egg or milk.

6. It’s a diet especially for gourmets, since they can eat proteins without limits, rather than those who prefer caloric restriction.

Disadvantages Of Dukan Diet

Among the adverse effects of exclusive protein consumption are:

– increased cholesterol,

– fatigue,

– mood swings,

– migraines,

– gout and constipation,

– rapid

– induction of chestiness in the body (disorder affecting the liver and kidneys) with symptoms such as bad breath, metallic taste and strong urine smell

You may also experience nutritional deficiencies, especially in the attack phase, which is very restrictive and deprives the body of all the nutrients it needs for good functioning. Vegetables and fruits are cut off at this stage, so dietary supplements are recommended to remedy these deficiencies

Another downside of this diet is fattening. Yes, you have heard well, you can get fatter if you decide to follow the

Dukan diet but immediately give up what you’ve been through the first stage.

So think well if you can resist all stages of this diet, and if you cannot follow strict rules, let it fall and start doing more sports’ and eating less, but healthier.

Dukan Diet Phases

As I told you in the beginning, the diet has 4 phases:

1. Attack phase

It contains 72 foods rich in natural protein and is meant to motivate you and give you the “boom” necessary for weight loss. It takes 2-5 days, depending on the weight you want to lose:

You want to lose approximately 5 kilograms, this phase takes 1-5 days

You want to lose approximately 10 kilograms, this phase takes 3-5 days

You want to lose approximately 20 kilograms, this phase takes about 7 days

68 animal proteins are allowed in unlimited quantities. Attack Phase will speed up the process of slimming and help you eliminate excess water in your body.

During this phase, physical movement is strongly recommended, especially in the morning. Even if you are not a sports’ person, walking is an activity that anyone can do. It has many benefits and is completely free of charge

2. The cruise phase

This is the one phase that will gradually lead you to the ideal weight. Normally, you will lose about 1 kilogram per week. During this phase, you will alternate natural protein (PN) – protein days with protein and vegetable (LP) days, thus introducing the 28 recommended vegetables.

In addition to the 68 proteins allowed in the Attack phase, you will add 32 more vegetables to this part of the diet. On

the list of 100 permitted foods you will find food that will give you all the vitamins, minerals and fibers needed for a healthy body. The movement must not be neglected at this stage either. In fact, 30 minutes of sports’ every day are mandatory

3. Consolidation phase

You will learn in this phase to re-educate your body and avoid the effect of “yo-yo”, re-accumulation of lost kilos. Once you have reached this stage, you will gradually reintroduce foods with more calories.

Although you will return to your usual diet, you will have to devote one day of the week (Thursday) to PN (natural protein) nutrition to avoid re-accumulation of the kilos that you have escaped.

Consolidation is done by eating 100 permissible foods (protein and vegetables) to which you will now add a portion of lamb or pork once a week. At this stage, you will no longer have restrictions on the type of meat you consume, meaning you will not be start to consume traditional varieties with a larger amount of fat.

The Dukan Phase 3 diet allows you to have two celebration meals twice a week, meaning you can consume whatever you want, whether it’s pizza, fries or ice cream, but there are some rules here:

– Enjoy the portions and do not eat different foods at one meal, but only one.

– Do not abuse the amount, but eat until you feel the sensation of satiety.

– Take a break of at least five days between two celebration meals (for example, if you took one at Sunday dinner then you do not have to have Monday breakfast because the body needs time to burn excessive calories) .

– Do not hurry when choosing the food from the celebration menus; you may want to eat something with fat, but it is recommended to start with something easy.

– A celebration menu includes: an aperitif (ex a white bun), a main course (such as chicken steak), a dessert (you can enjoy a cake) and a glass of wine.

It is very important not to eat more than one portion of every dish included in a meal.

4. The stabilization phase

It is one of the most important parts of any diet, but which, unfortunately, is neglected most of the time. This is the part that prevents you from getting where you were at the beginning of diet, once you get back to the normal lifestyle and keeps you away from the yo-yo effect and that will help you keep your new silhouette for the rest of your life.

So in the stabilization phase, you are allowed to eat as you wish, but you must continue to respect these three simple rules for the rest of your life:

1. THURSDAY of each week will be strictly dedicated to foods containing natural proteins (PN)

2. 20 minutes of walking are mandatory every day

3. You will need to eat 3 tablespoons of oat bran every day

How To Start The Diet

First, calculate your weight. You have to introduce your details like gender, current weight, height, birthday, your weight loss history.

After this step, you will get a personalized program.

You can follow this diet as free version or you can pay for your program.

Personally, I selected the free version, which means I use the recipes found in many discussion forums.

I will share with you a bit later some recipes.

Permitted Foods in diet

As I mentioned, 68 are the permitted foods in attack phase.

Lean red meat: Beef, mignon fillets, lean ham, pork, lean bacon, calf meat

Bird meat: Chicken liver, turkey meat, chicken or duck sausage

Fish: Herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, trout

Crustaceans: Shells, crabs, crayfish, lobsters, mussels, octopus, shrimp, oysters

Vegetable proteins: Vegetarian burgers, tofu and soy foods

Dairy products (all without fat!): Cow cheese, milk, natural yogurt, Greek yogurt, cream

Eggs: Chicken, quail or duck

32 permitted vegetables starting with the cruise phase

Artichoke, beans, asparagus, brussels sprouts, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, eggplant, kale, lettuce, arugula, radishes, mushrooms, onion, leeks, onions, tomatoes, zucchini.

Other permitted foods:

Shirataki – a native Asian root, is extremely nourishing, rich in fiber and no calories. Stimulates intestinal transit and can consume it in unlimited quantities.

Olive oil – you can start it with the cruise phase. It is rich in essential fatty acids Omega-3, polyphenols and vitamin E – all essential for health. Recommended quantity is one teaspoon a day.

Goji berries – can be consumed beginning with the attack phase, in a limited amount of two tablespoons, but only in days of natural protein (NP).

My Experience With This Diet

I’ve started with calculating my weight and receiving the program suggestion.

According to all the data, the suggested program was that I have to loss 15 kg as follows: 3 days the attack phase, 3 months cruise phase, 4 months consolidation phase.

I was never a meat lover and the attack phase was a torment for me. 3 days eating only meat. I ended up with constipation despite the fact that I was drinking a lot of water and the mandatory 20 minutes if walking. In this phase I lost 3 kilograms.

The cruise phase was a bit better, because I introduce vegetables. The constipation was not a problem anymore. In this phase I lost 12 kilograms. I have faced the plateau couple of times and to beat it, I increased the walking from 30 minutes to 1h for couple of days.

I gave up gracefully, when in one morning, after walking up and going to kitchen, I fainted. I got scared, went to the clinic, explain the followed diet and the doctor told that I was lucky that my heart was good with me. With this diet I distressed my body, I put a pressure on it.

I gave up, as I told you. And since that day I start looking for better and healthier ways to lose weight. The journey ended with raw vegan diet which is better for me and I saw results.

Some Recipes

Attack Phase

Breakfast: a large glass of warm water with lemon juice and ginger, very low-fat cheese, a boiled chicken breast or grilled chicken;

Lunch: a beef steak with a little ginger;

Snack: a yogurt with 0 fat and one tablespoon and half of oat bran;

Dinner:boiled or fried shrimp with garlic.

Cruise Phase

Day of protein and vegetables

Breakfast: Warm drink, dietary pancakes with lemon

Lunch: turkey minced meat balls, dietetic yogurt, boiled eggs, tea (no sugar) / dietary juice

Dinner: Dietetic burgers

Pure protein day

Breakfast: fried eggs with sliced ham

Lunch: roast chicken steaks, dietary muffins, tea / coffee (no sugar)

Dinner: salmon with mustard

Final Thoughts

So, now you know about the 4 phases of the diet, the advantages and disadvantages and permitted foods. I also share some ideas of meals, if you are interested just let me know and I can share more.

I hope you like this article, if so, feel free to leave your comments in the section below.