The 5 basic principles of the Ducan diet + the opinion of doctors

When a woman has decided to lose weight and starts looking for the best diet on the internet that gives almost immediate results, it’s hard to stop. Especially after reading the praise in one way or another. Today we learn what the Ducan diet is, how effective it is, we break down myths and get acquainted with criticism.

The Ducan diet - all the important shades

The Dukan diet is based on the use of high-protein foods and contributes to weight loss of one and a half to fifty kilograms. Tempting? Naturally!

But how safe is it for health? Let's figure it out.

Identity of the author

Pierre Dukan, a French general practitioner whose diet once excited millions of overweight people, developed it for twenty years.

In the mid-1970s, a diet containing low-carbohydrate foods was practiced against obesity. Dukan, on the other hand, invented a four-stage attack, alternation, consolidation, and stabilization that allows not only weight loss but also keeping the weight constant.

Since then, Ducan has studied protein-rich foods and their effects on the human body. Twenty years later, he wrote the book, “I Can’t Lose Weight, ” which has sold more than ten million worldwide. From that moment, the most beautiful hour of the former neuropathologist began.

Surveys show that 35% of people who lose weight using the Ducan method have returned pounds lost during the year. 80% regained their previous weight within four years.

Principles

• Approved products.Weight loss is allowed to eat foods rich in animal and plant proteins that are easily absorbed by the body and contribute to weight loss.
• Movement.Physical activity is essential - morning exercises, a gym, or at least walking in difficult terrain. Or you can clean the apartment daily, move vigorously with a floor coat. Here, as they say, everyone chooses how to increase their activity - fitness or weeding in the garden.
• Water!Don't forget to drink one and a half to two liters of clean water a day.
• Bran.They are essential as a source of fiber that contributes to proper digestive processes.
• Calculator.Before starting your diet, you should calculate the weight of your Dukan to find out how many days you need to devote to one stage or another.

Doctors' opinions on diet

If you completely eliminate carbohydrates from your diet or significantly reduce their amount, your body will involuntarily, but it will start to lack energy, breaking down fat. But you will first use up all the glycogen stores stored in your liver, and only then will it get to the fat stores in your side and hips.

Glycogen is an energy reserve that allows the body to quickly make up for a lack of glucose. The amount in the liver of an adult is 100-120 g.

When you deplete your glycogen stores, ketosis begins - the breakdown of fat by the formation of a large number of ketone cells (acetone). High blood glucose and acetone body concentrations can lead to acid-base imbalances leading to acid growth. Long-term disruption of carbohydrate metabolism eventually leads to diabetic ketoacidotic coma.

Those interested in the Ducan diet should know that without compromising health, there can only be a positive result if the pancreas is able to produce enough insulin, which lowers blood glucose levels.

A low carb diet is especially dangerous for those who have metabolic disorders and may not even be aware of it because these disorders do not occur with a normal diet. As a result, acidosis can develop, manifested by frequent headaches, chronic fatigue, arrhythmias or palpitations, constant drowsiness, and weakness.

Section 1. Attack

This is the hardest and most difficult period. Usually this does not exceed seven days; the Ducan calculator shows a more accurate number.

Rules

At this time, you should completely eliminate carbohydrates from your diet and increase your use of protein products. With saturated protein, the body rebuilds metabolism and quickly destroys body fat.

Start each morning with a spoonful of oat bran. You can eat any food from the allowed list and in unlimited quantities during the day. It needs to be baked, cooked or steamed. Don’t forget about water, as most drinks are forbidden, it’s almost the only source of fluid.

Your body is starting to rebuild, so you shouldn’t fully exercise, it’s better to be limited to walking or simple gymnastics.

Estimated weight loss - 2-5 kg.

Criticism

The "Attack" section does allow you to lose weight by a certain kilogram (this indicator is unique to everyone), but this is not due to fat burning, but through dehydration. But weight loss looks at changes in values ​​on a scale, encouraging and further exacerbating nutritional imbalances.

Almost complete removal of carbohydrates from the body reaches the body. The person begins to feel weakness, fatigue, irritability. At this time, your family and colleagues are better off staying away from it - mood swings can ruin the emotional background in the family and team for a long time.

The Chinese were very resourceful when they chose to execute criminals. The villains have been punished with enough sophistication to suffer as long as possible before they die. For a long time, the convicts were fed only meat, after which the unfortunate man died of severe pain due to rot in the intestines and poisoning of the body with poisons.

Carbohydrates are essential for a person to properly break down proteins and fats. If they do not enter the body, there is a mandatory imbalance, metabolic disorders and poisoning.

During the "Attack", the excess protein quickly begins to excrete water, which significantly increases the load on the kidneys. In addition, a smart body tries to protect itself and tries by all means to retain the valuable fluid within itself. As a result, when the stages are changed and more benign eating conditions are introduced, many people notice the swelling even after consuming a tomato.

One gram of carbohydrate retains 4 ml of fluid, and after carbohydrate starvation, that number increases significantly. If a malfunction occurs and it is unavoidable due to energy loss and imbalance, you are unlikely to eat traditional buckwheat - attracted to sweet and starchy foods. Given the increasing water retention, you will definitely not like the number on the scales.

Authorized Products

This step contains 72 protein-rich foods that you can find on diet-promoting sites. Among them - lean meat, poultry, fish and seafood, milk and low-fat derivatives, eggs. True, you can only consume two whole eggs with your yolk and protein during the day, and if your yolk is ruled out, the restrictions are lifted - eat as much as you want.

You must say goodbye:

• coffee and tea;
• salt, mustard and spices;
• vinegar;
• all kinds of greens - there is no total ban on herbs, vegetables, fruits, and plant foods in general;
• vegetable and animal oils and fats;
• alcohol and most drinks.

You can only eat protein foods!

Weekly menu

Day of the Week	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Oven cooked chicken eggs with milk.	Chicken soup. Boiled chicken meat.	Curd curd.
Tuesday	Steamed cheesecake.	Lean broth with boiled eggs.	Roast meat.
Wednesday	Bran pancakes.	Meatball soup.	Boiled chicken breast.
Thursday	Steamed or cooked fish.	Lean chicken soup. Boiled liver, kefir.	Chicken slices with skim milk.
Friday	Boiled eggs, chicken legs, breaded with oat bran.	Salmon ear. Boiled chicken fillet.	Sea cocktail.
Saturday	Shrimp omelette.	Beef steak.	Fried mackerel with kefir.
Sunday	Grilled chicken breast.	Chicken broth with boiled egg.	Cottage cheese, skim milk or kefir.

Ducan diet recipes for the attack phase

In order not to reinvent the wheel and figure out what to cook, you can use Dukan-ready recipes.

lean minced loin

You can buy absolutely any lean meat - chicken, turkey, rabbit or beef. Finely chop or pass through a meat grinder, add a raw egg, then beat well and form flat cakes.

All flat bread is dipped in eggs and breaded into oat bran. Prepare the chops on the grill, in a slow cooker in "Baking" mode, or in a Teflon pan without oil.

chicken soup

Everything is simple here. Cook the chicken breast until soft, cut into small pieces or grind in a blender and toss back into the boiling broth. Beat a couple of eggs with a fork and pour into the broth in a thin stream. The protein soup is ready in minutes.

Section 2. Alternate or "cruise"

This is the most important stage in Dukan's weight loss method. In the second stage, the desired pampering begins. What is that?

Rules

28 are added to the 72 previously authorized products, these are primarily vegetables. The length of the period depends on the expected weight loss - one week per kilogram.

Protein and protein-vegetable days alternate during this period. The body is already somewhat accustomed to "harassment" and nutritional inaccuracies, so weight loss will not be as active.

If you need to get rid of five kilograms, the mode of alternation will be one day - protein, protein-vegetable. 5-10 kg - 2/2 or 3/3 scheme. And over ten kilograms - 5/5.

And if an unlimited number of protein products could be eaten in the first stage, the vegetable portions are regulated here.

According to statistics, at this stage, the average person loses no more than 400-500 g per week. This means that the diet is by no means as fast and effective as the “trumpeters” of those involved.

Criticism

So what's at this stage? Not 72 products, but 100! It's just an abdominal feast!

The weight loss period is quite long, you need to follow a special schedule - alternating between protein and protein-vegetable days until the weight reaches the desired value. If you have to drop ten pounds, you may not be in the grave in three months. But it’s scary to think about the damage they do to those who need to get rid of 30-40-50 kg!

Authorized Products

During this period, raw, cooked, fried or steamed vegetables are allowed.You can diversify your diet with a little dry wine (up to 100 g), low-fat cheese, mustard, low-fat lactic acid products, and:

• tomatoes and cucumbers;
• carrots;
• cabbage;
• beets;
• green beans;
• zucchini;
• mushroom;
• radish;
• eggplant;
• asparagus;
• hot red pepper.

But keep in mind that frying or adding oil is strictly forbidden. And no one has deleted the mandatory bran, at this stage the daily intake increases to two tablespoons.

The following foods are prohibited:

• starchy - potatoes, avocados, legumes, artichokes, corn;
• any cereals;
• industrial sauces - mayonnaise, ketchup and others;
• desserts and cakes;
• fat.

Weekly menu

Day of the Week	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Omelette made of chicken eggs and skim milk. Grated fresh carrots.	Vegetable soup. Beef steak.	Roast meat. Fresh vegetables - tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs.
Tuesday	Boiled eggs. Fresh greens.	Mushroom soup. Vegetable stew with chicken breast pieces.	Fried mackerel marinated with mustard.
Wednesday	Cottage cheese. Boiled eggs. Low fat kefir or milk.	Vegetable and meatball soup. Steamed fish cakes with herbs.	Chicken breast.
Thursday	Chicken slices. Fresh vegetables.	Chicken broth with eggs and herbs. Lean cooked meat.	Cheesecake or cottage cheese casserole.
Friday	Low fat yogurt. Omelette with greens.	Fish soup. Boiled salmon.	Grilled chicken breast with vegetables. Kefir.
Saturday	Cucumber and tomato salad. Fried eggs.	Cauliflower or broccoli puree soup. Turkey slice.	Zucchini pancakes. Fried fish.
Sunday	Curd curd. Low fat milk.	Dense vegetable puree soup. Steamy slice with vegetables.	Hake fillet steamed in milk.

Ducan diet recipes in alternating stages

At this stage, the culinary possibilities expand significantly, and Ducan’s recipes are more numerous and varied.

Cottage cheese and chicken zucchini snack

Chop the chicken fillet or pass it through a mincer. Spices, onions and garlic are added to the minced meat.

The zucchini is cut into rings, the middle of which is cut out to create a recess in which the minced meat, tomato ring, cottage cheese are placed and sprinkled with black pepper.

The appetizer is baked in the oven for half an hour.

Stuffed champignons

• The legs of large mushrooms are carefully separated, chopped and steamed soft in their own juice.
• The chicken fillet is boiled, chopped and combined with steamed mushrooms.
• The resulting mass is filled with low-fat natural yoghurt and placed in champignon caps.
• Bake the stuffed mushrooms in a well-heated oven at 180 ° C for 40 minutes.
• Before serving, the mushrooms are decorated with finely chopped herbs.

Section 3: Consolidation or Consolidation

The lost weight must be saved. This is the purpose of the third stage of the diet.

Rules

• Many other products are added to the diet, you should have a “belly party” twice a week with high calorie foods. The portion size should not exceed 220 g.
• You should eat pure protein foods at least once a week. This day is called "Protein Thursday" by dieters, but you can choose any other day of the week, but it is desirable that it occurs after "festive" exaggerations.
• Mandatory bran should be eaten every day for 2, 5 tablespoons. And do not forget to drink clean water - at least a liter and a half a day.

The stage was designed for a fairly long time - 1 kg was lost every ten days during the alternation phase. If you have lost 15 kg in the second stage, the third stage will last for 150 days.

Criticism

If you are still alive and relatively healthy after the first two stages, we will continue to analyze our impressive mission: "How to ruin your health to reach an ideal shape and at the same time make fun of your loved ones. "

The theory is that the body will try to recover lost pounds by any means. He longs passionately for this, and accordingly tries to resist no less passionately.

Well, what can I say, the body is exhausted, dehydrated, deprived of many useful substances. And now you get a hundred grams of wholemeal bread a day, a small portion of fruit, and a “feast” of a one-time complex carbohydrate intake that you must fast for pure protein every week.

At this stage, when delicious food is allowed, the weight starts to jump like a child’s yo-yo toy. The feeling of hunger is sharply aggravated, with gripping hands calling for forbidden foods or prolonging "holidays. "

Nails, skin and hair problems start to bother you again. Weight loss causes weakness, weakness, drowsiness, chills. Usually everything is bad again.

Authorized Products

In this section, you can start your diet:

• Fruit, excluding bananas and grapes (up to 100 g per day);
• wholemeal bread (literally two slices);
• low fat cheese;
• Starchy vegetables - legumes, rice, potatoes and corn
• durum wheat pasta;
• a little honey;
• spices.

Of course, the products of the first two phases remain.

Weekly menu

Day of the Week	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Curd curd. Tea.	Red fish ear. A slice of wholemeal bread. Fruit.	Fried chicken fillet with vegetables. Kefir.
Tuesday	Oatmeal with milk. Boiled eggs.	Vegetable soup. Pasta. Boiled veal.	Fish cakes. Fresh vegetable salad. Cottage cheese foam with pieces of fruit.
Wednesday	Omelette with mushrooms and cheese.	Green bean soup. Fried fish.	Beef stew with vegetables. Sponge cake with berries.
Thursday (protein day)	Cottage cheese. Boiled eggs.	Chicken broth. Boiled fish.	Meat, chicken or seafood.
Friday	Cheesecake or cottage cheese casserole.	Borsch. Chicken slices.	Mashed potatoes. Fresh vegetable salad.
Saturday	Buckwheat milk porridge.	Mushroom soup with meatballs. A slice of wholemeal bread. Vegetable risotto.	Vegetable stew. Steam slice.
Sunday	Fried eggs. Cheese. Coffee.	Sorrel soup with boiled eggs. Boiled chicken. Fruit.	Vegetable salad. Sea cocktail. Dried fruit compote.

Ducan recipes

Lightly salted salmon salad

Ingredients:

• salmon - 150 g;
• lettuce leaves;
• cherry tomatoes - 5-7 pieces. ;
• green apple - 1 pc;
• fresh cucumbers - 2 pieces;
• feta cheese - 140 g;
• lemon juice - 3 tbsp;
• sugar - 2 teaspoons;
• wine vinegar - 1 teaspoon;
• red peppers - to taste;
• olive oil;
• chopped coriander or parsley.

Cut all the ingredients for the salad into any slices, mix and season with lemon juice. Such a salad can be prepared for a festive table, and its guests have no idea that Ducan is eating food.

Creamy Salmon Soup

Ingredients:

• salmon fillet - 300 g;
• onion - 2-3 heads;
• low-fat cream - 100 ml;
• potatoes - 2-3 pieces;
• medium-sized carrots - 1 piece;
• greens, spices - to taste;
• vegetable oil for frying.

First you need to boil the broth from the red fish fillet and a whole onion. Chop the rest of the onion and fry with grated carrots.

Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes or slices as usual. A fish is taken out of the broth and crushed.

Vegetables, fish and spices are sent to boiling broth for 20-30 minutes. Once the potatoes are cooked, you can add cream.

Pour the chopped greens into a plate before serving.

Section 4. Stabilization

Finally, at this stage, you can eat what only your heart desires if you follow the mandatory rules.

Rules

• Eat only protein meals once a week.
• The daily dose of bran is not deleted - it should now be eaten in three tablespoons.
• Water consumption should remain the same - at least a liter and a half a day.
• The diet should be as balanced as possible. To do this, it is recommended to eat a slice of cheese, two starchy vegetables, a few slices of wholemeal bread, vegetables, protein products and fruit as a dessert daily.
• Meal size should be moderate - more often than not.
• Fatty fish should be replaced by other seafood.
• Compulsory physical activity should be maintained. Make walking the stairs the rule, avoiding elevators.
• Try to avoid stress.

Follow these guidelines for a lifetime if you don’t want to gain weight again.

Criticism

Once the desired results are achieved, most of the weight loss will break free and they will suffer “everything bad”. They go back to their old diet and start eating!

Now think about why you needed this torment if you could lose weight in the same year by simply removing fast carbs, sausages, fried foods and pickles from your diet? However, it would not be necessary to limit yourself to just a hundred products and deprive the body of the complex carbohydrates it so desperately needs.

Contraindications

Dukan's diet is strictly forbidden for people suffering from:

• kidney disease and renal failure;
• cholecystitis;
• pressure problems;
• cardiovascular disorders;
• gastric ulcer;
• intestinal dyskinesia;
• atherosclerosis;
• stones in the gallbladder.

Don’t experiment with yourself for expectant and breastfeeding mothers, although Dukan has developed a special method for pregnant women. Refrain from such "treatment" of obesity in children, adolescents and the elderly.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Dukan Diet

If you think you are the creator of your diet, the benefits of the weight loss method are as follows.

• For a long time, the weight remains unchanged after losing weight to the desired value.
• The diet is completely safe and extremely effective.
• You can consume permitted meals in any quantity and at any time. And considering that there are over a hundred of them, you can always enrich your menu with delicious food.
• The result is visible in the first few days.

It seems - eat as much as you want, whenever you want, and lose weight! Story! But if you take off your rose-colored glasses and dig deeper, a harsh reality will appear before us in all its glory. Because.

• Fats are almost completely eliminated from the diet, and this is fraught with deteriorating skin conditions and many diseases - atherosclerosis, cholesterol metabolism is disrupted, the reproductive system is inhibited, and the general mental state deteriorates because the nervous system does notworks properly.
• The diet is unbalanced, which means the body gets less nutrients and batteries.
• Any restriction and rejection of certain products leads to a "shock" to the body, so the person begins to feel weakness and fatigue, his performance decreases.
• According to the diet, oat bran should be eaten every day and it is not sold around every corner.

Conclusion

Every person is a blacksmith of their own happiness and also decides to treat their body. It is well-groomed and nourished both while lying on the sofa and playing sports in the gym. Or it can be subjected to extreme stress in the form of popular but rather sophisticated diets such as the Ducan method.

We do not restrict your freedom in any way and do not try to dissuade you from making decisions. Just love yourself, don’t do irreparable experiments on your body and be healthy!