Dukan diet

Introduction

The Dukan diet is a weight loss diet created by the former doctor Pierre Dukan.

Not being considered healthy, the Dukan method is not recommended by the majority of human nutrition and medical institutions.

The most fearsome features of the Dukan diet are:

Protein excess.
Excess of food of animal origin.
Nutritional miseducation.

Who is Pierre Dukan?

For some time in conflict with the health authorities, on April 19, 2012 Pierre Dukan requested to be expelled from the French medical order. Many argue that this was a preventive maneuver.

Among the ethically different behaviors committed by Pierre Dukan we recall:

Hypothetically incorrect administration of appetite suppressing drugs to a patient suffering from acute aortic valve disease.
Personal advertising using your appointment.
Anti-obesity proposal addressed to the President of the Republic to be applied in the University; the latter proposed to assign extra credits to students who would have remained in the normal weight range throughout the academic studies, without taking into account the emotional and psychological repercussions.

Principles and Features

According to Pierre Dukan, losing weight in a context of food abundance is very difficult and unnatural. In such circumstances, restrictive dietary therapies (based on limiting food quantities) contribute to aggravating frustration for one's overweight.

The Dukan diet differs from the clinical dietary regimes for the "freedom of consumption and calculation of food portions". Apparently, it therefore opposes the caloric deficit of traditional diets, precisely because they are considered debilitating and impractical.

The Dukan diet aims to achieve weight loss through food regression, ie through the restoration of the diet hypothetically undertaken by primitive men (hunters and gatherers); the concept is very similar to that of the Paleodieta.

What foods?

The inventor has compiled a list of 100 recommended foods, of which 72 are of vegetable origin and 28 of animal type.

Diet Dukan suggests the prevalent consumption of:

Foods with high protein content, not too fat (lean meats and fish).
Vegetables, not potatoes.

Planning and Strategy

The Dukan diet strategy involves the division of the slimming into 4 phases.

Each step is managed in a personalized way to guarantee the naturalness of weight loss.

Attack phase

It is the initial approach; it has a short duration but has an immediate effect.

Only 72 foods are allowed in the attack phase as sources of protein.

Cruise phase

It is less aggressive; alternates identical days with the attack phase with days that also include the 28 vegetable-based dishes.

Consolidation phase

It differs in two halves and has the function of integrating some of the foods eliminated in the first two phases in predetermined quantities.

It has a variable duration depending on the size of the weight loss achieved; it is calculated by assigning 10 days for each kilogram lost in the first two phases (for example, with a slimming of 20kg it is necessary to adopt the consolidation up to 200 days).

During the consolidation phase, a more "balanced" diet is granted, restoring the overall pleasantness of the diet.

Final stabilization phase

It is based on a few rules, yet unequivocal and fundamental to maintaining the ideal weight over the long term.

The Slimming Apartment

In addition to providing the right dietary rules, it is necessary to structure a method that includes:

Dietary coaching.
Possibility to use an interactive area called "slimming apartment".

The latter is a virtual space designed to control all the parameters of the diet, in which it is possible to consult:

The list of 100 foods granted.
Recipes (see recipe Torta Dukan).
Various useful tips for motor therapy (including explanatory video clips).

Method analysis

Advantages

The only advantages of the Dukan diet are (or rather were at the time of its first spread):

Originality and use of interactive tools that allow real-time consulting: the invention of the slimming apartment is a very effective loyalty strategy. Combining online support with diet therapy was a flash of genius that allowed consumers to "harness" the Dukan method firmly.
Marketing: disputed by the authorities, it is nevertheless necessary for the business. This is a commercial advantage that concerns the Dukan company but does not touch users at all.
Standardization: regards the quality of the service offered; it is essential for the provision of services on a large scale.

WARNING! The effectiveness of the Dukan diet is NOT to be considered an advantage. Any weight loss diet inexorably leads to weight loss; otherwise it would not be considered as such.

Disadvantages

As for the disadvantages there is a lot to say:

Nutritional imbalance: advising to follow entire periods of high protein consumption, the Dukan method does NOT in any way respect the principles of a good and healthy diet.

Protein excess: it goes beyond the recommendations established in respect of the Mediterranean diet; the magnitude of the protein excess obtainable with the Dukan diet also clashes with all the results of the experimental studies carried out to establish a recommended daily protein dose.
Carbohydrate deficiency: compromises blood sugar and inexorably leads to ketoacidosis. Nerve tissues are mainly supported by glucose in the blood, which is maintained thanks to different processes. However, totally excluding carbohydrates from the diet also the metabolic pathways of neoglucogenesis may not be sufficient. The symptoms are: weakness, short temper, low pressure and inability to perform sustained and / or prolonged motor activity, etc. Furthermore the accumulation of ketone bodies in the blood places the organism in unfavorable conditions. Liver and kidneys are forced to work harder; however these acids tend to dehydrate the body further lowering the pressure and increasing the excretion of minerals with urine.
Fiber deficiency: the correct amount is about 30g of fiber per day. To obtain this dose it is necessary to consume: breakfast cereals, two portions of fruit a day, two portions of vegetables a day, cereals or legumes in at least one first course and a few slices of bread.
Water shortage (in addition to the greater tendency to dehydration): that contained in food is necessary to maintain the state of physiological hydration. Represents more than 50% of the fluids necessary for survival; in a balanced diet it is supplied mainly by foods of vegetable origin and milk.
Lack of lipid molecules: let's not forget that among the fats there are essential molecules, that is that the organism is not able to produce independently. These are the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. The main food sources are fatty fish, algae, oilseeds, oily fleshy fruit, and related extraction oils. Moreover, diluted in lipids, we also find many other very important compounds, such as the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), phytosterols and lecithins.
Lack of water-soluble vitamins and minerals: excluding cereals, legumes, fruits, etc. there is a risk of dietary deficiency of vitamins and salts mainly provided by these foods. Two examples are: vitamin C or ascorbic acid, contained above all in the acidulous fruit and in some vegetables (lettuce, parsley, cabbage etc.); magnesium, contained mainly in the fibrous portion of cereals, certain vegetables, oilseeds and fruits.

Absence of therapist-therapist relationship: any video clip, food list, dietary recipe or other material available on a website cannot (and will never) replace the interview with a nutrition specialist or a training session conducted with a personal trainer .
Marketing and standardization: transform users into consumers.
Initial weight loss too fast: for some motivating but for all traumatic. It is also a strategy that is not very honest as most of the pounds lost in the first few days are the result of dehydration.
Excessive restriction: if on the one hand it is possible to consume free portions, on the other hand Dukan requires to eat only certain foods.
Hypocrisy: Pierre Dukan demonizes low-calorie diets, calling them stressful. However at the same time it puts its customers in the same condition and perhaps worse. Let's take an example: a balanced low-calorie diet for an average sedentary adult person is around 1500-1600kcal. A Dukan diet in the attack phase (5 meals a day with normal portions of meat, fish, low-fat cheeses, vegan protein foods and eggs) reaches about 1000kcal. A big difference (50% less than calories). We avoid reiterating the complication of hypoglycemia, which is also an uncomfortable factor to say the least.
Hurry to "attack": wrong term and attitude. For a patient (especially obese) the haste to lose weight is certainly the first attitude to change. Moreover, the motivation is statistically lacking especially in the stabilization and maintenance phase; it is therefore useless to quickly reduce the weight in the first phase. From the psychological point of view, "attacking oneself" or one's own image does not facilitate the achievement of serenity in therapy. On the contrary, it could stir up doubts, fears and insecurities already present enough in a person who decides to follow a diet therapy for aesthetic purposes (we specifically avoid referring to those who suffer from eating disorders, on which the negative effect is certainly amplified ).
Long-term unsustainability: we are not talking about the consolidation and stabilization phases, but about new weight loss attempts. Recurrent overweight is quite widespread among those who follow weight-loss therapies and even more so in the case of high-protein diets that do NOT favor nutrition education. This means that with every attempt (probably every year) the liver and kidneys will have to tolerate the attack and cruising phases.

Conclusions

Ultimately, it is not conceivable to organize a weight-loss strategy with the aim of losing weight quickly without considering the future repercussions it could have on the nutritional attitude and on the health of patients. Rather, the educational, health and applicability of therapy should be taken care of.

Below we offer some examples of recipes in line with the principles of the Dukan diet. Such videos are not an invitation to undertake this diet, but a demonstration of how it is possible to prepare desserts with less sugar and more protein. Similar measures can be useful in different diets, naturally under the guidance of a nutritionist.