The Ducan diet is one of the most hyped weight loss methods. Understanding how the diet works, what is the "correct" weight, and why eating according to Dukan can be dangerous.
Who is Pierre Ducan?
The creator of the popular diet is not a nutritionist, but a therapist. Pierre Dukan was in general practice when an obese patient came to see him in 1970. The man admitted that for the sake of losing weight, he is willing to give up any food except meat. The doctor developed a diet based on lean meat, non-starchy vegetables, and a minimal amount of fruit. A prerequisite was the rejection of sugar.
Ducan argued that such a diet is the best for natural metabolism: primitive man ate meat, vegetables, and fruits in season. According to our understanding, sugar was inaccessible to him and therefore should be abandoned now.
After 30 years of experimentation and observation, Pierre Ducan released the book I Can't Lose Weight, which became a bestseller in 32 countries. The new method promised the possibility of losing 5 kg in one or two weeks, without limiting yourself in the amount of food.
Celebrities who openly praised the new method added popularity to Ducan's designs. Jennifer Lopez and Gisele Bündchen used the diet to lose weight after pregnancy and delivery. Welsh singer Catherine Jenkins claims to be fit by feeding off Ducan's plan.
In 2012, the French Council of Physicians indicated that the nutritionist violated ethical principles by making medicine a commercial enterprise. In 2014, Pierre Ducan was expelled from the physician registry for advertising and promoting the method.
How does the diet work?
The Ducan diet involves a protein diet with a minimum of carbohydrates and fat. The scheme includes 100 products that can be consumed in any volume during the first weeks.
The method largely mirrors the ketogenic diet and other low-carb eating plans, in which the body is rebuilding itself for energy from fat and protein. The high protein content of foods helps balance insulin production and reduces the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone. We fill up faster and eat less. However, the Ducan diet restricts not only carbohydrates but also fats. The safety and benefits of this approach are not supported by research.
Before moving on to a Ducan eating plan, you must calculate your "correct" weight. This can be done using a special calculator. The calculation is based on data of height, maximum and minimum weight, age, structural characteristics of the body. The calculator was developed by Pierre Dukan, so the result must be scientifically verified and consult your doctor.
The Ducan diet is divided into four phases:
- Attack.
- Alternation.
- Funding.
- Stabilization.
Noticeable weight loss begins already in the attack phase, which motivates you to continue eating according to the Ducan method. The reason for the rapid weight loss is dehydration, since due to the lack of carbohydrates, the body loses fluid. However, experts do not confirm the long-term effectiveness of the method and the health benefits of the diet. Let's find out how the diet works and why it has many contraindications.
Stages of the Ducan diet
The diet consists of four parts, the duration of which depends on the calculated "correct" weight. The first two stages are aimed at losing weight and the last ones to consolidate the achievements. During the attack, only protein-rich foods are allowed. Then add non-starchy vegetables, limited fat, and extra carbohydrates.
The duration of the attack, alternation and reinforcement depends on how many kilos you need to lose to reach the "correct" weight. The final stage, which must be consistently met, combines the fixation phase diet and weekly protein days in an attack pattern.
1. Attack
The phase lasts from two to seven days. If you need to lose 20 kg or more to reach the "correct" weight, the stage may take longer. The meal plan includes 68 protein foods and some extras:
- meats: beef, veal, venison and other game, pork, lean bacon and soy, liver, kidneys, tongue;
- poultry: chicken fillet and liver, turkey, wild duck, quail, low-fat turkey, and chicken sausage;
- fish and shellfish - no restrictions, including canned tuna in water;
- vegetarian proteins: seitan - vegetable protein, wheat gluten-based meat substitute, veggie burgers, and soy products, tofu and tempeh;
- eggs: chicken, quail, duck;
- Low-fat dairy products: milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta - no more than 1 kg per day.
The daily diet should include 1. 5 tablespoons of oat bran and at least 1. 5 liters of water. You can also add a tablespoon of goji berries, sweeteners, shirataki noodles, and unlimited diet gelatin.
Every day it is necessary to dedicate 20 minutes of physical activity.
2. Alternation
The period of gradual achievement of the correct weight takes from a month to a year. The diet of the previous phase alternates every other day with a softer and more extended menu: 32 types of vegetables are added:
- spinach, kale, lettuce, and other green vegetables
- broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts;
- Peppers;
- mushrooms;
- celery;
- asparagus;
- artichokes
- zucchini;
- Tomatoes;
- green beans;
- onion;
- squash and squash spaghetti;
- turnip;
- cucumbers
- carrot;
- beetroot.
A teaspoon of olive oil is left for dressing salads or cooking in a pan and two tablespoons of bran. The period of physical activity is 30 minutes.
3. Anchoring
The duration of the stage is determined at the rate of ten days for each kilogram lost. The goal is to prevent a return to the starting weight. You can mix any of the products from the first two stages, as well as add a limited amount of fat and carbohydrates:
- fruits: berries or chopped melon (100 g), a medium-sized apple, orange, pear, peach, nectarine or two kiwis, plums or apricots;
- two slices of whole wheat bread a day;
- cheese, 40 g per day;
- starchy foods, 225 g per day: pasta, corn, beans, kidney beans, rice or potatoes
- meat: roast beef, pork or ham once or twice a week.
Twice a week you can make a festive meal: appetizer, main course, glass of wine and dessert. One day a week should be protein (attack pattern). Bran - 2, 5 tablespoons, physical activity - 25 minutes.
4. Stabilization
The final step in helping you maintain the "correct" weight. There are no strict dietary restrictions, but you must follow several principles:
- the products of the fixing phase should be taken as the basis of nutrition;
- keep one protein day a week;
- walk at least 20-30 minutes a day;
- Drink 1. 5 liters of water and eat at least 30 g of bran a day.
The last step is to follow your meal plan at all times with a list of 100 foods with small additions.
Menu for the initial stages
Attack
- Breakfast: low-fat cottage cheese mixed with bran and cinnamon, coffee or tea, water. Skim milk and sweeteners can be added to tea and coffee at any meal.
- Lunch: pan-fried chicken breast, shirataki noodles in broth, diet gelatin, iced tea.
- Dinner: steak and shrimp, diet gelatin, coffee or tea, water.
Alternation
- Breakfast: three-egg scrambled eggs, tomato slices, coffee, water.
- Lunch: fried chicken and salad with French dressing, Greek bran yogurt, iced tea.
- Dinner: Baked salmon fillet, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, diet gelatin, decaffeinated coffee or tea, water.
Funding
- Breakfast: three-egg omelette with cheese (40 g) and spinach, coffee, water.
- Lunch: a serving of turkey with two slices of whole wheat bread, 80 g of cottage cheese mixed with bran and cinnamon, iced tea.
- Dinner: pan-fried pork and grilled zucchini, a small apple, decaffeinated coffee, water.
Effectiveness of the Ducan diet
No diet alone provides a long-term weight loss effect, and dieting can be unhealthy. After a temporary weight loss, people return to their previous state and sometimes recover more strongly than before the change in diet. A safe and effective way to achieve the desired weight and maintain health and fitness is with the help of specialists to choose a suitable lifestyle and diet that can be realistically observed on a regular basis.
. . .There are many scientific publications that focus on the efficacy of high-protein and low-carbohydrate diets. However, there are few studies rated according to the Ducan method.
In 2015, data was collected from 50 women aged 19-64 in Poland who followed the Ducan eating plan and consumed around 1, 000 calories per day, including 100g of protein. Study participants lost 15 kg in 8-10 weeks.
In January, US News & World Report, one of the top three US weekly economics, politics and health, published a diet ranking of 23 experts. The Ducan diet came last on the list, receiving 1. 9 points out of 5. Experts rated the diet's effectiveness at 2. 5 and the health benefits at 2. According to doctors, there is no evidence that losing weight according to the Ducan method can be long-term and safe, while the list of products is unreasonably limited and the dietary rules are too complex. One expert openly called the diet "idiotic. "
The diet is effective in the first weeks. There is no scientific research to support sustained weight loss, and the long-term health effects of diet have not been studied.
The harm of the Ducan diet
The diet is presumably suitable for healthy people over 18 years of age. The method is not recommended for chronic gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic disorders, hormonal disorders, pregnancy, lactation.
The diet has all the downsides of low-carb diets, as well as some specific side effects, as many healthy foods are excluded from the eating plan.
Rapid weight loss
The main disadvantage of the Ducan diet, according to British nutrition experts, is that it can be harmful to health:
- Initial weight loss occurs from dehydration;
- The diet is not balanced, so you need to take additional vitamins;
- Take into account the daily amount of water and the required serving of oat bran to ensure a minimum of fiber.
Risk of illness
Due to the lack of beneficial vitamins and trace elements, the diet can lead to:
- osteoporosis;
- problems with the digestive system and gastrointestinal tract;
- diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- hormonal disorders;
- nervous system disorders.
"Ketogripp"
When changing the diet, a painful condition is possible, which is characteristic of the initial stage of diets with a large amount of protein. The reason you are not feeling well is a change in metabolism, as the body is rebuilding itself to receive energy from fat and protein. Fatigue, increased hunger and thirst, attention and sleep problems, mood swings, headaches, indigestion, and attacks of rapid heartbeat can be felt for several days.
Scientists speculate that avoiding this diet could lead to future health problems. And because the diet is limited, most people eventually stop eating according to plan - they get bored and uncomfortable sticking to a 100-food list and the rules for their rotation.
The Ducan diet is presumably adequate for most healthy people, but it has serious contraindications. Such a diet can lead to diseases of the cardiovascular, digestive and nervous systems, as well as hormonal disorders.
Key facts about the Ducan diet:
By
- the Ducan method helps you lose weight quickly;
- in the first two weeks, you can not count calories and eat allowed foods with almost no restrictions;
- a large amount of protein quenches hunger and helps you eat less;
- the diet provides for compulsory physical activity.
Against
- rapid weight loss occurs due to dehydration of the body;
- the list of foods is limited, so the body does not receive the necessary nutrients. During protein days, there are no vegetables in the diet, in the following stages the amount of carbohydrates is limited;
- the content of dietary fiber is below the daily norm: 5 g instead of the recommended 25-38 g;
- there is no scientific evidence that such nutrition leads to sustainable weight loss;
- There are no data on the long-term health effects of diet.
Doctor's comment
"The Ducan diet is one of the most famous ways to lose weight. And this diet was tested in due course by most of the patients who come to my practice.
A reasonable question arises: why, then, do they need the professional help of a nutritionist-nutritionist? The answer is simple: most of those who lost weight returned to their previous eating habits, that is, to their original weight within a few years. Unfortunately, this is the flip side of most of the diets people want to lose weight on. And the Ducan diet is no exception.
But this is not the most important argument so I would not recommend resorting to this diet.
The main damage of this type of nutrition is the lack of essential macro and micronutrients for a long time. The lack of vitamins and minerals can be compensated with special biologically active complexes, but this does not replace the natural intake of natural macro and microelements. Such deficiency conditions lead to a decrease in immunity, a deterioration in the work of all organs and systems of the body.
The Dukan diet increases the load on the excretory system, the liver, so it is categorically contraindicated for people with chronic kidney and liver failure, for pregnant and lactating women, for those who have protein metabolism disorders, gout, urolithiasis and cholelithiasis . And also during the exacerbation of chronic diseases: gastritis, ulcers, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, pyelonephritis.
The Ducan diet is a serious stress on the body, the potential harm from it far outweighs the benefit and the result is very unstable in the long run.
Follow the principles of optimal nutrition, get adequate physical activity, and monitor your sleep and drinking regimen. The desired result will not be long in coming and your health will be in order. "