The Ducan diet is one of the most famous weight loss methods. Understanding how the diet works is what the "right" weight is and why eating can be dangerous, according to Dukan.
Who is Pierre Ducan?
The creator of a popular diet is not a nutritionist but a therapist. Pierre Dukan was in general practice when an obese patient joined him in 1970. The man admitted that he was ready to give up all food except meat for weight loss. The doctor developed a diet based on lean meat, non-starchy vegetables, and minimal amounts of fruit. The precondition for this was the refusal of sugar.
Ducan argued that such a diet was best for natural metabolism: primitive man ate meat, seasonal vegetables, and fruits. Sugar was, to our understanding, inaccessible to him, so it must now be dropped.
After 30 years of experimentation and observation, Pierre Ducan has published the book I Can’t Lose Weight, which has become a bestseller in 32 countries. The new method promised to be able to lose 5 kg in a week or two without limiting itself to the amount of food.
Celebrities who openly praised the new method made Ducan’s plans popular. Jennifer Lopez and Gisele Bündchen ran out of diet after pregnancy and childbirth. Welsh singer Catherine Jenkins says she is feeding on Ducan’s plan.
In 2012, the French Medical Council indicated that the nutritionist had violated ethical principles by making medicine a commercial enterprise. In 2014, Pierre Ducant was expelled from the medical record for advertising and promoting the method.
How diet works
The Ducan diet includes a protein-rich diet that contains minimal amounts of carbohydrates and fat. The system contains 100 products that can be consumed in any quantity in the first weeks.
The method largely reflects the ketogenic diet and other low-carb diets, where the body rebuilds itself to gain energy from fat and protein. The high protein content of foods helps balance insulin production and reduces the production of ghrelin, the hormone of hunger. We eat faster and eat less. However, the Ducan diet limits not only carbohydrates but also fats. The safety and benefits of this approach are not supported by research.
Before moving on to the Ducan meal plan, you need to calculate your "correct" weight. This can be done using a special calculator. The calculation is based on data on height, maximum and minimum weight, age, structural characteristics of the body. The calculator was developed by Pierre Dukan, so the result should be scientifically verified and your doctor consulted.
The Ducan diet is divided into four phases:
- Attack.
- Alternation.
- Anchoring.
- Stabilization.
Noticeable weight loss begins in the attack phase, which motivates you to continue eating according to the Ducan method. The reason for rapid weight loss is dehydration, as the body loses fluid due to a lack of carbohydrates. However, experts do not confirm the long-term effectiveness of the method and the health benefits of the diet. Let’s look at 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 "correct" weight calculated. The first two stages are aimed at weight loss, and the last is to consolidate the results. Only foods high in protein are allowed during the attack. Then add non-starchy vegetables, limited fat and extra carbs.
The duration of the attack, alternation, and reinforcement depends on how many pounds you need to shed to reach the "correct" weight. The last stage, which must be followed continuously, combines the diet of the fixation phase and the weekly protein days in an attack pattern.
1. Attack
The phase lasts two to seven days. If you need to drop 20 kg or more to reach the "correct" weight, the section may take longer. The diet includes 68 protein foods and some additional foods:
- meat: beef, veal, game and other game, pork, lean and soy bacon, liver, kidneys, tongue;
- poultry: chicken fillet and liver, turkey, wild duck, quail, low-fat turkey and chicken sausage;
- fish and seafood: no restrictions, including canned tuna in water;
- vegetarian proteins: seitan - vegetable protein, wheat gluten meat substitute, vegetarian burgers and soy products, tofu and tempeh;
- eggs: chicken, quail, duck;
- low-fat dairy products: milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta - up to 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 berry, sweetener, shirataki noodles and an unlimited amount of edible gelatin.
You should devote 20 minutes of physical activity each day.
2. Switch
The period of gradual achievement of the correct weight lasts from one month to one year. The diet of the previous phase alternates every other day with a more gentle and expanded menu - 32 types of vegetables are added:
- spinach, kale, lettuce and other vegetables
- broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts;
- paprika;
- mushroom;
- celery;
- asparagus;
- artichoke;
- zucchini;
- tomato;
- green beans;
- onion;
- pumpkin and pumpkin spaghetti;
- white radish;
- cucumber;
- carrot;
- sugar beet.
One teaspoon of olive oil for salad dressing or pan cooking and two tablespoons of bran are allowed. The duration of physical activity is 30 minutes.
3. Recording
The duration of the phase is determined at a rate of ten days for each kilogram lost. The goal is to prevent the return of the initial weight. You can mix any of the products in the first two stages and add a limited amount of fat and carbohydrates:
- fruits: berries or chopped melons (100 g), medium-sized apples, oranges, pears, peaches, nectarines or two kiwis, plums or apricots;
- two slices of wholemeal bread daily;
- cheese, 40 g daily;
- starchy foods, 225 g per day: pasta, corn, beans, beans, rice or potatoes
- meat: roast beef, pork or ham once or twice a week.
You can have a festive dinner twice a week: appetizer, main course, glass of wine and dessert. Have protein a day a week (attack pattern). Bran - 2, 5 tablespoons, physical activity - 25 minutes.
4. Stabilization
The last step is to maintain the "right" weight. There are no strict dietary restrictions, but you should follow several principles:
- products from the fixing stage should be considered as a basis for nutrition;
- keep one protein day a week;
- walk for at least 20-30 minutes a day;
- drink 1, 5 liters of water and consume at least 30 g of bran per day.
The last step is to follow your meal plan at all times and list 100 foods with a few additions.
Menu for 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 any meal for tea and coffee.
- Lunch: chicken breast in a pan, shirataki noodles in broth, diet gelatin, iced tea.
- Dinner: steak and crab, diet gelatin, coffee or tea, water.
Alternation
- Breakfast: three scrambled eggs, tomato slices, coffee, water.
- Lunch: Fried chicken and salad with French sauce, Greek bran yogurt, iced tea.
- Dinner: fried salmon fillet, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, diet gelatin, decaffeinated coffee or tea, water.
Anchoring
- Breakfast: omelette made of three eggs with cheese (40 g) and spinach, coffee, water.
- Lunch: a serving of turkey mixed with two slices of wholemeal bread, 80 g of cottage cheese bran and cinnamon, iced tea.
- Dinner: pork in a pan and grilled zucchini, a small apple, decaffeinated coffee, water.
Efficacy of the Ducan diet
No diet provides a long-term weight-loss effect, and the diet can be unhealthy. After temporary weight loss, people return to their previous state and sometimes recover more strongly than before changing their diet. It is a safe and effective way to achieve the desired body weight and maintain health and fitness by choosing the right lifestyle and diet that can be realistically observed with the help of professionals.
. . .Numerous scientific publications deal with the effectiveness of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. However, according to the Ducan method, there are few qualified studies.
In 2015, 50 women aged 19-64 were collected in Poland who followed the Ducan diet plan and consumed about 1, 000 calories per day, including 100g of protein. Study participants lost 15 kg in 8-10 weeks.
In January, USAA News & World Report, one of the top three weekly newspapers in the U. S. economy, politics and health, released a diet of 23 experts. Ducan’s diet was last on the list, getting 1, 9 points out of 5. Experts rated the effectiveness of the diet at 2. 5 and the health benefits at 2. Doctors say there is no evidence that weight loss under the Ducan method can be long-term and safe, while the list of products is unduly limited and dietary rules are too complicated. One expert openly called the diet an idiot.
The diet is effective in the first weeks. There is no scientific research to support lasting weight loss, nor have the long-term health effects of diet been studied.
Harm of the Ducan diet
The diet is presumably suitable for healthy people over the age of 18. The method is not recommended for chronic gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic disorders, hormonal disorders, pregnancy, lactation.
The diet has the disadvantages of a low carb diet as well as some specific side effects as many healthy foods are excluded from the diet.
Fast weight loss
According to British nutrition experts, the main disadvantage of the Ducan diet is that it can be harmful to health:
- The initial weight loss occurs through dehydration;
- The diet is unbalanced, so you need to take extra vitamins;
- Keep in mind the daily amount of water and the required dose of oat bran to provide minimal fiber.
Risk of disease
Due to the lack of vitamins and useful trace elements, the diet can provoke:
- osteoporosis;
- gastrointestinal and gastrointestinal problems;
- cardiovascular diseases;
- hormonal disorders;
- disorders of the nervous system.
"Ketogripp"
When changing the diet, a painful condition is possible, which is characteristic of the initial stage of a diet high in protein. The cause of malaise is a change in metabolism as the body rebuilds itself to get energy from fats and proteins. Fatigue, increased hunger and thirst, attention and sleep disorders, mood swings, headaches, indigestion and tachycardia attacks may occur over several days.
Scientists speculate that avoiding this diet could lead to health problems in the future. And because diet is limited, most people end up stopping eating as planned - they get bored and uncomfortably cling to the 100-food list and the rules of rotation.
The Ducan diet is presumably suitable for most healthy people, but has serious contraindications. Such a diet can cause cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and nervous system diseases as well as hormonal disorders.
Key facts about the Ducan diet:
Grayling
- the Ducan method helps with fast weight loss;
- you can’t count calories and eat allowed food in the first two weeks with almost no restrictions;
- high amounts of protein quench hunger and help you eat less;
- diet prescribes mandatory physical activity.
Against
- rapid weight loss occurs due to dehydration of the body;
- the list of foods is limited so the body does not get the nutrients it needs. Protein is not a vegetable in the diet for days, the amount of carbohydrates is limited in the following stages;
- dietary fiber content is below the daily norm - 5 g instead of the recommended 25-38 g;
- there is no scientific evidence that such a diet leads to sustainable weight loss;
- there are no data on the long-term health effects of diet.
Doctor's note
"The Ducan diet is one of the most famous ways to lose weight. And this diet has been tried in good time by most patients who turn to me for consultation.
The question rightly arises: then why do they need the professional help of a nutritionist? The answer is simple: most diets have returned to their previous eating habits, that is, within a few years, to their original weight. Unfortunately, this is the reverse side of most diets that people strive for leanness. And the Ducan diet is no exception.
But that’s not the main reason why I wouldn’t recommend this diet.
The main damage to this type of diet is the long-term lack of essential macro- and microelements. The lack of vitamins and minerals is compensated by special biologically active complexes, but this does not replace the natural intake of natural macro- and microelements. Such deficient conditions lead to a decrease in immunity, a deterioration in the work of all organs and systems in the body.
The Dukan diet increases the burden on the excretory system, the liver, and is therefore categorically contraindicated in patients with chronic renal and hepatic insufficiency, pregnant and lactating women, those with impaired protein metabolism, gout, urolithiasis and bile disease. And during the exacerbation of chronic diseases - gastritis, ulcers, inflammation of the pancreas, gallbladder - inflammation, pyelonephritis.
The Ducan diet is a serious stress for the body, the potential harm from it far outweighs the benefits, and the result is very unstable in the long run.
Follow the principles of optimal nutrition, perform adequate physical activity, and monitor your sleep and drinking patterns. The desired result will not last long and your health will be fine. "