Success On A Plate


With the majority of diets failing to keep the weight off long term the Dukan Diet is a refreshing change. Emma McClelland talks to Dr. Pierre Dukan about the lifetime plan that really works


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here are few women, and indeed men, who can say that they have never tried some sort of diet. Te weight loss industry is vast and it is


saturated with companies promising quick fixes but failing to support dieters in the long term. Statistically, even if you have successfully shed the pounds whilst following one of these regimes, you are highly likely to regain the weight once you return to more normal eating habits. Living one’s life bound by counting calories or drinking meal replacement shakes is not feasible, which is why so many dieters fail in their endeavours. It is easy to feel despondent about losing weight but, fortunately, there is one diet that breaks the cycle of failure and frustration. Devised by French doctor Pierre Dukan,


the Dukan Diet offers a personalised and highly supportive diet plan for those looking to transform their body and keep it that way. To begin with, dieters are asked a number of online questions about their eating habits and lifestyle. Even bone density is taken into account and an ideal weight is asked for. Te dieter’s true weight is then calculated. “Everyone knows about BMI,” explains Pierre, “it’s calculated by dividing your weight and your height but it’s very simple and there are only two parameters. It’s not personalised because you do it the same way for men and for women, for young and for old, and so on. So I decided to build this new concept of true weight.” Te true weight calculation has thirteen parameters and is a lot more accurate than the traditional BMI method. After this eighty more in depth questions are asked including questions about what kind of food you prefer and what time of day you eat the most. “It is about your way of life and your way of living because eating and life are correlated,” Dr. Dukan observes. “If you understand why someone puts on weight then you can help them to lose it better.” Once the questionnaire has been completed a diet plan is sent to dieters. It consists of four stages. Te first stage, the Attack Phase, lasts between two and seven days and lets you choose from 72 protein foods that you can eat as much of as you want. Tis phase of the diet gives immediate results so that dieters get a huge boost of motivation to spur them on.


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“When you say to people, ‘eat from these foods as much as you want’ you see in their eyes that something changes,” Pierre explains, “when they lose so much weight during this phase and feel so pleased and surprised they feel like they have an ally. You are not the doctor who punishes; you are the doctor who rewards.” Te second phase is called the Cruise Phase and sees the addition of 28 vegetables of which you can eat as much as you want. Tis averages a two pound a week weight loss until the desired target weight, or true weight, is achieved. Once this has happened the Consolidation Phase begins and is designed to prevent any rebound effects while the dieter begins to eat in a more relaxed fashion. At this point you can add cheese, bread, fruits, starchy foods and ‘celebration meals’. It lasts five days for every pound that you have lost so it’s easy to calculate how many days you need to consolidate your new weight. Finally a Stabilisation Phase begins and


involves the dieter retaining communication with the Dukan Diet website. Dieters receive a set of instructions each morning telling them what to eat and what kind of exercise to do. In the evening they report back, explaining how well they did, if they had any lapses, whether they did any exercise and how frustrated or motivated they are feeling. “If they say to me,” says Dr. Dukan, “I missed pasta on the first, second, third and fourth day then on the fifth day they receive an instruction saying ‘this evening you will eat a big plate of pasta with parmesan and tomatoes, drink your water but don’t take anything else; no proteins or vegetables’. It’s the joker card!” In this way the diet is completely interactive and instructions are personal. Tis reporting is integral to the diet as it helps people feel that they are not alone with their diet plan. Dr. Dukan also explains that, in this final phase, which should be followed as a lifelong commitment to a healthy body, three measures are given to be followed by all dieters. Te first measure is to have one protein only day a week, the second is to have three tablespoons of oat bran a day that you can even incorporate into pancakes if you want. Te final measure is to walk twenty minutes a day, which can be


done easily by taking the stairs instead of the lift or walking part of the way to work in the morning. When asked whether there are any risks with his diet Dr. Dukan is clear, “Absolutely not. If you eat the sweet, the sugary, the carbohydrate, then it’s that that results in addiction not the protein. If you put a drop of sugar on the tongue of a very young baby it smiles immediately. We are predisposed to sugar so it’s addictive and can bring you slowly to diabetes.” He also explains how too much fat can line the arteries and can cause health problems. Protein and vegetables, in contrast, have no side effects. Te high protein content of the diet often


reminds people of the Atkins diet but Dr. Dukan is keen to stress that they are different. “Atkins was a genius. He was the person that said, ‘no more with calorie counting’ because in 1980 everything was about counting calories. But he said, ‘you can eat as much protein and fat as you want’ and this is the problem of Atkins. He didn’t think that breaking the taboo of fat was opening the Pandora’s box so people were eating burgers, cream, cheese, mayonnaise and that’s the reason he has problems with the heart, small problems, but that’s the different between him and me.” He also explains that his own use of stabilization after the initial weight loss is a key difference between his diet and many others. It is because of this stabilisation that Dukan diet followers are more successful than others. Of his diet Dr. Dukan is incredibly passionate, saying, “I really think that it’s the most healthy and efficient diet today.” And, with an approach that focuses on making weight loss enjoyable, I couldn’t agree more.


We have teamed up with the Dukan Diet to offer all our readers an exclusive 40% off a personal weight-loss plan at www.dukandiet.co.uk - all you need to do is enter this code WF40* For more information on the diet or to create your free personal weight-loss plan please visit www.dukandiet.co.uk


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