The Ducan Diet is one of the most widely advertised weight loss methods. Understand how the diet works, what is the "right" 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 he is ready, for the sake of losing weight, to give up any food other than meat. The doctor developed a diet based on lean meats, non-starchy vegetables, and a minimum of fruit. Refusing sugar was a prerequisite.
Ducan argued that the best diet for natural metabolism: a primitive man ate meat, seasonal vegetables and fruits. Sugar in our understanding was not accessible 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 has become a best seller in 32 countries. The new method promised the ability to lose 5 kg in two weeks, without limiting yourself in the amount of food.
Celebrities who openly advocated the new method have become very popular with Ducan designs. Jennifer Lopez and Gisele Bündchen used the diet to lose weight after pregnancy and childbirth. Welsh singer Catherine Jenkins claims to be in shape by feeding on Ducan’s plan.
In 2012, the French Council of Physicians reported that the nutritionist violated ethical principles by making medicine a commercial enterprise. In 2014, Pierre Ducan was removed from the register of doctors to advertise and promote the method.
How the diet works
Ducan diet implies a protein diet with a minimum of carbohydrates and fats. The scheme includes 100 products that can be consumed in one volume in the first few weeks.
The method largely reflects the ketogenic diet and other low-carb meal plans, where the body is rebuilding itself to get energy from fat and protein. The high protein content in food helps to balance insulin production and reduces the production of ghrelin, the hormone of hunger. We are saturated faster and eat less. However, the Ducan diet restricts not only carbohydrates but also fats. Research does not support the safety and benefits of this approach.
Before you move on to Ducan’s meal plan, you need to calculate your "correct" weight. This can be done by using a special calculator. The calculation is based on data on height, maximum and minimum weight, age, structural features 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 stages:
- Assault.
- Exchange.
- Anchoring.
- Stabilization.
Significant weight loss already begins in the attack phase, which encourages you to continue eating according to the Ducan method. The cause of rapid weight loss is dehydration, due to lack of carbohydrates, the body loses fluids. 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.
Steps of the Ducan diet
The diet consists of four parts, the duration of which depends on the "correct" calculated weight. The first two steps are focused on losing weight, while the final ones are focused on consolidating the achievements. During the attack, only high-protein foods are allowed. Then add non-starchy vegetables, limited fat, and extra carbohydrates.
The length of the attack, exchange and reinforcement depends on how many kilos you need to lose in order to achieve the "right" weight. The final phase, which must always be adhered to, combines the fixed phase diet and weekly protein days in an aggressive pattern.
1. Assault
The phase lasts between two and seven days. If you need to lose 20 kg or more to achieve the "right" weight, the step may take longer. The meal plan includes 68 protein foods and a few extra foods:
- meat: beef, veal, brine and other game, pork, lean bacon and soy, liver, kidney, tongue;
- poultry: chicken and liver fillet, turkey, wild duck, quail, low-fat turkey and chicken sausage;
- fish and seafood: no restrictions, including canned tuna in water;
- vegetarian proteins: seitan protein - vegetables, meat substitute made from wheat gluten, vegetarian burgers and soy products, tofu and tempeh;
- eggs: chicken, quail, duck;
- low-fat dairy products: milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta - more than 1 kg per day.
The daily diet must include 1. 5 tablespoons of oat bran and 1. At least 5 liters of water. You can also add a tablespoon of goji berries, sweeteners, shirataki noodles, and unlimited diet gelatin.
Every day you need to spend 20 minutes of physical activity.
2. Exchange
The period in which the correct weight is removed gradually takes from month to year. The diet from the previous stage alternates every other day with a quieter and more extensive menu - 32 types of vegetables are added:
- spinach, kale, lettuce, and other green vegetables
- broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts;
- bell peppers;
- mushrooms;
- celery;
- asparagus;
- artichokes;
- zucchini;
- tomatoes;
- green beans;
- onion;
- pumpkin and pumpkin spaghetti;
- tornapa;
- cucumbers;
- carrot;
- beetroot.
Let a teaspoon of olive oil for salad dressing or cook in a pan and two tablespoons of bran. The period of physical activity is 30 minutes.
3. Anchoring
The length of the stage is determined at a rate of ten days for each kilogram lost. The goal is to prevent a return to the initial weight. You can mix any of the products from the first two steps, as well as add a limited amount of fats and carbohydrates:
- fruits: chopped berries or melons (100 g), medium-sized apple, orange, pear, peach, nectarine, or two kiwi, plum or apricot;
- two slices of whole grain bread per day;
- cheese, 40 g per day;
- starchy foods, 225 g per day: pasta, corn, beans, beans, rice, or potatoes
- meat: roast beef, pork, or ham once or twice a week.
Twice a week you can have a festive meal: appetizer, main course, glass of wine and dessert. Protein (attack pattern) should be one day a week. Bran - 2. 5 tablespoons, physical activity - 25 minutes.
4. Stabilization
The final step in helping to maintain the "right" weight. There are no strict dietary restrictions, but you need to follow some principles:
- products from the settling stage should be taken as a nutritional basis;
- keep one protein day a week;
- walk at least 20-30 minutes a day;
- 1. Drink 5 liters of water and eat at least 30 g of bran a day.
The final step is to always follow your meal plan with a list of 100 foods without much additions.
Menu for the initial steps
Assault
- 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: chicken breast in a pan, shirataki noodles in a broth, diet gelatin, iced tea.
- Dinner: steak and shrimp, diet gelatin, coffee or tea, water.
Exchange
- Breakfast: scrambled eggs from three 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, dietary gelatin, decaffeinated coffee or tea, water.
Anchoring
- Breakfast: omelet of three eggs with cheese (40 g) and spinach, coffee, water.
- Lunch: turkey served with two slices of whole grain bread, 80 g of cottage cheese mixed with bran and cinnamon, iced tea.
- Dinner: pork in a pan and ground zucchini, a small apple, decaffeinated coffee, water.
Effectiveness of the Ducan diet
No single diet provides a long-term effect of weight loss, and a diet can be unhealthy. After temporary weight loss, people return to their previous state, and sometimes go stronger than ever before the change in diet. A safe and effective way to achieve the desired weight and maintain good health and physical shape is to help a specialist choose a regular lifestyle and diet that can be realistically observed on a regular basis.
. . .There are many scientific publications that focus on the effectiveness of high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets. However, there are few qualified studies according to the Ducan method.
In 2015, data were collected from 50 women aged 19-64 in Poland who followed Ducan’s meal plan and drank about 1, 000 calories per day, including 100 g of protein. Study participants lost 15 kg in 8-10 weeks.
In January the United States did. News & World Report, one of the top three weeks in the U. S. on economics, politics and health, published a diet ranking of 23 experts. Ducan diet last came 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. According to doctors, there is no evidence that weight can belose by Ducan method to be long-term and safe, although the list of products is unreasonably limited, and dietary rules are too complicated. One expert openly called the diet "idiotic. "
The diet is effective in the first few 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 Ducan diet
The diet is probably suitable for healthy people over the age of 18. The method is not recommended for chronic gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic disorders, hormonal disorders, pregnancy, breastfeeding.
The diet has all the disadvantages of low-carb diets, as well as a few specific side effects, since many healthy foods are excluded from the meal plan.
Fast weight loss
The biggest disadvantage of the Ducan diet, according to British nutrition experts, is that it can be harmful to health:
- Initial weight loss occurs through dehydration;
- The diet is not balanced, so you need to take extra vitamins;
- Keep in mind the daily amount of water and the necessary serving of oat bran to ensure a minimum of fiber.
Disease risk
Due to a lack of beneficial vitamins and trace elements, the diet can encourage:
- osteoporosis;
- problems with the digestive system and gastrointestinal tract;
- diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- hormonal disorders;
- disorders of the nervous system.
"Ketogripp"
Changing the diet can lead to a painful condition, which is characterized by the initial stage of high protein diets. The reason for feeling sick is a change in metabolism, because the body is rebuilding itself to get energy from fats and protein. You may feel tired, increased hunger and thirst, problems with attention and sleep, mood swings, headaches, malnutrition and bouts of tachycardia 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 become bored and uncomfortable adhering to a list of 100 foods and the rules for their rotation.
The Ducan diet is probably suitable for most healthy people, but there are serious contraindications. Such a diet can stimulate diseases of the cardiovascular, digestive and nervous systems, as well as hormonal disorders.
Key facts about Ducan's diet:
Per
- Ducan method helps to lose weight fast;
- in the first fortnight, you can not count calories and eat approved foods with almost no restrictions;
- high protein intake makes you hungry 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 get the essential nutrients. During protein days, there are no vegetables in the diet, at the next steps the amount of carbohydrates is limited;
- the dietary fiber content is below the daily norm - 5 g instead of the recommended 25-38 g;
- there is no scientific evidence that sustainable nutrition leads to weight loss;
- there are no data on the long-term health effects of diet.
The doctor 's comment
"The Ducan Diet is one of the most popular ways to lose weight. And most of the patients who come to me for a consultation have tried this diet in a timely manner.
A reasonable question arises: why, then, do they need the professional help of a nutritionist? The answer is simple: the majority of people who lost weight returned to their previous eating habits, which means, within their original weight, within a few years. Unfortunately, this is the flip side of most diets that people rely on in their pursuit of slim. And the Ducan diet is no exception.
But this is not the most important argument about it that I would not recommend resorting to this diet.
The main drawback of this type of nutrition is the long-term lack of essential macro-ingredients and essential micronutrients. Special biologically active complexes can be compensated for by a lack of vitamins and minerals, but this does not replace the natural intake of natural macro- and micro-elements. Such immunity leads to a decrease in immunity, deterioration of the work of all organs and systems of the body.
Dukan diet increases the burden on the excretory system, the liver, therefore it is categorically contraindicated for people with chronic renal and hepatic insufficiency, for pregnant and lactating women, for those with impaired protein metabolism, gout, urolithiasis and cholelithiasis on them. And also during exacerbation of chronic diseases - gastritis, ulcers, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, pyelonephritis.
The Ducan diet is a serious stress for the body, the potential harm outweighs the benefit, and the result is very unstable in the long run.
Follow the principles of optimal nutrition, have adequate physical activity, and monitor your sleep and drinking regime. The desired result will soon be forthcoming, and your health will be in order. "