When a woman is determined to lose weight and starts searching the Internet for the best diet that gives almost instant results, it is difficult to stop her. Especially after reading praise for one method or another. Today we are going to find out what Ducan's diet is, how effective it is, debunk myths and become familiar with criticism.
The Ducan Diet - All the important nuances
The Dukan diet is based on eating foods rich in protein and contributes to weight loss of 1. 5 to 50 kilos. Tempting? Sure!
But how safe is it for health? Let's find out.
Author's identity
French general practitioner Pierre Dukan, whose diet has already excited millions of overweight people, has been developing it for twenty years.
In the mid-seventies of the last century, obesity was combated through a diet that included low-carbohydrate foods. Dukan, on the other hand, invented a new technique that consists of four phases - attack, alternation, consolidation and stabilization - that allow not only to lose weight, but also to keep the weight in a constant state.
Since then, Ducan has started to study foods rich in proteins and their effects on the human body. Twenty years later, he wrote the book "I Can't Lose Weight", which sold more than ten million worldwide. From that moment, the best moment of the ex-neurologist began.
After conducting opinion polls, it was found that 35% of people who lost weight according to the Ducan method returned the pounds lost during the year. 80% regained their previous weight in four years.
Basic principles
- Approved products.To lose weight, it is allowed to eat foods rich in animal and vegetable proteins, which are easily absorbed by the body and contribute to weight loss.
- Movement.Physical activity is key - morning exercise, gymnastics or at least walking on rough terrain. Or you can clean the apartment every day by moving vigorously with a cloth on the floor. Here, as they say, everyone chooses how to increase their activity - fitness or weeding in the garden.
- Water!Don't forget to drink one and a half to two liters of clean water a day.
- Bran.They are essential as a source of fiber, which contributes to proper digestive processes.
- Calculator.Before starting a diet, you need to calculate your Dukan weight to find out how many days you need to devote to one phase or another.
Doctors' opinion about diet
If you completely exclude carbohydrates from the diet or significantly reduce their amount, the body will want it or not, but it will start taking out the energy it needs, breaking the fat. But first it will use all the glycogen stores stored in the liver and only then will it reach the fat deposits on the sides and hips.
Glycogen is a reserve of energy, thanks to which the body can quickly replace the lack of glucose. Its amount in the liver in an adult is 100-120 g.
If you empty your glycogen stores, ketosis will begin - the breakdown of fat with the formation of a large number of ketone cells (acetone). A high concentration of glucose and acetone in the blood can lead to an acid-base imbalance towards an increase in acid. The long-term disturbance of carbohydrate metabolism ultimately leads to diabetic ketoacidotic coma.
Those interested in Ducan's diet should know that a positive result without compromising health will only be if the pancreas is able to produce enough insulin, which decreases the concentration of glucose in the blood.
Low-carbohydrate diets are especially dangerous for people with metabolic disorders, and they may not even know it, as these disorders do not manifest themselves with the normal diet. As a result, acidosis can develop, which is manifested by frequent headaches, chronic fatigue, arrhythmias or heart palpitations, constant drowsiness and weakness.
Stage 1. Attack
This is the most difficult and most difficult period. It does not normally exceed seven days; the Ducan calculator will show a more accurate number.
Rules
At this point, you need to completely eliminate carbohydrates from the diet and increase the use of protein products. The body is saturated with proteins, rebuilds metabolism and quickly destroys body fat.
Start each morning with a spoonful of oat bran. During the day, you can eat any food from the allowed list and in unlimited quantities. They need to be roasted, boiled or steamed. Don't forget water, as most drinks are prohibited, it is almost the only source of liquid.
The body starts to rebuild itself, so you shouldn't be totally involved in sports, it is better to limit yourself to walking or simply doing gymnastics.
Estimated weight loss - 2-5 kg.
Reviews
The "Attack" stage allows you to actually reduce weight by a certain number of pounds (this indicator is individual for everyone), but this is not due to burning fat, but to dehydration. But losing weight sees changing values on the scales, are encouraged and continue to aggravate the imbalance in nutrition.
The body is affected by the almost complete elimination of carbohydrates from the body. The person begins to feel weakness, fatigue, irritability. Right now, it is better for your family and colleagues to stay away from him - mood swings can ruin the emotional background of the family and the team for a long time.
The Chinese with great imagination approached the choice of execution for criminals. The villains were punished sophisticated enough to suffer as much as possible before they died. The condemned were fed only meat for a long time, after which the unfortunate died in severe pain due to the processes of decomposition of the intestines and poisoning of the body with toxins.
Carbohydrates are essential for humans to break down proteins and fats properly. If they do not enter the body, then a mandatory imbalance, metabolic disorders and intoxication await.
During "Attack", excess protein starts to excrete water quickly, which significantly increases kidney load. In addition, an intelligent organism tries to defend itself and tries by all means to retain the precious liquid in itself. As a result, when changing stages and introducing more benign dietary conditions, many begin to notice edema even after eating tomatoes.
One gram of carbohydrates retains 4 ml of liquid and, after starvation of carbohydrates, that number increases significantly. If a breakdown occurs, and it is inevitable due to the decline and imbalance in energy, you are unlikely to eat common buckwheat - you will be attracted to sweet, starchy foods. And given the increasing water retention, the number on the scale will definitely not please.
Allowed products
This step includes 72 protein-rich foods, which you can find on websites that promote this diet. Among them - lean meats, poultry, fish and seafood, milk and its low-fat derivatives, eggs. It is true that during the day you can eat only two eggs grown with yolk and protein, and if the yolk is excluded, restrictions are lifted - eat as much as you want.
You will definitely have to say goodbye to:
- coffee and tea;
- salt, mustard and spices; vinegar
- ;
- all kinds of vegetables - no herbs, vegetables, fruits, and generally a total ban on plant foods;
- oils and fats of vegetable and animal origin;
- alcohol and most drinks.
You can only eat protein-rich foods!
Weekly Menu
| Day of the week | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
| Monday | Chicken eggs cooked in the oven with milk. | Chicken soup. Cooked chicken meat. | Curd casserole. |
| Tuesday | Steamed cheese cakes. | Lean meat soup, boiled egg. | Roasted meat. |
| Wednesday | Bran pancakes. | Meatball soup. | Cooked chicken breast. |
| Thursday | Steamed or cooked fish. | Lean chicken soup.
Boiled liver, kefir. |
Chicken cutlets, skimmed milk. |
| Friday | Boiled eggs, breaded chicken nuggets with oat bran. | Salmon ear. Cooked chicken fillet. | Seafood cocktail. |
| Saturday | Shrimp omelet. | Beef steaks. | Baked mackerel, kefir. |
| Sunday | Grilled chicken breast. | Chicken broth with boiled eggs. | Cottage cheese, skimmed milk or kefir. |
Ducan diet recipes for the attack phase
In order not to reinvent the wheel and not think about what to cook, you can use ready-made recipes according to Dukan.
Lean Minced Chops
You can eat absolutely any lean meat - chicken, turkey, rabbit or beef. It is finely chopped or passed through a meat grinder, a raw egg is added and then beaten well and flat cakes are formed.
Each flat bread is dipped in an egg and breaded with oat bran. Prepare the chops on the grill, in a slow cooker, in "Roasting" mode or fried in an oil-free Teflon pan.
Chicken soup
Everything is simple here. The chicken breast is boiled until tender, cut into small pieces or crushed in a blender and thrown back into the boiling broth. Beat some eggs with a fork and pour into the broth in a thin stream. After a few minutes, the protein soup is ready.
Stage 2. Alternation or "Cruise"
This is the most important step in Dukan's method of losing weight. In the second stage, the desired indulgence begins. What is it?
Rules
Another 28 are added to the 72 products previously allowed, mainly vegetables. The length of the period depends on the expected weight loss - one week is distributed for one kilogram.
During this period, there is an alternation of protein and protein-vegetable days. The body is already somewhat used to "intimidation" and nutritional inaccuracies, so weight loss will not be as active.
If you need to get rid of five kilograms, the alternation mode will be on a - protein day, protein-vegetable day. From 5 to 10 kg - 2/2 or 3/3 scheme. And more than ten kilograms - 5/5.
And if in the first phase it was possible to eat an unlimited number of protein products, then here the vegetable portions are regulated.
Statistics say that, at this stage, the average person does not lose more than 400-500 g of weight per week. This means that the diet is far from being as fast and effective as it is "touted" by stakeholders.
Reviews
So, what do we have at this stage? Not 72 products, but 100! It's just a belly party!
The weight loss period is quite long, you have to follow a special schedule - alternating protein and vegetable-protein days until the weight reaches the desired value. If you need to lose a dozen pounds, then, in three months, you cannot reach the grave. But it is scary to think what kind of harm those who need to get rid of 30-40-50 kg do themselves!
Allowed products
During this period, raw, cooked, roasted or steamed vegetables are allowed.You can diversify your diet with a little dry wine (no more than 100 g), low-fat cheese, mustard, low-fat lactic acid products and also:
- tomatoes and cucumbers;
- carrots;
- cabbage;
- beet;
- green beans;
- zucchini;
- mushrooms;
- radishes;
- eggplants;
- asparagus;
- spicy red pepper.
But don't forget that frying or adding oil is strictly prohibited. And nobody canceled the mandatory bran, at this stage the daily intake increases to two tablespoons.
The following foods are prohibited:
- starchy - potato, avocado, vegetables, artichoke, corn;
- any cereals;
- industrial sauces - mayonnaise, ketchup and others;
- desserts and sweets;
- fat.
Weekly Menu
| Day of the week | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
| Monday | An omelet made from chicken eggs and skimmed milk.
Freshly grated carrots. |
Vegetable soup.
Steak. |
Roasted meat.
Fresh vegetables - tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs. |
| Tuesday | Boiled eggs.
Fresh vegetables. |
Mushroom soup.
Vegetable stew with pieces of chicken breast. |
Baked mackerel marinated with mustard. |
| Wednesday | Curd.
Boiled egg. Kefir or low-fat milk. |
Vegetable and meatball soup.
Steamed fish cakes with herbs. |
Chicken breast. |
| Thursday | Chicken cutlets.
Fresh vegetables. |
Chicken broth with egg and herbs.
Lean cooked meat. |
Cheesecakes or curd casserole. |
| Friday | Skimmed yogurt.
Omelet with herbs. |
Fish soup.
Cooked salmon. |
Grilled chicken breast with vegetables.
Kefir. |
| Saturday | Cucumber and tomato salad.
Fried eggs. |
Cauliflower soup or broccoli puree.
Turkey chops. |
Zucchini pancakes.
Roasted fish. |
| Sunday | Curd casserole.
Low-fat milk. |
Thick vegetable puree soup.
Steam chops with vegetables. |
Hake fillet cooked in milk. |
Ducan diet recipes for alternative stage
At this stage, the culinary possibilities expand significantly and Ducan's recipes are more numerous and varied.
Zucchini snack with curd
The chicken fillet is finely chopped or passed through a meat grinder. Seasonings, onions and garlic are added to the minced meat.
The zucchinis are cut in circles, the middle is cut to create a depression in which the minced meat, the tomato ring and the curd are placed and sprinkled with black pepper.
The appetizer is baked in the oven for half an hour.
Champignon stuffed
- The legs of large mushrooms are carefully separated, finely chopped and cooked in their own juice until they are tender.
- The chicken fillet is boiled, chopped and combined with cooked mushrooms.
- The resulting dough is filled with low-fat natural yogurt and placed in champignon caps.
- Stuffed mushrooms are roasted in a well-heated oven for 40 minutes at 180 ° C.
- Before serving, the champignon is decorated with finely chopped herbs.
Step nº 3. Consolidation or Consolidation
The lost weight needs to be saved. This is what the third phase of the diet aims at.
Rules
- Several other products are added to the diet, it is allowed to organize a “belly party” with high calorie dishes twice a week. The portion size should not exceed 220 g.
- At least once a week, you will have to eat foods with pure proteins. This day is called "Thursday of Proteins" by the followers of the diet, but you can choose any other day of the week, but it is desirable that it occurs after the excesses of "holidays".
- Mandatory bran should be consumed daily for 2. 5 tablespoons. And don't forget to drink clean water - at least a liter and a half a day.
The stage was designed for a very long period - every ten days, 1 kg is lost during the alternation phase. If in the second stage you lost 15 kg, the third will last 150 days.
Reviews
If you are still alive and relatively healthy after the first two stages, we will continue to analyze our fascinating quest "How to harm your health in search of an ideal figure and, at the same time, mock your loved ones. "
The theory says that the body will try to recover the lost kilograms by any means. He passionately longs for it, so you try to resist it with less passion.
Well, what can we say, the body is exhausted, dehydrated, deprived of many useful substances. And now he gets a hundred grams of whole grain bread a day, a small portion of fruit and a "feast" of a single intake of complex carbohydrates a week, after which you need to organize a fasting day with pure protein.
It is at this stage, when tasty is allowed, that the weight can start "jumping" like a child's yo-yo. The feeling of hunger is sharply exacerbated, the hands that grasp are attracted to eat forbidden foods or to prolong the “vacation”.
Nail, skin and hair problems are starting to bother me again. Losing weight can cause weakness, weakness, drowsiness, chills occur frequently. In general, again everything is bad.
Allowed products
At this stage, you can enter the diet:
- fruits, except bananas and grapes (not more than 100 g per day);
- brown bread (literally two slices);
- low-fat cheese;
- Vegetables with starch - vegetables, rice, potatoes and corn
- durum wheat dough;
- some honey;
- spices.
Of course, the products from the first two phases are preserved.
Weekly Menu
| Day of the week | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
| Monday | Curd casserole.
Tea. |
Red fish ear.
A slice of whole grain bread. Fruit. |
Roasted chicken fillet with vegetables.
Kefir. |
| Tuesday | Oatmeal with milk.
Boiled egg. |
Vegetable soup.
Macaroni. Cooked veal. |
Fish cakes.
Fresh vegetable salad. Curd mousse with pieces of fruit. |
| Wednesday | Omelet with mushrooms and cheese. | Green bean soup.
Roasted fish. |
Meat stew with vegetables.
Sponge cake with red fruits. |
| Thursday (protein day) | Curd.
Boiled eggs. |
Chicken broth.
Cooked fish. |
Meat, chicken or seafood. |
| Friday | Cheesecakes or curd casserole. | Borsch.
Chicken cutlets. |
Mashed potato.
Fresh vegetable salad. |
| Saturday | Buckwheat milk porridge. | Mushroom soup with meatballs.
A slice of whole grain bread. Vegetable risotto. |
Vegetable stew.
Steam chops. |
| Sunday | Fried eggs.
Cheese. Coffee. |
Sorrel soup with boiled eggs.
Cooked chicken. Fruit. |
Vegetable salad.
Seafood cocktail. Dried fruit compote. |
Ducan recipes
Salad with lightly salted salmon
Ingredients:
- salmon - 150 g;
- lettuce leaves;
- cherry tomatoes - 5-7 pcs. ;
- green apple - 1 pc. ;
- fresh cucumbers - 2 pcs. ;
- Feta Cheese - 140 g;
- lemon juice - 3 tablespoons; sugar
- - 2 teaspoons;
- wine vinegar - 1 teaspoon;
- red pepper - to taste;
- coriander or chopped parsley.
All components of the salad are cut into arbitrary slices, mixed and seasoned with lemon juice. This salad can be prepared for a festive table, and your guests will not even suspect that they are eating a Ducan dish.
Creamy salmon soup
Ingredients:
- salmon fillet - 300 g;
- onions - 2-3 heads;
- low-fat cream - 100 ml;
- potatoes - 2-3 pcs. ;
- medium carrots - 1 un. ;
- vegetables, spices - to taste;
- vegetable oil for frying.
First, you need to boil the red fish fillet broth and a whole onion. The rest of the onion is chopped and fried with grated carrots.
The potatoes are peeled and cut into cubes or slices in the usual way. A fish is removed from the broth and crushed.
Vegetables, fish and spices are placed in the boiling broth for 20-30 minutes. After the potatoes are cooked, you can add cream.
Finely chopped vegetables are placed on a plate before serving.
Stage 4. Stabilization
And finally, at this stage, you can eat what your heart desires, if you follow the mandatory rules.
Rules
- Eat only protein foods once a week.
- The daily serving of bran is not canceled - now you need to eat it in three tablespoons.
- Water consumption must remain unchanged - at least one and a half liters per day.
- The diet should be balanced as much as possible. To do this, it is recommended to eat a slice of cheese daily, two starchy vegetables, some slices of whole grain bread, vegetables, protein products and fruits as a dessert.
- The size of the meal should be moderate - more often than larger.
- Fatty fish should be replaced with other seafood.
- Mandatory physical activity must be preserved. Make it a rule to climb stairs, avoiding elevators.
- Try to avoid stress.
You should follow these guidelines for the rest of your life if you don't want to gain weight again.
Reviews
As soon as the desired results are achieved, most of those who are losing weight let go and surrender to the "bad guy". They go back to the old diet and start EATING!
Now think, why did you need this torment, if in the same year you could lose weight simply by removing fast carbs, sausages, fried foods and pickles from your diet? At the same time, it would not be necessary to limit yourself to a hundred products and deprive the body of the complex carbohydrates that it so badly needs.
Contraindications
The Dukan diet is strictly prohibited for people suffering from:
- kidney disease and kidney failure; cholecystitis;
- pressure problems;
- disorders of the cardiovascular system; stomach ulcer
- ; intestinal dyskinesia
- ; atherosclerosis;
- gallbladder stones.
Do not experiment on yourself for pregnant and lactating women, although Dukan has developed a special method for pregnant women. Refrain from such "treatment" of obesity in children, adolescents and the elderly.
Pros and cons of the Dukan diet
If you believe in creating the diet, the benefits of losing weight are as follows.
- For a long time, the weight will remain unchanged after weight loss to the desired values.
- The diet is absolutely safe and highly effective.
- You can eat allowed foods in any quantity and whenever you want. And as there are more than a hundred, you can always diversify your menu with delicious dishes.
- The result is visible from the first days.
Apparently - eat as much and as much as you want and lose weight! Story! But if you take off your pink glasses and dig deeper, a harsh reality appears before us in all its glory. Namely.
- Fats are almost completely excluded from the diet, and this is fraught with deteriorating skin condition and many diseases - atherosclerosis develops, cholesterol metabolism is disturbed, the reproductive system is inhibited, mental stategeneral worsens, since the nervous system does not function properly.
- The diet is unbalanced, which means that the body receives less nutrients and elements.
- Any restriction and refusal of certain foods leads to a "shock" to the body, so the person begins to feel weakness, fatigue, his performance decreases.
- According to the diet, you need to eat oat bran every day, and they are not sold on every corner.
Conclusion
Each person is the blacksmith of his own happiness and also decides how to manage his body. It can be prepared and nourished either lying on the couch or playing sports at the gym. Or subject it to extreme stress in the form of popular, but very sophisticated diets, like the Ducan method.
We do not in any way limit your freedom and we do not try to dissuade you from making decisions. Just love yourself, don't experience irreparable experiences in your body and be healthy!