The Ducan Diet is one of the most advertised weight loss methods. Understand how the diet works, what the "right" weight is, 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 medicine when an obese patient came to see him in 1970. The man admitted that in order to lose weight, he is ready to give up all food except meat. The doctor developed a diet based on lean meat, non-starchy vegetables and a minimum of fruit. The prerequisite was the refusal of sugar.
Ducan argued that such a diet was best for natural metabolism: primitive man ate meat, vegetables and seasonal fruits. We understand that sugar was inaccessible to him and should therefore be given up now.
After 30 years of experimentation and observation, Pierre Ducan published the book I Can't Lose Weight, which became a bestseller in 32 countries. The new method promised the ability to lose 5 kg in one to two weeks without restricting the amount of food.
Celebrities who openly praised the new method popularized Ducan's 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 Medical Council pointed out that the nutritionist violated ethical principles by turning medicine into a commercial venture. In 2014, Pierre Ducan was removed from the register of doctors for advertising the method.
This is how the diet works
The Ducan Diet includes a protein diet with a minimum of carbohydrates and fats. The program includes 100 products that can be consumed in any quantity during the first few weeks.
The method largely mirrors the ketogenic diet and other low-carb eating plans where the body builds itself to get energy from fat and protein. The high protein content of the food helps to balance insulin production and reduces the production of ghrelin, the hormone of hunger. We are full faster and eat less. However, the Ducan diet not only restricts carbohydrates, but also fats. Research does not support the safety and usefulness of this approach.
Before moving on to a Ducan meal plan, you need to calculate your "real" weight. This can be done with a special computer. 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 you should scientifically verify the result and consult your doctor.
Ducan's diet is divided into four phases:
- Attack.
- Change.
- Anchoring.
- Stabilization.
Even in the attack phase, a noticeable weight loss begins, which motivates you to continue to eat according to the Ducan method. The reason for the rapid weight loss is dehydration, as the body loses fluids due to the lack of carbohydrates. 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.
Phases of the Ducan Diet
The diet consists of four parts, the duration of which depends on the calculated "correct" weight. The first two phases are aimed at losing weight, and the latter are aimed at consolidating the successes. Only high-protein foods are allowed during the attack. Then add in non-starchy vegetables, limited fat, and extra carbohydrates.
The duration of the attack, the change and the reinforcement depends on how many pounds you have to lose in order to achieve the "correct" weight. The end phase, which must be observed constantly, combines the diet of the fixation phase and weekly protein days in an attack pattern.
1st attack
The phase lasts two to seven days. If you need to lose 20 kg or more to get the "right" weight, the phase can take longer. The menu includes 68 protein foods plus a few additional ones:
- 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 sausages;
- Fish and seafood: no restrictions, including canned tuna in water;
- vegetarian proteins: Seitan - vegetable protein, 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 - no more than 1 kg per day.
The daily food must contain 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 dietary gelatin.
Every day you need to devote 20 minutes of physical activity.
2. Change
The period of gradually achieving the correct weight lasts from a month to a year. The diet from the previous phase changes every other day with a more gentle and expanded menu - 32 types of vegetables are added:
- Spinach, kale, lettuce, and other green vegetables
- Broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts;
- Paprika;
- Mushrooms;
- Celery;
- Asparagus;
- Artichokes;
- Zucchini;
- Tomatoes;
- green beans;
- Onion;
- Pumpkin and pumpkin spaghetti;
- Turnip;
- Cucumber;
- Carrot;
- Beets.
Allows one teaspoon of olive oil for salad dressing or cooking in a pan and two tablespoons of bran. The duration of physical activity is 30 minutes.
3. Anchoring
The duration of the stage is set at a rate of ten days for each kilogram lost. The aim is to prevent a return to the starting weight. You can mix up any of the products from the first two steps and add a limited amount of fats and carbohydrates:
- Fruits: berries or chopped melon (100 g), a medium-sized apple, orange, pear, peach, nectarine or two kiwi, plum or apricot;
- two slices of whole grain bread a 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.
You can enjoy a festive meal twice a week: starter, 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 maintaining the "right" weight. There are no strict dietary restrictions, but you need to follow several principles:
- products from the fixation phase should be used as a food base;
- adhere to one protein day per week;
- Walk at least 20-30 minutes a day;
- Drink 1. 5 liters of water and eat at least 30 g of bran per day.
The final step is to follow your meal plan at all times with a list of 100 foods with small additions.
Menu for the initial phase
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: chicken breast in a pan, shirataki noodles in broth, diet gelatine, iced tea.
- Dinner: steak and shrimp, diet gelatine, coffee or tea, water.
Change
- 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, diet gelatin, decaffeinated coffee or tea, water.
anchoring
- Breakfast: an omelette of three eggs with cheese (40 g) and spinach, coffee, water.
- Lunch: a serving of turkey with two slices of wholemeal bread, 80 g of cottage cheese mixed with bran and cinnamon, iced tea.
- Dinner: pork in a pan and grilled zucchini, a small apple, decaffeinated coffee, water.
Effectiveness of the Ducan Diet
No diet alone provides long-term weight loss effects, and diet can be unhealthy. After temporarily losing weight, people return to their previous state and sometimes recover more than they did before the diet change. A safe and effective way to achieve the desired weight and maintain health and good physical condition is to choose, with the help of specialists, an appropriate lifestyle and diet, which can be realistically observed on a regular basis
. . .There are many scientific publications out there that focus on the effectiveness of a high-protein, low-carb diet. However, there are only a few qualified studies based on the Ducan method.
In 2015, data was collected in Poland on 50 women aged 19-64 who followed Ducan's diet and ate around 1, 000 calories per day, including 100 g of protein. The study participants lost 15 kg in 8-10 weeks.
In January, USANews & World Report, one of the three leading US weekly papers on business, politics and health, published a nutritional ranking of 23 experts. Ducan's diet landed last on the list, scoring 1. 9 out of 5. Experts rated the diet's efficacy 2. 5 and health benefits 2. According to doctors, there is no evidence that weight loss using the Ducan Method can be long-term and safe, while the list of products is inappropriately limited and dietary regulations tooare complex. One expert openly called the diet "idiotic".
The diet is effective for 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 the Ducan diet
The diet is believed to be suitable for healthy people aged 18 and over. The method is not recommended for chronic gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic disorders, hormonal disorders, pregnancy, breastfeeding.
The diet has all the disadvantages of a low-carb diet as well as some specific side effects, as many healthy foods are excluded from the menu.
Rapid weight loss
The main disadvantage of the Ducan Diet, according to British nutrition experts, is that it can be harmful to health:
- The initial weight loss occurs through dehydration;
- Diet is unbalanced, so you need to take extra vitamins.
- Note the daily amount of water and the required serving of oat bran to ensure a minimum of fiber.
Disease risk
Due to the lack of vitamins and useful trace elements, the diet can provoke:
- Osteoporosis;
- Problems with the digestive system and gastrointestinal tract;
- Diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- hormonal disorders;
- Nervous system disorders.
"Keto flu"
With a change in diet, a painful condition is possible, which is characteristic of the initial stage of diets with a large amount of protein. The reason for the malaise is a change in metabolism, as the body rebuilds itself to obtain energy from fats and proteins. Fatigue, increased hunger and thirst, impaired attention and sleep, mood swings, headaches, indigestion and tachycardia attacks can be felt for several days.
Scientists speculate that avoiding this diet could lead to future health problems. And because the diet is limited, at some point most people stop eating according to their plan - they get bored and uncomfortable following a list of 100 foods and the rules for their rotation.
The Ducan Diet is believed to be suitable for most healthy people, but it has serious contraindications. Such a diet can provoke diseases of the cardiovascular, digestive and nervous systems, as well as hormonal disorders.
Important facts about the Ducan diet:
Per
- 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 curbs hunger and helps to eat less;
- the diet provides for compulsory physical activity.
Against
- rapid weight loss occurs due to the dehydration of the body;
- The list of foods is limited so that the body does not receive the necessary nutrients. During the protein days there are no vegetables in the diet, in the next phases the amount of carbohydrates is limited;
- the 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 results in sustained 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 popular ways to lose weight. And this diet was tried in due course by most of the patients who came to see me for advice.
A valid question arises: why then do you need the professional help of a nutritionist? The answer is simple: the majority of those who lose weight returned to their previous eating habits within a few years; H. to their original weight. Unfortunately, this is the downside of most of the diets that people resort to in their pursuit of slimness. And the Ducan Diet is no exception.
However, this is not the main reason why I would not recommend resorting to this diet.
The main drawback of this form of nutrition is the long lack of essential macro and micronutrients. The lack of vitamins and minerals can be compensated by special biologically active complexes, but this does not replace the natural intake of natural macro and micro elements. Such deficiencies lead to a decrease in immunity, a deterioration in the work of all organs and systems in the body.
Dukan's diet increases the load on the excretory system, the liver, and 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. And also during the exacerbation of chronic diseases - gastritis, ulcers, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, pyelonephritis.
The Ducan diet is a serious burden on the body, the potential harm far outweighs the benefits, and the result is very unstable in the long run.
Follow the principles of optimal nutrition, maintain adequate physical activity, and monitor your sleeping and drinking regime. The desired result will not be long in coming and your health will be fine. "