Dukan Diet: The Latest Diet Fad?

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The Dukan Diet; the latest favourite among celebrities is hotly tipped as the answer to permanent weight loss.  With stars such as JLo, Nicole Kidman and Gisele Bundchen all swearing by the new diet, more and more seem to be jumping on the Dukan band wagon.  Since rumours emerged that Kate Middletons enviously tiny silhouette in her stunning white lace wedding gown was attained by the already slim Princess joining her mother on the Dukan Diet, this diet looks set to become the latest Diet fad! Who wouldn’t love a figure like Kate’s eh?  But is this Diet all it claims to be or is it simply the latest in a long line of diet failures?

The Dukan Diet promises to help dieters reach their “True weight” by taking them through a series of four phases.  The first is an “attack” phase which requires the body to be starved of all foods excluding protein rich meats, fish, non-fat dairy and oat meal, for approximately 5 days.  The second phase “cruise” allows the addition of non starchy veg every other day and leads into the consolidation phase which sees the introduction of fruit, bread, cheese along with two celebration meals a week!  These celebration meals allow the dieter to eat desserts, drink wine, essentially eat anything they have been missing through out the other phases.  The final “stabilisation” phase sees the dieter return to normal eating with one strict rule, one protein only day for the rest of their life.  The ideas is that enough weight will be lost in this one protein only day to compensate for any weight you would put on during the week!

As a serial dieter this initially sounds like a miracle diet to me, yes there a few weeks of really really hard work (as with every diet) but the reward with this one?  Eat whatever you like for the rest of your life (with the exception of only 52 days out of the year) without putting on any more weight!  AMAZING!  But wait?…Upon closer inspection alarm bells begin ringing for me!  My first concern comes in the very first stage, nothing but “protein rich meats, fish, non-fat dairy and oat meal”?  Surely any diet which requires you to cut out entire food groups cannot be good for you?  Not just because of the health implications and possible side effects (including constipation and bad breath) but also because of what it can do to you mentally!  As a self confessed over eater I have always found the hardest thing with any diet is being deprived of the foods I love the most, I find I crave food even more when I’m not allowed to have it and therefore become depressed when I inevitably succumb and let’s face it fellow dieters if we had the will power not to succumb we wouldn’t need to be on a diet in the first place.

So if you have made it through the first few days of deprivation, brilliant!  Now the phases slowly introduce you to all the other foods you love so much until you are eating normally again, except of course you’re one protein free day a week! Here comes alarm bell number two…the reason why so many people on so many other diets put back on all the weight they lose when they come off the diet is because they revert straight back to old habits, the habits which caused them to gain the weight in the first place.  The Dukan Diet claims that one protein free day a week will counteract the weight you put on by eating normally and restriction free?…Really? One Dukan day a week can counteract, greasy take aways, packets of crisps, chocolate bars, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, 20 plus cups of coffee (with milk and sugar), fizzy drinks, Alcoholic drinks, cheese, pastry….need I go on?  As I said before, we dieters are not on these diets because we eat fruit and veg all day and yet for some reason we can’t stop getting fat.  We’re on these diets because we love food (Or at least that’s my reason) and I just can’t see one protein free day a week doing enough to change that!

As with most Diets out there it’s seems to me that the Dukan Diet is just another solution to get thin quick with questionable long term benefits.  I have found that the most successful diets have be those which encourage you to take account not only of what you are eating but the amount you are eating.  Controlling portion sizes and learning to eat those foods we love in moderation is the first step to maintaining a healthy weight, that and increased physical activity.  If you are looking for the answer to fast and long term weight loss, the answer is there is none!  Simply get off your backside, stop eating junk and eventually you will see results!

…and a  final thought about the Dukan Diet.  With all this meat, fish and no vegetables, what about fat vegetarians?…

Have you tried the Dukan Diet?  Is it as good as they say?  Or do you have another diet you swear by? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

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