The Dukan Diet – The Low Carb & Low Fat Diet Of Today

The Dukan Diet is currently one of the most popular diets, and the book, The Dukan Diet, as well as its recipe book, The Dukan Recipe Book, are both in the top ten best seller lists for books in both the US and the UK. The diet was devised by a French Dr, Pierre Dukan, who prescribed it for his own patients for many years before publishing it. The diet has been translated into ten languages so far and the book has sold over 5 million copies.

The diet has four phases: the Attack Phase, which lasts from between two days and two weeks, and is designed as a quick-start on both the diet, and weightloss. After the Attack Phase, you will be in ketosis where hunger and cravings will have disappeared almost altogether. This phase consists of Pure Protein – meat, fish, eggs and low fat dairy, with nothing else permitted, not even vegetables. During this phase it is expected that you will have a weightloss of around 1lb per day.

The Cruise Phase is the next phase and this lasts until you reach your goal weight. It involves alternating a day of the Attack Phase mentioned above with a day whereby vegetables are permitted. There are twenty-eight vegetables on the allowed list, one of which is rhubarb, meaning deserts involving rhubarb can be created.

The next two phases are for after the weightloss phases, when you will want to maintain your weight. The third phase is called the Consolidation Phase, and food groups are gradually incorporated back into the diet. This phase lasts a long time, long enough for you to be well established in your new ways of eating. It actually lasts around 5 days for every 1lb lost during the initial phases. After this, you move on to Stabilisation Phase, which means you can eat freely except for on Thursdays, when you are expected to have a Pure Protein day, like in the Attack Phase.

Foods that are allowed during all the phases, are:

poultry such as chicken and turkey

meat such as pork and beef

low fat mince

low fat burgers

fat free dairy such as skimmed milk, fat free yogurts

fish and seafood

During all phases it is an obligation that you also eat 1.5 tablespoons a day of oat bran. This can be purchased from supermarkets or a health food shop and has many health benefits. It is high in fibre and expands in the stomach by ten times its initial size, hence the requirement. The requirement increases to 2 tablespoons per day during the Cruise Phase and increases to 3 tablespoons per day in the latter phases.

You can turn this into a gallette by mixing the oat bran with one egg and 2 tablespoons of fat free yogurt and frying in a frying pan sprayed with fry light. There are also various recipes available for making bread, muffins, or cakes using the ingredients and some additions such as sweetener, cocoa powder, vanilla essence. You are also permitted to have 1 tablespoon of wheat bran per day and this can be added to the oat bran in recipes.

Some other ideas for using the oat bran is to mix with a fat free yogurt or to make into a porridge, although it will only make a small amount.

One benefit of the Dukan Diet over similar low carb diets such as the Atkins Diet is that because you eat the oat bran every day, it doesn't affect you too greatly if you occasionally eat something not on the diet – on the Atkins Diet, a mistake could cause you to gain a few pounds but on the Dukan Diet this would be unlikely.

As with all diets, you should drink a minimum of two litres of water daily, and drinks such as sugar free cola, tea and coffee are permitted also.