Dukan Diet: The Diet Of The Hollywodstars Is So Promising

Contents show

Celebrities and royals like Kate Middleton swear by the Dukan diet, which is supposed to make pounds disappear quickly and sustainably. However, sier is also repeatedly criticized. How good is the nutrition concept really?

Inventor and namesake of the Dukan diet is the French doctor Dr. Pierre Dukan. In France, the concept has already been on the market for ten years and has allegedly helped five million French women achieve a super figure.

As a flash diet of the stars in Hollywood, the Dukan diet has quickly made the rounds and found imitators all over the world.

If reports are to be believed, beauties like Jennifer Lopez and Gisèle Bündchen have used it to quickly restore their curves after the birth of their babies. The Dukan diet is currently considered the favorite concept of celebrities.

How does the Dukan diet work?

From a nutritional point of view, the weight loss concept is based on three principles: few calories, virtually no carbohydrates and virtually no fat. It is thus extremely protein-heavy.

The high protein intake prevents muscle breakdown during the “attack phase”. In addition, dietary fiber in the form of bran is specifically provided, which is presumably intended to prevent constipation and intestinal sluggishness.

Because if fruit, vegetables and whole grains are missing, the stool volume is too low. This is a minor problem with the Dukan diet, but one that can be overcome by careful choice of food.

Dukan diet: the principle

The Dukan diet is a strictly calorie-reduced high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. It is based on a four-phase principle.

1st Attack phase (1-10 days):

Only high-protein food, which should also be extremely low in fat. From a list of 70 products may be eaten as much and as often as desired.

The list includes mainly lean meat, prepared without fat, low-fat dairy products (less than 4 g/100 g fat), tiny amounts of oat or wheat bran. No alcohol, fat, sugar, vegetables, fruits.

2nd cruising phase (until reaching the target weight, 1 kg per week weight loss):

The protein diet from the first phase is alternated with protein/vegetable phases. The oat bran ration is doubled to 2 tbsp. However, only certain vegetables are allowed.

3rd Consolidation phase (10 days per kilo lost):

Now the weight should be maintained and the yo-yo effect avoided. Allowed is the protein diet of the first phase, vegetables, one serving of fruit per day (no bananas, grapes, cherries), two slices of whole grain bread, as well as some carbohydrate-rich meals.

In addition, two indulgent meals per week may be scheduled. However, the strict protein diet of the first phase must also be eaten one day per week. Further increase of the oat bran ration.

4th stabilization phase (forever):

One day per week diet according to phase 1, 3 tbsp oat bran per day.

Evaluation: How good is the Dukan diet?

With the Dukan diet you can certainly lose weight quickly, if you follow it through at all. In the first phase, of course, the plan is very one-sided, but this is acceptable from a nutritional point of view, because this phase lasts only a short time.

However, it is important to drink enough (as is also required during the diet) to relieve the metabolism during the high protein intake.

It is critical to avoid fruits and vegetables, as they provide many relevant substances that we need.

Extremely low-fat dairy products are also not favorable, as they often contain other additives that we should not consume in excessive quantities.

The French Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation (roughly equivalent to our BfR, which is part of the Federal Ministry of Food) rated the Dukan diet as dangerous to health.

The author Dr. Dukan justified himself with the argument: effective drugs also have side effects. He believes the benefits outweigh the risks for people suffering from diabetes and other consequences of obesity.