The history of the origin of Pierre Ducan's diet is very interesting. The French neurologist had a friend who could not get rid of the extra pounds and asked for his help. Pierre did not have a qualification for dietetics at the time, so he did not want to agree for a long time. In addition, his friend had one condition - he agreed to any restrictions, but left the meat in the diet.
Therefore, the doctor suggested that he eat only meat and drink 2 liters of water for five days. And surprisingly, the man managed to lose 5 pounds this way. A decision was made to continue the diet. Over the next five days, the man lost another 3 pounds, and on the tenth day he started adding vegetables to his diet. Thus the idea of the famous Dukan diet was born suddenly. The patient was able to normalize his weight, losing 40 pounds. Read more about the facts, rumors, recipes and idea of the method in our next article.
The essence of the diet is the intake of the maximum amount of protein. It allows you to eat 100 types of products in unlimited quantities (72 of animal and 28 plant origin) and is based on natural products.
Ducan claimed that a large amount of protein in the diet helps to normalize body weight. After all, proteins are low in calories, and digesting them consumes more energy than when consuming carbohydrates. As a result, fats are burned.
By limiting themselves to consuming carbohydrates and fats, the body enters a state similar to starvation and consumes the body’s fat reserves.
There are 4 phases in Dukan's diet: attack phase (2-10 days), cruise phase (15-330 days), consolidation (50-500 days) and stabilization (throughout life).
Attack phase
This phase starts the metabolism in the body and in that period there is a weight loss of 2-3 kg within 2-10 days.
You can choose protein foods from the 68 allowed, the amount is not limited and you do not have to count calories. It can be beef, fish, chicken, eggs, soy or low-fat cottage cheese. Allowed: chicken, chicken liver, turkey, beef, lean bacon, veal cutlets, stewed veal, etc. The only allowed source of carbohydrates at this stage is 1. 5 tablespoons of oat bran.
You need to drink at least 1. 5 liters of water and exercise daily for 20 minutes.
Cruise phase
The essence of this phase is to gradually achieve the desired shape by adding 32 types of vegetables to the diet.
During the second phase, a person usually loses 2 kilograms of weight within one week.
You can eat an unlimited amount of protein, just like in the attack phase, as well as starch-free vegetables, such as spinach, lettuce or green beans. Protein foods and vegetables should be changed daily.
We must not forget to use water (1, 5 liters per day) and 1 tbsp. oat bran.
Consolidation phase
In the consolidation phase, the main task is not to lose weight, but to avoid weight gain.
You are allowed to eat an unlimited amount of protein and vegetables, fruits with a little sugar, cheese and a little whole grain bread.
During this phase, you can eat 1-2 portions of food that contains starch and 1-2 dishes that are not on the list of allowed.
During the consolidation phase, you should eat only a protein meal one day a week, preferably the same day each week.
Don’t forget about physical activity.
Stabilization phase
This is the longest of all phases. Its goal is to balance a person’s diet forever.
You can eat absolutely anything, following some simple rules. Save a protein day once a week, as in the attack phase.
Eat 3 tablespoons of oat bran a day and exercise for 20 minutes a day.
Below we have prepared for you an example of Dukan's weekly diet for the first phase:
| Day of the week | Breakfast | Dinner | Dinner |
| Monday |
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Baked fish |
| Tuesday |
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| Wednesday |
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Chicken nuggets with bran |
| Thursday |
|
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Chicken curry |
| Friday |
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Beef steak |
| Saturday |
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Baked meatballs |
| Sunday |
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|
Stewed seafood |
