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The Dukan Diet- The Newest Low Carb Diet

Are  you looking at trying the Dukan Diet to lose weight?  If you think the French never get overweight the Dukan Diet proves that this is untrue. Dr. Dukan developed his diet in France for the overweight French.

This is a low carb diet but it is different from the Atkins diet in that fat is out. If you loved Atkins for the bacon and eggs, the cream and the butter then you may be disapointed with the Dukan Diet. But if Atkins had worked for you as a permanent solution to weight gain you wouldn’t be here looking for another diet would you?

 The Dukan Diet

The diet begins with an “Attack Phase” in which only low fat meat and fish plus 3 tablespoons of oatmeal per day may be eaten. The oatmeal can be made into a pancake with 1 egg or some quark.  The Attack  Phase lasts from 1 to 10 days depending on how much weight you need to lose. I do hope you like prawns, low fat fish and chicken breast.  I find it hard to imagine eating nothing but fish and chicken for 10 days! You must drink at least 1.5 litres of water per day, which will presumably help to flush the high concentrastion of protein out of your kidneys.

Phase 2 is called the “Cruise Phase”. This simply adds a list of 28 green leafy vegetables for you to eat along with your protein on alternate days.  No root vegetables allowed. Take a daily 20 minute walk.

Phase 3, is called “Consolidation,” which allows you to continue eating as much meat and fish as you like and now you can include potatoes, carrots and peas to your vegetables plus a small portion of hard cheese, 1  low sugar fruit and 2 slices of whole wheat bread. In this phase you can also add 1-2 starchy foods and 1-2 “celebration” meals per week. A celebration meal is one in which you can eat whatever you like.  Take a daily 20 minute walk.

Phase 4, “Stabilization,” is the maintenance stage. Dr. Dukan says that you can eat whatever you like now and if you follow the rules and you will not regain your lost weight. The rules are to keep one protein only day each week for the rest of your life, continue to drink your 1.25 litres of water a day, take a daily 20 minute walk and never take an elevator or lift.

 What Do The Experts Say About The Dukan Diet?

“If you restrict yourself for a week, you may not really risk your health, but for a longer period of time you will miss out on important nutrients,” she says. The best answer for someone wanting to lose weight is to continue eating a balanced diet, but in sensible quantities.  High-protein diets do lead to weight loss, she says, and cutting out carbohydrates for a short period to kick-start a diet is acceptable.  “But in the long term, if you have anything that’s too restrictive you will risk your health.” Dr Elisabeth Weich of the British Nutrition Foundation

“There is no question this very restrictive diet will lead to weight loss, if you can actually follow it. But the elimination of healthy food groups, and the unpleasant side effects, makes The Dukan Diet an unlikely choice for the long haul. Protein is an essential part of a healthy diet, but it cannot stand alone. A truly healthy diet includes all the food groups — vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low-fat dairy and healthy fats along with lean protein. Your body needs the nutrients these foods provide.   Skip this fad diet. Instead, choose a calorie-controlled eating plan that you can stick with for the long term. Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, is director of nutrition for WebMD.

Should You Try The Dukan Diet?

In my view this is not the best way to lose weight. I am not a nutritionist but a registered nurse. The diet excludes a whole group of foods and it provides way to much animal proteins. Animal proteins are very hard on the kidneys and the bones. You are creating an acid environment in your blood stream. The way your body will try to neutralize this acidity is by pulling calcium out of your bones. If this goes on long enough you are going to give yourself osteoporosis.

This is just another fad diet and once you come off it you will regain the weight you lost. So don’t waste your time on it.

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The First Modern Low Carb High Protein Diet

The Atkins diet was first published in the early 1970s. In the mid 1990s a revised version “Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution” was published and the low carbohydrate craze began again. It has been roundly condemned by the establishment. To be honest I feel a little apprehensive about reviewing this diet. Many people absolutely swear by it and they can be quite aggressive in its defense.  Others are equally adamant that it is a very unhealthy, even dangerous diet. Please don’t send me hate mail if you disagree with my review!

Following The Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet advocates a high protein and fat intake with virtually no carbohydrate allowed. Initially there is a 2 week induction period in which carbohydrates are virtually eliminated, only 20 grams a day being allowed. During induction  you  are not allowed to have any milk, fruits, grains, cereals, breads or starchy vegetables such as potatoes, peas, corn and carrots. All the ones that experts tell us are good for us. The 20grams of carbohydrate allowed is taken up by that occurring in the vegetables you are allowed to eat. This two week period consists of a diet of as much as you like of meat, eggs, fish, butter-  there isn’t anything to put it on but you could fry with it, cream, sausages, bacon nuts and cheese. Now you can see why it is condemned as dangerous by orthodox practitioners.

Once the two weeks of induction have been completed you can begin to add carbohydrates in increments of 5 grams per week, a barely noticeable amount. Eventually you are able to eat around 40 to 90 grams of carbohydrates a day. To determine how much carbohydrate you may add to your diet each day you must test your urine for ketone bodies using a dipstick. This will show you whether you are in ketosis, or fat burning mode. The stick turns any shade from light to dark purple if you excreting ketones. As you add these increments of carbs to your diet at some point the stick will stop turning purple. Just prior to that happening is known as “your critical carbohydrate level” or CCL. You must stay in ketosis, which is just under your CCL until you reach your fat loss goal.  Ketosis is a very controversial topic. Many health care professionals say that it is dangerous to be in ketosis for any length of time, while Atkins say it is not.

Atkins The Science

The idea that it could be healthy not to eat fruits and most vegetables, or to severely limit them, is very strange. Scientific studies of populations that eat a primarily plant-based diet, such as The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health, show that they are slimmer and healthier than those who eat a Western animal products based diet.

Analyses of data from China Study 1 and its follow up China Study 2, which were conducted among thousands of rural families in mainland China, linked that population’ s low incidence of such Western health problems as cardiovascular disease, some cancers, obesity and diabetes to plant-based diets that were low in animal products. This study also showed that the closer a food is to its native state the healthier it is. The Atkins diet contains very little food that is in its native state. Not only that but they push their own proprietary foods, which are very far from natural.

Atkins Could Be Healthy For Weight Loss

But, surprisingly two studies published in prestigious medical journals, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Annals of Internal Medicine, have shown that there are indeed some benefits to be gained from The Atkins Diet compared to a standard low fat slimming diet. In the studies around 40% of participants dropped out, which just shows how hard this diet is. Of the rest, there was a larger decrease in serum triglyceride levels and a greater increase in serum HDL (good cholesterol) than the low-fat group. Both groups had similar reductions in LDL cholesterol ( bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol levels. At the end of the study weight loss was about the same in both groups. This is likely to be due to weight loss  itself rather than what was eaten. The Atkins dieters had lost an average of 15.4 lbs at six months but by the end of the year had regained 1/3 of the weight they lost bringing their average weight loss down to 9.7lbs. So it is a good way to lose weight but, like other slimming diets the problem is regain after the weight loss.

Atkins gives you lots of butter, cheese and cream to eat but nothing to put them on. The foods allowed become boring and unattractive when eaten on their own day after day. Fat and protein foods are very filling. Both of these factors mean that dieters do eat less food.

Research has shown that this is exactly what happens. Although they do not realize it, Atkins dieters reduce their calories by around 1000 per day. In fact in one study their average intake was around 1500 calories a day. The good blood results were a result of weight loss.

This isn’t the only thing that is happening though. The fact is that protein uses up more calories in its digestion than either carbs or fats. You lose about 30% of their calorie intake just in digesting the food. so you get two helpful things going on at once. That is your appetite is reduced because you do not feel hungry and the protein itself requires calories for its digestion.

Some Risks  With Atkins Long Term

The Atkins diet with its emphasis on animal products may increase the risk of colorectal cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, kidney problems and diabetes complications. Medical and scientific research has shown that this type of eating is not healthy in the long term. however it is also very unhealthy to be very overweight. So it may be that using the Atkins method to lose weight and then gradually transitioning to a healthier diet would be preferable to continuing obesity. More information: Atkins Diet Revolution

November 2010

Note: I no longer recommend any high protein low carb diets. I have learned a lot about diets since writing this. I would advise you to read the The China Study and see what you think about high protein low carb after that. The low carb way isn’t healthy and it isn’t even the best way to diet. Dr. Atkins was very overweight when he died -that should tell you something!  I now recommend that you follow a much healthier diet and you can eat as much as you like on it!

Eating Low Carb for Weight Loss

There is a convincing theory, based on the fact that our bodies developed thousands of years before any grains and artificial sugars were available, that we are better adapted to eating low carb than high carb foods. Large amounts of grain foods didn’t enter our bodies until the around 10,000 years ago. Our bodies are much, much older than that.

What did our distant ancestors eat? They ate meat and fish, the whole animal, every bit of fat, blood, flesh and marrow. They gathered greens, fruits, and nuts in the wild. Sometimes they found honey and sometimes they found fermented fruits and had a party! But mainly it would have been meat, especially in the winter. Inuit, who had a perpetual winter, ate only meat, blood, fish and fat and they did very well on it.

The High Protein Low Carbohydrate Atkins diet has been popular since the first book “The Atkins Diet Revolution” was published in 1970s. There have been updates since the ’70s and it is still very popular. In fact it is more popular than ever.

Atkins isn’t the only high protein, low carb diet around. There are many others including “Neanderthin”, “The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet”, “Protein Power”, “The New Low Carb Way of Life”, “Sugar Busters” and the latest one The Dukan Diet . These vary in how much carbohydrate they recommend that you eat each day.

Many people swear by low carb and say that they have lost weight easily and quickly and that it is much easier to stick to than low fat and low calorie diets.

Others, usually dietitians and the medical profession, warn against it saying it is not a healthy way to eat.Some say you are just losing water. If you have ever met anyone who has lost pounds and pounds of weight on a low carb high protein diet you will be a little skeptical of this. How could you lose half your body weight and keep it off as many do, if all you lost was water?

Low carb eating either works or doesn’t work. It surely can’t be too hard to check the results, including long term results. It is hardly a matter for speculation.

Two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 vindicated the Atkins type diet. One study found that people on the high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet lose twice as much weight over six months as those on the standard low-fat diet recommended by most major health organizations.

The 132 men and women in one study started out weighing an average of 286 pounds (129 kilograms). After six months, those on the Atkins diet had lost an average of 12.8 pounds (5.8 kilograms), those on the low-fat diet 4.2 pounds (1.9 kilograms).

Not only was the low carb diet about 60% more effective than the low fat diet but it was not found to be unhealthy. Eating all that cheese, bacon, eggs, butter and other foods containing saturated fats had no ill effects. Maratos-Flier (one of the researchers) said:

“Their blood pressure didn’t go up. Their cholesterol didn’t go up. Their triglycerides went down and their insulin level also went down,”

What do you think about low carb? Would you recommend it to someone who wanted to lose weight?