If you’ve paid close attention to the French (well, not too close) you would have noticed that French women manage to look chic and slender with ease; and somehow, this isn’t affected by their age. They manage to look fabulous at any age. You may think that its the olive oil that’s doing the trick for them, but wait, what if we told you it goes beyond that! Quit thinking red wine Mediterranean diet and begin thinking weight-loss program.
The Dukan diet is named after the man who first introduced it – French nutritionist Dr. Pierre Dukan. He wrote a book titled ‘The Dukan Diet’ which was published in French around 10 years back. It instantly rushed up to the number one spot on the French best-seller’s list; and gave rise to what was dubbed as an ‘underground dieting revolution’, with around 200 websites, forums and blogs being dedicated to it.
In the current day scenario, more than a million French women swear by the magic that this diet program has wielded for them. Gisele Bundchen and Jennifer Lopez are amongst some of the celebrities who have sworn by this method of losing weight.
WHAT MAKES THIS DIET PLAN SO DIFFERENT?
It acknowledges the pleasure that can be derived from food; the pleasure that is intrinsic to every human being. Further, it promises weight-loss while giving you the liberty of eating unlimited quantities of food. It may sound a little like the Atkins plan; but according to Dukan, though he respects Atkins’ views, he doesn’t see how it can benefit someone in the long run.
WHAT DOES THE DUKAN DIET ENTAIL?
The Dukan diet can be seen as four very different programs of eating habits that have been designed to follow and intertwine with one another. All of them have different purposes to play.
The most crucial element of this diet plan is that of ‘protein days’. There are days that have to be spent eating nothing but protein. Dieters are also urged to stay off butter and fat, unlike the Atkins’ diet plan which didn’t place any such rules.
The idea then, is to lose weight and keep the pounds off. The initial phase will have the dramatic weight loss; and that will be followed by a structured, yet simple-to-follow regime of real-food. This is done so as to ensure that your body doesn’t get used to accumulating fat and going onto an ‘I’m up for revenge’ mode.
HOW DID HE COME UP WITH ‘PROTEIN THURSDAYS’?
Dukan stumbled onto this idea when a friend of his asked him for some dietary advice. He said he was up for any dietary plan, as long as he didn’t have to keep off the meat. So Dukan suggested that he should eat only protein and flush out his body with water for the next five days. When his friend returned in five days, he requested to use Dukan’s weighing scales, because he was assured that the one’s he had back home were dysfunctional or broken. But when he climbed atop the weighing scales at Dukan’s home, he was sure that he wasn’t seeing things – his friend had lost 10 lb in 5 days. He stuck to the same plan for another 5 days and lost 6 lb more.
So amazed was Dr. Dukan, that he actually gave up on his medical specialism in neurology and shifted his interests to nutrition. He spent the next 35 years of his life researching and perfecting a number of elements that finally combined to come together in the Dukan diet.
Keep an eye out for more stories in the Dukan Diet Series. We’ll tell you more about how to incorporate the theories of Dr. Dukan into your life.
