Dukan Diet, The MP3 CD – Unabridged, May 14, 2014

First, the book. The book is well written but a bit repetitive and a tad long winded. I like the style, easy to read yet not being talked down to. Sometimes I find it hard to find some specific information in this book using the index, but it's all there.Next, the diet. The diet is working well. After 7 days, 5 pounds. I only spent two days on the attack phase since I only have 11 pounds to lose. Search for blogs on Dukan Diet for ideas on what to eat so you do not get bored. Also take a look at the Amazon.co.uk website to read what British dieters have eaten and their great results. Lots of good positive reviews there. Husband started right onto the Protein and Veg stages (with no attack) and still lost just as much weight as I have. The key is cutting out the carbs.Some advice. Ahead of time you will need some items. You will need Plax (you get a lot of hard tartar fast with this diet, I think it is what you are NOT eating that contributes to this. Plax mouthwash really does eliminate this if you use it before brushing.). You may also need some fiber supplements. You will also need snacks, have them ready: yogurt, sugar free jello, hard boiled eggs, lunch meat, and beef jerky.You may feel incredibly weird and sluggish the first two days but it goes away. I have more energy now than I did before. I have eaten more vegetables in one week than I would normally in a month, so that's great. I feel like my diet is more "whole foods" as it always should have been. I actually looked around the grocery store for an hour looking for snacks that would work, and there sure weren't many that met the high protein/ low fat / low sugar rules. I truly feel like I am always eating but the weight still comes off.Good luck. Give it a try if you need to try something different, you don't want to be hungry, and if the Lean Cuisine, Special K routine is wearing you down and leaving you hungry.UPDATE after 1 MONTH: I have lost the 11 lbs I wanted to lose and I have been on this diet for 30 days. I did add in some elements of the last phase (2 slices whole grain bread, and cheese, and berries) and continue to lose weight at about the same pace. I did not go exactly "lean meat" for the last two weeks as I was getting a bit bored. I chose low fat meats such as chicken sausages, etc but these were not fat free. Also continued eating 1-2 fruit yogurts a day. Once I read the "Atkins for Life" book I realized that, because I was not eating huge quantities of food, I could still add food in and lose weight, which was true. This is the lowest weight I have been in 10 years so am thrilled with results. I still credit the Dukan Diet with getting me started and making it easy to start. Starting is the hardest part of this diet.UPDATE after 6 weeks: I am still losing weight, but not really trying. Added in (slowly readjusting carbs to see what I can handle) a bowl of high fiber cereal each morning instead of the eggs and turkey bacon I was having. Still losing weight. Eating nuts, berries also. I don't think you have to keep being as restrictive as Dukan suggests if you are on this long term. I am 3 lbs below my goal weight and have not felt better in a long time. Thanks Dr. Dukan for getting me started!

Similar to Atkins, Dukan promotes a very-low-carb diet. And as with Atkins, there are four phases: induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance, and lifetime maintenance (though Dukan gives different names to these phases). And like Atkins, his diet is so popular, that it is impossible to ignore it, or consider it a mere “fad.” For the benefit of Amazon customers, I highlight what is new and different about Dukan. The following is quoted from my book Maimonides and Metabolism”Phase 1: Induction (Attack). Average length is five days. Zero caloric carbs. Unlike Atkins, Dukan: (1) severely restricts fats and (2) includes 1.5 tablespoons of oat-bran fiber. Dr. Dukan also stresses the importance of drinking enough water (at least 1.5 liters/d).Phase 2: Ongoing Weight Loss (Cruise). Average length two to six months. Oat-bran fiber is increased to 2 tablespoons daily. Nonstarchy vegetables are added, alternating between a day of unrestricted (nonstarchy) vegetables, and a day of only protein (like during the attack phase), with zero carbs (no veggies).Phase 3: Pre-Maintenance (Consolidation). Length five days for every pound lost (a person who lost twenty pounds in the first two phases will do this phase for one hundred days). Oat-bran fiber remains at 2 tablespoons. The attack/pure-protein diet is reduced to only one day per week (Thursdays) instead of every other day. Two slices of whole wheat bread, one piece of fruit, and one portion of cheese are allowed each day. Two portions of starchy food (grains, legumes, or potatoes) are allowed per week. During the first half of the consolidation period (five days for every pound lost), one may have one unrestricted meal per week—eating any food one desires, without overeating. And during the second half, one may have two “celebratory” meals/week.Phase 4: Lifetime Maintenance (Stabilization). Length is continual. Oat-bran fiber is increased to 3 tablespoons. Six out of seven days are “unrestricted,” while keeping to the good habits you have acquired. One day per week of attack/pure-protein diet (Thursdays). Take the stairs (not the elevator). In all the phases, Dukan stresses the importance of daily exercise. During the first two phases keep the exercises light, such as walking, because the diet itself is very taxing. Afterward more intense exercise is appropriate.Pros:1. Fast! The Dukan Attack phase is the fastest way to lose fat while maintaining muscle! It is faster than Atkins because instead of burning ingested fats, the body is forced to burn body fat for energy.2. Fiber. One of my biggest complaints with Atkins is the lack of fiber. Dukan solves that by stressing the importance of including a couple tablespoons of oat-bran fiber.3. Balanced and Feasible. Unlike the Atkins maintenance phase that keeps carbs below 10 percent, with Dukan you are not so restrained for six days of the week. For many people this makes the difference between the impossible and the possible. The idea of permanently having one day per week of restricted carbs is genius (extreme restriction from fats on that day I think is unnecessary), because it reduces one’s glycogen reserves, insuring insulin sensitivity and keeping one from storing fat as long as those reserves don’t get filled up.Cons:1. For people who are capable of getting sufficient fiber in real food, that approach is preferred to supplementation because it allows consumption of the many micronutrients and bioactive compounds contained in high-fiber foods. Calories from vegetables slows down the short-term fat-loss, but their benefits pay off in the long run, as vitamins A and D (plus calcium) help reduce fat-cell numbers and improve leptin balance.2. Phase 2 is quite difficult to adhere to. Many people might need a milder/slower approach.3. Legumes are very healthy, and high in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. To totally abstain from them in phase 2, and restrict in phase 3 to two portions per week, is too restrictive, in my opinion.4. As with all diets, Dukan fails to address the problem that fat-mass decrease leads to a decrease in leptin. Without a way to increase leptin and improve leptin sensitivity, fat loss is very limited for most people.Notes:A person who carefully follows the Dukan instructions in the first two phases can expect dramatic short-term results. Most people desire a fast solution to obesity, and as Dukan delivers on this better than any other diet, it is no wonder he sold 20 million copies, and his book quickly became the most popular diet book of all time.Dr. Dukan is of the opinion that most people want (and succeed better with) detailed diet instructions and a rigid plan, as opposed to being taught principles of physiology enabling each person to make adjustments for their personal circumstances. Maimonides and Metabolism equips you with the knowledge of your opponent (your body). With the deeper understanding of your physiology and how your hormones work, you will know how to adapt your diet to any situation.Dr. Dukan admits that many people who attempted his methods “manage to keep going for a while but then lose their way, and some of the weight they lost goes back on.”(pg. 268) He also recognizes that with many people “resistance sets in, weight loss slows down, and one day the body resists a little more than on other days and weight loss comes to a halt”(pg. 290) The Dukan solution: “I prescribe what I call a ‘blitz operation’…four days of the Attack diet’s pure proteins without any deviation, restricting salt, etc.…” (pg. 291) This solution reminds me of how we used to fix the TV when we were kids. We’d smack it. If that didn’t work, we’d smack it again. If necessary, we’d smack it harder. Heck, sometimes it worked!It’s safer to go with a more conservative approach. Even though the idea of FAST weight-loss is appealing, too often it sets up a fast rebound. Like charging into a slingshot, the faster one hits it, the faster one bounces in the opposite direction. That’s another reason to include high-fiber vegetables in the first phases every day. Once the body is accustomed to Dukan’s pure-protein attack, adding in necessary foods, such as vegetables, may be used by the body to halt fat loss.Criticisms:1. Lipid-phobia. Dr. Dukan writes: “Lipids (fats) are the absolute enemy of anyone trying to be slim…Since Atkins appeared, opening the way for lipids by demonizing carbohydrates…cholesterol and triglyceride levels rise dangerously, some people paying for this with their lives.” (pg. 18)Refer to the studies in Maimonides and Metabolism, and you will see that Dr. Dukan is wrong; cholesterol and triglyceride levels drop significantly on the Atkins very-low-carb diet, despite ingesting more lipids.See also the meta-analyses in Maimonides and Metabolism. Very-low-carb diets that are fueled primarily by proteins and lipids help lower insulin and glucose levels, a very important benefit for diabetics and prediabetics.Omega-3 is an essential fat required to include in the diet, and certain vitamins require dietary fats to be absorbed.Reducing dietary fats to a minimum helps speed fat loss, but there’s no reason to go overboard by creating a fear of one of the three macronutrients.2. Fat cell number blooper. Healthy adults have between 25 and 30 billion fat cells, which contain about twenty to twenty-five pounds of fat. When fat mass increases, the fat cells stretch like balloons to contain it. The average size (weight) of an adult fat cell is about 0.6 micrograms, but they can vary in size from 0.2 micrograms to 0.9 micrograms.When a person puts on fat, at first that stretches the fat cells without changing the number, but as time goes by, if the added fat mass remains, the body adapts by gradually adding more fat cells. That explains why a typical person who has been overweight for years can have 50 to 75 billion fat cells, to accommodate their twenty to sixty excess pounds of fat (beyond the twenty to twenty-five pounds of healthy fat mass).The way The Dukan Diet explains fat cell increase leads to a seriously mistaken perception: that a person can put on fat up to a 28 BMI without adding fat cells, and if they continue to put on more fat, somewhere between 28 and 29 BMI their 25 billion fat cells suddenly all simultaneously divide in two, yielding a total of 50 billion fat cells instantaneously! Dr. Dukan writes (pgs. 227-28):“It is important to pinpoint simply and concretely the moment in their weight history when there is this risk of cell division….” “If the weight gain continues, the adipocytes hypertrophy, or enlarge, and reach the limit of their elasticity. At this critical moment, any additional weight gain triggers a new and exceptional event, completely changing the future and prognosis for weight problems. No longer able to contain any more fat the adipocyte cell DIVIDES into two daughter adipocyte cells. This simple division suddenly doubles the body’s capacity to make and store fat….” “I was able to work out statistics that enabled me to pinpoint this moment as being after BMI 28 has been reached and going toward BMI 29.”3. Oversimplification of time needed to adapt to new lower body weight. Dr. Dukan writes (pg. 109): “The high-risk period for regaining weight lasts about five days for every pound lost, 30 days or a month for six to seven pounds, and 100 days for a loss of 18–20 pounds.”There are more factors that influence the length of the high-risk period, such as how long the person was overweight. If a person recently put on twenty pounds, the risk period of regaining it once they’ve gotten rid of it is short compared to a person who has been living for many years with the extra twenty pounds, as his or her body has accustomed itself to the higher weight with a corresponding number of fat cells. The person who has been overweight for years has a higher homeostatic weight level, which their body is naturally set to.Another influencing factor is the percentage of fat mass lost. For a 130-pound woman who dropped weight to 110, the loss of twenty pounds of fat (i.e., 50 percent of her total fat mass) will take much longer to acclimate to than a 600-pound obese man, whose twenty-pound loss constitutes less than a mere 5 percent of his total fat mass. This woman will have a dramatic reduction in circulating leptin, as her fat mass has been cut in half. This man won’t experience a significant reduction in leptin, because his fat mass only decreased by 5 percent.4. Desperate and dangerous…Dr. Dukan recommends taking cold showers, sucking on ice cubes, and eating one’s food cold (pages 229-33). These methods will burn calories, but there is a risk of becoming ill. Losing fat reduces leptin, which weakens the immune system. Combining extreme dieting with cold showers may push people beyond their limits.

I am a yo-yo dieter - which is extremely unhealthy. I lose weight and as soon as I stop dieting the weight goes back again. I do this "lose and gain" game for almost 15 years now. When it comes to diet I always did it the traditional way : eat less and loads of exercise. Two years ago I stepped on the scale and, once again, decided to diet again. I did what I normally do - cut down on sugar, fats, carbs and just eat less calories and more sensibly - started working out 2-3 times a week. After a month i stepped on the scale again and i was horrified to learn that i BARELY lost any weight...as a matter of fact all i lost was 1 lb. So I made a few tweaks on my diet - lesser carbs and work outs 4-5 times a week - again when it came to weight myself again the scale did not move. I did measure myself as well ( as people would say muscles weight more than fat) but the measuring tape did not show significant change either. Last year i went to full exercise mode and worked out hard 6 times a week - nothing happened - nothing changed. There was an inch or two loss around my waist but nothing drastic and certainly didn't feel like it was worth what I was doing. I went to see the doctor who did a blood test but the result showed normal functioning. I kind of stopped the active exercising around last year Christmas and I let myself indulge on yummy festive foods. January came and the new years resolutions - with the " i swear I will lose them lbs for good " promise to myself. I accidentally found an article about the Dukan diet and it sounded interesting. I have read about Atkin diet before but it never seemed appealing to me. I did my researches and read the book - i did some more researches and I though I would give it a go. The first 7 days were the hardest - I missed sugar and carbs and i felt light headed on the second day but I did not feel hungry thanks for the allowance to have as much food as i can. On the first week i lost 2.5 kg. I am on my cruise phase only and so far I am very satisfied with the result. I don't feel hungry and the meals a completely satisfying and filling. I do have to use my imagination when creating food but as time passes I am more and more creative. The reason I am giving this book/diet 4 star - is because of the amount of time i have to spend in the kitchen is MORE than I have ever spent in my life. The other "slight" problem is the cost - you have to plan your weekly meals well ahead before you buy your grocery as this diet is not the cheapest one and you can easily spend more than usual.

Already have this on my Kindle, but bought a hard copy so I could flick back and forth. Difficult to do on Kindle. I love the Dukan diet. I'm a carnivore and this diet just works for me. I lost heaps of weight the first time then immediately gave up smoking - fed my cravings with lots of junk - and failed to follow the consolidation and stabilisation steps so weight piled back on. My own fault. Now I'm back on Dukan, have lost weight and bought this hard copy so I could more easily read & follow consolidation and stabilisation.

How well is this diet known now? Everyone heard about the Dukan diet, and a lo of people are trying it regularly.What is important with this diet is to follow all rules that come with it. If you are not well aware of how this works, you will not get the results you are seeking, and you will even take the risk to make your situation worst.If you plan starting this diet, buy this book. It is simply written and good to read. Everything is well explained and you learn a lot more about why you have to eat this way during this diet.Don't jump into a diet without having all the information about it in advance. Especially for this diet, it is very agressive and it not well followed, can lead you to the wrong way.Reading it gives you the motivation you need as well to continue it. You feel like you are not alone as everyday you read more and learn more about the period you are going through.I would then definitely recommend this book if you are planning to correctly follow your diet and change your habits. This will lead you to a new life and you will be healthier and learn more about your own body.

Over the years I have tried many diets. We all know that dieting is really willpower to leave alone the foods that make you put on weight. I wanted to lose about 8lbs as I don't really look over weight I just prefer to feel slimmer.I bought the book out of curiousity really as my sister lived in France and I don't remember seeing a slim woman in the area that she lived in!!! Anyway, I started the and diet once I got the gist of it as I decided that I could read the book as I went along. Seven days on the diet and I have lost six and a half pounds so I am thrilled!! I haven't found it hard to stick to at all and am rarely hungry. I had a bit of a blip one day as I didn't feel well at all. To cut a boring story short I visited the doc and explained everything and she said I could carry on with the diet but if I felt poorly again whilst on the diet to go back to see her. Low blood sugar might have been the problem that day (not confirmed) but I would say that Diabetics should be very careful and consult the doc first before starting this diet. Overall, this is a very informative book and it worked for me so it could work for you. Most diets tell you to change your eating habits and this is no exception but it has made me face up to the fact that I will have to be good and not eat too many sweet items (choc -oh no!) too often.REMMBER!! IF I CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU!!!!!I am adding this p.s. about the oat bran. I disagree with the lady who said it was awful. One and a half tabespoons is 40 grams and it is better to weigh it as I wasn't having enough by spooning it. I simmer it ina pan with either milk or water for about five minutes on a low heat. I love it because it reminds me of my childhood. When I was little my mum used to make something called 'gruel' if I wasn't well and it reminds me of that.Very comforting!!Two weeks on and I have lost NINE AND A HALF POUNDS!!!!! I am so pleased. I wasn't fat to start with but I feel so much better. I know the pounds have crept on slowly and were not that noticable but to me it is well worth the effort of addressing the problem. I have got into the habit of eating the way the book says and I no longer crave sweet things the same as I did. I still like them but only have a proper dessert on a Saturday. Duing the week I have had strawberries and blueberries with plain yoghurt. Very satisfying. I did make a mistake earlier in my review. The one and ahalf tablespoons of oat bran which I said was 40grams should have been approx.25 grams but is still plenty when combined with the water and simmered. Even so, I still lost the weight having 40 grams!!!!!My blip with feeling unwell has never returned. I put this down to my body having a shock because of no sweet things being eaten!!! To sum up I would say give this diet a go!!!

Although this book is primarily written for women, this is a great diet for men too.As others have pointed out, there are similarities with the Atkins diet, especially at the start, where you eat only protein, however it is healthier as unlike Atkins, you are not allowed to eat food high in fat, cheese, cream, butter etc.Like any diet you really need to stick to it. The attack phase, the first phase will get results, depending on how overweight you are, you'll lose several pounds in only a few days without going hungryWith the diet you need to follow the daily walks that he includes as part of the diet. You start with 20 minutes everyday. This is too conservative for me, I walked 1 hour everyday, either in one block or 2 x 30 minutes, 3 x 20 minutes etc. This really adds to the great results. It really is a case of move it if you want to lose it.