What is Dukan Diet?
The Dukan diet is a low calorie and high-protein diet developed by Pierre Dukan, a French doctor who had vast experience helping obese people lose weight.
The diet has been popular in France for several years already and is now getting worldwide acceptance.
Dukan diet aims to be a simple approach to dieting minus the calorie counting and obsessions on what food to take. Protein is the most essential element of the diet which has 4 phases for optimal weight loss results.
what is The Attack Phase
The Attack Phase is the first stage of the Dukan Diet plan which aims at kick-starting weight loss without going hungry. Just like many other diets you may be already familiar with, this first stage focuses on a protein-only diet regime which helps to lose weight quickly and get rid of water retention. I also found the Attack Phase to be a real psychological boost when I first started the diet as within days I discovered that I was most definitely feeling less bloated compared to before and the scales smiled at me for the first time in ages after a 3lbs weight-loss in just 3 days.
If you’ve never followed a protein diet before you might find the first couple of days a little difficult to get used to but, believe me, if you stick to the plan your efforts will be more than rewarded.
Just as a reference, it’s useful to mention that, within the Dukan Diet, protein-only days are normally referred to as pure-protein (or PP) days.
Following the Dukan Diet Attack Phase couldn’t be easier – so let’s take a look at the rules:
- In terms of foods which you are allowed to eat during this phase, you will be pleased to know that you can eat as much as you want from the food list below.
No weird foods or diet pills: everything you need to kick-start your metabolism is listed below. As well as eating as much as you like, the diet does not require you to eat at particular times of the day so that you can learn to really listen to your body and only eat when hungry.
- Because following a protein based diet will come as a bit of a shock to your body, drinking at least one and half litre of water everyday is mandatory in order to get rid of the waste from burning of fats.
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of oat bran either used with dairy products or to make the popular (and yummy!) Dukan Diet oat bran galette
- Finally, Dr Dukan ‘prescribes’ a mandatory walk of at least 20 minutes everyday for those currently leading a very sedentary life. Of course, if you are already an active person or going to the local gym then fantastic – stick to it and your results at the end of this phase will be even greater!
Dukan Diet Attack Phase Food List.
You can eat almost all of the high protein foods without restriction but they must be prepared without any oil or fat and have any visible fat removed.
Although Dr Dukan actually lists just 72 high protein foods (and 28 vegetables) in his list of 100 Natural Foods that Keep You Healthy, as you learn more about the Dukan Diet you will find out that there are quite a few other high protein foods (and vegetables) that can be eaten as well. You will find the 100 foods detailed in the post Dukan Diet Attack Phase List:
Dukan Food List of 100 Proteins & Vegetables .
Seafood – This makes up a large part of the protein food list as you can eat any fish, shellfish or crustacean provided it is not in breadcrumbs, oil or in a sauce containing oil or fat.
Meat, Offal and Game Animals–You can eat low fat, lean cuts of beef, veal or venison, low fat slices of ham with all rind and fat removed, fat reduced bacon, calves liver and kidneys, rabbit or hare. You can also have Bresaola a form of air dried beef. The US version of the Diet also allows tenderloin of pork which is a very lean meat.
Poultry and Game Birds – Provided you remove the skin before eating you can eat, turkey, chicken, poussin, pigeon, pheasant, partridge, grouse , quinea fowl, quail and ostrich without any limitations. You are also allowed to eat chicken livers.
Dairy Products - Any virtually fat-free dairy products such as skim milk, quark, fromage frais or yogurt can be eaten if they contain no added sugar or fruit.
The US version also has free free cream cheese and fat free ricotta in their list of allowed proteins. Read the post How Much Dairy Can You Have on the Dukan Diet? to find out how much of these foods you can eat each day.
Eggs – Eggs should be limited to 4 whole eggs a week if you have problems with raised cholesterol, or 7 if not, but egg white can be eaten without restriction. You may find my post – How many eggs can you eat on the Dukan Diet? of interest.
Vegetarian/Vegan Protein – Although the Dukan Diet can be followed by vegan and vegetarians with the addition of lentils and a couple of other adjustments (see my post Can Vegetarians follow the Dukan Diet?) it can be quite boring as this choices of foods to eat are quite limited. The vegan and vegetarian proteins allowed are tofu, plain Quorn and textured soy products. This can be used by meat/fish eaters to provide a little more variety in their menus.