Living Low Carb (37 page)
Authors: Jonny Bowden
A really original contribution to the weight-loss literature, with some important information about influences on weight that don’t ordinarily get addressed in most diet books. If you’ve been frustrated with the usual calorie-based meal plans and standard exercise programs and want a different take on some of the metabolic obstacles to weight loss (as well as some solid information about what to do about those obstacles), this book is highly recommended. It’s worth it just for the information on artificial sweeteners, chemicals, inflammation, and leptin control. Highly recommended
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WHAT IT IS IN A NUTSHELL
A low-carb plan with some interesting twists and novel recommendations. The diet itself is divided into four phases, all built around protein. Each phase has a specific purpose. Though choices are limited during the first phase (when you drop the most weight), the plan allows you to reintroduce foods like bread and starches in very controlled ways in the third phase. The final, fourth phase of the plan is different from all other four-phase plans (like Atkins, for example) in that there is a built-in mechanism for preventing rebound weight gain
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The Dukan Diet was created by Pierre Dukan, MD, a medical doctor specializing in human nutrition since 1973. It was first published in France, where it has been at the top of the best-seller list since 2006. The book is now being introduced across the pond with a brand new American edition. I expect it will get a lot of attention.
Dukan started his work in the weight loss field as a young doctor practicing general medicine in Paris. One of his patients happened to be obese and asked Dukan how to lose weight. “All I knew about nutrition and obesity (in those days) was what my teachers had passed on at medical school, which amounted to simply suggesting low-calorie diets and miniature-sized meals so tiny that any obese person would laugh and run a mile in the opposite direction,” writes Dukan.
Dukan—not unlike Dr. William Harvey who had treated our friend the British undertaker William Banting in the 1850’s (see page 3)—went on pure instinct and prescribed an all-meat diet for his obese patient. Five days later he had lost 12 pounds. After 20 days his weight had dropped an incredible 22 pounds. His blood tests were all perfectly normal. “This is how the first phases of the Dukan diet were born,” writes Dukan.
Over the years, Dukan noticed that the vast majority of dieters inevitably lose the war against weight. This led to the creation of additional phases whose sole purpose was to protect the gains made in the first phases.
According to Dukan, the program takes into account everything that is essential for the success of any weight loss program:
1. It offers overweight people trying to lose weight a system with specific instructions that get them on track.
2. The initial weight loss is substantial and sufficiently rapid to launch the diet and instill lasting motivation.
3. It is a low-frustration diet. Weighing food portions and calorie counting are banned, and it allows you total freedom to eat a certain number of popular foods.
4. It is a comprehensive weight loss program that you can take or leave.
Let’s take a look at the specifics of the program.
Phase One: The “Attack” Phase: “The Pure Protein Diet.”
The “Attack” phase is simple: pure protein. That’s it. You can eat meat, fish, poultry, whole eggs, and nonfat dairy products. The Attack Phase can last for as little as 1 day or can go for as many as 10. Most people do it for 2–7 days. (The number of days you stay on it has a lot to do with how much you need to lose.) Weight loss is rapid, and can be very motivating.
The Attack Phase also contains three other “prescriptions,” but they’re easy to follow. You should drink at least 1½ quarts of water or mineral water. You should go for one (compulsory) walk a day for 20 minutes. And you should eat the “oat bran galette.”
What’s that, you ask? Well the third prescription for the Attack Phase involves a daily dose of 1½ tablespoons of oat bran, which you can add to your milk or yogurt. But Dukan recommends eating it in a way he calls “the oat bran galette,” which he describes as a light and easy pancake that’s a tasty way to eat your oat bran.
Phase Two: The “Cruise” Phase: “The Alternating Protein Diet.”
On the “Cruise” phase, you alternate one day of protein only (just like in the first phase) with a day of protein plus vegetables. You can add any nonstarchy vegetables, raw or cooked. (Dukan has a suggested list in the book under the heading “100 Natural Foods that Keep You Slim.”) According to Dukan, this alternating cycle works like the “injection-combustion cycle of a two-speed engine, burning up its calorie quota.”
You stay on the Cruise phase without a break until your target weight is reached. “The alternating protein diet is still one of the diets least affected by resistance induced by previous attempts at weight loss,” writes Dukan.
During the Cruise Phase, the daily oat bran requirement increases to 2 tablespoons, and the recommended exercise increases by 10 minutes.
Phase Three: The Consolidation Phase: “The Transition Diet” (5 Days for Every Pound Lost).
The purpose of this stage is to get you eating a wider variety of foods again, while specifically avoiding the traditional “rebound” effect experienced by so many people after losing a lot of weight. Dukan believes that gradually including a wider range of foods that are richer and more gratifying but in very limited quantities will allow your body’s metabolism to adjust to your new weight and stabilize your weight loss.
Dukan makes a decent case for this reintroduction, pointing out that many people regain weight very quickly because they go from the “diet” to their old way of eating. His notion was that if you reintroduce the “non-diet” foods in a very controlled and structured way, you have less chance of experiencing the explosive weight gain that comes from just going “off” the program completely.
One novel thing here is that the length of time you stay on this “consolidation” phase is determined by how much weight you lost in the previous two stages. You stay on this third phase for 5 days for each pound you’ve lost.
In the Consolidation phase you add 2 slices of bread and 1 portion of fruit and cheese into your daily diet, along with up to 2 servings a week of starchy carbs (or grains) and 2 “celebration” meals. There’s a specific structure to this reintroduction. Since you already know the length of your Consolidation Phase (the number of pounds you lost times 5) you now divide the total Consolidation Phase into two halves. The first half you’re allowed one serving of starchy foods a week; in the second half, you can have two servings. “This approach avoids the risk of you starting to eat sugar-rich foods too suddenly,” says Dukan. Similarly, the two “celebration” meals are phased in during this period. During the first half, you can have one celebration meal a week, and can up it to two during the second half.
The Celebration Meal deserves some explanation, as it could easily be confused with the “Reward Meal” in the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet. At each celebration meal you can eat whatever food you want during the weight loss period. But there are some very important caveats. Number one, never have second helpings of the same dish. Number two, when you can have 2 celebration meals a week (during the second half of this phase) never have them back-to-back. Third, everything is allowed but only one of each: 1 starter, 1 main dish, 1 dessert, and 1 glass of wine. All in “reasonable” quantity—but only one of each.
The Consolidation Phase has another critical feature, which it shares with all the other phases. During the entire consolidation phase you eat “pure protein” one day a week. This is the same diet you ate exclusively during the Attack phase, and on alternate days during the Cruise phase.
During Consolidation you also continue with the 2 daily tablespoons of oatmeal a day, and with daily walking, though Dukan says you now can lower your walking time to 25 minutes if you so choose.
Phase Four: Stabilization Diet
The Stabilization Phase assumes you have now reached your target weight and have kept it fairly consistent throughout the long Phase Three Consolidation Period. So this phase is more like a “return to the real world” phase, and is much less defined than the three previous phases. This phase simply gives you more leeway to introduce more foods. Dukan believes that the consolidation phase allowed your body to adjust to the new weight and stop “defending” the old one by holding on to every excess calorie and gram of sugar. One might say your weight has now reached a new “set point.”
Dukan suggests you adopt the basic foods you ate during the Consolidation phase as your new “baseline” and just add back new foods judiciously. There is also a non-negotiable one-day-a-week commitment to “Pure Protein,” the same diet you ate daily during Phase One. And finally, you must continue with 3 tablespoons of oat bran for the rest of your life.
Dukan Diet as a Lifestyle: Who It Works for, Who Should Look Elsewhere
When I was a kid and Elvis Presley was first putting out records (that’s 33⅓ RPM records, folks), one of them had the legend written across it: “50,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong!” Course, 50,000 was a lot back then, pre-Internet, but I couldn’t help thinking of that legend when trying to answer the question “Who would the Dukan diet work for?” Why? Because it’s sold over 3.5 million copies in 14 different languages and is the subject of hundreds of message boards and websites populated by devoted followers of all ages and both sexes. That alone is enough to safely say that it has a wide and broad appeal.
It should also appeal to people who are put off by the idea that they can “never” eat a certain kind of food again, or, if they do, that they would be abandoning their program. There are a lot of “real world” concessions in this plan that make it very appealing.
I very much doubt that there are vegetarians who would have an easy time of this plan, and I know for a fact it would be impossible for vegans. If you have a problem eating a fair amount of protein you should probably look elsewhere, especially since “all protein” one day a week is a lifelong feature of the Dukan Plan.
Those with real food addiction problems may want to look elsewhere as well. Though the concept of “celebration” meals sounds like an awfully good, reasonable “real world” idea, fact is if you’re an addict, it’s going to be a problem, akin to telling an alcoholic he can have one “celebration” glass of wine.
JONNY’S LOWDOWN
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I have a couple of reservations about this program, but for the most part I think it’s smart and original. Let’s start with the reservations. Though Dukan seems incredibly savvy when it comes to nutrition and health, it is remarkable to me that he still buys into the low-fat thing, recommending nothing but nonfat dairy products, and non- or low-fat versions of any other protein. This is puzzling, as he seems to have a pretty good grasp of the hormonal impact of food, yet disregards the fact that fat has exactly zero effect on insulin (the fat-storing hormone) and that a good deal of research in the past decade has questioned the long-held assumption that saturated fat intake is linked to higher death rates (it’s not)
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The second reservation I have concerns the third and fourth phases of the program. I completely understand the concept of adding things back in gradually, but the recommendation to include two slices of whole wheat bread daily at the start of the consolidation phase, strikes me as counterproductive. First of all, there’s the issue of gluten/grain sensitivity, which affects many people. Second of all, there’s the blood sugar issue, as nearly all breads are high glycemic. I would have much preferred a more gradual approach and the ability to customize (i.e. dump the bread if it’s a problem for you)
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Related is my issue with the “celebration” meal. In theory it’s a great idea. In practice, no one who is food-addicted will have an easy time of it. One person I spoke to said that if she were allowed this “celebration” meal it would be the beginning of a binge and I’m not sure she’s unique
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The good news is that except for those issues, this is a really, really smart program. I’m especially fond of the “Protein Thursdays” notion (one day a week of protein to stabilize), and I particularly like the idea that the diet is designed to be easy to follow for the rest of your life
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In the “real” world, most dieters will eventually have their own “celebration” meals where they throw caution to the winds and eat what they like. Problem is, when people do this, they feel they’ve “cheated,” and tend to have some trouble getting back on track. One of the real selling points of Dukan is that he makes it possible to do what people are going to do anyway (occasionally wandering off the reservation, that is) without actually going off the program
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