Just when I thought that I had seen it all
... as far as dieting is concerned. From the
land notorious for its dedicated food lovers
comes a weight-loss "diet" that is sweeping
the globe. Yes! France will no longer be
famous for its croissants, wines and cheeses
but instead will become known for (supposedly)
helping us to stay slim! This dietary wonder has
been around for over ten years, in fact, and is
commonly called the Dukan Diet.
The Dukan Diet was designed by a French doctor called Pierre Dukan and was made popular in his first publication entitled "Je ne sais pas maigrir", which when translated means "I don't know how to lose weight." ("Mm," I thought. "Nothing new here.")
And indeed, while reading his book I could not help getting flashes of severe "déjà vu" ... you know, those feelings of "been here before ... done this before ... got several T-shirts ..." and as the pages went bye the feelings became more frequent! It was getting scary! I felt as if I was trapped in time.
My poor muddled brain was being illuminated by deep, subconscious alphabetic flashing neon lights ... bling, bling, "The Atkins Diet" they spelt out, and still they flashed … bling … bling …"The South Beach Diet" ... Bling ... bling -- but not quite so bright this time …"The Low GI diet"… And as I read, still they kept flashing … bling, bling, getting brighter and brighter, faster and faster ... so many diets I'd known seemed to be appearing in front of my eyes ... Bling ... bling … bling ... Arrgh, I've seen it all before!
Just when I was beginning to get concerned for my mental wellbeing I realised it was not me, but the book! Oh, yes I have certainly been here before. And if, like me, you have tried the Atkins Diet or the South Beach Diet etc then don't expect to escape the same feeling of "déjà vu" when you read about the Dukan Diet.
I am not dissing the Dukan Diet … (I learnt this term from my daughter…"Don't diss it Mom" and I guess it is applicable here) or the Dukan Diet's method or techniques. I am just saying: "It's not new."
The Dukan diet plan is basically the same old diet words sung to the same old diet tune ... remixed by a different diet band and marketed sadly to the same diet audience that can never quite manage to master the diet dance.
A brief over veiw of the Dukan Diet
The Dukan Diet is some-what different from most other diet plans because it is split into four parts, combining two steps to lose your excessive weight and two steps to help keep it off for, supposedly for good:
Step 1: Attack
For 2-7 days you can eat as much as you want of seventy two high protein foods.
Step 2: Cruise
In step two you continue consuming the protein-rich foods but now you add 28 vegetables.
Step 3: Consolidation
In this step you are permited to add fruit, bread, cheese and some starchy foods, and indulge in two celebration meals a week, allowing 5 days for every pound lost.
Step 4: Stabilisation
Once you have reached step 4 you are allowed to eat anything you like and not regain any weight providing you follow 3 basic rules, including the famous 'protein Thursdays'.
This plan was created by a French doctor: Dr Pierre Dukan, who claims that he spent most of his career helping people to permanently lose excessive weight. Dr Dukan states that this diet is based on thirty-five years' clinical experience. Since the release of his book the Dukan Diet swept across France, and was hailed by several celebrities who reported to successfully lost weight following Pierre Dukans diet. Some press reports have estimated that the Dukan diet community now numbers over 5 million people in France and growing.
Since approximately March 2010, Dr Dukans book has been translated into ten languages and is sold in over twenty countries.
