How to lose weight without starving: the Ducan diet

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Nutritionist Pierre Ducan says that you can eat as much as you want and lose weight at the same time. Life hacker found out if it is real without harm to health.

What is the Ducan Diet

I must say that nutritionist Pierre Dukan has not invented anything new. His brainchild is a revised combination of two equally well-known nutritional systems: the Atkins diet and the paleo diet. They are based on the consumption of foods high in protein and low in carbohydrates.

The diet became widely known after the publication of Ducan's book I Can't Lose Weight. For most of them, the diet helped them lose weight very quickly. And this despite the fact that the portion sizes did not need to be limited. It was enough to give up some products.

Phases of the Ducan diet

1. Attack

The toughest stage, activating the process of breaking down fats. It involves the rejection of carbohydrates and fats and replacing them with proteins.

It is allowed to eat:

• lean meat;
• by-products of animals and birds;
• all types of fish and seafood, with the exception of fatty smoked fish;
• egg white;
• low-fat dairy products.

Keep in mind that these foods can only be boiled and steamed or in the oven. Frying in oil is strictly prohibited. Also try to limit your salt intake. And be sure to eat oat bran: at least one and a half tablespoons a day.

You need to drink at least two liters of water per day.

The attack lasts depending on how many pounds you wish to lose. Calculating the duration is pretty straightforward.

To lose 10 kg, three days are enough. Are you dreaming of getting rid of 20-30 kg? Get ready for 5-7 days of eating protein foods. Well, if you swung 60 kg or more, the attack will take 10 days - and this is the maximum period.

2. Alternation

The second stage is a combination of protein and protein-vegetable diet. In addition to the foods allowed during the attack, you can now eat vegetables. True, only every other day and only those in which there is little starch.

It is allowed to eat:

• cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin;
• tomatoes, eggplants, peppers;
• all types of cabbage, turnips, radishes, radishes;
• mushrooms;
• onion;
• asparagus;
• beans;
• celery.

They can be consumed both raw and boiled. Frying is still prohibited.

To lose weight faster, eat only when the hunger is really strong.

The stage can continue until you reach your desired weight. On average, the alternation lasts from one to six months.

3. Anchoring

As the name implies, in the third stage we consolidate what we managed to achieve in the first two. The main thing is to prevent the return of the dropped kilograms.

In addition to the products of the first and second phases, you can eat per day:

• 2 slices of bread;
• 100 g of fruit, excluding cherries, bananas and grapes;
• 40 g of cheese.

Potatoes, rice, pasta are allowed to be eaten twice a week.

One day a week should be made exclusively proteinaceous.

The duration of the stage depends on how many kilograms you managed to lose: 10 days are allotted for each.

4. Stabilization

At the last stage, regular meals are allowed, subject to two rules:

1. Dedicate only protein foods one day a week.
2. Eat three tablespoons of oat bran every day.

The duration of the fourth stage has no restrictions, and Pierre Dukan advises to eat like this all the time.

What you need to remember

The rave reviews and visible results of losing weight have a downside. For full functioning, the body needs proteins, fats and carbohydrates. And the exclusion of the last two points from the diet leads to unpleasant consequences.

1. Lack of fat is fraught with a deterioration in the condition of the skin and hair, problems with the cardiovascular system and hormonal imbalance.
2. Without carbohydrates, the brain starts to starve. Deficiency of vitamins and fiber leads to weakness, drowsiness, dizziness and headaches.
3. The body begins to synthesize glucose from protein and fats, starting the process of gluconeogenesis. This leads to additional stress on the liver, kidneys and intestines, provoking an exacerbation of chronic diseases and causing new ones.
4. Nutrient imbalances can cause metabolic acidosis, an incredibly dangerous condition in the body that can lead to kidney failure and sometimes coma.

In 2011, in his study Les résultats de notre enquête "Régime Dukan: et après?" this was confirmed by the French edition of Le Journal des Femmes.

If you have excellent health, the Dukan diet will not do you irreparable harm, and the extra pounds will really go away. Otherwise, it is better to refuse the diet.

Attack recipes

Okroshka

Ingredients

• 500 ml of fat-free kefir;
• 200 g chicken breast;
• 2 egg whites;
• salt and herbs to taste.

Boil the breast in slightly salted water for 20-25 minutes. Cook the eggs separately: 7 minutes will be enough.

Rinse the herbs. Finely chop all the ingredients, salt and cover with kefir.

Breasts in kefir

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg of chicken breasts;
• 700 ml of fat-free kefir;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 150 ml of water;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Rinse the breasts in running water and fold into a baking dish. Chop the garlic finely, mix with kefir and pour over the breasts with the resulting mixture.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour at 180 degrees.

Milk dessert

Ingredients

• 300 ml of milk;
• 25 g gelatin;
• sugar substitute - to taste;
• vanillin or other flavoring.

Dissolve the gelatin in the milk as directed on the package. Add sugar substitute and flavor.

Pour the resulting mixture into molds and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

Recipes for alternation

Fish hodgepodge

Ingredients

• 1 fish head;
• 100 g fish steak;
• 8 shrimp;
• 1 medium carrot;
• 1 medium onion;
• ½ lemon;
• cilantro, salt and pepper to taste.

Boil the fish until tender (about 40 minutes). Cut vegetables into cubes, add to broth and cook for another 15 minutes. Add the peeled shrimp 5 minutes before the end.

Squeeze half a lemon into a hodgepodge, add finely chopped cilantro, salt and pepper.

Zucchini casserole

Ingredients

• 1 medium zucchini;
• 200 g minced turkey;
• 1 tablespoon milk powder;
• 2 tablespoons oat bran
• 2 eggs;
• 1 small onion;
• salt, pepper and herbs to taste.

Grate the zucchini on a coarse grater. Add the rest of the ingredients to the resulting mass.

Stir well and place in a baking dish.

Bake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees.

Vanilla chocolate mousse

Ingredients

• 250 g of milk;
• 250 g fat-free cottage cheese;
• 30 g gelatin;
• 1 teaspoon cocoa
• vanillin and sugar substitute to taste.

Dissolve the gelatin in hot milk. Add flavor and sugar substitute and stir until dissolved. Add cottage cheese and cocoa and beat with a blender.

Pour the resulting mixture into molds and refrigerate for 4 hours. After hardening, you can decorate the mousse with a pinch of cocoa.

Recipes for anchoring and stabilizing

Mushroom soup with cauliflower

Ingredients

• ¼ large onion;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 7 medium mushrooms;
• ¼ a head of cauliflower;
• 2 glasses of water;
• 2 glasses of milk;
• 1 ½ spoonful of cornstarch.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and salve in the water. Add finely chopped mushrooms, simmer for 20 minutes.

Place the onion, garlic, mushrooms and chopped cabbage in a saucepan, add water, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.

Combine milk and starch. Pour into boiling soup and simmer for 1 minute.

Beat the finished soup with a blender.

Stuffed pepper

Ingredients

• 300 g chicken breast;
• 2 tablespoons of oat bran;
• salt and pepper to taste;
• 5 large bell peppers;
• 1 medium onion;
• 1 medium carrot;
• 50 g tomato paste;
• 1 glass of water.

Chop the breast, add the bran, salt and pepper. Cut off the tops of the peppers, remove the seeds and fill with minced meat.

For the sauce, chop the onion and carrots into small pieces and sauté over high heat. Add tomato paste, water, bring to a boil.

Place the peppers in a deep saucepan, pour over the sauce and simmer for about 1 hour.

Syrniki

Ingredients

• 400 g fat-free cottage cheese;
• 4 tablespoons oat bran
• 2 eggs.

Mix all the ingredients and sculpt the cheese cakes. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 180 degrees.