The Dukan Diet Plan

The Four Stages of the Dukan Diet: Attack Stage - Cruise Stage - Consolidation Stage and Stabilisation Stage

The Dukan Diet is one that has been around for a long time in France, but has just been introduced in the US in 2010. It is reported to be widely used by French women and by many celebrities.

What is the Dukan Diet?

The Dukan diet is a low carbohydrate diet that was developed by a French doctor. Unlike many other popular low carbohydrate diets, this diet does focus on choosing leaner cuts of protein and avoiding too much saturated fat.

The Dukan diet is divided into four stages

1) Attack Stage

The attack stage is the first phase of the Dukan diet. During this phase, which lasts 10 days, you eat only protein.

Many dieters lose 7-10 pounds during the first week. In addition to your protein, you may also have 1 ½ tablespoons of oat bran, and you may drink water, coffee, tea and diet soda. Seasonings must be those with no carbohydrates.

2) Cruise Stage

The second phase of the Dukan diet is called the Cruise stage. During this stage, you alternate days of eating only protein with days of eating protein and vegetables.

You must limit your vegetables to those that are non-starchy, like leafy greens, celery, asparagus and green beans. Vegetables like legumes and carrots are not allowed.

You will remain on the cruise stage until you reach your target weight.

3) Consolidation Stage

Once you reach your target weight on the Dukan diet, you will move on to the consolidation stage. At this stage you will add one serving of fruit and two slices of whole grain bread each day.

You will also add one extra serving of carbohydrates to your meal plan each week. This serving can be pasta, rice, bread, etc. You can also have one celebration meal per week on this diet, where you can eat whatever you like.

Once you have been on the consolidation stage for a few weeks, you can have two celebration meals per week.

4) Stabilisation Stage

The final stage of the Dukan diet is the stabilization stage. This is the ongoing lifestyle stage that you enter after your weight has stabilized on the consolidation phase.

You have more flexibility in this stage to eat what you like, but you are advised to continue to eat only protein for one day a week and to use the consolidation stage rules as the guideline for your daily eating.

Is the Dukan Diet Effective for Weight Loss?

The Dukan diet is much like other low carbohydrate diets, so it will help you lose weight. There is one healthy difference to the Dukan diet, and that is that it does have dieters focus on keeping their protein choices lean. This helps improve cholesterol levels.

Anyone with kidney disease or other problems like gout should not follow any low carbohydrate diet.

However, for those who are healthy, the Dukan diet, like other low carb plans can help you lose the weight and keep it off, provided you are committed to maintaining a lower carbohydrate lifestyle for the long term.