Dukan Diet Meal Plan

Yes, all reviews of the Dukan diet claim that you can lose weight and maintain it over time. For those of you who need to experience it to believe it, here’s what you need to know about this famous diet along with some sample meal plans to make following it simpler for you.

The Dukan diet, created by French doctor Pierre Dukan, has now taken the world by storm, where from common man to celebrities, everyone is swearing by its effectiveness and benefits. This diet, unlike other popular fad diets, is not a diet for life, neither is it a crash diet. In fact, it helps you lose weight and reintroduces healthy eating habits over time, so that the weight is maintained. This makes a whole world of a difference to your health and lifestyle, something all of us badly need considering how careless most of us are with what we eat. The principles on which this diet functions are extremely simple and very effective.

Sample Meal Plans

The Dukan diet is based on one simple principle: the consumption of protein rich food to burn fat. It is a diet that is followed in a 4-phase pattern, where the kind of food you eat will change with each phase, ensuring stable weight loss. In fact, it is believed that those who are tackling obesity will benefit more from this diet than those who simply wish to shed off a couple of pounds. According to this diet, during each phase you are permitted to consume as much of the food items allowed in that phase at any given time. However, moderation is and always has been the key to the effectiveness of any diet plan. Here’s a brief explanation of each phase of the Dukan diet along with sample meal plans for each phase.

The attack phase is the most important phase of the diet as it kick starts the process of weight lost. This phase is all about consuming proteins and nothing else. So you are free to eat any amount of the following types of food during this phase:

• Poultry: Chicken, Turkey, Veal, Ostrich, Pigeon, Quail, Chicken Liver, Eggs
• Fat-Free Dairy Products: Milk, Yogurt, Cottage Cheese
• Meat: Lean cuts/mince of Beef, Venison, Calf’s Liver, Bresaola (Air-dried Beef)
• Seafood: Tuna, Salmon, Swordfish, Prawns, Shrimp, Cod, Gray Mullet, Trout, Sardines, Calamari
• Vegetarian Food: Tofu, Soy Beans, Soy Milk, Textured Vegetable Protein

All the aforementioned items can be enjoyed with a variety of herbs and dressings such as vinegar, mustard and very little olive oil. Feel free to use different spices to add flavor to your food and help you adhere to this diet. You may have these boiled, grilled, or lightly cooked with a drizzle of olive oil. Those who are overweight may follow this phase for about 7 days, not exceeding a span of 10 days. As you can see, this diet is low in fiber and may therefore result in constipation. As such, you are required to consume at least one tablespoon of oat bran in a day. This you may do by adding it to a can of fat-free yogurt or by using it as a crust for your fish or chicken filets. Oat bran helps keep the heart healthy and avoids constipation. It even keeps you fuller for longer. Also ensure that you drink a lot of water to keep your body hydrated. It has been found that simply following this phase for one day has helped weight reduction by 2 pounds. Given below is a sample menu for this phase of the Dukan diet.

You may also include salmon and tuna preparations such as baked salmon with herbs, three pepper tuna, beef kebabs, etc.

This is the phase that you should follow in order to achieve your desired weight. Here, you should include vegetables in your diet, along with the aforementioned protein rich food, on an alternate day basis. This means every alternate day you will combine the aforementioned proteins with one or more servings of vegetables (Protein-and-Vegetable Days). On the other days you will consume only proteins (Pure-Protein-Days). The vegetables you can include during this are broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, French beans, mushrooms, spinach, pumpkin and Brussels sprouts. Though vegetables are best eaten raw, you may lightly cook them or steam them. Do not consume them fried. Follow this phase until you attain your desired weight. Do note that the weight loss process will slow down in this phase as you consume vegetables that will add to your water weight. Keep drinking lots of water to avoid bloating or water retention. A sample meal plan for this phase may include:

By combining a variety of vegetables with your choice of protein, you will be able to come up with several meal ideas that are delicious and sufficiently satisfy your palate.

This phase is designed to sustain the attained weight, and slowly reintroduce the body to the food it has been missing. This means you are now permitted to include the following food in your diet:

• Pasta: One portion, preferably whole-wheat, twice a week
• Fruits: Fresh (not canned), one portion (one apple/pear/orange or a cup of strawberries, blueberries, etc.) – no bananas, cherries or dried fruits
• Whole-Grain Bread: 2 pieces in a day, preferably toasted
• Cheese: 40 grams a day; no goat’s cheese, camembert and roquefort

Combine these food items with those from the first two phases. Fruits may be included as part of a snack while you may make a meal of pasta and a meat of your choice. Remember not to include white rice and potatoes in this phase. Here, you will not lose weight. The duration of this phase depends on the number of pounds lost in the first two phases, in the ratio 1:5. This means, if you have lost one pound, you will follow this phase for 5 days, and if you have lost three, then the phase will continue for fifteen days.

As has been mentioned earlier, the Dukan diet does not have to be followed for life, but on just one day of the week, you are expected to consume only protein rich food (those from phase 1). This concept is popular as ‘protein Thursday’ in France, where people have chosen this day of the week to follow the basics of the Dukan diet. On the rest of the days you are free to eat what you wish to.

This diet is one of a kind that not only helps you lose weight, but helps you maintain it in spite of resuming a normal diet. Even so, critics have discovered some side effects of the Dukan diet such as increased intake of sodium along with growing deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. Since in the first phase you are going to cut out all other nutrients, you are likely to feel nauseous and dizzy. However, those who have religiously followed this diet have claimed it to be one of the most effective they have ever come across. It is important to note that this diet requires a lot of effort, i.e. you have to do most of the cooking yourself from scratch. If you are ready for this kind of commitment it is likely to prove more effective for you.

Going by the reviews of this popular diet, we can say that it definitely appears far more promising than all the other crash and fad diets you may have adhered to in the past. Remember to get a good dose of exercise with this diet so that it works well, i.e. at least a 25 minute walk daily. Hopefully you will be able to follow this diet and sustain your dream weight and figure for life.

Disclaimer: This NutriNeat article is for informative purposes only, and does not intend to make any claims about the effectiveness of the Dukan diet. Consult your physician before starting any kind of diet to prevent any harmful side effects.