Dukan Diet : A High Protein Diet

The aim: Weight loss.

The claim: You'll lose up to 10 pounds within the first week, and continue at a clip of 2 to 4 pounds a week until you reach your goal weight – all while eating as much as you want (of the approved foods, of course). If you follow the rules to the letter, you'll never regain.

The theory: Counting calories isn't the key to weight loss; protein is. It's a weight-loss powerhouse – it's filling, takes time and work to digest, and has very few calories for each gram of food compared to carb-heavy foods. When protein supplies the majority of a diet, and fats and carbs are all but squeezed out, fast weight loss ensues. (Limiting carbs, the body's preferred energy source, forces the body to turn to an alternative fuel – stored fat.) That's motivation enough for dieters to follow a strict plan that rewards the faithful by slowly adding back the bread, cheese and fruit they so dearly missed.

How does Dukan Diet work?

Prepare for lots of rules.

All four phases of the Dukan Diet – named for former French physician Pierre Dukan, its creator – are heavy on do's and don'ts, and even the slightest slip-up is considered destructive. You'll move from the all-you-can-eat, pure protein "Attack" phase to "Cruise," which allows selected vegetables on selected days. In the third phase, "Consolidation," you'll add more foods that, by now, you're longing for, such as cheese and bread. By the last phase, "Permanent Stabilization," you're relatively free. With just a few (very crucial and very specific) parting rules, you're permitted to eat anything you want.

Attack: A gourmand's dream diet, this phase is all-you-can-eat, portion-wise. Any of the following is fair game: lean beef, veal, pork and venison; organ meat including liver and tongue; fish; shellfish; poultry; low-fat ham, turkey and chicken; eggs; vegetable protein such as tofu and seitan; nonfat dairy; water and other no-calorie drinks (yes, even diet soda); and 1 1/2 tablespoons of oat bran. Spices and herbs are encouraged to avoid monotony. Craving something else? Too bad – cheating is expressly forbidden. "[S]uccumbing to any other foods, as small as the lapse may be, will be like puncturing a balloon with a needle," warns Dukan.

The Attack phase lasts between one to 10 days, depending on how much weight you have to lose. For the majority of dieters – those with 20 to 40 pounds to shed – Attack is typically five days and weight loss is usually 4 to 7 pounds, according to Dukan.

Cruise: In this phase, you'll add back certain all-you-can-eat vegetables (the nonstarchy ones, such as cucumbers, mushrooms, zucchini, peppers and salad greens). Still, Dukan recommends alternating one day of the "pure-protein" Attack phase with one day of protein plus vegetables. (A five-day protein then five-day protein-plus-vegetables plan is also an option). The oat bran recommendation rises slightly to 2 tablespoons.

You should lose at a rate of about 2 to 4 pounds per week, according to Dukan. You'll continue alternating until you reach your goal weight.

Consolidation: Now, the name of the game is keeping the pounds off. You're very vulnerable to weight regain, says Dukan, and the only option is a transition phase that lasts five days for every pound you've lost. That means dieters who've lost 20 to 40 pounds will stay in Consolidation between 100 to 200 days. The proteins and vegetables from the previous phases are still all-you-can-eat, but you can now mix them together as you please. Each day, you also get a serving of fruit, two slices of whole-grain bread and 1 1/2 ounces of cheese.

Each week, you're also allowed two servings of starchy foods like pasta or quinoa, three specific protein indulgences (leg of lamb, roast pork and cooked ham), and one or two "celebration meals" where you can eat anything you want, provided you don't binge or have them back-to-back. The daily 2-tablespoon oat bran requirement stays.

You're still required to revert to the "pure-protein" Attack phase once per week.

Permanent Stabilization: Freedom! (Well, sort of.) You can now eat whatever you want six days out of the week, provided you don't abandon what you learned during Consolidation. And 3 daily tablespoons of oat bran is now a must. The seventh day is a purest-of-pure protein day that mirrors the Attack phase but restricts even more the acceptable foods list. As its name suggests, this phase is meant to last a lifetime.

Does the diet allow for restrictions and preferences?

Some dieters may have difficulty following the Dukan Diet – choose your preference for more information.

Supplements recommended? Not as a formal part of the diet, but you might consider a multivitamin or omega-3 from fish oil, according to a company representative.

Vegetarian or Vegan: There's no meatless track, and vegans may find Dukan especially difficult. In the Attack phase, you'd have to eat a lot of tofu and seitan – Dukan's only all-you-can-eat protein options – to achieve the protein level and fullness a meat-eater can enjoy. While soy steaks, milk, yogurt, tempeh and veggie burgers are permitted, Dukan recommends these meatless protein choices sparingly because they're higher in carbs and may hamper weight loss. Lacto-ovo vegetarians, who eat eggs and dairy, might find the Attack phase more doable. Reintroducing veggies in Cruise, then some more carbs in subsequent phases, will help.

Gluten-Free: Dukan is based on naturally gluten-free foods such as eggs, meats and veggies. Just be careful when reincorporating grains, and make sure to buy gluten-free oat bran.

Low-Salt: With some vigilance toward high-sodium protein culprits, you should be able to stay below any sodium target – as long as you skip the recommended pound of shrimp (it packs 2,500 milligrams) and avoid the saltshaker.
Kosher: Yes, you have the freedom to use only kosher ingredients.

Halal: Yes, but it's up to you to ensure your food conforms.

Finally, because of the all-you-can-eat nature of this diet, the calorie levels below are variable and reflect the amount of food in the above menus.

Breakfast
8 fluid ounces coffee with artificial sweetener of your choice
8 ounces nonfat yogurt
1 Dukan oat-bran galette (pancake)*

Snack (if hungry)
4 ounces nonfat cottage cheese

Lunch
Hard-boiled egg with herb mayonnaise*
5 ounces barbecue steak*
8 ounces nonfat yogurt

Snack (if hungry)
4 ounces nonfat yogurt

Dinner
1 pound shrimp sauteed in herbs
8 ounces tandoori chicken cutlets
Dukan custard*

Cruise Phase

Breakfast
8 fluid ounces coffee with artificial sweetener of your choice
8 ounces nonfat yogurt
1 oat-bran galette (pancake)*

Snack (if hungry)
4 ounces nonfat cottage cheese

Lunch
Lettuce salad with vinaigrette*
Cauliflower gratin*
Custard*

Snack (if hungry)
4 ounces nonfat yogurt

Dinner
Cucumbers, served hot or cold*
8 ounces chicken Marengo*
Vanilla creme*

Consolidation Phase

Breakfast
8 ounces coffee with artificial sweetener of your choice
8 ounces nonfat yogurt
1 oat-bran galette (pancake)*
2 slices whole-grain bread with 2 teaspoons light butter

Snack (if hungry)

4 ounces nonfat cottage cheese
1 apple

Lunch
Lettuce salad with vinaigrette*
Cauliflower gratin*
Custard*

Snack (if hungry)
4 ounces nonfat yogurt
1 1/2 ounces cheddar cheese

Dinner
Cucumbers, served hot or cold*
8 ounces chicken Marengo*
8 ounces cooked quinoa
Vanilla creme*

Do's and Don'ts

Do: Load up on protein.
In the beginning especially, high-protein foods such as lean beef, pork, turkey and chicken are encouraged in limitless quantities

Don’t: Stray from the rules – ever.
In phase one, for example, that means nothing besides the approved protein foods, nonfat dairy, no-calorie drinks and a little oat bran. Any other carbs, like bread or sweets, are forbidden. You’ll eventually get to add some back in.

Do: Eat enough oat bran.
You’ll go from 1½ tablespoons a day in phase 1 to 3 tablespoons in the final phase. Pierre Dukan, the French physician who created the diet, says it helps you feel full, lowers cholesterol and slows down absorption of sugar and fat.

DUKAN