for a diet—or better, a comprehensive dieting program—to stand any chance of being adopted and followed by an overweight person, we need to use another area of instinct: the command of authority.
The recommendations for a weight loss program must therefore be formulated by an outside authority figure—another will that takes the place of an overweight person’s will and that speaks with precise, non-negotiable instructions that are not open to interpretation and that, above all, are kept in a sustainable form for as long as the dieter intends to maintain the results.
The Dukan Diet is based on the remarkable effectiveness of consuming pure proteins, and it includes a whole system of foolproof instructions to channel and make the most of the psychology of the overweight person. In designing this diet, I also realized that a one-step plan was not adequate for such a complex task. I therefore devised a program with four successive diet phases, one following the other, a complete and coherent system that never, ever leaves the overweight person to face temptation and failure alone.
Recently I have realized that losing weight without incorporating exercise—the simplest and most natural exercise imaginable, so it becomes a part of your long-term routine—runs the risk of undermining this undertaking. I now no longer just recommend exercise, specifically walking, I
prescribe
it as I would medication. I will be discussing these exercise prescriptions in greater detail in a later chapter.
THE ATTACK PHASE
The Pure Protein Diet
However much weight is to be lost over whatever length of time, my program always starts with the pure protein diet, which creates a psychological trigger and a first decisive weight loss.
I will now review in detail all the foods you will use in this first phase, adding some advice to the description to make your personal choice easier.
How long does this initial Attack phase have to last? There is no standard reply for this extremely important question; how long it lasts depends on each individual. It primarily depends on how much weight you want to lose, but also on your age, how many previous diets you have tried, how motivated you are, and how you feel about proteins.
I will also give you very precise information about the results you can expect from the Attack diet, which obviously rely on the diet’s being followed to the letter and for the correct length of time.
Finally, I will outline the various reactions you might encounter during this initial period.
Which Foods Are Allowed?
During the Attack phase, which can last from 2 to 7 days, you are allowed to eat foods from the eleven categories on the following list.
From these categories, you can eat as much as you want or as much as suits you, with no limit and at whatever time of day you feel hungry. You may also freely combine foods from any of these categories.
You can just select the foods you like, leaving the others aside, or in extreme cases, you can eat from a single category in 1 single meal or for 1 day.
The essential thing is to stick to this precisely defined list. Remember that I have been prescribing it to people for many years and that I have not left anything out. You must also realize that succumbing to any other foods, as small as the lapse may be, will be like puncturing a balloon with a needle.
An apparently harmless lapse will be enough for you to lose all the benefits of this precious freedom of being able to eat all you want. For just a tiny gain in variety, you will be forced for the rest of that day to count your calories and restrict what you eat.
In short, the rule is simple and non-negotiable: You are allowed everything on the following list, with complete freedom. Anything that is not on the list is forbidden, so forget about it for now, knowing that in the near future you will again be eating all the foods that have been removed.
Category 1: Lean Meats
By lean meat, I mean beef, veal, lean pork, and
The recommendations for a weight loss program must therefore be formulated by an outside authority figure—another will that takes the place of an overweight person’s will and that speaks with precise, non-negotiable instructions that are not open to interpretation and that, above all, are kept in a sustainable form for as long as the dieter intends to maintain the results.
The Dukan Diet is based on the remarkable effectiveness of consuming pure proteins, and it includes a whole system of foolproof instructions to channel and make the most of the psychology of the overweight person. In designing this diet, I also realized that a one-step plan was not adequate for such a complex task. I therefore devised a program with four successive diet phases, one following the other, a complete and coherent system that never, ever leaves the overweight person to face temptation and failure alone.
Recently I have realized that losing weight without incorporating exercise—the simplest and most natural exercise imaginable, so it becomes a part of your long-term routine—runs the risk of undermining this undertaking. I now no longer just recommend exercise, specifically walking, I
prescribe
it as I would medication. I will be discussing these exercise prescriptions in greater detail in a later chapter.
THE ATTACK PHASE
The Pure Protein Diet
However much weight is to be lost over whatever length of time, my program always starts with the pure protein diet, which creates a psychological trigger and a first decisive weight loss.
I will now review in detail all the foods you will use in this first phase, adding some advice to the description to make your personal choice easier.
How long does this initial Attack phase have to last? There is no standard reply for this extremely important question; how long it lasts depends on each individual. It primarily depends on how much weight you want to lose, but also on your age, how many previous diets you have tried, how motivated you are, and how you feel about proteins.
I will also give you very precise information about the results you can expect from the Attack diet, which obviously rely on the diet’s being followed to the letter and for the correct length of time.
Finally, I will outline the various reactions you might encounter during this initial period.
Which Foods Are Allowed?
During the Attack phase, which can last from 2 to 7 days, you are allowed to eat foods from the eleven categories on the following list.
From these categories, you can eat as much as you want or as much as suits you, with no limit and at whatever time of day you feel hungry. You may also freely combine foods from any of these categories.
You can just select the foods you like, leaving the others aside, or in extreme cases, you can eat from a single category in 1 single meal or for 1 day.
The essential thing is to stick to this precisely defined list. Remember that I have been prescribing it to people for many years and that I have not left anything out. You must also realize that succumbing to any other foods, as small as the lapse may be, will be like puncturing a balloon with a needle.
An apparently harmless lapse will be enough for you to lose all the benefits of this precious freedom of being able to eat all you want. For just a tiny gain in variety, you will be forced for the rest of that day to count your calories and restrict what you eat.
In short, the rule is simple and non-negotiable: You are allowed everything on the following list, with complete freedom. Anything that is not on the list is forbidden, so forget about it for now, knowing that in the near future you will again be eating all the foods that have been removed.
Category 1: Lean Meats
By lean meat, I mean beef, veal, lean pork, and
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