Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Dukan Diet-my experience with it.

Whenever a "new" or even "old" diet comes to the States I can't help but try to see if it would work. Kate Middleton lost a bunch of weight for her Royal Wedding back in April and there was a recent public engagement Prince Williams and Princess Kate attended where Kate still showed her slim figure.

I made it through one and a half day on the 'Attack' phase and alas, I am no longer pursuing this diet. In a nutshell, the diet calls for 3-10 days of this phase where only fat free dairy and lean meats can be eaten. Then the next phase incorporates salad greens and non-starchy vegetables. Oh, and you must exercise too.  Eventually you are able to eat whatever you want but you have to designate one day where you eat fat free dairy products and lean meats only for the rest of your life if you want to keep your weight off.

The key ingredient to this all is Oat Bran, not the rolled or steel cut kind that we have here, but pure 100% oat bran, which is hard to find here in the States. Apparently, this diet has been popular with the French and all of Europe for years now. I kinda want to think this diet may help the morbidly obese patient who has tried everything in their power to lose weight but it takes more patience and discipline for those who only want to lose a mere 10-15 pounds.

Did I mention you have to exercise on this plan? I am sure that has a large part in Kate's weight loss and other celebrities who have tried this. Princess Kate has her own private gym and has spent all of her life being active.

I think I will stick to cutting calories, increasing my exercise activity, and stay away from fried fatty foods. I think I will continue to eat whole grains, lean meats, drink my green teas, and stick with organic vegetables. It's my exercise that I need to tweak, which has been hard lately with the up and down weather changes we have been having in Chicago.