The Dukan diet, does it work?
Article by Jon Roberts
Director, Matt Roberts Personal Training
November 2011
The Dukan diet has had an incredible amount of attention and made Professor Dukan a millionaire in the process. The diet itself has had thousands of converts and many critics. But does it actually work?
To answer this question we have to refine the question first and deal with it on two levels. In reality what we are trying to answer is a) does this diet help people lose weight, and b) is this diet a healthy diet that is designed for optimal health and wellbeing and a long life of feeling energised and fit.
In essence what the Dukan diet does is aim to reduce the carbohydrate level in the diet and therefore reduce sugars whilst increasing the amount of proteins in the diet. This switch to a more protein based diet has been around for many years and can be very effective at reducing body mass. In fact this form of eating was first used as a way of taking body mass off clients with life shortening obesity. It was never designed to be a healthy diet but a diet that would have a short-term weight reduction effect and therefore ease pressure on the heart.
It was always understood that this way of eating was not the diet that the body prefers, but it was a way of reducing food cravings and getting the body to a ketosis phase by where the body uses lean and fat mass as energy therefore reducing overall weight.
However, the bi-product of using proteins as energy is much higher levels of toxicity in the body and the natural filtering mechanisms of the body being put under pressure, the liver and the kidneys. In the case of the obese client it was always thought that if you can reduce pressure on the heart in the short term you can then deal with the other effects secondary.
So how does Ketosis work?
Ketosis is a stage of metabolism where your body has got to a point where it has no available energy from Glycogen, the preferred energy source, and then turns to fat breakdown via the liver to provide the body with energy.
All those from Dr Atkins to prof Dukan will talk about the importance of getting the body to the point of ketosis. They will talk about how we have become used to having too many calories and that we no longer need to have as many calories because we are no longer as active. This obviously in many cases is true but surely rather than accepting that, the answer is to reverse it rather than find ways around it.
Therefore what these diets end up doing is lowering your calories and trying to drive you to Ketosis. Protein is a natural hunger controller so you do get to a point where you no longer crave foods, theoretically. You do get to a point where you no longer need the sugar/carb based energy, all be it the journey to get there normally means feeling incredibly fatigued and on many occasions pretty dreadful.
The science is one thing and the reality can be a different thing. As with many diets the fact that the diet makes you change the way you eat and takes away many of the foods you enjoy generally leads to the fact that eating no longer becomes a part of the day you enjoy and even start to dread. As a result the dieter eats less food. Nothing scientific about it, just the fact that less food was consumed because eating was no longer enjoyable.
So to answer question a) yes the Dukan diet can lead successfully to weight loss, maybe through science but more often through making eating unappealing.
To question b) is it healthy?
If you are overweight and you become lighter it is a healthy positive change. The Dukan diet unlike the Atkins diet also aims to lower saturated fats, which again is a healthy change for good.
Once you have gone through the initial phases that control calories and restrict you to a high protein and low carb diet you then go onto the maintenance stage and this is where I tend to feel the Dukan diet can fall down. There is not adequate information about how to construct a healthy lifestyle that includes all food groups and exercise. If someone has been overweight before going on the diet it is because something has been out of balance, the eating, the exercise or both.
Without clear understanding of how to make ongoing life changes the weight loss achieved is all too easily reversed.
A healthy diet has a wide variety of nutrients that the body needs, it feeds the body energy over a long and sustained period of time so that we do not crave foods or suffer energy crashes. The perfect diet is also full of healthy foods that help us fight disease and stay strong enough to put up a defence against heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and some forms of cancer. A low calorie high protein diet cannot do this. The correct diet is also something that doesn’t require too much effort and is something that you enjoy, so you can do it for the rest of your life.
In conclusion, the Dukan diet can give very effective weight loss and has many advantages over Dr Atkins and the other high protein diets. However, without clear understanding of how to make changes to your lifestyle post diet, it will fail long term.
