Dukan Diet: What Can You Eat?

What Can You Eat On The Dukan Diet?

For anyone looking to start losing weight quickly or wanting to give their metabolism a big old kick up the backside, the Dukan diet might be worth considering.

But the diet has a reputation for being more than a little confusing.

Pioneered by French doctor Pierre Dukan, the diet recommends that the best way to encourage weight loss and start dropping pounds is to swap carbs for protein-rich foods in the short term.

The Dukan diet involves four (very strict) stages. During the first phase (attack), dieters should just eat protein, then during 'cruise', they can introduce vegetables.

Finally comes the 'consolidation' stage, when more foods, such as wholemeal bread, cheese and fruit can be added in controlled portions.

The approach bears similarities to the Atkins diet, which also encourages dieters to limit their intake of carbohydrate-heavy foods and load up on high-fat alternatives.

Despite the diet's growing popularity, it has been criticised by the public and dietitians alike for being too restrictive, often finding itself included in 'worst diet of the year' polls.

In their annual round up of the worst celebrity diets, The British Association of UK Dietitians gave the regime a less than favourable summary: "The rigid Dukan Diet works by restricting food, so restricting calories. Initial weight loss will be fluid.

"Even the creator of the diet, Pierre Dukan, who, in 2013 was banned from practising as a GP in France, has warned of associated issues with the diet such as lack of energy, constipation (due to lack of fibre/cutting out food groups), the need for a vitamin and mineral supplement (due to lack of variety/cutting out food groups) and bad breath."

But is the Dukan diet really that limiting?

We took a look at the foods you can eat while trying out dieting the Dukan way...

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