I've been through the elements of the Dukan Diet - if not all the phases.I've told you about the foods that are in the diet - the most important part of a slimming diet is what you eat, after all. I've explained about the importance of protein, of oat bran and drinking plenty of water.
Apart from what you eat - and what you don't - the other element is exercise. A lot of people run a mile at the thought. When I explained why I believe so many people are fat I suggested it was simply the ready availability of food, coupled with the easier lives we can now enjoy. Getting fat is usually simple maths. If we take in more calories than we burn, we put on weight. Losing weight is a combination of taking in less calories and using the ones we take in, and more.
The exercise Dr Dukan recommends is very simple: walking. During the Attack phase, you should walk for twenty minutes a day. This should rise to thirty minutes during the Cruise. Part of the plan to stay trim after losing the weight is to maintain the habit of walking every day.
It is very easy not to walk. We can slip into the habit of getting in the car every time we want to go somewhere - even the shortest trips become a drive. My advice is to try to break this habit. whenever possible, don't take the car. You can find the time for the half hour walk in the diet. Add to that with a few short walks, whether to buy your paper, or to meet the children from school. The school run in the car gives the kids a bad start to their own future health and exercise ideas. You may not want them walking on their own. Why not walk them to school, and meet them on foot as well? This isn't for everyone, depending on how far school is, or whether you have to commute a distance and don't have the time to spend walking in the mornings. If that's the case, you'll have to use the car, but look at other occasions and try to leave it parked as often as possible.
Walking is an ideal exercise. You have all the equipment you need! You don't need a coach, you don't need training and you don't need to pay for membership of the pavements and parks! You most likely already own the right clothes as well. You can often combine it with other errands, like school runs, getting to work or shopping. It's less time consuming.
Walking adds a pleasure to your day. You can take those thirty minutes and use them to order your thoughts, or to look at your surroundings. You gain in so many ways.
When you walk, try to walk briskly. Stand straight, hold your shoulders back and your head up. Breathe deeply as you walk and go at the fastest pace that is comfortable for you. As you progress through the diet, your muscles will become stronger and you will get lighter, making it easier to go further and faster. Even if it is raining or cold, you can walk outside. Some of the snow we have had lately would make it tricky, I agree, but it is better to walk in the real world where your pace varies the surface goes up and down and the view is more varied, than to get on a walking machine.
Make the most of your walk and as you get more used to it, don't feel obliged to stop at thirty minutes. If you want to walk for longer, go ahead!
There are two other bits of exercise in Dr Dukan's plan, but I'll save them for next time...
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