A couple of days ago I described the brief Attack phase that launched this diet for me. I told you how the three days on a virtually exclusive pure protein diet gave my slimming a kick start and put me into a metabolic state called ketosis.
The second phase is called the Cruise. This is the period of the diet when the rest of the excess weight is lost. During this time I alternated days of pure protein, like during the Attack, with days of pure protein and vegetables. The food is therefore more balanced and there is plenty of fibre in meals. There are only insignificant amounts of starchy foods and fats. The two main sources of calories are all but eliminated. Vegetables will include small amounts of sugars and starches and even the leanest meat has some fat in it. The important thing is the foods are filling and satisfying without providing calories in bulk and in forms easy for the body to exploit.
I recently read that the Dukan Diet is considered complicated. This surprised me. Counting calories is complicated. Pouring over charts of the calorific values of different foods, weighing every serving would be a burden. The Dukan Diet is simplicity itself. There is a list of foods you can eat, and you eat them until you have had enough! The proteins allowed are lean beef and veal, chicken and turkey, fish and shellfish. Eggs are allowed (unless you have a cholesterol problem). You can have fat free dairy products. The vegetables are even simpler. No starchy vegetables, like rice, potatoes, grains and pulses are allowed. No fruits (although things like tomatoes, squash etc, which are technically fruit are allowed). Mushrooms are fine. When it comes to preparing these foods, don't fry them in oil or butter or do any preparation involving fats. (A wipe of oil in a non-stick pan is permitted).
Not eating starchy foods is not good for the health. While this is true in the long term, the diet only requires you to give up the carbs while losing weight. The later stages reintroduce them along with the whole range of other foods you may want.
I started the Cruise diet weighing 93.2kg. I had lost 1.6kg over the three days of the Attack and felt very confident. Looking at the diary I kept of my meals, I see that I had an oat bran galette with a slice of lean chicken for breakfast - and fresh coffee. My lunch was lean turkey ham and a couple of plain fat free yoghurts. I had a couple of raw carrots as an afternoon snack. Dinner was some grilled chicken breasts, which had been rubbed with a chili spic mix. I accompanied that with a green salad, dressed with a low fat vinaigrette. I had a fat free fruit yoghurt for desert. As well as a couple of coffees and teas through the day, I drank two litres of water. I ate my fill of all these foods and I was neither hungry nor craving to eat more.
I weighed myself the following morning and found I was down to 92.8kg! This second day of the cruise was a protein only day. I had a similar breakfast to the first day - two tablespoons of oat bran a day is a good start to breakfast. I had quite a lot of breakfast: a chicken breast (left over from the evening before) some lean chicken ham, a couple of hard boiled eggs and plain yoghurt. When it was dinner time I had grilled tuna and yoghurt. It is a good job I enjoy my yoghurt! There are recipes in the Dukan diet book and Recipe book for low fat deserts. I have not tried them, although a couple of them look very tasty.
I drank two litres of water during that day and had a number of cups of tea and coffee, as usual. I used skimmed milk in my hot drinks and now I still do. I have not normally had full cream milk in tea since semi skimmed became regularly available.
At the start of the third day of my diet, I weighed just 92.3kg. I had lost 900g in two days - two pounds! By the way, 93.2kg is 205lbs - or 14st 9lbs. 92.3kg is 203lbs or 14st 7lbs.
The food was tasty and plentiful and the rapid weight loss was encouraging. I felt healthy and energetic. Each day I was taking a half hour brisk walk and I was doing everything I could to avoid lifts and escalators. They can frankly be difficult to eliminate entirely in a city like Paris. My compromise was when I could find no way out of a metro other than on an escalator, I walked up it! The metro is quite old in Paris and there are enough stations which have no escalator, or have stairs as well, so there are only a few stations where this is a real problem.
I will tell you some more over the next few days. I hope my experience is encouraging.
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