Via the flab with the flab: it is the paradox of the diet of the moment, which makes you lose weight thanks to an initial regimen of proteins alone. The genius of the lamp this time is called Pierre Dukan and is a doctor of about seventy years of French origin, the umpteenth wizard of the silhouette who has put a recipe in the cylinder and has pulled out a turnover of around one hundred million euros. A real industry, which also cost him one harsh disputes with the association of French doctors, who accused him of having built an empire based on incorrect advice, incompatible with the profession.
Her two latest works, The Dukan Diet and the Illustrated Dukan Diet, lead the book sales charts, while millions of women and men from all over the world interrogate her site dreaming of the slender figures of Kate and Pippa Middletone. In fact, it seems that the line of the Duchess of Cambridge, that of her admired sister and even that of her mother, were developed with the Dukan regime.
But what is it? More than a diet, it looks like a journey into the protein abyss divided into four stages: attack, cruise, consolidation, stabilization. For Dr. Dunkan it is a "return to the founding foods of the human species, those of the first men, hunters and gatherers, proteins and vegetables, 100 foods, 72 of which come from the animal world and 28 from the vegetable world. And this offer contains a magical mention: "at will".
In the early days, when you have to get rid of the tougher fat, you have to limit yourself to horse, beef, ostrich, liver and tongue steaks, cockerels and pigeons, but you can range also on salmon and sea bream, lobster and clams. All at will, but always within the strict scope of 72 foods allowed. Goodbye to sandwiches, bucatini, tagliatelle or beers. Goodbye to strawberries, asparagus, or broccoli. At least in this phase there is no rumination.
After the attack, however, you can begin to introduce some vegetables and alternate days entirely PP (protein-protein) with days PV (protein and vegetables), always based on the tables developed by the doctor. Normally the first two phases last 5 days each, then the regimen becomes less rigid. The consolidation period should last 10 days, to be multiplied by each kilo lost, while the stabilization phase should be practiced for life, with the limitation of eating, one day a week, only proteins.
It looks like the anti-Mediterranean diet, the negative of that fiber-rich diet that has been acclaimed by most nutritionists for years. A return to the cuisine of cavemen, with all due respect to the kidneys and liver. But Dr. Dukan guarantees that if your organs are healthy when you start, they will be when you finish. And the rich world seems to believe him, given that his 19 books have sold 2,5 million copies and his websites have 30 paid subscribers who are followed step by step by their coach, complete with a morning-after remedy, if they have any committed a few mistakes and swallowed a bread stick.
The merit of this diet, apparently, is that it does not last long, but is it worth it?
Dietitians are not demonizing the Dukan method, but they are ringing alarm bells: "The elimination in many phases even of vegetables alone, and the careful control of fruit are antithetical to all the health indications of anti-tumor prevention that are known today - warns the scientific director of Eurosalus, Attilio Speciani, in an article on the subject - the slimming, Furthermore, it is never achieved at the expense of body fat alone, but rather at the expense of muscle tissue and fluids”. The benefits? few: "the only advantage of this diet - Speciani writes again - seems to be that of the 'mandatory' inclusion of a certain amount of oat bran every day, to supply the beneficial fiber in a 'non-caloric' way which is removed eliminating fruit and often also vegetables, as indicated by the dietary plan”.
So? Then we just have to draw on our common sense: look for a good doctor if you are very overweight, perhaps close to home; follow an old trick if it's just about losing just a few pounds: eat everything, a little less.
