Fat Loss Foods
What if you could eat as much as you wanted and still lose weight? Well, I recently discovered that I could after reading a book called the Dukan Diet, written by Dr. Pierre Dukan. So what is the catch? Like any diet that works long term, the Dukan severely restricts refined carbohydrates. High protein diets are effective but hard for people to stick to because sugars, starches and fats are hidden in almost everything these days. If you go the unlimited portions route, you must absolutely and rigorously avoid sugars and starch. This means forgoing fruit during the weight loss stage as well. It also means you need to drink about three liters of water a day to protect your kidneys. Many people do not seem to be able to increase their water intake for some odd reason.
On the surface, you might think the Dukan Diet sounds like the South Beach Diet or the ever-popular Atkins diet. The main difference is that this diet is simpler than South Beach and much more effective than the Atkins. The Atkins diet allows cheese, bacon and other high fat foods. I have never seen anyone lose weight permanently on the Atkins diet as I believe they are losing water weight mostly, due to the high fat content of some of the allowed foods. The Dukan promotes a more rapid weight loss with very little loss of muscle tissue, due to the high protein content.
The idea of starving the body of all sugars for a time is to allow us to burn off our stored fats. If the body is full of ingested fat calories, I don`t see how real weight loss is possible on the Atkins. This is just my opinion, (I am sure the folks at Atkins would have something to say about that…..).
In any event, as someone who has struggled with weight loss her entire adult life, I have found the Dukan to be quite liveable. I love the protein pancake recipe! I also have found the diet to be very anabolic, meaning that I am building a lot of lean muscle mass. As you age, muscle mass becomes more and more important in keeping your body lean and healthy.
For more information on the Dukan, go to amazon.com and download a copy of the original book- The Dukan Diet by Dr. Pierre Dukan.
Questions? email robynlittlewood@yahoo.com or visit me at the Desert Spa at Villa del Arco in Cabo San Lucas.