Dukan is on the front page of the Guardian website this morning!

[Atropos]

A first person account, and it is positive.

Why the Dukan diet's not all bad | Life and style | The Guardian

It says exactly what we were discussing on the negative press thread yesterday - that any diet is dangerous if taken to extremes, and that the advantages of losing weight outweigh the health risks of staying large.

 

[scrumper]

so true ..... Any diet can be dangerous and Dukan clearly states too drink water and not to do the alcohol bit so he covers himself ....

The teenager binge living is dangerous but many teenagers do it

I for one was under no illusion that this could be hard on my kidneys , but I also knew that the weight I was carrying would be hard on my heart ect

 

[Teasey]

It's so refreshing to read some common sense. I've lost count of the times I've heard "but surely it's so bad for you" and then that same person promptly gets up and pops down the chippie for tea!

 

[Topaz63]

I googled 'DD reviews' last night and read lots of them. Most interesting in that most did not connect with the real principles: eg statements about diets with little or no Veg for long periods, or the problems of 'only' eating meat and eggs (this one underneath a photo of salmon pieces), or how sick of the same tastes you would get ( after the list of herbs, spices, garlic etc). Obviously there's some truth in these statements, in that there are foods that should normally be in a healthy diet left out, such as wholemeal bread and fruit, but as usual ignores the point that if we'd all been on a totally healthy diet with enough exercise we wouldn't be in this.
So I agree this one is welcome.

 

[Topaz63]

. I've lost count of the times I've heard "but surely it's so bad for you" and then that same person promptly gets up and pops down the chippie for tea!

Yes, the last person to say that to me drinks well over the advisory amount of alcohol per week and takes little exercise.

 

[Splendarella]

Dunno about anyone else but I think my kidneys have woken up on this diet rather than the other way round. I have lost some very unsightly bulges on my legs that can only be down to shedding water retention. That can only be a good thing surely?

 

[dukandebut]

His reasons for choosing Dukan are along the same lines as my own. Whilst my starting weight of 140lbs didn't sound a lot to most people (though it took my 5ft 2ins frame to size 14 to 16) and I only wanted to lose a couple of stone, being in my 40's meant that I was finding it impossible to lose the weight via other dietary regimes. I knew that I needed to do something as the weight was causing problems with my joints and breathing, due to a rheumatic disease and asthma. Dukan was my last hope.

I know that Dukan is thought of a diet which is best suited to obese people, but I think that it can also be of tremendous help to those like myself, who need to lose weight but whose age (damned hormones!) or medical history have hindered or prevented their progress by other means.

I feel that this is yet another factor which critics of the diet have ignored.

This backlash bandwagon against Dukan just puts pressure on those of us who are following it, many of whom in order to feel healthier. So that the stigma will be used against us by even well-meaning family and friends as well as others. It can be hard enough to stick to a diet without all that.

Makes me so annoyed.

 

[the_finalcountdown]

I love dukan! I think the choice is amazing and the fact that we are retraining our bodies to use each source / vitamin from the allowed foods can only be a good thing! Our bodies process water better, the veg works more in terms of getting the transit going, we suffer much less from bloatedness and fat free dairy ensures our calcium level is up while the protein works on improving our muscle tone and skin tone. I've never been so happy on a diet that very often makes me forget i am on a diet!! This is brilliant - the discipline on the first 2 stages is what will prepare us for lifelong health in the long run. So I'm all for Dukan!

 

[Atropos]

If I'm pressed to describe the Dukan diet, and why I think it's so viable, I call it a "neolithic" or "pastoral" diet - it reproduces the sort of foods that nomadic herders would have eaten (still do eat in parts of the world today - Finland, Mongolia, the Masai Mara and parts of the North Africa) as they followed the movements of semi-domesticated sheep or reindeer or horses or cattle across the landscape, supplementing meat and milk with foraged vegetables, eggs and small game.

The starchy foods only emerge as humans settle in fixed communities, because rice, corn, wheat and potatoes need to be tended.

 

[Maintainer]

A first person account, and it is positive.

Why the Dukan diet's not all bad | Life and style | The Guardian

It says exactly what we were discussing on the negative press thread yesterday - that any diet is dangerous if taken to extremes, and that the advantages of losing weight outweigh the health risks of staying large.

Agree... if one is "large".

 

[Atropos]

Another positive write up in the London Evening Standard last night:
The Dukan debate | Life & Style

It looks as if the libel case is prompting coverage in the "serious" press.

 

[dukandebut]

Thanks for that, Atropos. The author's words didn't half make me smile. I'm picturing her in her progressively smaller jeans.

The one reader's comment below the article aptly demonstrates exactly how little most people who are critical of the diet actually understand it.

 

[Atropos]

The one reader's comment below the article aptly demonstrates exactly how little most people who are critical of the diet actually understand it.

Precisely - and this kind of ignorance perpetuates the myth that we are all just deranged gluttons eating whole bbq cows at a single sitting. With a side order of pork scratchings!

 

[dolphin10]

A first person account, and it is positive.

Why the Dukan diet's not all bad | Life and style | The Guardian

It says exactly what we were discussing on the negative press thread yesterday - that any diet is dangerous if taken to extremes, and that the advantages of losing weight outweigh the health risks of staying large.

Good article, thank you for posting. I am toying up with the idea of getting Dukan book