The Ducan Diet is much in the news of late – it has been touted as the solution to America’s obesity crisis, and is supposed to be the French equivalent of the Atkins diet. It has been hugely popular in Europe and has now traveling to over 100 counties.
Among the most famous proponents of the Ducan Diet is Kate Middleton, fiancé of the heir apparent to the British throne who wants to get in shape ahead of her marriage to Prince William next month.
Earlier Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman and Giselle Bundchen have been known to have tried the diet.
The diet developed by 69 year old neurologist Dr Pierre Dukan, doesn’t require any particular calorie restriction, and one is permitted to eat as much as one likes.
However, consider some of the reasons why experts are labeling this a ‘fad diet’ and a potentially dangerous one.
1. The diet places its accent on high protein, low-fat meals, and involves drinking large quantities of water and eating a lot of oat bran.
2. Good so far, but the diet allows only some veggies and no fruit.
3. Dessert and wine are permitted to be consumed on some days of the week.
4. A 20 minute walk and stair climbing are part of the program
Clearly, the accent is not on the person having a healthy balanced diet here, and leaving out certain foods such as fruit altogether cannot be healthy.
This has led to The British Dietetic Association, BDA, labeling this among the five worst diets of the year.
New York City-based dietician Tanya Zuckerbort has even said that the Ducan diet could be dangerous, saying that it is (like the Atkins diet) protein centric and very restrictive, without the research to back it up. So the bad rep that the Ducan diet has gained among nutritionists may not be undeserved.
