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What is Dukan Diet and its side-effects?

This article gives pertinent information about Dukan Diet and its side-effects

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Pierre Dukan, a French doctor and nutritionist, challenged with the case of obesity started to look for alternative ways in curing the illness. After 20 years of thorough research he published in the year 2000, a book called, “Je ne sais pas maigrir” or translated as, “I don’t know how to get slimmer.” It gained the best-seller in France after a year it has been published.
It was made a hit in UK when Kate Middleton, now the duchess of Cambridge, tried the Dukan Diet before her marriage to the beloved Prince William, she reportedly claimed a loss of two dress sizes. It also allegedly claimed to help five million French. The book is also gaining fame in the US in the year 2011 when actress/singer, Jennifer Lopez, lost pounds after her pregnancy by following this diet.
Dukan Diet: What is it? How does this work?
Dukan Diet is similar to the famous Atkins diet. Atkins and Dukan are much alike in terms of non-intake of carbs initially and do not require portion control or counting calorie consumptions. In Atkins, it requires net carbohydrate intakes and unlike Dukan, it suggests a daily intake of oats, increase water consumption and 20 minutes of everyday brisk walking. Dukan Diet adopts four phases namely: Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilization.
Four Phases of the Dukan Diet
Attack: In this starter phase, the dieter is only allowed take protein rich foods that are exquisitely low in fat. Dr. Dukan provided 72-item list of foods to be eaten, it excludes pork, lamb, poultry products and cheeses. Food should always be cooked but without adding any fat to it, it best to cook in grilling or roasting. It also requires you to eat 1 ½ tbsp. oat bran & 1.5 liters of water per day. This phase should be followed around 2-7 days or more. Results from this initial phase within 5 days may result in 4-7 lbs. loss. This phase promotes quick loss of weight since it is strictly based on a protein-only diet.
Cruise: Cruise, the second to the fourth phase of the Dukan diet scheme. During this phase dieters who were only allowed to eat protein-only foods can now alternate a 28-items of non-starchy vegetables. They may take attack phase diet for today and take non-starchy veggie diet for tomorrow, and so this phase must go on by alternating these two types of diet each day. This phase may last long enough as much as you want by reaching your desired weight and assuring 2 pounds per week loss.
Consolidation: As one achieves the desired weight, one has to go the next phase called Consolidation, this is the maintenance phase of this diet scheme where you have to prevent putting back excess pounds. The plan in this phase is less strict compared to the first two phases. During this phase you are permitted to eat protein-only and veggie diet along with a piece of low-sugar fruit, 2 slices of whole grain bread and a portion of hard cheese. In this phase you are allowed to have 1-2 serving of starchy foods and one celebration meal per week. The phase of consolidation does not expect to loss off pounds but rather it is steadily the maintenance process.
Stabilization: Stabilization is the final phase and a life-long phase of the diet scheme. In here maintenance of the life-changing diet may be a challenging and tempting. During this portion of the scheme, one is already permitted to allow any food intake that a person wants and by also sticking to the diet rule in the consolidation phase. As Pierre Dukan suggest, that staying on the phase 1 rule once a week and eat whatever you like for the rest of the week lowers the chances of regaining weight.
Pros and Cons of Dukan Diet
Pros: The fast results of this diet scheme is beneficially rewarding and motivating. It allows you to have protein and veggie meal plan diets and does not require you to count off your calorie intakes.
Cons: It is highly restrictive and can exclude healthy foods. Dieters can experience side-effects such as symptoms of headaches, nausea, lethargy, irritable and loss of concentration. Dieters may acquire halitosis (bad breath), metallic tasting mouth and strong smell in their urines. For those people who have problems with their kidneys and liver are not advised to follow this diet plan. It is not also recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers.

Views and Opinions by Health Experts on the Dukan Diet
There are lots of critics in this diet plan. Due to the restrictive type scheme of this diet, some fruits, grains and nuts which are healthy and have high amounts of vitamins and minerals that are vital to the nutrition of the body are eliminated. Keri Gans of American Dietetic Association, said that the lost amount of multivitamins that should be acquired from those restricted foods are not compensated in the Dukan diet. Experts have also criticized that experiencing such side-effects may not be healthy at all.

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Stay Motivated With Weight Loss Hypnosis

With cold, wintry days ahead for most of us, the prospect of braving the elements to get to the gym or go for a run does not sound appealing. Maintaining motivation to stick to weight loss goals when everyone else wants to hibernate is easy with hypnotism for weight loss.

Most people who are trying to get back into shape agree that motivation is particularly difficult when the weather changes, so what if you could stay committed to your diet and exercise plan simply by watching a self hypnosis weight loss DVD or listening to a CD?

Better yet, a hypnotherapy weight loss program can reduce your cravings too.

Hypnotism for weight loss works simply, but effectively, by guiding you to a state of deep relaxation during which your subconscious mind can more readily accept suggestions, such as the ones that will keep you motivated to stay on your fitness track, even in the midst of winter.

It is a known fact that if a person exercises, it will speed up his/her metabolism and increase the rate that weight is lost. Some of the most successful hypnosis for exercise motivation techniques comes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP.

With NLP, the unconscious is programmed to use the same exact thought processes that are creating a problem, to eliminate it. In other words, the same thought processes that the unconscious utilizes to create cravings and oral compulsions could be used to completely eliminate them! And similarly, the same processes can be used to increase your motivation to exercise.

Anchoring is a NLP technique that can be used to give you a “switch” for triggering feelings and behaviors. Creating a weight loss hypnosis anchor works simply and effectively like this: A qualified hypnotherapy weight loss practitioner will safely guide you into a tranquil hypnotic state. Then the consulting hypnotist will ask you to identify a time when you were happy and excited about anything in your life.

The goal of this exercise is to remember and re-experience as many sensations as possible from various times in your life when you felt motivated and eager to do anything at all. Then, the weight loss hypnosis therapist will ask you to anchor those feelings by simply touching two fingers together.

Next you will be asked to use your imagination to see yourself exercising and enjoying it. As you create this mental image, you’ll trigger your anchor by touching those two fingers together again. When you do that, your unconscious mind will connect the feeling of excitement and eagerness from the other memory, to the thought of exercising.

From this point on, any time you wish to feel motivated to exercise, you can simply trigger your anchor and re-experience those same positive feelings that will motivate you to workout. NLP in weight loss hypnosis can even be used to discourage behaviors, so you can easily overcome cravings. That sounds much easier and encouraging than beating yourself up for missing a workout or giving into temptation, doesn’t it?

A successful weight loss hypnosis program will also address the root cause of weight gain for many of us, namely a lack of self-esteem. In arelaxed state, you can be given post-hypnotic suggestions that will build your self-esteem as you lose each pound. (The lack of self-esteem is a big factor in being overweight.)

Many people wonder if, after trying every fad diet and buying every piece of exercise equipment on the market, something as straight forward as weight loss hypnosis can work for them. The good news is that it has been found that all normal people are hypnotizable to a greater or lesser extent. However, it should be noted that people with less than a 70 I.Q. or those who are in an active state of psychosis or with senility generally are not hypnotizable.

But for the rest of us, hypnotism for weight loss can actually help us look forward to working out and eating healthily. That said, the biggest proponent for success in any fitness routine, whether it includes weight loss hypnosis or not, is wanting to achieve your weight loss goals.

On a related note, that is exactly why you can not force someone to undergo weight loss hypnotherapy simply by giving them suggestions. If someone is resistant to an idea, no amount of weight loss hypnosis they hear or see will be effective. Referring to the NLP explanation above, if someone does not have a memory of feeling motivated or positive, they can still be successful with NLP and hypnotherapy because they can imagine what it would feel like if they felt that way, and anchor the imagined feelings.

So, if you are like many of us and find your motivation dwindling as the temperatures drop and the days get darker, weight loss hypnosis can help regain (or maintain) your enthusiasm for carrying out and finally achieving your fitness goals.

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A Quick Look at Some of Today’s Most Effective Diets

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

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The Idiot-Proof Diet

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

The ‘calorie shifting’ model takes place because you eat every two and half hours. The theory is that because your body is consuming calories (energy) constantly throughout the day, it’s always in ‘burning calories’ mode instead of the ‘saving calories’ mode.

When you sign up for the diet, you get access to a diet handbook, an 11-day diet-plan and a diet calculator. You get to pick what foods you like to eat so don’t think that you’ll be tarving in this diet!

NutriSystem

The NutriSystem way of dieting is all about proper meal planning. People love this diet because it takes away the burden of trying to figure out what to eat during their dieting phase. You see, a lot of people actually get confused as to what they can eat when they want to lose weight. That’s not really surprising because there’s so much information out there and for every yay sayer, there is a nay sayer so it’s really tough to know what to eat.

However, with NurtiSystem, they do all the meal planning and portion controlling for you. You just need to sign up to any of their diet programs (e.g., Women’s Program, Men’s Program, Vegetarian Program, etc.) and order a multi-day (usually for 28 days) diet program.

After you choose your diet program, a menu is presented to you and you simply choose what you want to eat. The meals are then delivered to your doorstep at various intervals during your diet program.

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is popular because the name alone conjures bikini-clad bodies! Add to that the fact that it was founded by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, then you have a sort of ‘doctor recommended, doctor approved’ seal on the diet as well.

At first glance, the South Beach Diet looks a lot like the Atkins Diet in the sense that it restricts carbohydrates during the initial phase of the program (there are 3 phases). The first phase (14 days) encourages ‘normal eating’ in the sense that you can pretty much eat whatever you want but you must NOT eat bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, or baked goods. Fruit is also not allowed. No sugar. No alcohol.

The second phase allows you to SLOWLY introduce these items back into your diet but at lesser levels that you consumed them before of course. The third phase is more about general maintenance.

Weight Watchers

Probably one of the longest running diet programs out there is Weight Watchers. It believes in the overall approach where food, exercise, behavior and support are addressed.

Weight Watchers is known for advocating a point system for foods. Using this system, one calculates the calorie intake of the foods he or she eats. The number of points you can have in a day varies depending on your weight. The beauty of the program is that there are no gut-wrenching food restrictions so you never feel deprived of anything. However, the point system teaches you how to balance your meals so that even if you indulge on one food item, you don’t go overboard and consume too much in a day.

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