The Dukan Diet: Pros and Cons, Cost, Foods, and More

The Dukan diet is a low-carb, high-protein weight loss plan, similar to the Atkins diet, that’s split into four phases. It claims to help you lose weight quickly without being hungry.

But is the Dukan diet an effective one? In this article, we look at what the Dukan diet involves and whether it’s a healthy way for people to lose weight.

Pierre Dukan, MD, a French doctor who specializes in weight loss and management, created the Dukan diet in the 1970s after being inspired by a patient with obesity. The man told Dr. Dukan he could give up anything if it would help him lose weight — except for meat.

The “true weight” calculation considers your sex, age, weight loss history, and a variety of other factors. This number will then be your goal.

The Dukan diet contains four phases designed to help you meet your goal weight. The length of time each phase lasts depends on your “true weight.”

The Attack Phase

The first phase kicks the diet off with a heavy amount of lean protein. It can last from one to seven days, depending on how much weight you need to lose.

The Cruise Phase

In the second phase, you can start adding nonstarchy vegetables to your eating plan. You’ll alternate between one day of only lean protein and one day of lean protein mixed with nonstarchy vegetables, plus you’ll increase to a 2-tbsp serving of oat bran per day.

The Consolidation Phase

After the first two phases have helped you lose weight, the Consolidation phase gradually introduces more food groups. This phase lasts five days for every pound lost and aims to prevent rebound weight gain.

The Stabilization Phase

The final phase lasts indefinitely and is meant to help you keep the weight off. It’s very similar to the Consolidation phase, but allows you to be a little looser with the carbs and fats.

The Dukan diet is not recommended for anyone with an existing health condition because it restricts a lot of nutrients.

For someone with diabetes, kidney disease, or heart disease, as well as women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, the risks far outweigh the benefits, says Jennifer Fitzgibbon, RDN, CDN, a registered oncology dietitian at Stony Brook Cancer Center in New York.

While she doesn’t recommend the diet overall, she says there are some positive aspects to it, such as a focus on lower fat proteins, using oat bran to get fiber, and recommending exercise and a lot of water.

Pros

While restrictive, the Dukan diet does recommend some healthy steps:

• Following the diet may promote weight loss.
• Water consumption is an important part of your diet.
• You’ll eat healthy sources of protein rather than processed options.
• Exercise is a key part of the plan.
• The diet limits alcohol and sugar consumption.

Cons

The restrictive nature of the Dukan diet can cause problems for some people:

• The diet is very restrictive and many will find it difficult to stick with.
• You run the risk of not getting enough nutrients, such as calcium, iron, and certain vitamins.
• The diet contains too much protein for people with kidney disease.
• The diet doesn’t contain enough fiber for people with heart disease.
• Following the diet could lead to constipation, bad breath, tiredness, and headaches.

The Dukan diet doesn’t cost any money to try, aside from the foods you’ll eat, but you can spend money on resources to support you if you decide to do it.

You can purchase the online coaching program for $29.95 per month, which provides daily personalized monitoring during the first three phases of the diet.

There are all several books that Dukan has written that you could buy, with physical copies ranging in price up from $13.

The best foods to eat and avoid will change depending on what phase of the diet you’re in. The following lists give a general idea of what you can expect, however.

Top 10 Foods to Eat

• Beef
• Pork
• Poultry, such as chicken and turkey
• Fish, such as cod and tuna
• Shellfish, such as shrimp and mussels
• Fat-free cheese
• Fat-free milk
• Vegetarian protein, such as tofu and tempeh
• Oat bran
• Shirataki noodles, which are also known as yam noodles

Top 10 Foods to Avoid

• Bananas
• Figs
• Grapes
• Cherries
• Potatoes
• Corn
• Peas
• Beans
• Alcohol
• Sugar

The meals you can eat vary from phase to phase on the Dukan diet, and the phases have different lengths for different people. Here, we examine what you can and can’t have during each one, along with a sample menu for a day.

The Attack Phase

What You Can Eat

• All types of lean meat, including beef, pork, lamb, and any other red meat
• Chicken
• Fish and shellfish
• Vegetarian proteins, including soy, tofu, tempeh, and seitan
• Fat-free dairy, such as cottage cheese, milk, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sour cream, and ricotta
• Water
• 5 tbsp oat bran
• Shirataki noodles

What to Avoid

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Carbohydrates and grains (other than oat bran)
• Sugars
• Fats
• Alcohol

A 1-Day Sample Meal Plan for the Attack Phase

• Breakfast: One serving of low-fat cottage cheese
• Lunch: Spicy chicken kebabs
• Dinner: Chicken tandoori and shirataki noodles

The Cruise Phase

What You Can Eat

• All types of lean beef, pork, lamb, or any other red meat
• Chicken
• Fish and shellfish
• Vegetarian proteins, including soy, tofu, tempeh, and seitan
• Fat-free dairy, such as cottage cheese, milk, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sour cream, and ricotta
• Water
• Nonstarchy vegetables, like leafy greens, root vegetables, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, and cauliflower
• 2 tbsp oat bran
• Shirataki noodles
• 1 teaspoon (tsp) of oil in a salad dressing

What to Avoid

• Fruits
• Starchy vegetables, like potatoes and corn
• Carbohydrates and grains
• Sugars
• Fats
• Alcohol

A 1-Day Sample Meal Plan of the Cruise Phase

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon
• Lunch: Turkey on a bed of lettuce
• Dinner: Meatloaf with mushrooms

The Consolidation Phase

What You Can Eat

• 1 to 2 servings of fruit per day (except those indicated below)
• 2 slices of whole grain bread per day
• 5 ounces (oz) hard rind cheese
• 1 to 2 servings (1 cup when cooked) of starchy foods per week
• 1 to 2 celebration meals (including only 1 serving of each: appetizer, entrée, dessert, and a glass of wine) per week
• 2 tbsp oat bran per day

What You Can’t Eat

• Bananas
• Grapes
• Figs
• Cherries
• Alcohol (other than the one glass of wine in the celebration meals)
• Sugar

A 1-Day Sample Meal Plan of the Consolidation Phase

• Breakfast: Omelet with vegetables and cheese
• Lunch: Grilled chicken in a salad with greens and a low-fat dressing
• Dinner: Crab and tomato-stuffed flounder

The Stabilization Phase

Use the same guidelines from the Consolidation phase to plan meals:

What You Can Eat

• 1 to 2 servings of fruit per day
• 2 slices of whole grain bread per day
• 5 oz hard rind cheese
• 1 to 2 servings (1 cup when cooked) of starchy foods per week
• 1 to 2 celebration meals (including only 1 serving of each: appetizer, entrée, dessert, and a glass of wine) per week
• 3 tbsp oat bran per day

What You Can’t Eat

No foods are forbidden, but you need to continue monitoring the amounts carefully.

Exercise is an important part of the Dukan diet, and you should aim to do a certain amount of exercise every day. The amount you should aim to do depends on which phase of the diet you’re in:

• Attack Phase: Start an exercise routine of 20 minutes of brisk walking each day.
• Cruise Phase: Complete 30 minutes of brisk walking each day.
• Consolidation Phase: Complete 25 minutes of brisk walking each day.
• Stabilization Phase: Complete 20 minutes of brisk walking per day. Also practice lifestyle fitness habits, like taking the stairs instead of an elevator.

The first thing you need to do when beginning the Dukan diet is to calculate your “true weight.” This amount determines how much weight you’ll be aiming to lose as well as how much time you’ll spend in each of the four phases.

Once you’re ready to begin, the first phase is the Attack phase. Here, you’ll spend up to a week mainly eating protein foods from a list of 68, with oat bran providing some carbs and fiber. You’ll be able to eat as much of the protein foods as you want.

After the Attack phase is complete, you’ll move on to the Cruise phase, where you’ll be able to introduce 32 vegetables to your diet. The Cruise phase lasts for around three days per pound you want to lose.

There haven’t been many quality or recent studies on the Dukan diet, but indirect research suggests high-protein, low-carb diets can be effective for weight loss.

The Dukan diet does promote weight loss, says Mary Anne Smith, MS, BSN, RN, senior customer success manager at PointClickCare in Austin, Texas, but it’s weight loss that’s hard to maintain. “Whenever you’re cutting out food groups and sticking to protein only, it can get boring and hard to stick to,” she explains.

The authors concluded, however, that the weight loss was likely due to a calorie deficit and not macronutrient composition. And because the diet was low in important nutrients, including calcium, iron, potassium, and vitamins A, C, and D, they warned that adopting a high-protein diet may be harmful to health in the long run.

The Dukan diet is a high-protein, low-carb eating pattern that aims to help people lose weight. In the eyes of nutrition professionals, this is very much a fad diet. Anyone who is considering it as a way to lose weight should consider discussing their options with a healthcare professional first.