WARNING
Do not read this long review if you don't like listening to 'diet bores'...
Dr Dukan is not the greatest writer in translation. His original book (on Kindle) is very rambling in style. I wouldn't recommend that you buy the electronic version of the book if your Kindle doesn't have touch screen page turning.
I haven't actually bought this book yet, but the new 'Dukan Diet Cookbook' is quite good. After a few weeks of the diet, you will anyway get an intuition of which foods you can/should eat and combine. Another book by Joanna Goodchild was very helpful to me. It is based upon recipes with oat bran and has a very useful one for 'bread' made in the microwave. I adapted this recipe to make nice sponge type cakes, 'Tiramisu' chocolate gateau etc. With the availability of 'bread', we can also take 'sandwiches' to work and eat things 'on toast'. This useful recipe is better and quicker than the standard Dukan 'bread' recipe.
The diet is working well for both my husband and self. We started on April 3rd 2012. He commenced weighing in at 18.5 stone and has lost 3.5 stone so far. I started at 14.5 stone and have lost 2.5 stones. We are still on the 2nd 'Cruise' stage, alternating pure protein days with protein and vegetable days. We have had some delicious food and have NEVER felt hungry. Some recipes would be presentable anywhere e.g. Luc Lac Beef (or with chicken) which is a great favourite of ours. We have it at least weekly on a 'pure protein' day. My 'bad' cholesterol level has dropped from 6.8 to 4.5,despite eating more prawns and eggs, so I don't think that the diet is doing me any harm. We both have clearly defined waists and flatter stomachs now and have both dropped several clothing sizes.You start off by watching the scales for your progress, but then, the mirror becomes even more motivating!
This is less expensive to follow than the Cambridge Diet or Lighter Life Diet and much less expensive than Diet Chef. There are no fees to pay and you don't attend classes. If you are not a cook or cannot follow recipes, then I don't think you would find it very easy, as most of the food has to be freshly prepared (and thought out and shopped for in advance) The diet would become totally tedious if you were only using food that didn't need to be prepared. It begins to come as second nature to operate in this way and most of the recipes are quick and straightforward. It would also be very difficult for Vegetarians who don't eat fish and impossible (in my opinion) for Vegans. You need to source and buy different products. A number of low fat, no sugar, dairy products are a staple. Read labels carefully. Some of the cheaper own brands actually taste better. Two Chicks pasteurised liquid egg white is a godsend (Sains..... larger branches) as is the cheap but flavourful value fat-reduced cocoa,(Tes..) Oh, the chocolate cakes, meringues, muffins and cookies we have made!! You also have to bulk buy oat bran to use as 'flour' and I get mine from an Amazon supplier. After the first couple of weeks it is easy to eat in restaurants. You just have grilled meat or fish or an omelette with salad or vegetables on a 'protein and vegetable' day.
Frankly, the hardest part for us has been giving up booze for stages 1 and 2. However, when I recently had dry white and red wine on my husband's birthday, it tasted horribly sweet to me and when I had Vodka and Tonic, I couldn't actually taste the spirit,so just ended up drinking it like water, paying for this error the next day. To sum up, I just didn't enjoy it anymore. So, apart from Champagne very occasionally, I don't think that I will go back to the old drinking habits that mostly created my larger self (estimated 4 stones gain over 10 years) What is the point of spending all of that money if you don't enjoy it?
You can actually eat a lot on this diet, but we have found that our portion sizes have actually shrunk - we just can't eat as much as we used to, but as previously said, so long as you eat regularly, you don't feel hungry.
My husband has thrived on this regime, he's absolutely vibrant with new energy and has stopped snoring too! I felt very tired during the first couple of weeks, but since I have lost all of the weight, I find myself running up the stairs and walking for miles without becoming breathless. I feel and look younger too, although my skin doesn't fit quite as well as it used to (nothing really unsightly though)
Although we don't yet know how we will survive once the 100% regime is lifted, I just have to recommend the diet and anything connected to it. Our self-esteem has improved and we both feel much happier.I hope that it works for you too!
