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.

I remember when I would start my week eating healthy and exercising. I would pumped and motivated focusing on what mattered most to me. As the weekend would unfold it wouldn’t be too long before I would justify to myself eating a really unhealthy meal. The pleasure of the moment distracted me from focusing on what really mattered most…and that was my fitness and weight loss goals. As you are enjoying the moment you justify to yourself that you will work out harder at the gym tomorrow. Afterwards, the feelings of guilt and contempt start to set in. To make matters worse, you don’t even go to the gym because you don’t feel good about yourself. You feel fat and you think that you are fat and veer off your goals. This type of sabotage happens all to often. There are steps that you can take to avoid this type of behavior so that you stay on top of your goals but most importantly you feel good about yourself.

What kind of glasses are you using?

Imagine that you are viewing yourself and the prescription of glasses that you are using are not the right kind. How distorted is your vision of yourself going to be? Do you really think that you will be viewing yourself with the most accuracy? Weight loss has more to do with feelings than anything else. What is important is to get the right prescription glasses so that you are viewing yourself with objectivity and not negativity. What you do is question your feelings about yourself. If you don’t like how you feel about yourself then start questioning those feelings. Are you really a bad person? Are you really a loser? Are you really that overweight? Whatever the questions may be the point is to create enough doubt about your feelings that are bringing you down that you create an eagerness within to feel better, more positive about yourself. The goal is to have a positive self reflection.

Who do you think you are: Judge Judy?

Your thoughts determine the words you’re going to say. Are you using words that are encouraging you or holding you down? When you use words that are not very encouraging you begin to judge yourself. When you label food ‘bad’ and ‘good’ when you eat ‘bad’ food then you judge yourself as a ‘bad’ person. When you label yourself as such what do you think that does to your self perception? I can tell you that it doesn’t make you feel better. Plus, it’s true that you are not a ‘bad’ person. Start believing that and it can change your outcome. Use encouraging words such as I can, I will, I am. Start saying that you are a powerful person. Start saying to yourself that you are an amazing person. Avoid words that insinuate judgment like good and bad, would, could, and should. The point is to eliminate words that bring you down and that judge you and others. Replace those words that will encourage you and increase your self perception.

It took me awhile for these words to integrate into my daily vocabulary. But by doing so, I was focusing on keeping what mattered to me most and that was feeling good about myself. As a former binge eater, I had to battle with the temptation of indulging in unhealthy foods because they taste great and bring instant pleasure. However, by delaying the gratification I was able to put away those temptations. The feeling after was so empowering because you no longer surrender to those temptations that bring you down. Food is not the enemy. There are no enemies. There are only adjustments to be made. You are in control of your emotions. It’s your responsibility to practice your choice that you have. Because you always have a choice as to how you want to experience any situation.

A recent study conducted in Japan has shown that the weight loss Acomplia can help to significantly reduce levels of visceral fat in humans. Visceral fat is the fat that collects around the abdomen, where vital internal organs are present. This is the most dangerous type of extra fat that a person can carry. Visceral fat is also called metabolically active fat. It collects around the liver and pancreas and is a leading contributor to disease.

The Japanese study results were announced at a meeting of the Association for the Study of Diabetes in Europe. Researchers examined the two types of fat that accumulates in the body, visceral fat and subcutaneous fat (the type that accumulates under the skin). It was explained that when visceral fat accumulates, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardio metabolic disease can result.

More than five hundred significantly overweight men and women took part in a study of the effects of Acomplia on visceral fat. At the end of the study, the subjects who took Acomplia according to a regular dosing schedule had lost much more visceral fat than those who took a placebo pill.

The manufacturer of Acomplia, Sanofi Aventis, is attempting to position Acomplia as more than a weight loss drug. The company says that drug Acomplia can also help to improve metabolic conditions, including diabetes. If they are successful in getting it recognized in this way, Acomplia may soon be seen more as a medication and less as a cosmetic pill. In fact, the new findings about Acomplia may help get it approved for use in hospitals.

At the present time, Acomplia is known mostly as a weight loss aid. It works by interfering with hunger signals from the brain, which causes suppression of appetite. You can buy Acomplia online in the United Kingdom for more than a year. Acomplia is available in most of Europe by prescription.