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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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Weight Loss with Facial Exercise Means Your Face Doesn’t Have to Look Older

Poor Valerie Bertinelli. Here she loses a great deal of weight, probably thirty pounds, maybe more, and instead of the media congratulating her on her new, svelte body, they are maligning her face, saying that she looks older now than she did two years ago when she still wore a size twelve. Facial exercise, not twists, puckers or contortions, is a safe and sane alternative for a healthier, younger looking face. The exercises are painless, there is no risk and you look like you did ten to fifteen years ago.

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Poor Valerie Bertinelli. Here she loses a great deal of weight, probably thirty pounds, maybe more, and instead of the media congratulating her on her new, svelte body, they are maligning her face, saying that she looks older now than she did two years ago when she still wore a size twelve.

Losing weight means that your face will lose weight too. Volume as unwanted pounds is shed throughout the entire body when a person loses weight.

There is really no such thing as “spot” reducing as in ‘I will only lose weight in my waist, tummy, hips and thighs,’ so as you put away mounds of carrots, broccoli and organic lettuce leaves, just know that having a skinny body means you will have a skinny face.

If you experience weight loss in your thighs, you will also experience weight loss in your face. Loss of volume in the face is especially noticeable as previous atrophy like slightly sagging cheeks now are actual lines or grooves between your nose and your mouth.

Jowls and pouches also seem to form almost overnight as the pounds melt away. You probably feel this is a very unfair scenario – losing weight to look better yet your face is losing the battle against aging.

There are hollows that can form along the sides of the cheeks when weight is lost quickly. Sometimes hollows are thought to only plague those over 65 but if your weight has taken a sudden plunge, you might find your skin acting in ways you have never seen.

Fat surrounds our muscles and our internal organs as it weaves and marbles throughout our bodies. Fat nestles between our skin and body muscles. You may or may not know that it is very easy for our bodies to store fat; if we overeat and are under active, our bodies glom on to ingested calories.

Most of us gals need only 1500-1800 calories per day to maintain our ideal weight; overeat and you outgrow your clothes as you become a candidate for obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure issues and other health challenges. In addition to watching our caloric intake we certainly need to include some type of physical activity to energize our bodies and to put the roses back in our cheeks.

When our faces show aging whether we have lost weight or not, there is sometimes great temptation to use extraneous methods to recapture our youthful appearance.

Thinking that temporary injections that plump and paralyze will enhance your face may leave you feeling cold and offish. Injections cost a lot of money and carry a certain amount of risk. Oh sure, there will probably be redness or bruising at the injection site but if you choose to allow toxins and chemically altered cadaver material to be injected inside your body, you will first have to read and sign a very comprehensive disclosure that will absolutely let your practitioner off the hook if you have an adverse reaction.

Surgery is another avenue men and women consider when their face looks drawn and tired but if you stop and think about it carefully, cutting perfectly healthy muscle and skin, then draping it and suturing it into place may not be ideal either. In fact, some people may think it is a barbaric practice and not in line with healthy alternatives; after all, it is surgery and surgery always carries risk like infection, disappointment and even death.

There are non-surgical alternatives and less invasive practices but not all of them produce the desired results of a younger looking face.

Facial exercise, not twists, puckers or contortions, is a safe and sane alternative for a healthier, younger looking face. The exercises are painless, there is no risk and you look like you did ten to fifteen years ago.

Facial exercise that uses resistance training is likened to weight training. When you train your body with weights, the muscles sculpt, tone, tighten and reposition.

Just as exercise works for the body, exercise will work for the face. Using white exercise gloves to hold and anchor tiny facial muscles, the facial exercises quickly work to enhance the face by engaging the muscles hidden under the skin.

Most users see immediate results when using isometric facial exercise with resistance although in the beginning the results are not long lasting because the muscle needs sufficient strength training to hold the new look. After a few weeks of training, the face begins to lose the tired, drawn look as muscles and skin become revitalized with oxygenated blood.

Learning the techniques is easy, the steps are simple and the results are stunning.

Now you can keep your face looking toned, tightened and lifted when you are ready to shed a few pounds without worry that your face will look tired or old.

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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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