Dukan Diet Phase 1 - The Attack Phase

Reviewed by Dietitian, Juliette Kellow BSc RD

During the ‘Attack Phase’ of the Dukan diet you eat predominantly protein-rich foods that are also reasonably low in fat.

Dukan Attack Phase – What can I eat?

• Lean beef
• Veal
• Rabbit
• Offal
• Chicken
• Turkey
• Lean ham
• All fish (you can still include oil-rich fish as these contain heart-healthy omega-3 fats)
• Seafood
• Eggs
• Fat-free natural and flavoured yogurt (but not fruit yoghurt as these contain fruit or fruit puree)
• Fat-free fromage frais
• Quark
• Cottage cheese
• Skimmed milk

There’s a list of 72 foods to choose from.

During the Dukan Attack Phase foods should be cooked without any added fat so grilling or roasting is best.

In addition, you can use spices, lemon zest, soy sauce, herbs, garlic, vinegar, onions, shallots, gherkins and mustard to add flavour.

Plus, you should also have 11/2tbsp oat bran a day to help fill you up (Dr Dukan recommends using it to make a ‘galette’ where you mix it with fat-free fromage frais or quark, egg and artificial sweetener and then cook it like a pancake).

You must also have at least 1.5 litres of water every day – you can use this to make tea, herbal tea or coffee.

Dukan Attack Phase – Off limits

During the attack phase, everything else is off limits, including other sources of higher-fat protein.

Foods such as

• Pork
• Lamb
• Fatty beef
• Mutton
• Duck
• Goose
• Fat-containing dairy products such as cheese
• Beans and lentils

How much can I eat?

During this phase, you can eat as much as you want in any combination and at any time of day.

You should follow this phase for one to 10 days depending on how much weight you have to lose. If you have less than 10lb, do it for one day; less than 20lb then three days; 20–40lb then five days; and more than 40lb then seven to 10 days, although you should seek medical advice first.

It’s absolutely essential that you stick to this diet precisely. Dr Dukan suggests just one tiny lapse will be like putting a needle in a balloon – all the benefits will instantly disappear and you’ll need to start all over again. The advice: don’t cheat at all.

Typical day’s diet during the Attack Phase

Breakfast

1 pot fat-free fruit flavoured yoghurt and 1 boiled egg.

Mid morning

Few slices of turkey.

Lunch

Fat-free cottage cheese with grilled chicken breast.

Mid afternoon

1 pot fat-free fruit flavoured yoghurt.

Dinner

Grilled tuna steak with 1 poached egg.

Plus

• 150ml skimmed milk for drinks
• 11/2tbsp oat bran

Nutrition information

How this day’s menu compares with healthy eating guidelines

The Dukan diet is really low in calories, fat and saturates. Healthy eating guidelines recommend that less than one third of calories come from fat, with no more than a tenth coming from saturates. In this day of the attack phase 26 percent of calories come from fat and 8.5 percent come from saturates.

It’s exceptionally high in protein though. Most women need around 45g of protein and men around 55g of protein a day. This day’s menu contains around three times these amounts.

It’s also very low in carbs and fibre. For good health, around half of all calories should come from carbs and we should have 18g fibre each day. Just 15 percent of calories are coming from carbs with this menu and fibre intakes are seriously low!

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