Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Attack-Cruise-Consolidation-Stabilization

 Phase 1-Attack
 It is your first day of a new lifestyle that will help you become friend with the weight-scale that probably did not receive any sympathy from you lately. Try to stay positive. Think that at the end of every week you will smile at the weight-scale and the weight-scale will smile back at you. There is no joke: every week you will observe improvements.
The rules are simple: minimum 1 day - maximum 10 days depending on the number of kilograms one wants to lose. If you want to lose only few kilos 5 days of attack should be enough. If you want to lose more than 20 kilos than you should keep 10 days with the condition of keeping yourself well-hydrated.
 As well, walking everyday 20 minutes is essential for this diet.

'Allowed Food'- as much as you want when you want!

Lean meat: beef, veal - grilled
All types of poultry (NO duck)
Seafood
All types of fish
Eggs
Ham
No-fat diary (acceptable 0.1% fat-maximum 2% fat)
Coffee,Tea(no sugar)only sweetener
Skimmed milk with moderation (a little bit in your coffee or tea allowed)
All meat condiments, mustard (Dijon no sugar), ketchup (with sweetener) allowed

+ everyday 1 and a half spoon of oat bran (you can eat it at breakfast with yogurt)

No Sugar                No Oil                    No Bread                    No veg


Condiments on your meat are very important as it will help improve the taste of your food.
As well Goji fruits are allowed . Maximum one tablespoon per day as they do contain sugar.
If you think that bread is a major issue and you can not eat your meal without bread you will be able to find on this blog a recipe that you can use. So don't worry.... What I did like with this diet is that for all forbidden items you can find/cook a substitute that can help you forget the hard times. And what is the most important, this attack phase lasts only few days so you shouldn't be worried.

Rule number one: Go shopping!!!  Preferably before you start your first day of attack . I observed that by keeping only allowed foods in your fridge you won't be tempted to  break the Dukan promise. Even psychologically, I observed that is better to keep only allowed food  because a Victoria sponge in your fridge will only help you feel more disoriented and unhappy. Stay focused and fill the fridge with different yogurts, meats, eggs. PS: I always keep in my fridge one bottle of skimmed milk  ...just in case...
 A shopping list with allowed food and tolerated food( this tolerated food you will be able to use it from Phase 2- Cruise) is useful. You should do that before starting the Diet or in the first few days as you do not want to find yourself searching for ketchup with sweetener in supermarket while all your friends are already eating .

I wrote here a list of useful food and ingredients that I hope can work as a sort of mini guide for your diet plans.Keep in mind this is an extensive shopping list - that doesn't mean you are allowed to eat everything from the first phase. But it is important to have them home as they are not many and everyone hates running after ingredients.

Shopping list
Oat bran- Tesco
Wheat Bran- Holland& Barrett
Sweetener - I use Stevia Sweetener- a sweetener that you can find it in all supermarkets. I would recommend this sweetener as it has a good taste,it is natural and has an accessible price.
Mustard -Dijon- no sugar
Ketchup - no sugar - I found ketchup with sweetener in Morrisons 40 pence. As well online you can find it but more expensive though
Eggs- buy more eggs than usual
Yogurt - fat free Greek style yogurt - I bought it from Asda 50 pence. The important detail is that the yogurt you choose has to be 'fat free'. Don't buy yogurts with fruits even though it is written low fat.
Quark cheese - you find it in all chain supermarkets
Condiments: Steak condiments,chili,rosemary,basil,salt,pepper, chicken stock cubes, baking powder,  sodium bicarbonate, vanilla pod
Goji fruits
Shirataki noodles- Low calorie japanese noodles available in chinese stores and online. This type of noodles are allowed in all phases of Dukan;s diet.
Red onion - this one is allowed with moderation in all phases.
Tomato paste - read the lable of it. It should contain only tomato paste 100% no sugar!
Harissa - chilli paste
Chicken/Turkey breast- cooked food in supermarkets- you find it in various types: tika tika, chargrilled,smoked. Uncooked- breast, legs - you should always take the skin out before cooking
Beef -pastrami - I found it in Asda .The topic of uncooked meat is sensitive. Beef steaks are perfect for diet but quite expensive. Rump,sirloin, medallion..all delicious steaks that are perfect grilled.
Cornflour
Skimmed milk-both liquid and powder. The cheapest skimmed milk powder i found it in Sainsbury's. You will use milk in your desserts&Sweets . OOPS... i wrote DESSERTS & SWEETS?yes.You read well.
From the first day of your diet you can start baking sweets.What can it be better?
Sugar free drinks - Red bull,Pepsi Max and so on...
Silicon baking forms - very useful as you are not allowed any oil.
Baking paper

Buy diversified, especially meats.
Quite like that it looked my first shopping list. I hope i did not forget anything special. If i did we will remember once with the recipes.



Phase 2- Cruise


During this phase you will alternate 2 diets basically. One diet that has only proteins (like in attack phase)and one that has proteins+vegetables. This phase will last until you reach your goals,until you achieve the desired weight. Most commonly, for persons that want to lose more than 10 kg it is recommended to keep this diet alternating 1 day pure protein plus 1 day protein plus veg. For less kilograms you can keep 5 days with 5 days. You might find difficult to keep 5 days with 5 days. Therefore the diet alternating 1 day with 1 day seems to be more convenient. Indeed ,you lose weight quicker with 5 days +5 days but the whole idea of Dukan is to arrive at a wished weight with no stress and 5 days of MEAT again seemed to much.
The vegetable that you are allowed in your PV days(protein+veg.) are:
 tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, asparagus, radishes, leek, green beans, cabbage,pepper,salad,parsnip, mushrooms,aubergines,carrot(not in big quantities),onion,zuchinni.

Forbidden: potatoes,rice,corn,lentil,green peas, beans ,avocado,artichokes

!!!Must:everyday 2 Tablespoons of oats bran + 30 minutes walking+water

Acceptable foods:
 3 Tablespoons wine for cooking
100g rhubarbs
1glass soya milk
1 Tablespoon cornstarch/cornflour
30g Extra light Philadelphia
1 teaspoons cocoa not more than 15% fat
1 Spray 1 Cal Oil



Phase 3 -Consolidation
Congratulations!If you arrived at this phase you have probably the desired weight.Or maybe you simply could not keep anymore the Cruise Phase as sometimes it becomes too hard. The duration of Consolidation phase is fixed: 10 days for each kilogram that you lost.In this phase you will be able to enjoy all those foods that you were not allowed neither to look at in the previous phases. But keep in mind: the secret is not to eat too much again those foods that before were keeping you fluffy. You can have those foods only for your appetite,NOT for eating! You should always take care what you eat and at what hours you eat. For all phases sleeping is as well very important. If you don't sleep enough hours don't expect to loose weight easily.
In this phase you can eat 1 portion of fruits per day,but NO:banana,grapes,walnuts(basically all sorts of nuts),cherries. What means a portion? Well.... A hand of strawberries or one apple or one orange....There are many fruits that you can eat, just keep in mind always: the size of the portion is very important. In this phases you can add to your diet some cheese (max 50 grams per day) and preferably hard cheese.
The good news is that in this phase you can eat as well one portion of pasta,couscous,lentil,rice or potatoes per week. Never deep-fried fries!
You can add to your diet small amounts of lamb and pork but you should not eat big and fatty quantities. Choose the parts that do not have so much fat. Always look in your plate and analyse if what you eat it is beneficial for the diet.
The best part of this phase is that now you can choose a day to transform it in a FEAST day.
Feast meal more correctly said as you are allowed only one meal per week. You can choose to eat what you want  for that meal. You can have an appetizer, a main course plus a dessert. Only one meal per week don't forget. If your Consolidation phase lasts too long calculate how many days you have to keep this phase and split the time in 2 periods. For example if you lost 5 kilograms then your Consolidation phase will last 50 days.25 days the first period and the last 25 days the second period. In the second period of your Consolidation phase you can choose to have 2 Feast Meals per week even though I consider it too much...
!!!Must: every Thursday keep it as a Protein Day + 2 Tablespoon of Oats Bran per day + 25 minutes walking + water



Phase 4- Definitive Stabilization Phase

If you arrived at this Phase it means that not only you lost the extra kilos but you have been able to keep in control your body. From this point, the diet is piece of cake. Well....it has been hard until now but your new look suits you best! Basically this phase is not a phase... it's a whole life. Don't panic!Things are not so bad..You only need to keep in control what you eat and transform your Thursdays into protein days............+ 3 Tablespoons of Oats Bran per day.




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