The Dukan Diet by Pierre Dukan Read Free Book Online

perimenopause.
    The Attack diet, made up exclusively of pure proteins, best gets rid of water. This is particularly advantageous for women. When a man gains weight, it is mostly because he overeats and stores his surplus calories in the form of fat. For a woman, how she puts on weight is often more complex and bound up with water retention, which prevents diets from working properly.
    At a certain time during the menstrual cycle—in the four or five days before a period starts—or at certain key times in a woman’s life—such as puberty, perimenopause, or even in the prime of her sexual life if she has hormonal disorders—a woman, and especially one who is overweight, begins to retain water and starts to feel spongy, bloated, and puffy faced in the morning. She is unable to remove rings from her swollen fingers, her legs feel heavy, and her ankles swell. This weight gain is reversible, but it can become chronic.
    Even women who diet in order to avoid this bloating are surprised to find that during these periods of hormonal surge, all the little things that worked before no longer have any effect. In all these cases, a diet of pure proteins such as those found in my program’s Attack phase have a decisive and immediate effect. In a few days, sometimes even in a matter of hours, water-soaked tissues begin to dry up, leaving a feeling of well-being and lightness that shows up immediately on the scales and greatly boosts motivation.
    Pure Proteins Boost Your System’s Resistance Before tuberculosis was eradicated through antibiotics, one of the traditional treatments was to overfeed patients by significantly increasing the amount of proteins in their diet. At the beginning of the twentieth century, at Berck in northern France, one of the top centers for treating tuberculosis, teenagers were even forced to drink animal blood. Today, sports coaches and trainers advocate a protein-rich diet for athletes who demand a lot from their bodies. Doctors give the same advice to increase resistance to infection, for anemia, or to speed up the healing of wounds.
    It is advisable to make use of this advantage, because any weight loss, no matter how small, will weaken the body. I have personally seen that the Dukan Diet’s Attack phase is the most stimulating phase. Some patients have even told me that it had a euphoric effect, both mentally and physically, and that this happened from the end of the second day.
    Pure Proteins Enable You to Lose Weight Without Losing Muscle or Skin Tone There is nothing surprising in this observation when you realize that the skin’s elastic tissue, as well as muscle, is made up essentially of proteins. A diet lacking in proteins forces the body to use its own muscles and the skin’s proteins, so the skin loses its elasticity. Combined, these effects cause aging of the skin, the hair, and even one’s general appearance, which friends and family soon notice, and which can be enough to make you stop the diet early.
    Conversely, a protein-rich diet and, even more so, a diet made up exclusively of proteins like the Dukan Diet’s Attack phase, has no reason to attack the body’s reserves because the body is being given massive protein supplies. Under these conditions, the weight loss is rapid, muscle firmness is maintained, and the skin glows, allowing you to lose weight without looking older.
    This particular feature of the Dukan Diet might seem of secondary significance to young women with firm muscles and wrinkle-free skin, but it is very important for those women approaching their fifties and therefore menopause, or those who have less muscle structure or fine and delicate skin. This is especially important because, and it has to be said here, there are too many women nowadays who manage their figures guided solelyby their scales. Weight cannot and should not be the sole issue. Radiant skin, healthy-looking hair, muscle strength, and general body tone are criteria that contribute just as much to a