It's a low fat Atkins. It should be similar in effect to a PSMF (protein sparing modified fast). Basically, it is only lean meat for 5 days. Then, you alternate days of only lean meat and days of lean meat and (non-starchy) veggies until your desired weight is acheived. For maintenance: one fruit daily, one serving pasta/bread 2x/week, and one cheat meal per week.

I personally don't want to go back to eating pasta/bread or having planned cheat meals. Can't remember where I read it but, to paraphrase: "A pre-planned binge meal is like going to a party with cigars and strippers. Neither is going to turn out well."

A PSMF is effective for rapid weight loss - but it doesn't teach you how to eat/be healthy for the rest of your life. I would tend to prefer Atkins over this as PSMF makes me feel a bit "wiggy" from the lack of fat. See "rabbit starvation" for more details.

Neither Atkins or most other low carb plans (exception that I can think of is Protein Power) talk about inflammation, Omega-6, SFA vs PUFA, Grains, Lectins, Phytates, Fructose, etc.

I got here down a long road that included Atkins (bias disclosure) - but I think that a low carb/Paleo plan is serving me very well. Within Paleo, I can tweak protein/fat/carbs as necessary for my own personal requirements. Everyone does it their own way, which is great - it really is a big tent.

Fad.

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2010/04/21/how-the-dukan-diet-works-the-french-diet-that-is-supposed-to-end-the-obesity-epidemic/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dukan-Diet-Pierre/dp/144471032X

"Continue eating protein plus vegetables to your heart’s desire. They are always on the menu. 2) You get one fruit a day, but you are looking for the watery fruits like watermellon, cantelope, apples, etc. 3) You get two slices of whole-grain bread. If you must have butter, make it low-fat. Be stingy with the butter. 4) You get one serving of carbs per week. This might be pasta or rice. 5) Your menu expands to include one “celebration meal” per week, where anything goes. But really, if you are losing a significant amount of weight, it has been 6 or 8 months since you had real food. Do you really want to blow it now? I guess if you travel, this meal would allow you to eat one normal restaurant meal a week. As you move to the second half of Phase 3, you get two of these “celebration meals” per week."

Leave muah butta alone.

Dunkin diet... lol

Yes, it sounds bad. Lots of low-fat products and then being "allowed" to eat bread and pasta. Talk about fake foods. I'll stick with the meat, veggies and butter thanks... =)

But really, if you are losing a significant amount of weight, it has been 6 or 8 months since you had real food.

There's a hint! No thanks!

I could see this would totally work to lose weight, especially in the earlier stages where you are eating tons of protein. Let's face it, it's very very hard to overeat when you are eating almost all protein. The brain will make you stop. You will get to the point where you would rather hurl than eat more protein!

The problem is that this could be rather unhealthy long term and if someone was very diehard, that amount of protein in absence of fat could also be physically rather dangerous even in the short term.

For the stabilization phase, I am curious how well just one day of protein eating per week would work though. I guess maybe it could for some people help tip the balanced towards a less deranged metabolism, but still I am rather skeptical.

Having done PSMF before a la Lyle's Rapid Fat Loss both with/without refeeds, I can tell you that they are indeed extremely effective and actually relatively painless especially if you were eating VLC before. It is actually the only way I can lose weight due to my thyroid/adrenal issues but the key is the transition period post diet which is sort of where the Dukan gets it right and where I got it wrong and no one has been specific enough about how SLOWLY you have to transition to be successful. You can't just jump to a higher fat Paleo/Primal diet because you will store it as body fat regardless of how low carb you are and what Taubes argument you want to throw in. Obviously he is not transitioning to anything we would concerning grains and low fat dairy crap and to be honest he lacks any scientific research to back up his sometimes outrageous claims if you're even marginally nutritionally informed (hello, fat phobic). I would argue the transition is the hardest part if you do it right and if you do a PSMF diet right- focus on lean, pastured proteins and non-starchy veg and keep your free meals Paleo without using non-paleo foods to get you through then you are actually setting yourself up great as basically you are just slowly adding back fats and some fattier cuts of meat occasionally while monitoring your weight in transition. I am actually in the middle of doing this right now although I am finally getting treated for my thyroid and adrenal issues so they're supported. However, I have accepted that due to my metabolic issues that I just cannot process that much fat and that I have to keep my protein up to a certain amount to be successful in maintenance so essentially Cordain's Paleo for the long run.

Heard of it, but it's not big in the UK.