Yesterday we published a story that explained that some celebrities are following the well-known dukan diet to lose the kilos they have gained during pregnancy and briefly explain why it is not an advisable practice.
Today we are going to go into this topic more in depth to know a little about how this diet works, what risks a woman runs when carrying it out (and a man, if she also did it) and why the concept of doing the Dukan diet after the Pregnancy is wrong.
The kilos gained in pregnancy have a reason
The first thing to make clear before entering to talk about this miracle diet is that the kilos that a woman takes during pregnancy are not a punishment or a penance for having become pregnant.
I say this because it always seems that once the child is born the woman is like a "fat because of the pregnancy that she has to lose weight as soon as she can" and, in fact, praises and magnifies the one who quickly regains weight (" how good you have stayed ”,“ it seems that you have not been pregnant ”,…).
The reality is that the kilos a woman earns when she gets pregnant are the reservations for when the child is born for a very simple reason: raising and feeding a child produces a lot of wear. Bad nights, breastfeeding, fatigue, tiredness, etc. they are sufficient grounds for nature to have foreseen the woman of that reserve. The problem of the matter is that nature does not know that the current beauty fee is contrary to those extra kilos.
The Dukan diet is a hypocaloric diet
The dukan diet, as we said yesterday, it allows certain foods (basically proteins and vegetables) and excludes others. The allowed foods make the diet can be considered hypocaloric, because fats and carbohydrates are eliminated, which are the ones that provide the most calories and energy to the body.
By drastically decreasing calories the body responds with more hunger and begins to spend reserves, decreasing muscle volume and with it the water content. When muscle and water are lost, people feel less swollen and notice that the weight begins to drop.
At that point the body is eager to start receiving glucose-rich foods again, both to nourish the body and to nourish the brain. However, these do not arrive and as it is not a plan to kill the muscles, the body begins to burn fat. I have read in some pages that one of the drawbacks is that it can give bad breath. That said it sounds bad, but one thinks "nothing that does not fix some caramelitos", however bad breath is the sign that the body has entered a state of ketosis and therefore the breath smells of acid apples.
What is that of ketosis
Ketosis is the state in which the body enters when it does not receive enough carbohydrates and has to burn fat to get energy, generating the so-called ketone bodies. It is a state of emergency, malnutrition, in which toxins are generated that must be eliminated by the kidney, this being harmful to this organ.
For this reason, for example, it is discouraged that pregnant women make diets low in carbohydrates, because when entering the state of ketosis, the fetus ends up having to feed on the energy that comes from fat, less healthy and toxins that are generated in the process.
However, One of the side effects of ketosis is decreased appetite And this helps to keep losing weight.
It is a hyperprotein diet
Protein-rich foods are not, as we have said, the ones with the most calories and that is why they help you lose weight. In addition, 20% of the calories they provide are used for digestion, so they still get less fat.
However, hyperprotein diets are not recommended, first because ketosis ends up causing nausea, bad breath and poor appetite, second because the liver that tries to metabolize excess protein is saturated, running the risk that what is known as "cunicular starvation" occurs, which is a situation in which the life of the person can be at risk if the proteins are not accompanied by fats, and thirdly because hyperproteic diets have many possible side effects , namely:
- By drinking a lot of meat there is a risk of increasing cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
- Can occur Kidney damage, because not all proteins are assimilated and many must be excreted, forcing the kidney to work harder.
- Lack of carbohydrates can cause fatigue and dizziness. Glucose is the fuel of our brain and neither in the first phase of the diet, nor in the second, which can sometimes last several months (I have seen examples of women who have been almost 300 days in the second phase), You eat this type of food, beyond a few teaspoons of oat bran. Of course, bad time for a woman who has just become a mother to start getting tired and dizzy.
- You lose muscle protein, because in the absence of glucose the body uses muscle to get energy. Bad time too, after giving birth, to start losing muscle.
- It can cause calcium deficiency in the bones with subsequent bone decalcification. The more protein, the worse calcium absorption.
- Physical performance decreases and the only recommended exercise is walking.
Can the woman only walk?
Doing a little research to learn more about this diet I have seen that people get to talk about it well because in Mr. Dukan's book it is recommended to walk a little every day, as if saying that it is not a diet that does not think about Good habits
However, this recommendation is given because, at most, the woman can only walk. To exercise the body needs glycogen (which comes from carbohydrates, basically) in the muscles. As with this diet, you hardly drink hydrates there is no muscular strength to do anything other than walking, since the low glucose that enters the body is saved to go directly to the brain, where it is most needed.
Faced with this situation, if a woman decided to exercise more than walking for a while on a daily basis, she would enter a dangerous wheel in which to function, her muscles would consume themselves.
The rebound effect can be devastating
The Dukan diet has the four phases that we discussed yesterday (a little more extended, since yesterday was a brushstroke) and, or you do it well (with how risky it is), or the weight recovers devastatingly.
When doing this diet the body enters, as we have said, in a state of emergency. Everything works through “plan B” so, in case the situation is normalized and the person returns to eat as before, the body will assimilate each and every one of the calories ingested to prepare in case something similar happens again. Let's say that the body understands that the person is in a situation of hardship and has no food available and, when he arrives, decides to keep everything in case a bad time comes back.
That is why the introduction of food is done very slowly and progressively and that is why the harmful effect of such a diet extends for a longer time.
What the Spanish Association of Dietitians and Nutritionists says about it
About three weeks ago the AEDN (Spanish Association of Dietitians and Nutritionists) published a document (which can be read here in which they say they do not support the Dukan diet.
As they explain the diet does not work and show results of studies in which it cannot be concluded that hyperproteic diets work, because "no strategy to lose weight has shown immediate and sustained effectiveness for life in all population groups." However, I have the (personal) feeling, from what I have seen and read, that the diet works and that people lose weight, although it is true that there are no scientific studies that support this diet (there is no bibliography in the book that can help understand what the recommendations are based on).
They also explain that this diet seems to be fraudulent, due to its characteristics and how it is publicized and explained (it works, many people have tried it and can confirm it, ...).
As risks, they comment that “it can lead to nutritional imbalances and be highly risky since it implies a risk of suffering somatic, psychological, hormonal, growth or performance alterations.”
It reminds me of sticks with seaweed extracts
The truth is that this diet reminds me of some bread sticks that could be seen a couple of years ago in some bakeries (maybe they still exist) that contained algae extracts and that came with an advertisement that said something like “to lose weight” and "proven effectiveness."
I do not know if they sold a lot or a little, although I was a little scared to see them, because it is not that the person who ate them lost weight because it was a low-calorie food, but that it contained algae extracts and consequently an abysmal amount of iodine the thyroid, before such excess, began to work more producing hyperthyroidism and consequently a weight loss, which is a symptom of it.
Obviously he didn't put any of that in the containers, but it would have been nice if he said: "Lose weight by altering your hormones," "overload your thyroid gland," or "play stupidly with your health to lose weight."
In conclusion, and thinking of women who have just been mothers
Concluding a little and alluding to yesterday's entry, I can't understand that someone can get to recommend a diet like this to a woman who has just become a mother. In fact, I cannot understand that anyone can recommend this diet to a woman, even when she has not been a recent mother.
As I explained yesterday, in the health center where I work there are some colleagues who are following it and although the results are positive, it does not occur to me that health professionals come to assume such risky behaviors for their health (I see it incongruous ) and also get to recommend them to their patients (but this is another issue ...).
A woman who has just given birth needs a balanced diet more than anyone else, with all the nutrients and with all the calories she will face every day. Putting the body in a "quarantine" situation will cause you to recover your body weight soon, probably, but at the expense of your health, your mood, your energy and the well-being of your baby and that of your family, which insurance is affected.
