The French Diet You’ve Never Heard Of

A popular French diet is crossing the Atlantic, reports today’s Styles section. Pierre Dukan has been called the Dr. Atkins of France. Well over a million people there have tried the 69-year-old doctor’s program, a method that promises — like countless diets before and since — no hunger, no calorie counting, instant weight loss and lifelong weight maintenance. The original Dukan diet book sold 3.5 million copies in French and has been translated into 14 languages. Next month, the diet will make its American debut when Crown Publishing rolls out the North American edition of “The Dukan Diet,” its cover featuring a plate with two Eiffel Towers and the words, “The Real Reason the French Stay Thin.” The diet’s high-protein, low-fat approach is organized into four phases, the first of which encourages dieters to eat as much as they want of non-fatty, protein-rich foods, including oat bran — a key component — washed down with oceans of water. The second stage introduces vegetables, but no fruit; the third brings with it two slices of bread, a serving of cheese and fruit and two servings of carbohydrates a day, with two weekly “celebration” meals with wine and dessert (the diet is French, after all); and the final stage — six days a week of “anything goes” and one day of reversion to strict stage one. To learn more, read the full report, “Warmed-Over Atkins? Don’t Tell the French,”