Pierre Dukan says he's found the secret of permanent weight loss - and millions of French dieters now follow his regime. He tells Lena Corner how it works.
The man behind the diet: Trained as a neurologist and GP,
Pierre Dukan became fascinated by the idea of creating a diet
after his advice helped a patient lose 10lb in five days
When Parisian nutritionist Dr Pierre Dukan introduced his diet to the French public 10 years ago, it was published by a small imprint with zero budget for a marketing campaign. By rights it should have dropped straight off the radar but news of the book spread by word of mouth and three years ago it finally made it's way into the bestseller lists. Now The Dukan Diet has shifted more than two million copies in France alone and another million worldwide. Celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez used it to lose their baby weight and this month, it's finally coming to the UK.
One reason for the book's success is Dukan's medical background. A doctor of 40 years standing, he had no interest in churning out a run-of-the-mill diet book. A GP and neurologist in Montparnasse, Paris, he specialised in treating paraplegic children. He knew nothing about weight loss or nutrition. His interest only began when his avid medical curiosity was kick-started by one of his patients.
"One of my regulars, who suffered badly from asthma, asked me to help him lose weight. I declined. But he begged me. He said, 'Put me on whatever diet you want, deprive me of whatever food you want, but let me eat meat.' I told him without hesitation to go away and eat all the non-fatty meat he liked, drink plenty of water and come back and see me in five days."
When the patient returned he'd lost 10lb. At first they thought the scales had broken. For Dukan it was an epiphany. He says: "That moment changed the course of my professional life forever." Dukan gave up neurology and enrolled at nutrition school and the seeds of his diet began to germinate.
