The Dukan protein diet was created in 1975. It is based on 72 protein-rich foods: meat, fish, seafood, dairy products, tofu, as well as fruits and vegetables, that is, you do not have to go hungry and suffer. Dukan's book "I Can't Lose Weight" was published in France in 2000 and has since been endlessly republished in several languages in millions of copies. The book was published in other languages only in 2011, and now Pierre Dukan has come to give an interview, conduct a seminar and meet admirers.
— Mr. Dukan, at the beginning of your book there is a dedication to your wife and his children. Our Internet resource is entirely dedicated to family life, birth and raising children. How important do you think family is in today's world?
— I'm a traditional person. I believe that finding a woman, a real woman, is a great blessing. Now everything is changing so quickly, many things are devalued, traditions are destroyed, so it is very important to have a woman next to you - an understanding and devoted woman. It's important that she completes you, because I can do something that my wife can't, and she, in turn, brings something that I don't have. This is the basis.
My wife has given me two children and the three of them, as well as my readers, are the most precious thing in my life. This is not a joke, but it is really very important. Our children, having spent thirty years side by side, already come from the spiritual, religious world, this is the magic of life. I think marriages that happen in a hurry, when spouses are changed like handkerchiefs – getting married, getting divorced – are bad. This behavior makes a person more fragile, less stable and this has a negative impact on health. When we are happy, when we are satisfied with our family, with our relationships with our children, then we are better able to resist life's problems.
— What do your children do?
— My son is a financier, he lives in Paris, he works with me: he takes care of everything related to finance, the Internet, the website, the products we release to make it easier for people to follow a diet.
My daughter Maya is finishing her studies: she studies at the Higher School of Economics (Ecole de Commerce). And there is a very funny story related to her name, I'll tell you now. A patient with a German surname, who had a Swiss husband named Maya, came to visit me. I said, "Oh, my daughter's name is the same as yours. "She asked why we named our daughter that. I explained: "Because I respect Picasso very much and one of his daughters is called Maya. "And do you know what the woman replied? "It's me. I'm Maya Picasso. "
— Tell us something about your brand's products and how they can be purchased in our country?
— The first product I started producing under my own name was bran. The fact is that bran is one of the most important products of the diet, but it is very difficult to find in France. Bran is very useful: firstly, it cleans the intestines, and secondly, it provides the necessary calories. As a result, we started importing them from Finland and then discovered that the product actually came from another country, that is, through Finland it arrived in France. (Canada is the largest supplier of bran in the world. )When people "tried" this product, they came to us with suitcases and bought everything. Then I decided it was time to start selling bran - and that's how the first product appeared.
Later they began to produce bran-based cakes (biscuits), which I recommend using during the first phase of weight loss - this is an excellent tool for fighting hunger: a person with an uncontrollable appetite can eat them as much as he wants. In my book I give a recipe for such flatbreads: in addition to bran, you need liquid cottage cheese, protein and a little vegetable oil. But many readers wrote to my website how nice and convenient it would be to buy ready-made focaccias. Then we started producing them. Then they started making ketchup, without salt, without sugar. We now produce more than 50 products and sell them all over the world. I hope that in 3-4 months, at the beginning of next year, they will start to be sold in our country.
— How important do you think the problem of overweight is in our country?
— I was surprised to read on the Internet that in the megacities of your country there are more overweight people than in Paris. People eat fast food and move little. But if you eat like Americans, you will become like Americans! We must remain true to ourselves, preserve food traditions. Now you are at a turning point: you can still do something, stop, so as not to lose your balance.
In general, the problem of excess weight is not just a whim dictated by women's desire to appear more elegant and youthful. It is known that obese people live 9 years less than people of normal weight.
I'm a doctor, I'm not a businessman. And since I was a child I wanted to be a doctor. When, after my high school diploma, I had to choose between art and medicine, my mother, who has always been a beacon for me, said: "If you become a doctor, you will always be able to draw or collect art, but if you become an artist, you will never be able to practice medicine. "
Because I am a doctor, I take great pleasure in healing anyone who can be healed. And, in my firm belief, excess weight is not even an acute form of the disease, it is a persistent and chronic disease.
In the 70s everyone wanted to lose weight quickly and did not think about the fact that the weight would inevitably return later. People now understand that weight must be maintained throughout life. Many diets fail to stand the test of time due to the lack of a consolidation phase.
When I started, patients who initially lost weight returned to my office after six months. I improved the technique and they started coming back within a year. But even as a doctor I was not satisfied with this result: I wanted them to heal forever. Therefore, in the end, I brought my method to perfection: I offer patients not only fish, but also a fishing guide, that is, a diet program, according to which they can not only quickly and effectively cope with obesity, but also maintain the results for a long time and without external help.
— How do you respond to criticism of your methodology?
— I emphasize that my method was created to eliminate excess weight. It is necessary to distinguish between a diet for a person with 10-20 extra kilos and the usual diet of a person with normal weight. My technique is based on a very short and concentrated period - from one and a half to three months - this is an "attack" on weight, this is war. So it's easier, but, of course, you still need to monitor your diet: if a person has such a problem as excess weight, there is a tendency to become obese. For example, according to the recommendations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the daily diet should contain 55% carbohydrates. However, the standards were adopted in the 1960s; for the current sedentary lifestyle, this is too much. When you eat sugar, your body doesn't want it because it understands that sugar is dangerous for the body and should be completely eliminated from your diet.
Very important - and this is nothing new - physical activity. I was born into a world where it was natural to move and I didn't feel obligated to show it. But modern society encourages all kinds of technologies that simplify a person's life and make him move less - it is precisely this vision that must be overcome.