With the media all over the British Royal wedding 2 weeks ago, talks on a new FAD diet, the Duakn diet, were everywhere. Presumably followed by the new bride and her mother to shed away pre-wedding pounds, the French low-carb, low-fat, high-protein diet made it to the US with the release of the book in April.

What is the diet?

On the diet you eat unlimited amounts of lean protein. No carbs. No fat. No fruits. On some days, you can eat veggies–and not all veggies. You can look up the details elsewhere.

I was interviewed for my expert opinion by ABC on the diet. After editing the report, my opinion didn’t come across the way I intended it to be. Watch the clip and tell me what you think, then read below to see what I have to say about it!

Click to see HERE.

Why I don’t like the diet?

1. It’s not nutritious and not balanced. You can’t have beans and lentils, sweet potatoes, bananas, grapes, and nuts, all of which are excellent sources of various nutrients.
2. Eating unlimited amounts of lean protein is not risk-free. Lean protein still has fat, and if you eat too much—and you will because you don’t get to eat anything else—the fat grams will add up. Too much fat can hinder weight loss and increase cholesterol and triglycerides.
3. It has immediate side effects. Eat too few carbs and you’ll get mood swings, headache, dry mouth, and bad breath. When you barely eat any fiber, expect to be constipated. You can lose productivity with not enough carbs and calories. What else will you lose? The fun factor in your meals and a healthy relationship with food.
4. If you’re still determined to live through the short-term nuances of the diet, read some more. The diet is very restrictive and difficult to sustain long enough to see all the weight go away. After few weeks or even days, you will realize how difficult and impractical it is and quit. Then the weight you lost will bounce back. You lost muscles as you lost weight, but gained it back all as fat when you regained the weight. Ouch.

The diet highlights oat bran. What is it?

If there’s one good thing to say about this diet, it would be oat bran–the outer husk of the oat grain. It’s high in fiber and minerals and might help lower cholesterol. Great, but there’s a problem. You eat 1.5 tablespoons a day in the first phase and graduate to 3 tablespoons a day on the last one. Three tablespoons of oat bran have 2.5 grams of fiber, and to put it into perspective, we need about 25 grams of fiber a day. Oat bran in not enough. You still need veggies, fruits, beans, and whole grains.

My take home message:

The best diet is the one you can follow for a long period of time and preferably forever, and that’s why I vote for healthy, balanced, and realistic lifestyle changes that don’t strip the fun away from food. There’s no fix that fits all. We all have different preferences and taste buds, and our bodies don’t all work exactly the same way.