Duking It Out with the Dukan Diet and Then Opting for Octavin

Octavin: My Knight in Shining Armor

For some people one of the hardest things about dieting is giving up favorite foods such as chocolate, cheese and wine. Deprivation depresses me, but I was also feeling pretty bummed out about my tight pants and an emerging muffin top this past April. It seems totally unjust that by the end of each ski season my jeans can barely make it over my thighs and my butt feels like a little trailer albeit a more solidly-built one. But still.

No, you don’t see many skinny ski instructors. We feed on a steady supply of chili, pizza, French fries, hot chocolate and après-ski beers. You need that kind of fuel when you spend extended hours out in the cold. This year though I could tell the extra poundage was creeping up faster than ever before (must be that age thing!). My ski pants were so tight by early March that I began to feel like the Michelin man.

So around the time of the royal wedding—after having heard about Kate Middleton’s dieting success and after having consumed umpteenth celebratory scones—I decided to go on a diet. I, of course, opted for the Dukan Diet since that’s the one that allowed Kate to go down a whole dress size. Plus this much-talked about regime was created by Pierre Dukan, a Frenchman. I had tried the Montignac, another diet designed by a Frenchman, years ago when I lived in France. So I figured I owed it to my all-around French experience to attempt this one as well.

You have no idea what a feat dieting is for me. I am such a non dieter. Fortunately my weight doesn’t fluctuate much but any attempt at taking it off is like trying to get a French chef to cook your steak anything more than rare. (That’s seldom possible, especially in the finer restaurants.) I actually don’t believe in dieting. I subscribe to healthy eating and regular exercise. I’ve also been influenced enough by the French way of life that I’m careful about portion control and not eating between meals. But this spring I was feeling so puffed up that I felt more drastic measures were required.

So how has it been? Well, I followed the Dukan Diet religiously for three weeks, a record for me. I’ve eaten enough eggs, egg whites, poultry, fish and meat to last me all summer. I think I only snuck one piece of cheese a couple of times, since my cheese cravings were quelled by a seemingly endless supply of nonfat yogurt. I came to feel so stuffed with protein that the days when veggies were allowed I ceremoniously served up less heralded vegetables such as brussels sprouts, leeks and bok choy on my fine Limoges china. Each meal—no matter how sparse—became a grand affair. I solved my chocolate crisis by adding abundant quantities of cocoa powder and stevia to my milk, yogurt, cream cheese (all nonfat), you name it.

But wine—the beloved drink of the Gods and most of us mortal beings—was not part of the program. Thankfully I’m not a big drinker but I do like a glass or two of wine a few nights a week. This time, however, I was ready to go dry until I could graduate to a more lenient phase that would permit occasional sips. Perrier has become my drink of choice. I serve it in my Baccarat glasses with a wedge of lemon or lime or sometimes in a highball glass, cut with water. (It gets expensive.) Either way, I’ve made it quite festive. I’ve found it refreshing to go about with a clearer head in the evenings, a new-found state that’s allowed me to read and even meditate more than before.

Yet two weeks into the diet, I started plotting how I was going to manage a glass of wine here or there once I came close to my ideal weight. It is after all wasteful to open a bottle and let it spoil as you parsimoniously pinch a glass out of it from time to time. This is especially true for people that live alone. Would I reserve wine consumption only for times when I’d go out? I pondered.

Ah-haa! That’s it—I’ll go the Octavin route. I remembered that I enjoyed some delicious wine from Monthaven Winery a few months ago, fine nectars from the Central Coast that lasted extremely well for weeks, preserved in the Octavin Home Wine Bar. I think I had a Chardonnay, a Cab and a Merlot on hand for as long as two months. This unique three-liter packaging—the equivalent of four bottles—allows wine enthusiasts to tap into artisanal wines without worrying about spoilage. At about $24. per Octavin, it also represents good value. Yes, that’s it, I thought. I’ll go the Octavin route and will feel no obligation “to finish the bottle.”

Not long after I put this plan into place, I came home one evening and desperately craved a nip. I was smart to have cleared out my fridge and cupboards of all forbidden temptations before embarking upon the diet. Although I toyed with the idea of racing to the store, I was settled in enough to nix that thought. But then I spotted the remnants of an old bottle of white wine toward the back of the fridge. I figured it was close to vinegar since I only used it on occasion for cooking. What the heck! I served it up with a few cubes, a lemon zest and a generous splash of Perrier and enjoyed one of the best wine spritzers of my life. A holiday weekend followed, filled with more carbs, including a few more wines and a generous slice of chocolate cake.

I had become fed up with Dr. Dukan’s program by now anyway. It did serve, however, to bring me into better alignment and many of his principles have already been incorporated into my eating habits. I lost five pounds the first week, but not an ounce the second or third. How demotivating! I woke up two pounds thinner, however, after my holiday foray. This new total seems to be holding steady and now that I’ve picked up some Octavin, cheese and many more bottles of Perrier, my program is looking up. With this renewed enthusiasm and more hiking, I just might reach my ten-pound weight loss goal. And I will have created what works best for me in doing so. Touché!