Food List, Meat, Fish, Eggs & Dairy

Dukan Diet Food List: Dairy

Dairy is one of the most valuable group of foods among all of the Dukan Diet-compliant products. Here are some tips on how to choose the best dairy products that will make your weight loss lightning fast.

Main rules

First, the rules I apply to determine whether a diary product will facilitate or hinder weight loss:

1. Fat contents: a Non-fat product is better than a low-fat one. Low-fat dairy is better than whole milk dairy.

2. Carbohydrate contents: Natural milk sugar (lactose) makes up around 4.5 % of cow’s milk. An acceptable amount of sugar (including lactose) in a dairy product is 6 %. The less the better.

3. Protein contents: the more the better. But more importantly, you should take the ‘protein to carbohydrate’ ratio into consideration (the higher, the better; to calculate the ratio divide the protein contents by sugar contents).

4. Fermented milk products are far more beneficial to you health and diet. Choose it over raw milk / powdered milk products.

5. At the beginning of the diet (Phase I in particular, Phase II if you hit a plateau) apply stricter criteria, as follows:

  • choose only fermented products (yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, quark)
  • with less fat (preferably 0 %)
  • with less sugar (4.5 % rather than 6%)
  • with better ‘protein to sugar’ ratio

Dairy in Dukan Diet

Fruit yogurts

Dukan allows artificially flavored yogurts as long as the sugar contents does not exceeds the aforementioned 6 % (= 1.7 g per ounce).

These yogurts are sweetened with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. Eating them (in moderation) should not do any harm to the weight loss process. Be warned though, because eating sweet things (even though not containing any real sugar) can deepen your sugar cravings if you are prone to such.

Plain yogurts (natural, drinkable, Greek)

This is the best option in this category. Choose only non-flavored, plain yogurts. Read product label to determine if it meets the criteria I mentioned (no fat, no more than 6% of carbohydrates, good protein to sugar ratio).

The table below presents three most common types of plain yogurts. As you can see, the best choice is non-fat Greek yogurt as it is protein-rich (the best ratio) – it is recommended in all stages of the Dukan Diet and specifically during the Attack Phase.

Yogurts comparison

Different types of skimmed milk (0 % fat) yogurts, nutrition data & protein to sugar ratio.

Kefir, buttermilk, sour milk

Although they are three different kinds of milk products, kefir, buttermilk and sour milk all have similar nutritional value. They are not as effective (in terms of losing weight) as high-protein yogurts but including them in the plan can add some variety to the menu.

You probably won’t find any non-fat versions of buttermilk or sour milk but there’s a 0 % fat kefir available here and there. Let’s have a look at some nutrition data regarding the three products.

Comparison: kefir, buttermilk and sour milk

As you can see there’s nothing spectacular about the three dairy products above but still kefir, buttermilk and sour milk are pretty solid Dukan Diet Safe foods. That said, it is better to introduce them into the menu in Phase II.

Quark, Curd cheese, Pot cheese, Cottage cheese

All of the above mentioned kinds of cheese are not what we usually call cheese. They are made of sour or raw (cottage cheese) milk in a, so called, coagulation process.

What is so good about this type of cheese?

  • It contains tons of protein and almost no sugar
  • It can be mixed with yogurt or any other liquid dairy product to form a spreading mass
  • or some stuffing…
  • It can be cut in cubes to add to a salad and so on…

In short, quark is a very nourishing and universal dairy product of some incredible protein to sugar ratio.

The only downside of quark (curd / pot cheese) is that, unless you live in Eastern Europe, it’s not easily available.  Some try to make it at home. It’s not that difficult after all. Here’s a guide: Quark – How to Make It and Where to Get It

On the other hand, cottage cheese is quite common in stores.

Let’s have a look at some stats.

Coagulated Cheeses Nutrition Facts

The low-fat cottage cheese has an enormous ratio of 5.07 but note that it contains some fat as well. After including fat in this calculation it appears that the ‘real’ scores are as follows: 3.05 for quark and 1.88 for cottage cheese.

This way or another, those are very nice ratios. I recommend both products for every Phase of the Dukan Diet.

Raw milk

Non-fat milk is ‘officially’ allowed in Dukan Diet but I do not recommend any excessive raw milk consumption. This is because of the raw milk’s high sugar contents that isn’t balanced with enough protein nor by fermentation processes (as in yogurt, kefir, quark etc).

Thus, you can add raw milk to your coffee or tea but that’s it. In my opinion there’s no point in drinking raw milk where there are so many fine dairy products that really help losing weight (see above).

Soy milk, rice milk, almond milk

Those are not even real milk! They are called that because their manufacturers made them resemble milk in look and, sometimes, taste. But not in nutritional value.

In fact, most of such products, while handy on some occasions, do not meet the Dukan Diet criteria for dairy products. Besides, like I said, they are not even dairy.

Nutrition data: soy / rice / almond milk

As you can see, there isn’t much protein in these milkish products above. In the same time, they contain sugars.

If you cannot have any milk because of lactose intolerance, try fermented milk products like yogurt:

The list of forbidden dairy in Dukan Diet

This list of forbidden foods applies mostly to Phase I and II. If you want to know what is allowed in Phase III check out my previous post here: Phase III Menu & Rules.

Examples of forbidden dairy products

61 Comments

  1. Is Hazelnut or Coconat Milk sugar free allowed in Dukan diet during attack phase? They are from Brand called rude health.

    Also is Match latte powder allowed during attack phase? It’s sugar free, dairy free and gluten free. Sweetened with Monkfruit.

  2. The skim plus fat free half and half is a creamer without corn syrup
    Just milk. Would this be allowed in the attack phase?

  3. do you mean that all light cheese( not fat free ) are forbidden even in small amount and even if the carb to protein ratio is favourable? and is this because of the high fat content?

  4. do you mean that all light (not fat-free) cheese are forbidden even in small quantities? is that because of the high fat content? even if the carb protein ratio is favourable?

  5. Since there’s an allowance to eat fat free dairy – can we have fat free American cheese slices of fat free cheddar?

  6. Am i right to say that its best to look at the nutrition info on the back of food labels.

    because on this yoghurt servin per 100g carb is what you said. 4.5% carbs

  7. getting frustrated as cant seem to work it out,
    could you say if this yoghurt is ok,
    called soleil diet no fat low sugar. its less than greek yoghurt

    150g serv
    Energy 60 cal
    protein 7.2g
    fat total less than 0.02g
    carb 6.8g
    sugar 6.2g
    sodium 105mg

    this is the lowest of all yoghurts i could find
    if anyone has any snack options would be great

  8. Thanks so much.
    I will stick with pysillium then. To be honest Gluten Free food is stacked with it and I am yet to suffer any ill effect.
    Thanks again.
    Jane

  9. I cannot eat gluten free oats without a severe reaction. However, I can get hold of whole oats which have had the gluten removed. My question was, can I substitute the whole oats for the bran? Or, is bran the same as whole oats?. I note you are American. In the UK oat bran is a fine powder and is not available gluten free where whole oats are large flakes.

    1. Using (whole) oats instead of bran is pointless here. What we call oat bran here is oats outer husk (sold as… bran, husks). Oats (or oat flakes) are made of husks and germs. Whole oats have very little in common with oat bran as far as the diet properties are concerned. So, if you can’t use oat bran, don’t use it at all. If you’re comfortable with psyllium, go for it. Or find some other low-carb, supplementary source of dietary fiber (seaweed maybe?).

  10. Thanks for your speedy reply.
    Physillium is often used in diets for celiacs and appears in most of the foods we eat in the bespoke sections in supermarkets. I had no idea you could have a possible allergic reaction and had only read good things about it.
    I can get hold of gluten free oats. Would it be worth milling them instead?

    1. If you can get certified gluten-free oat bran, there’s no need for milling. The official dukan diet site sells some allegedly optimally milled oat bran. I’m not an expert in the field of gluten-related issues but afaik the protein in oat bran, avenin, causes fewer problems than the proteins found in wheat, rue and barley.

  11. Hi, I am coeliac and although you can buy gluten free oats on Free From counters, I have been unable to find any oat bran in the shops or on the internet that is also gluten free,
    I have been substituting oats with pysillium which also lowers cholesterol and has expanding properties.
    Is this a good alternative?
    Should i be using the powdered format (which is much denser and you need less), or should I be using the whole husk instead, which is lighter?
    Many thanks

    1. Psyllium powder is much more likely to cause allergic reactions and other adverse effects. I don’t think it is a good alternative to oat bran. If you can’t supplement your menu with oat bran I’d suggest that you include some fiber rich, low-carb vegs into your menu (in both pure protein and protetin/vegetable phase). Good examples are: belgian endive, rucola, parsley leaves, all fresh and dried herbs (chives, marjoram, basil, oregano etc.), some fungi and mushrooms (shiitake, cloud ears).

  12. Hi just wanted to know if my aim is to lose 40kg when I am on phase 2 do I stay there till I reach my goal of losing 40kg and then move on phase 3

  13. It was my day 1 in the attack phase I had fish In morning and then had 3 egg white but I also added a few chops of tomatoes and onions and at night I had oat bran one egg pancake with yougart in it .all I need to know is there No veg allowed in phase 1 beside the herbs
    Am I doing it ok ?

    1. You’re doing fine. There are some special veg products allowed in phase 1 (in limited quantities: pickles, sauerkraut, belgian endive, see more in food list section), but as a rule of thumb: no veg allowed.

  14. Thank you!
    I’ll hopefully be in the consolidation phase soon!!!
    And talking about consolidation, could I possibly have 1/2 a 6inch subway sandwich everyday if its brown bread with grilled chicken, vegetables and no sauce?

    1. I can’t vouch for subwa :). If you prepared such sandwich yourself, it would be diet compliant for sure. You never know what are these commercially prepared foods made of.

  15. I think this would be the best I could do, what do you think?
    and I’m not sure if this is relavant but I’m 5 ft 8 currently 67 kg and I am trying to reach my true weight of 63 kg and I’m doing turbulence training and 20 min interval cardio 6 times a week.

    Fat  (19%) Carbs  (20%)
    Protein  (61%) Alcohol  (0%)

    Calories
    1,522

    Fat: (from skinless chicken, and 2 whole eggs)
    31.9 g
    286 calories
    19 %

    Carbohydrate (from yogurt and oatbran)
    86.3 grams (4.6 dietary fibers)
    303 calories
    20 %

    Protein (from chicken, eggs and yogurt)
    220.2 grams
    929 calories
    61%

    Thank you!

  16. So does it all depend on my daily carb:protein:fat ratio?
    Usually mine is 50% protein 25% fat and 25% carbs.
    It’s that good?

  17. Here is the nutrition data for 100g of the yoget I eat.
    Calories 41
    Sodium 0 mg
    Total Fat 0 g
    Potassium 0 mg
    Saturated 0 g
    Total Carbs 6 g
    Polyunsaturated 0 g
    Dietary Fiber 0 g
    Monounsaturated 0 g
    Sugars 0 g
    Trans 0 g
    Protein 5 g
    Cholesterol 0 mg    
    Vitamin A 0%
    Calcium 0%
    Vitamin C 0%
    Iron 0%

  18. Hi!
    Recently I began logging my meals with fitday and I realized that my daily carbohydrate goes upto 100g almost everyday!!

    Here is the list of carbs I eat everyday on pp days:
    – dukan porridge with 1 tbsp oatbran and 100 ml skim milk.
    – dukan bread with 1 tbsp oatbran, 1 tbsp wheat bran and 1tbsp skim milk powder
    – 500 g of fat free fresh flavorless yogurt.

    My questions are:
    – is it rly possible to stay in ketosis with 100g of carbs?
    – is there rly no limit to how much fat free yogurt I can have? Because I’d eat the entire 1 kg contain if there is no limit to how much not fat dairy we can have!!
    – even if there is no limit, will eating more carb containing food slow down my weight loss?

    Thank you :)

    1. 1. Is it rly possible to stay in ketosis with 100g of carbs?
      Yup, the brain alone needs 125 to 150 grams of pure glucose a day, so no worries :).

      2. How much dairy?
      Some say, you should limit yourself to 1kg per day. I say, it depends on the carb to protein ratio. The better the ratio, the more you can have. E.g. if you eat non-fat quark that has 0% fat, 4.5% carbs and 15% protein, you don’t have to worry about carbs, cause the ratio is 1:3 (carbs:protein). On the other hand, fresh non-fat milk has 4.5% of carbs and only 3.5% of protein. Here, the ratio is bad, and you should limit drinking fresh milk.

      Eating limited amounts of carbs (100-125g per day) won’t slow down your weight loss if you eat enough protein in the same time.

  19. Hi i have been having this cheese coon light.
    serving per 25g

    energy 85 cal
    protein 7.5g
    fat-total 5.9g
    saturated 3.8g
    carb total less than 1g
    sugars(lactose) less than 1g
    sodium 180g
    calcium 215mg

    also i have a yoghurt drink i add
    ski delite to skim milk as a desert

    per 100g
    energy 87 cal
    protein 5.1g
    fat total 1.0g
    sat 0.6g
    carb 13.8g
    sugar 12.6g
    sodium 55mg

    this is the only dairy i have is this ok or can you please advise on something better

    1. This cheese is absolutely forbidden (25% of fat!). The yogurt drink is too high in carbs too.

      Try cottage cheese or quark or non-fat thick greek yogurt as a substitute for the cheese.

      Kefir is good for drinking. Also you may dilute regular plain yogurt with some water. Add artificial sweetener and/or flavors if you want it to be sweet. Or a pinch of salt, black pepper, chopped chives, dil weed if you want something that plays well with meat. (the latter is my variation of Ayran http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayran)

    1. You can eat non-fat dairy right from the beginning. Even in phase 1. Just make sure it’s non-fat and as low-carb as possible (no more than 6% of carbs, refer to the rules)

  20. How about this one? It seems to contain 1g of sugar per serving

    Ingredients:
    Skimmed milk cheese (cultured skim milk, salt, enzymes)
    nonfat dry milk, jalapeño peppers, water, sodium citrate, lactic acid, xanthan gum, loctus bean gum, guar gum.

    LIFETIME fat free jalapeño jack
    Nutrition Fact per 28g
    Calories 40
    Total Fat 0g (0% of daily value)
    Saturated Fat 0g (0% of daily value)
    Trans fat 0g
    Cholesterol 3mg (1% of daily value)
    Sodium 220mg (12% of daily value)
    Total carbohydrate 1g (1% of daily value)
    Dietry Fiber 0g
    Sugar 1g
    Protein 8g

    1. This one is close to ideal. You can eat it anytime. The only concern is the sodium contents. 10 servings make a regular daily limit for salt. And you should lower sodium consumption while on dukan diet. So, this product is pretty nice, but considering that it is high in sodium, not to be consumed to your heart’s content.

  21. Hello!
    I was wondering if the following would be allowed on cruise phase

    KRAFT 2% MILK MOZZARELLA
    Nutrition Fact per 28g
    Calories 70
    Total Fat 5g (8% of daily value)
    Saturated Fat 3g (15% of daily value)
    Trans fat 0g
    Cholesterol 15mg (5% of daily value)
    Sodium 180mg (5% of daily value)
    Total carbohydrate <1g (0% of daily value)
    Dietry Fiber 0g
    Sugar 0g
    Protein 7g

    KRAFT FAT FREE CHEDDAR
    Nutrition Fact per 28g
    Calories 45
    Total Fat 0g (0% of daily value)
    Saturated Fat 0g (0% of daily value)
    Trans fat 0g
    Cholesterol <5mg (1% of daily value)
    Sodium 280mg (12% of daily value)
    Total carbohydrate 2g (1% of daily value)
    Dietry Fiber 0g
    Sugar 0g
    Protein 9g (18% of daily value)

    THANK YOU :)

    1. The first one is very fatty, You can’t eat it in Phase 2 nor in Phase 3!

      The second one is pretty decent but contains some carbs (but not that much) and is high in sodium (salt). You can eat it in moderation (like 5 servings per day = 5 * 28 = 140 g).

  22. Hi, i am starting dukan diet tommorow, and i want t ask about cheese slices :
    Fat Free Amrican : in 1 slice (19 g)
    Fat 0%
    Cholestrel 1%
    Sodium 10%
    Carbs 1%
    Protein 4g

    Is it ok for phase 1 or 2?

    Please advise

    1. Hi,

      Fat Free American Singles, as described by you are neither suitable for phase I nor II. They are high in carbs and sodium. The nutrition data you presented refer to 1 slice, and the percentage values are based on a recommended daily intakes. Such combination of data can be deceiving. When you denominate the nutrition facts into a unified form you’ll get:

      Fat Free American (serving size 100g):

      Fat 0g
      Sodium 1268mg
      Carbs 14.1g
      Protein 18.8g

      As you can see the protein contents is decent but carbs are too high for either phase I or II. I guess, it won’t hurt you including Fat Free American in phase III though.

  23. I found fat free cheddar cheese at the store and I was wondering if I could have a 20g slice or two a day.

    Nutrition facts per 100 g
    Energy 145 kcal
    Protein 22g
    Fat 0.5 g
    Carbs 10.5 g
    Calcium 725 mg

  24. I know I read something about sourkraut, is that only in the Cruise phase or can I have it when I do the Attack phase?

    Thank you!!!

    1. Yes, you can eat sauerkraut in every Phase. But consider the following things:

      1. Sauerkraut is a magnificent delicacy. But be warned, I am not talking here about some supermarket canned sauerkraut. Only home made (or at least home made style manufactured) sauerkraut will do the job.

      2. What job? Sauerkraut has virtually no fat, very little carbohydrates (most of which is fiber) and some protein. The job is to make you feel full but not to make you fat. It does the job well.

      3. Unfortunately, sauerkraut very high in sodium (salt).

      4. The Dukan Diet is about eating protein (this is the beating heart of the diet, this is what makes your weight loss happen) and not just eating low-calorie stuff that makes you satiated. Remember that while including sauerkraut and other non-protein food in your diet. That said, sauerkraut is a perfect addition to the protein rich menu.

      Hope this clears things a bit.

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