Sometimes calling something an HCG diet scam might seem harsh. However, when marketing hype overshadows a tried and true diet protocol with scare tactics, I feel a need to point it out. Before you take a look at what I mean, keep in mind that this latest hype is not a new HCG diet as claimed, and the products behind it do not contain any HCG whatsoever. Buyer beware.

HCG Diet Dangers – New Worries Have Dieters Switching To New HCG …

Many people on injections have reported many issues like raised blood pressure that have complicated their already unhealthy state of being overweight. These numerous concerns have HCG dieters switching over to a Utah company’s new …

Publish Date: 05/03/2010 12:46

http://www.prlog.org/10659750-hcg-diet-dangers-new-worries-have-dieters-switching-to-new-hcg-diet-method.html

More Paranoia and Ignorance to Come

And while we are at it, here is an interesting diatribe against the HCG diet that represents the following aspect of human nature: A person will find evidence for whatever he or she already believes. If you believed even half of the nonsense in this post, it would scare you out of your wits about the HCG diet protocol. Of course, that seems to be the idea. Read on, and be amazed by the sound of axes grinding:

The HCG Diet – Philosophy, Execution, Contradiction, and Stupidity …

I would NEVER recommend something as nebulous as hcg to any woman I loved. My mother suffered from high blood pressure and high cholesterol (common in many Black women her age… hell, it’s common in Black women MY age), and I personally …

Publish Date: 07/26/2009 16:26

http://blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com/fad-diets/the-hcg-diet-philosophy-execution-contradiction-and-stupidity/

In amazement,

Dr. D

The HCG diet menu will keep you slim for life. During the protocol, HCG diet foods must be low in fat. Dietary fat distracts the metabolism of abnormal body fat and leads to the storage of body fat in the presence of dietary carbohydrate. Here is how to make this protocol work to keep you slim the rest of your life.

HCG Diet Foods

The widely known four main components of the HCG diet consist of: 1) a low fat meat protein source; 2) a vegetable; 3) a fruit; and, 4) crackers or breadsticks. These four categories primarily represent two of the three food groups, i.e., protein and carbohydrate. All of them are either low fat (meat, vegetable, fruit) or no fat (crackers).

Recommended meats are obviously the sources of protein. The other three categories are sources of carbohydrates. They are allowed either as whole foods (vegetables, fruits) or in very limited amounts per meal (crackers).

Making Dietary Fat and Carbohydrate Work Together

The low carb part of this protocol is crucial for keeping the liver from becoming saturated with stored carbs. A carb-saturated liver converts excess carbs to triglycerides that go back into the bloodstream and eventually into storage in fat cells. Neither of these outcomes is healthful when excessive.

The hormone phase of the HCG diet keeps the amounts of dietary fats and carbs low so the hormone can direct the removal of stored body fat. This would not happen without low dietary fats and carbs. This also explains why cosmetics and skin products that contain oils can undermine fat metabolism.

HCG Diet Foods for Lifetime Weight Management

The food choices themselves are excellent for a lifetime of healthy eating in many respects. These foods can be consumed in sufficient quantities to meet the daily caloric needs of any Basal Metabolic Rate.

Foods that upset metabolic balance would still do so. Examples include sugars, starches, and processed carbohydrates from all sources, especially those from wheat and rice. They also include super sweet fruits such as grapes and bananas.

Staying Slim After HCG Not Guaranteed

Too many overhyped HCG diet clinics and online promotions claim that the HCG diet will keep your fat off for the rest of your life. This is poppycock. Such claims mislead people into thinking that they do not have to alter their lifestyles. Here is what I guarantee: If you get to your target weight using the HCG protocol, then go back to eating foods that made you fat in the first place, you will get fat again. It is that simple.

The Problem With Protein

This food group is routinely ignored in almost all weight loss diets, at least as far as worry about any effects on weight gain. Arguments instead revolve exclusively around the roles of fats and carbs. Protein, however, does play a role in maintaining body fat. This is a complicated topic that deserves articles by itself. However, here is what more than 50 years of research shows very clearly: You will live a long and healthy life if the amount of protein you eat constitutes as little as 5 percent of your total calories.

Excess protein is, indeed, a problem. We eat too much of it, especially from animal-based foods.

Good News For The HCG Vegetarian Diet

You do not need a dedicated protein source at all. The typical sources of protein for vegetarians (beans and grains) would not work during the protocol because of their high carb content.

However, you can get all the protein you need from spinach. The good news is that you can eat all the spinach you want and never disrupt your progress during the HCG protocol. And you will never be hungry if you eat as much as spinach as you can hold.

By the way, this advice also extends to adopting a vegan lifestyle for life. Studies have shown over and over that excess protein intake, primarily from animal-based foods, is bad for your health in many ways. Overweight is just one of those ways.

For a good HCG diet menu,

Dr. D

One of the most remarkable side effects of the HCG diet is resetting insulin sensitivity. This has wonderful consequences for folks who have developed (or are developing) diabetes.

The Oral HCG Weight Loss Method, Diabetes and Other Disorders …

Dr. Simeons states that those suffering from “a fairly advanced case of stable diabetes” (in other words, adult-onset Type II) may in fact be able to stop taking their anti-diabetic medications after three or four days on the HCG diet. …

Publish Date: 04/05/2010 23:00

http://www.hcgdietdirect.com/hcg-diet/hcg-drops/the-oral-hcg-weight-loss-method-diabetes-and-other-disorders/

Lose weight with HCG – A Low Carb Diet | weightlosingideas.com

Consult with your doctor of course before taking the HCG diet if you have diabetes for specific protocol that is necessary. However, the HCG diet is labeled, and proven to work for those that have diabetes …

Publish Date: 04/16/2010 16:50

http://weightlosingideas.com/lose-weight-with-hcg-a-low-carb-diet

Hey, here is some important food for thought on Splenda (pardon the pun!). I will be posting a more technical article on the evils of this artificial sweetener later. For now, take a look at a couple of videos by another HCGer on it. Very important!

HCG Diet Facts – The Truth About Splenda 1/2

Splenda makes you fat so it is just plain ridiculous to use it while on the HCG diet. Splenda is a deadly chlorocarbon that is designed to destroy your metabolism the very thing you are trying to repair while taking HCG! *************************** T…

HCG Diet Facts – The Truth About Splenda 2/2

Splenda makes you fat so it is just plain ridiculous to use it while on the HCG diet. Splenda is a deadly chlorocarbon that is designed to destroy your metabolism the very thing you are trying to repair while taking HCG! *************************** T…

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

The HCG diet menu is radically different between Phase 2 and Phase 3. This list of foods clears up a lot of questions about what exactly is acceptable during Phase 3. As it turns out, this is also the ideal list of foods for long term lifestyle choices.

Phase 3 Food List

Here are the foods to choose during Phase 3: Dairy. Almond Milk. Milk. Eggs. Plain yogurt. Snacks. Almonds. Almond Butter. Pecans. Protein. Beef. Chicken. Fish. Eggs. Hemp Protein Powder. MRM Protein Shakes. Jay Robb Protein Shakes …

Pretty tasty!

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

This is where most people blow it. The first 3 weeks after taking HCG are crucial. Failing to follow certain guidelines will add weight back again. Here is what you must do.

HCG Diet Information After The HCG Phase

The After HCG Diet To Do list begins after the HCG phase concludes. The last day of the HCG phase is the third day in a row of not taking the hormone, also called the hormone washout period.

On the first day after the three day washout period, you are allowed to increase your calories back to your normal daily caloric requirement, with certain crucial restrictions.

Post HCG Food Period

The first three weeks after taking HCG, sometimes misleadingly called the maintenance phase, is the period when the fat metabolism that you established during the protocol becomes stabilized. The two most important actions that you must take during this phase are: 1) weigh yourself every day, just as you did while taking the hormone; and, 2) eat or drink anything you want except food and beverages that contain sugar or starch.

One exception is a single glass of wine each day, with a meal, during this phase.

The above guidelines are not new information. They were prescribed by Dr. Simeons in the 1950s. Here is why they are important.

The Importance Of Keeping Track

Keeping track of your weight every day ensures that you are not gaining it back. Dr. Simeons insisted that the stabilizing action of this phase would be most effective when his patients kept to less than a 2 pound gain from one day to the next. He said the same thing for a 2 pound loss. The point is to stay within a narrow weight range, starting with your weight on the final day of the hormone phase and staying at that target for the next three weeks.

The Importance of Carb Restriction

This is a simple guideline. Avoid starch and sugar, both of which are carbs. The most dangerous carbs during this phase are those that fill up your liver storage capacity to quickly (i.e., starch and sugar). If your liver takes in too much carb during this phase, it will convert the excess into triglycerides and shove them back out into the bloodstream, on the way to storage in fat cells. Elevating triglycerides and increasing fat storage are not the results that you want.

Foods and beverages to avoid during this phase include potatoes, all breads, pastas, and other starchy products, rice and other grains, grapes, bananas, all fruit juices, soft drinks, and beer. This list could be much longer. Just be sensible.

By the way, the explanation is oversimplified. As Dr. Simeons mentioned in 1954, the true danger during this period is the combination of fats and carbs in the diet. Indeed, if you eat no carbs at all, you can consume more fat without increasing weight again. Remember, you have just spent a month or more establishing a healthy fat metabolism. This is no time to revert back to old habits and mess it up.

If you insist on eating carbs with a lot of fat, then watching your weight daily is the only way for you to easily detect what change this may be causing.

The Proverbial Steak Day

The steak day strategy entails skipping breakfast and lunch, then for dinner eating only a steak and one apple. The necessity for a steak day is any day that your weight reaches 2 or more pounds above the previous day.

The key is to have a steak day that very same day. Putting it off will undermine your recovery. However, a steak day can and often does put you right back on track by the following day.

The reason that I emphasize this is that a steak day is most effective only when it is implemented on that first day of too much weight increase.

A Modern Scientific Viewpoint

Dr. Simeons created his diet based on 1950s knowledge about human physiology. The discovery of the master fat hormone, leptin, in 1994 substantiates his thinking. Leptin and HCG both work by sending signals through brain receptors in the hypothalamus. Lab research with experimental animals is just now starting to show how these two hormones interact to regulate fat metabolism.

The carb connection in this scenario involves insulin, which also has a close interaction with leptin. If either one of these hormones gets out of balance, the other one will, too. Consuming excess carbs will make you fat more quickly than will any other kind of food. These hormones work together to make it so. This is why eating carbs during the three week post HCG phase ruins your newly acquired fat metabolism.

I hope this helps you understand how important it is to do the right thing during this period.

All the best in natural health,
Dr. D