HCG Diet – New Perspectives

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It is just plain silly that the HCG diet can be remotely considered as controversial. This hormone-directed diet protocol was established more than 50 years ago. It continues to increase in popularity because of its effectiveness. The HCG hormone targets the reduction of abnormal fat, which is not possible by diet alone or by any combination of diet and exercise. Here are some new perspectives.

HCG Diet Plan

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The original plan was created by a British medical doctor, Dr. A.T.W. Simeons, in his clinic at the Salvator Mutidi International Hospital in Rome in the 1950s. His book, Pounds and Inches, describes his discovery and experience with the protocol. He also outlines the protocol in sufficient detail for any reader to follow it without difficulty. This book is freely available on many websites.

The purpose of this article is to provide some updated information on the HCG diet and to puncture at least a few fallacies that have arisen regarding it.

Public Perception vs Scientific Research

As you can expect, media coverage of Dr. Simeons’ protocol has been mixed. This is to be expected because of yellow journalism, not necessarily because of the merits of the protocol itself. For this reason, using HCG for weight loss has been called controversial. This controversy has been made up out of thin air.

Most of the scientific research evaluating HCG for weight loss was published in the 1960s and 1970s. Some medical researchers confirmed Dr. Simeons’ original results in controlled clinical experiments. Other medical researchers failed to confirm these results, even when following the same experimental design. If anything, this would be a legitimate source of controversy. However, media coverage has never mentioned this body of research.

500 Calories Per Day Does Not Lead To Starvation

People from all walks of life, health professionals and the public alike, rightly observe that a 500 calorie per day diet alone would be too little food for normal metabolism. What they fail to note is that the HCG hormone changes metabolism to make up for the calorie restrictions of the Simeons protocol. This means that abnormal fat becomes a source of calories for daily living.

The statement above means that you can live off of your own fat when you are using the prescribed dosages of HCG and eating the prescribed foods in the right amounts. Explaining how the protocol works in this statement comes across to some people as pure gibberish, so all they can dwell on is the fear of living on only 500 calories per day. It doesn’t seem to matter that another 2000 calories can come from their own fat.

New Perspective On How HCG Works

Dr. Simeons astutely pointed out that HCG influences fat metabolism by signaling the hypothalamus of the brain. He was guessing that this protein hormone fit into hormone receptors of some kind that were already in the brain. The exciting aspect of his guesswork is that, in 1994, a new protein hormone was discovered to influence fat metabolism by signaling the hypothalamus, too. This hormone, called leptin, is now widely known as the master fat hormone.

Current research on laboratory animals is starting to show how HCG and leptin might interact by signaling the same receptor sites in the hypothalamus. Research on this interaction is too new to show how this works. However, HCG and leptin clearly influence one another. Furthermore, the influence of leptin on insulin also leads to an indirect response between insulin and HCG. One property that all of these protein hormones share is that overexposure to each one leads to resistance. Leptin resistance leads to storage of too much fat. Insulin resistance leads to abnormal blood sugar metabolism (and fat storage) and eventually to diabetes. HCG resistance simply stops this hormone from working completely.

Unusual Side Benefits

As weight loss proceeds on the HCG diet, skin seems to shrink up, too. The benefit is that, unlike all other weight loss diets and even weight loss surgeries, skin does not get loose and saggy while you lose weight.

Some people believe that a great benefit of HCG is that it works regardless of whether they exercise. The entire protocol is effective whether you sit on the couch the whole time or run 10 miles per day, and at the same level of effectiveness either way.

Perspective of the FDA

The FDA is not a government agency that is concerned with helping us be healthy. It is the enforcement arm of the pharmaceutical industry. The position of the FDA on HCG for weight loss is irrelevant to anything useful for the public. In fact, I predict that the FDA will ban the use of this hormone for losing weight as soon as it gets enough attention to threaten the drug industry.

Fake Scary Stuff About HCG

HCG was first called the pregnancy hormone because pregnant women produce high levels of it during the first trimester. One subunit of this complex protein is also produced by women during menstruation. Comments that imply some kind of feminization of men upon taking HCG are plain silly. Quite the contrary, since bodybuilders often use HCG to restore low testosterone levels after taking an anabolic steroid series.

HCG is not just a hormone that is produced only by women. Men have the genetic machinery to produce it, too. One of the subunits shows up in measurable quantities as a product of certain kinds of cancer. It is used clinically as a marker for testicular cancer. Keep this cause and effect straight. Testicular cancer causes a positive test for HCG, not the other way around. Comments on the Internet that invoke the fear of HCG causing cancer get this cause and effect backwards.

Maintaining Long Term Weight Loss – Really?

No. Weight loss on this protocol does not grant carte blanche to eat poorly without consequences. Ice cream and cookies will make you fat, regardless of whether you lose weight on this protocol or any other kind of diet. Claims about keeping off fat forever are true only when dieters adopt appropriate lifestyle changes that support healthy weight management. It is only logical. If you do things that made you fat in the first place, then those same things will make you fat again.

All the best in natural health,
Dr. D

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Watch Out for Oral HCG for Weight Loss

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HCG Injections Are the Foundation for Weight Loss

Dr. A.T.W. Simeons outlined his protocol more than 50 years ago, using injections of the hormone HCG as the key for burning fat. Thousands of patients succeeded in losing weight when the hormone was accompanied by a specific, calorie-restricted diet. It is now a reputable weight loss program that has helped people lose weight permanently and more easily than any other program.

Caution on Oral HCG

The popularity of the HCG weight loss diet has fostered variations that are hard to keep up with. One of the variations is the use of an oral form of HCG instead of the original injectable form. This is a major shift in concept for introducing a complex protein hormone into the body. Proteins of all kinds taken orally only end up being digested in the mix of acids and protein-digesting enzymes of the stomach.

The take home lesson is that oral HCG, when swallowed, has very little chance of being effective before it is digested.

Sublingual HCG to the Rescue

An alternative oral form is also widely available for sublingual use. This just means that the HCG is placed under the tongue for a few minutes. The mucous membrane of the mouth is very efficient at absorbing all kinds of substances, including proteins.

The key for a sublingual HCG product to be effective is that the amount absorbed must mimic the effects of the injectable form exactly. Reputable companies have figured this out and provide directions that give you the expected results.

Comparing Injectable vs. Sublingual HCG

Both forms have to be mixed with sterile water. The similarity ends in the way they are used. The injectable form must be mixed in a vial whose lid can be penetrated by a needle. Administration requires drawing the appropriate volume into a syringe, then injecting it into your body once per day.

The sublingual form is administered from a dropper bottle, usually 5 drops twice per day. Variations depend on different products with different concentrations of HCG and different volumes of liquid per drop. It is common to mix 15 milliliters of sterile water into 12,000 I.U. of HCG, which will yield 5 drops twice per day for 27-plus days.

Injectable and sublingual forms of HCG are equivalent in their effects when used appropriately. The main reason for choosing one over another is simply a matter of personal preference or convenience. I have found that many more people are now willing to consider the HCG weight loss diet because they don’t have to self-administer the injections or go see a doctor daily to get injections administered to them. People who have objected to the need for injections now have an alternative.

What to Watch for When Buying Oral HCG

Most of the online HCG that is easy to buy is homeopathic HCG, which contains no HCG at all. Please make sure that you are getting legitimate HCG that has a clearly labeled concentration of several thousand I.U. If you see a label with 30x or some such indication of strength, this means that it is homeopathic.

The reason that I caution you on homeopathic HCG is because there is no scientific research behind this form of the hormone yet. The jury is still out.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

Hcg for Weight Loss

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The use of hCG for weight loss is once again gaining momentum with the help of 7 millions sales of Kevin Trudeau’s latest book, “The Weight Loss Cure.” Dozens of new websites including hCG Diet Info (www.hcgdietinfo.com) and numerous sub-sites to weight clinics and weight loss practitioners are springing up almost overnight. According to the editor of the hCG Diet Info website, their traffic levels have gone from a few dozen hits a week to several thousand a day almost immediately following Kevin Trudeau’s nightly infomercials.
Fact or Fad? Well, the jury is still out. hCG manufacturers declare that the hCG fertility drugs such as Pregnyl which are described in Trudeau’s book, have no effect regarding weight loss. On the other hand, long-term weight loss professionals and physicians offer thousands of hcg diet success stories. Research and reviews are posted on Dr. Belluscio’s website, hCG Obesity (www.hcgobesity.org) who also happened to have developed the highly demanded oral hCG pills.
The hCG weight loss protocol is declared to not only help an individual lose weight regardless if the dieter uses hCG injections or pills, but to perform a metabolic recovery, where the hypothyroid is said to be reset, boosting the metabolism and increasing the person’s ability to burn fat at a much higher rate. hCG is also said to break down body fat, causing rapid weight loss by mass even before registering on a scale. Simultaneously, it is said to protect the endogenous fat and muscle which the body needs to stay healthy, but also avoiding sagging and loose skin known of excessive of weight loss.
The debate amongst practitioners of these protocols argues that the original hCG diet protocol developed by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons should not be modified, as suggested by many, including Kevin Trudeau. However, thousands of dieters are following Trudeau’s advice, finding little wrong with adding large amounts of tea and organic foods to their menu as opposed to the extremely strict 500 calorie diet described in Dr. Simeons manuscript, “Pounds and Inches” (can be found at www.hcgdietinfo.com for free.) Dr. Belluscio, a devoted follower of the Dr. Simeons hcg diet protocol, reminds dieters of the extensive research that went into Dr. ATW Simeons work.
Claims of the diet being unhealthy are plenty, with questions on the use of natural hCG and the fact that it’s produced from the urine of pregnant women- however, most hCG on the market such as Pregnyl is actually synthetic. In addition, concerns that a 500 calorie diet is stressful to the body and specifically on the muscle tissue of the heart, are met with the explanation that the fat being burnt releases thousands of calories into the system before being expelled.
Regardless of these issues, hCG sales are spiking- not only for the substance itself but for related information and supplies. Unfortunately, along with this comes fraud- particularly from faux websites claiming to sell hCG and other prescription drugs. A warning from hCG Diet Info was released recently, after the editor was contacted by a woman who had wired $500 US Dollars through Western Union to a website claiming to be an overseas pharmacy offering hCG but never heard from them again. To avoid this, hCG Diet Info strongly advises hCG dieters to seek their hCG treatment through a nearby provider but if purchasing hCG on the internet, they warn individuals not to wire money via Western Union and to request reviews of sites before making a purchase.

A contributing author and editor to adclickology.com and insidepv.com, Christmas Jones is a travel and fitness writer from London but based in South America. Her pieces have been published in numerous international publications on a wide variety of topics including the use of hCG for weight loss.
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