HCG Diet

The HCG diet was created by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons and was created for seriously obese people that had health issues due to their weight.  The hCG diet takes the natural hormone ( human chorionic gonadotropin) that is produced during pregnancy, and is conveted into pill form or a liqued to be used in an injection. This resets your metabolism and along with a low calorie diet your body starts to shed it's fat. The claim is that with your metobolism being reset and the low- calorie intake you can lose a pound or 0.45kg a day without being weak or starved. To start the diet you need to take a "homeopathic" spray, oral drops or pellets for 8 weeks.  You could also get the hCG injection but it must be given by a health care provider or registard nurse.

              

The diet is also in phases, in phase 1:  You load up on fats for two days while taking the injection or the drops. You must eat as much as possible and the fattier the better. You should try to gain at least 2 - 5kg (5 to 10 pounds). This tricks your body to think that this is your normal calorie intake, so that when you start phase two and drop the calorie intake by 2500- 3000,your body thinks it needs to get more calories and starts taking the fat you have stored.

Phase 2 Next 45 days. No sodas, no starches such as pasta, bread, cookies and tortillas but melba toast and Grissini sticks are allowed. No creams, moisturizers and lotions that are oil based.

 You have two meals a day which is lunch and supper and you can only take in 500 calories per day. Each meal must contain a protein, beef or heavy protein to be taken for lunch and fish or light protein for supper, one(1 cup per meal) vegetable, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli,cauliflower,spinach, fennel,chard, red radishes, shallots, cucumbers,Beet-Greens, green salad, mixed greens and celery are allowed.

Proteins (100 grams at pre-cooked weighed per meal)  such as fresh white fish, lobster, crab, 3 egg whites, shrimp, beef, veal, Filet Mignon and chicken breast are allowed but must be either grilled or broiled. Meat with visible fat or containing fat such as salmon, tuna, dried or pickled, herring and eel are not allowed.
Fruit (2 servings daily eaten between meals) - 1 small apple, or one cup blackberries,1 cup raspberries, 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup Strawberries, half a grape fruit and 1 orange (remember only one serving twice a day.) 

You are allowed 1 teaspoon Olive Oil or low fat salad dressings, better yet make your own salad dressing with no fat unless with your 1 teaspoon of Olive oil. You are allowed to drink as much tea and coffee as you want, 3 liters of water, bottled water with no flavor, lemon juice, lime juice, grapefruit juice, you can use any spices but I recommend you add some cayenne pepper to your diet as this helps speed up your metabolism. Melba toast, bread sticks or Grissini, two of each and not at the same meal.

 Phase 3: Maintenance for 21 days.

Now you up your calories to 1500 a day. You still eat the same but now you can up your intake and you can use your lotions and body oils again. You can eat your healthy fats such as tuna again, diary products but low fat, and your protein is upped to 400 grams or 14 ounces a day. There are only a few veggies to be avoided and they are butternut, potatoes, carrots, beans including green beans, corn, beet, parsnip and peas but all the fruits can be eaten.

The phase three is used for the rest, keeping to the rules you should not gain weight again. Exercise is also a very good way to burn calories so go for quick brisk walks for half an hour.

That is the HCG diet in a nutshell. There is more to this diet which I will discuss in my next post like the FDA's findings on the diet and any side effects if any.