The HCG diet is really a diet based on doses of human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone usually produced only by pregnant women. HCG can be found in pregnant women's urine and it's the basis for pregnancy tests. The hormone allows the fetus, in the beginning of being pregnant, to use the woman's stores of fat, whether the woman herself is getting the proper nutrition or not.
The theory behind the HCG diet is that the hormone will also use up a non-pregnant person's fat stores, and keep the extra fat from returning.
Origins Of The HCG Diet
The research regarding the HCG diet has been taking place since the 1930's. The hormone is very important in the development of genitals, and was used on boys who weren't achieving puberty at the proper time. The doctor who treated these boys observed that they are able to eat less than normal without getting hungry, as long as they were on the hormone.
It was then that the doctor, A.T. W. Simeons, began to investigate HCG therapy for weight reduction.
The Diet
The therapy itself lasts a minimum of 26 days or as long as 43. The patient is dosed with HCG for 23 or 40 of those days, probably through injection or sublingual drops. The patient isn't dosed for the last three days of the therapy to give the hormone time to clear the body until the patient can eat normally again. Dr. Simeons observed that after 40 days the patients started having a resistance to the hormone, and yes it would no longer work for them. He recommended that if a patient planned to try the therapy again, they should wait for 6 weeks.
All in all, he advised that no patient try the therapy more than 4 times, which would take up better part of a year when the courses were done consecutively. The therapy is relatively expensive, and can cost from $500 to $1,000 per course.
Right after the third day of the the diet, the patient begins a 500 calorie a day regiment. It's thought that after the third dose of HCG the hormone has reached the right blood levels and can do its job of burning off fat without too much exercise.
The 500 calorie diet is a high protein, low carbohydrate, no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol diet. If ever the patient is very tormented by hunger pains that they backslide, they should spend the next full day drinking lots of water and eating lots of apples.
HCG Diet Complications
HCG, being a pregnancy hormone, would make the patient feel like they're pregnant. Other complications are blood clots, constipation, depression, gynecomastia, hair thinning, and leg cramps. One really serious complication of the HCG diet happens when the hormone overstimulates the ovaries, which can potentially fill the abdominal cavity with fluid and result in kidney failure.
HCG's role in stimulating the ovaries makes it a very good fertility drug, and women will need to take additional precautions if they don't wish to have any particular one complication. More, the paltry calories of the diet is the reason why the body is starving, and will suffer the symptoms of starvation.
Research indicates that the HCG diet works no better than a placebo. The FDA approves HCG only being a fertility drug, yet it's still prescribed by doctors, and bought off the black market, or via the internet, for weight loss.
The theory behind the HCG diet is that the hormone will also use up a non-pregnant person's fat stores, and keep the extra fat from returning.
Origins Of The HCG Diet
The research regarding the HCG diet has been taking place since the 1930's. The hormone is very important in the development of genitals, and was used on boys who weren't achieving puberty at the proper time. The doctor who treated these boys observed that they are able to eat less than normal without getting hungry, as long as they were on the hormone.
It was then that the doctor, A.T. W. Simeons, began to investigate HCG therapy for weight reduction.
The Diet
The therapy itself lasts a minimum of 26 days or as long as 43. The patient is dosed with HCG for 23 or 40 of those days, probably through injection or sublingual drops. The patient isn't dosed for the last three days of the therapy to give the hormone time to clear the body until the patient can eat normally again. Dr. Simeons observed that after 40 days the patients started having a resistance to the hormone, and yes it would no longer work for them. He recommended that if a patient planned to try the therapy again, they should wait for 6 weeks.
All in all, he advised that no patient try the therapy more than 4 times, which would take up better part of a year when the courses were done consecutively. The therapy is relatively expensive, and can cost from $500 to $1,000 per course.
Right after the third day of the the diet, the patient begins a 500 calorie a day regiment. It's thought that after the third dose of HCG the hormone has reached the right blood levels and can do its job of burning off fat without too much exercise.
The 500 calorie diet is a high protein, low carbohydrate, no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol diet. If ever the patient is very tormented by hunger pains that they backslide, they should spend the next full day drinking lots of water and eating lots of apples.
HCG Diet Complications
HCG, being a pregnancy hormone, would make the patient feel like they're pregnant. Other complications are blood clots, constipation, depression, gynecomastia, hair thinning, and leg cramps. One really serious complication of the HCG diet happens when the hormone overstimulates the ovaries, which can potentially fill the abdominal cavity with fluid and result in kidney failure.
HCG's role in stimulating the ovaries makes it a very good fertility drug, and women will need to take additional precautions if they don't wish to have any particular one complication. More, the paltry calories of the diet is the reason why the body is starving, and will suffer the symptoms of starvation.
Research indicates that the HCG diet works no better than a placebo. The FDA approves HCG only being a fertility drug, yet it's still prescribed by doctors, and bought off the black market, or via the internet, for weight loss.
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