An HCG diet is a highly controlled protocol. It's a very low calorie diet with a limited menu and nutrients. HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, is a pregnancy hormone. It was approved for the treatment of infertility by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. After the 2007 publication of the book "The Weight Loss Cure," by controversial author Kevin Trudeau, the HCG diet emerged once again as a popular weight loss fad.
About the Diet
An HCG diet is a multi-phase program, developed in the 1950s by British endocrinologist, A.T.W. Simeons, that involves several days of calorie loading, 23 days of hormone injections and 26 days of severe calorie restriction. Simeons writes in his book, "Pounds and Inches," that HCG helps transfer fat deposits away from areas it tends to accumulate, such as the hips. As excess fat is in transit, the body uses it as fuel. While the hormone does not cause weight loss, use of HCG on a very low calorie diet suppresses the appetite.
Food
For 26 days, dieters are permitted to consume only 500 calories daily. Their controlled diet consists of a mug of coffee or tea for breakfast with one tablespoon of milk and a dash of saccharin or other sugar substitute. For lunch and dinner, you can have 100 g of meat, a vegetable, fruit and bread stick or toast. The proteins dieters are permitted to eat include beef, chicken breast, veal, white fish, lobster, crab or shrimp. The list of approved vegetables includes spinach, salad greens, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus and cabbage. Deviating from the list of approved foods, says Simeons, could have, "disastrous results as far as the weight is concerned."
Vitamins
People who consume fewer than 1,600 calories a day or eat a very restrictive diet should take vitamin and mineral supplements to make up for nutrients they are not getting from their diet, according to the MayoClinic.com website. The HCG diet, however, restricts the use of a multivitamin. Simeons explains that when you lose weight, vitamins from your tissues get reabsorbed into the bloodstream. In certain instances, the endocrinologist does approve the use of a supplement. At the onset of a cold, dieters can take vitamin C with an antihistamine. People with dental problems are permitted to use vitamin D.
Nutrients
Protein, fiber, some carbohydrates, fat and sodium are essential to a healthy, balanced diet. In Simeons' controlled HCG diet, however, consuming sugar, starch and any more than the most minimal amount of fat could wreck any possibility of losing a significant amount of weight. Before eating meat, you're required to trim off any apparent fat and avoid eating fatty fish such as salmon or red meats like steak with marbling. Sugars and starches, which the body uses for energy, are healthy in moderation. In an HCG diet, these nutrients are strictly forbidden.
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