Something to never do...

A "friend of a friend" began telling me about this new diet she is on. She had lost ~20 pounds in a month. She was extolling the benefits: reduced cravings and balanced hormones! It sounded great!

Like any good story - here is the rest of it: the diet itself is called the HCG diet. It did INDEED help my friend drop 20 lbs, reduce her cravings and she thinks balanced her hormones for about 6 weeks. At about that time, she started experiencing an irregular heartbeat. She stayed on the diet another 30 days and started noticing her hair was thinning markedly. At about 3 months on the plan, she started gaining weight - at an alarming rate. Her net results: she gained 40 lbs, suffered hair loss, and is worried about her continued irregular heart beat.

What is the HCG diet?
This diet was fairly popular in the 1950’s until it became clear that there was insufficient evidence to support using HCG for fatloss. As with most fad diets, the HCG Diet has resurfaced and makes some pretty outlandish claims - from rapid fat loss to crave busting. I was at the mall this weekend and saw an exhibitor selling this stuff claiming that the diet will “reset your metabolism”, change “abnormal eating patterns” and result with a “loss of 1-2 pounds per day.”
HCG is a hormone produced in women by the placenta during pregnancy. HCG is sold as a prescription drug approved by the Food & Drug Administration for various medical conditions including the treatment of female infertility (but not weight-loss). The diet requires a daily injection of this hormone along with a scary obligation to eat a very low calorie diet of 500 calories a day! There are also pill forms of a synthetic HCG hormone that can even be bought over the counter!

Why Do People Lose So Fast?

In short, people are actually losing twenty pounds and more per month because they are starving themselves! If you stop eating, you will likely drop weight quickly no matter what you are injecting into your body.

It’s insane really… it will cost you hundreds of dollars a month and the real secret to this diet is… starvation. You don’t have to pay for that… you can starve yourself free of charge. =) (Which I don’t recommend, unless you want to do serious, long-term damage to your metabolism.)

The HCG label actually states, there “is no substantial evidence that it increases weight-loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or ‘normal’ distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restricted diets.”

Is It Safe?

No matter your size, that level of calorie restriction is severe and does not lack consequences. These include, but are not limited to, gallstone formation, irregular heartbeat, vitamin & mineral deficiency and electrolyte imbalance. This means that the HCG diet is not only unhealthy, it’s hazardous.

Keep in mind that following this diet will give you an increased risk of headaches, blood clots, restlessness and depression. In addition, the HCG can give you pregnancy-like symptoms, such as water retention, breast tenderness and swelling. And finally, HCG can also cause a condition called OHSS, or ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which is potentially life-threatening.

My suggestion? Stick to what we know works—eating natural, wholesome foods, Xyngular and exercise—and don’t be fooled, misled or tempted by fad starvation diets and short-term, DANGEROUS fixes that require you to inject hormones in your body! 

For more information, check out our site or email us.