HCG Diet

Here is my post about my diet as promised. I would NEVER had done this diet if I had heard about it anywhere else than from my homeopathic therapist whom I L-O-V-E and trust immensely. She herself was sceptical which resulted in her doing much research on it. I don't know the official name but I call it the HCG diet. As you read on I want you to know that I'm in very close contact with her. We have appointments every week to check in, take measurements (including blood pressure) and she is always available if something doesn't feel right. Along with this diet I'm taking nutrition classes which are actually proving very interesting.

Ok. So here's the deal. The first phase of the diet which I'm currently in is a very low calorie diet combined with a daily injection of HCG. I know the reaction you just had when you read DAILY INJECTION. Believe me I had it too. The needle is teeny and you can't even feel the shot at all. Truly. HCG is produced during pregnancy. It does several things, you can look them up. In the case of the diet it helps to burn fat while I keep my muscle.

So here is my day food wise during this phase.

Breakfast: No breakfast! I love breakfast! Your shot is your breakfast basically. (I often eat half of my fruit from lunch for breakfast or mid-morning).

Lunch and Dinner: 100 grams lean meat (beef or chicken)
1 piece fruit (apple, orange, or small grapefruit). Fruit may be
eaten as snacks before or after meal as well)
2 cups salad greens OR 1 cup (total) of the following vegetables
cucumber, celery, fennel, radish, tomato, asparagus, and
onion. No more than 3 veggies may be combined at one time.
Spices, fresh herbs, and the juice of one lemon daily may be used

The only beverages allowed are water and tea. No oil is allowed (broth is allowed for cooking)


This low-calorie/injection phase lasts 44 days. It's 40 injections plus two more days of the low calorie diet. You don't do the injection the first 2 days of your period, thats where the last two days come from. 44 days. Believe me I'm counting. I usually don't feel hungry, but there are days. Grocery shopping is hard due to all the temptations but so far so good.

Starting October 18 I get to add everything else back in my diet except sugars and starches. You eat regular meals and snacks. This second phase lasts for 3 weeks. I'm really looking forward to cheese, eggs, avocado and other veggies!!! (these are really the only things I miss besides chocolate and booze...)

Starting November 8 I enter stage 3 which is really just maintaining healthy eating habits. Basically you slowly add sugars and starch back into your diet. Yay for chocolate and wine!

The nutrition classes are really helpful and make me more committed to the diet. The over arching goal is to help us learn how to eat using the glycemic index. Here is what I took from the first class session. Many people in the U.S. are carbohydrate sensitive. Our liver turns carbs into sugar for energy. But there is only so much storage in there. Once that storage is full the left overs are converted to fat. Eventually, because the storage never empties, our livers learn to turn carbs and sugars automatically into fat no matter how much we eat of them. This diet is giving the liver time to get rid of all that crap. A liver cleanse if you will. And hopefully it will relearn that carbs can be sugar for energy, not auto-fat. This and this alone keeps me away from all those temptations at the grocery store. Our next class will focus on sugars. Joy.

Is this craziness worth it? Well, I've already lost 8.5 pounds and could lose up to 30 total by October 18...it's worth it for me.

Stay tuned for more! Half way through (next week) I will post a current pic and a pic for the summer and we'll see the difference hopefully!