The HCG Diet Plan
Weight gain in our society continues to worsen- the majority of us are either overweight or obese and we see the problem affecting our children and youth. Every decade since the 1960’s, the average weight of an American has increased. What are the causes? We do know we have greater access to fast food that gives us higher caloric foods on the average and more often. Snacks and between meal treats are more common. We exercise less in part due to our changing technological developments of communication and entertainment. Our cars, furniture, and lifestyle have adapted to being overweight. We accept our appearance of more weight as the standard, and expect our young athletes to be bigger and stronger. The changes have occurred only over 2 generations. While there is some scientific speculation that various chemicals in our society, such as plastics, may somehow be involved, the real causes are known and the above.
If we decide we are overweight, what can we do? The knee jerk idea is “diet”. I have heard many people say they can diet and lose weight well. One mentions losing over 100-120 pounds five times! The problem with a diet is that it works in the short term, and fails in the long term. I recall the cottage cheese diet, soup diet, the hotdog diet, the grapefruit diet, the Adkins’s diet, the South Beach diet, and on and on. People do lose weight on diets, but what is really necessary is a long-term lifestyle change. Food means more than simple necessary nutrition to most people. We associate it with family times, friends, social activities, security, and comfort.
One of the latest diets currently circulating is the HCG diet. Does the HCG diet work? I think “yes”, but only because the other diets I mentioned worked. In reality, after one returns to their normal diet, the lost weight will be regained. Psychologically, I think that is harder than not losing weight in the first place. Physiologically, it also may be harder to lose in the future with up and down weight loss.
What is the HCG diet? HCG is the abbreviation for human chorionic gonadotropin hormone. It is produced early in pregnancy by the fetus and placenta. Previously collected from pregnant women’s’ urine, it can be now synthetically made and is used clinically for infertility treatment as a gonadotropin. The original idea of using HCG for weight loss is over 50 year old thinking that adding HCG to a starvation diet of 500-600 calories/day would: help limit the hunger urge, help with keeping a sense of well-being, preserve muscle while allowing fat tissue loss, and target fat-redistribution. Great idea, and would be wonderful if it truly worked.
Recently, a promoter of infomercials without any background of nutrition or science began selling HCG as part of an overall diet plan that may include herbal teas, colon cleansers, body “toxin” removers, etc. Additionally, one drinks a large amount of water and eats a very limited calorie intake of unprocessed food. The approximate 600 calories/day is actually a starvation diet that does not allow adequate food nutrients. Adding vitamins may partially help, but can not assure appropriate or safe replacement. Stepping back, one can see anyone would lose weight on this approach-but does HCG help? Do you need to detoxify yourself to lose weight? (HCG also increases fertility and the risk of pregnancy-which is not recommended when on a starvation diet!).
The real answer is hard to take as it breaks the desperate hope we have to lose weight with HCG’s promoted promise as the “miracle cure for obesity”. Many scientific studies were done in the 1970’s and again in the 1990’s, and unfortunately, none showed any benefit. The answers we hear back from promoters are testimonials and stories of those who have used HCG and their success trying to persuade us emotionally. One needs to separate what is fact and what is really myth fed by our hopes- and the promoter’s hope that we will spend our money for his bank account. I bet in 2 years the HCG diet will be another one to add to the Adkins’s and South Beach fads.
We do need to keep healthy by watching our diet, but not with a “diet”. In reality, it is the eating of a well-balanced diet and an active and healthful life-style that includes activity. HCG is not the magic bullet.
Kerry Randolph MD
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