The HCG Diet
What is HCG? HCG stands for human chorionic gonadotropin. It is a hormone that is produced in large quantities in pregnancy (both men and women have male and female hormones, so this program is just as successful for men).
HCG is responsible for making the abnormal fat reserves of the body available to be burned as fuel.* In pregnancy it is used to protect the nutritional health of the growing baby, however, in conjunction with this program it is used to rid the body of abnormal fat deposits. Rest assured that the HCG helps to stave off any hunger pangs that a restricted diet may cause. With the introduction of HCG, thousands of extra calories begin to flood the system from the abnormal fat being metabolized. For this reason, HCG diets are easier to stick to than a traditional healthy diet that simply restricts calories. When a program is easy to stick to, success is the end result!
Dr. Simeons’ Plan for Success
Dr. Simeons’ research in the 1950’s resulted in concluding that there are 3 different types of fat stored in the body:
Structural (visceral) Fat (in and around muscles, cushioning organs, padding of bottoms of feet, etc.)
Normal Fat (dermal fat which is directly under the skins surface and provides the soft cushioning between the skin and frame of the body)
Abnormal (adipose) Fat (under the dermal fat and not available for use by the metabolism until the other 2 kinds of fat are reduced)
Abnormal Fat can be viewed as “famine fat”
It is stored by the body for emergency famine. Yo-yo dieting contributes to the storage of this type of fat because the body begins to question the availability of fuel (food). When calories are restricted, the body stores all the fat it can, to save up for the lean times!
Dr. A.T.W. Simeons’research produced a plan that results in an average weight loss of .5 to 1 lb a day of Abnormal Fat when accompanied by a VLCD (very low calorie diet).
Typical Reduced Calorie Diet
Most calorie reduction diets will not produce the best results for those individuals with an abundance of Abnormal Fat stores because their bodies will begin by burning the wrong kind of fat. When a low caloric diet is introduced to the system, the Normal reserves of fat are used up first. As a result, most people look gaunt and drawn after a reduced caloric diet. Although the normal reserves of fat have been reduced, the abnormal fat remains intact. Without using HCG in a reduced calorie diet plan, the body will burn Structural and Normal fat.
HCG works to release the Abnormal fat stores and make them available to be used as fuel.* By following the protocol precisely the body will “burn” the Abnormal fat, while preserving muscle, normal fat, and structural fat.
Are you ready for the best part?
Dr. Simeons called it a CURE
The HCG will help to release the Abnormal fat reserves in the body, but, what about keeping that extra weight off? This is where commitment comes into play. Commitment to all phases of this plan will retrain the hypothalamus to be the food/fat gatekeeper that God intended it to be!
Re-setting The Hypothalamus
The hypothalamus is located just above the brain stem. It is known as the master gland and is a supervising center in the brain that links the body’s two control systems, the nervous systems and the endocrine system. The hypothalamus controls body temperature, hunger, thirst, blood pressure, heartbeat, gastric reflexes, maternal behavior, blood pressure, immune responses, carbohydrate and fat metabolism. The hypothalamus is responsible for the control of food intake.
The Hypothalamus is Responsible for the Control of Food Intake
It may sound amazing, but it is the hypothalamus’job to make the body salivate for an apple, rather than a piece of chocolate cake. If the hypothalamus is working normally, then a person will be more inclined to crave a nutritionally, well balanced diet! Food that is void of the nutrition needed will not have the same pull or crave-producing impact.
This is why some people can have one bite of their chocolate cake, push it to the side, and say, “That was enough”; while the rest of us are staring at the unfinished piece of cake wondering if we can have it!! It’s okay, we can be honest here!
The hypothalamus is much like peripheral vision. When driving on the highway, even though the driver may not always be looking straight ahead, his peripheral vision assists him in making the tiny adjustments in steering to keep the car in between the lines on the road. The hypothalamus, when functioning normally, works in the same way. It assists the body by steering the appetite and promoting more effective metabolism to keep the body at a certain weight, or “set-point”, just like the lines on the highway.
For those who have a hypothalamus that is not functioning properly, it is like their peripheral vision has become distorted. The lines on the highway, so to speak, become wider and wider, or not visible at all. The body’s hunger becomes more and more intense; more food is craved and eaten; more fat is consumed and stored.
Now the body’s “set-point” has risen on the scale to a new high and isn’t coming down. Sound familiar?
Using Dr. Simeons’ plan, it is now possible to lower the body’s “set-point” and re-train the hypothalamus to make the necessary adjustments to keep it there, forever!
Another Piece to the Intricate Puzzle
In the body, there is a hormone called Leptin. Leptin is like a messenger between the hypothalamus and the fat stores. When your body gets to the point where it has stored enough fat, Leptin runs to the hypothalamus, and yells, “Stop!!!! We’ve stored enough fat!!!!”
A normally functioning hypothalamus would understand Leptin’s message and stop storing extra fat on the body. However, high levels of Leptin circulating in the body result in Leptin desensitization, or Leptin Resistance. This means that no matter how much the Leptin tries to communicate to the hypothalamus; the message is not heard or responded to. The more important part of this equation is that Leptin is produced by the Abnormal (adipose) fat!
More Adipose fat = higher levels of Leptin = Leptin resistance =
MORE STORED ADIPOSE FAT!
When the hypothalamus is not functioning properly it cannot hear or understand what Leptin was trying to tell it. So the hypothalamus thinks that it still needs to store excess fat. And it does. It keeps storing and storing because it has not gotten the message that there is already enough fat on the body. It is clear why it is so crucial to rid the body of the Abnormal (adipose) fat. Once the pounds of fat begin to reduce, the amount of Leptin can begin to return to normal levels. This will start the process of healing the broken system of communication between the fat stores and the hypothalamus. When the communication is restored, the hypothalamus will once again prompt the body to decrease food intake through appetite and increase energy output to burn up any extra calories eaten.
It is for this reason that most weight reduction programs fail their participants. If the body doesn’t get rid of the Adipose fat, the high levels of Leptin in the body will keep the body in Leptin resistance. These mixed messages will continue to confuse the body. The hypothalamus will keep allowing the body to store fat and keep the appetite elevated.
Dr. Simeons’ research is a crucial piece to normalizing the hormone communication in individuals with high levels of Adipose fat. HCG assists the body in quickly reducing Adipose fat so the hormones can once again, communicate effectively.*
