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HCG Diet Benefits and Risks
You may have heard of the controversial HCG diet and the dramatic fat-loss attained by following the strict 500 calories a day of lean meat and veggies. HCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin which is classified as an anabolic hormone that all began when a British doctor called Dr. Simeon started injecting kids with HCG who suffered from Frohlich's syndrome.
Over the next 30 years Dr. Simeon started using HCG to help obese patients lose weight fast. But clinical nutritionist Jennifer Nelson from the Mayo Clinic says there is currently no empirical scientific evidence showing that HCG is able to sustain or achieve healthy weight-loss on a sustainable basis.
She clearly states upfront that the only reason for the dramatic fat-loss is because of the relatively well balanced 500 calories a day and not the HCG injected. She goes on to explain that the VLCD (very low calorie diet) of less than 800 calories a day has all kinds of negative side effects.
The rapid weight-loss experienced when on the HCG diet unfortunately is not sustainable and her article published in the British Medical and Scientific Journal explains exactly why HCG is not a cure for obesity. She explains that the VLCD that enables the negative calorie diet to force your body to use its own fat for energy will only add that fat back on when normal eating is resumed.
From a bodybuilding point of view the idea of gaining muscle while you lose fat is very attractive. This gets compounded by the fact that taking HCG while reducing daily calorie intake specifically for fat-loss makes a lot of sense for any competitive bodybuilder preparing for a show.
If you read the article mentioned above that was written by that Mayo clinic nutritionist you'll see why she says your muscle loss is not as severe when on HCG but that the side effects ranging from bad digestion, diarrhea to nausea are simply not worth it because you will put all the fat you lost back on again when you return to normal eating.
The HCG diet without taking any HCG injections or drops would be a VLCD which will have mild short-term side effects listed above but the long-term side effects of staying on any VLCD include anemia, bone loss and a dramatic decrease in thyroid activity and the weakening of the immune system in general.
The HCG diet without taking any HCG injections or drops would be a VLCD which will have mild short-term side effects listed above but the long-term side effects of staying on any VLCD include anemia, bone loss and a dramatic decrease in thyroid activity and the weakening of the immune system in general.
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