Healthy eating is not just a choice but a necessity now. You must have already started eating healthy if not gone on a diet yet. While eating healthy is good, going on a tried and tested diet may lift the weight of looking for healthy food and recipes off your shoulders. The easiest intensive diet of 2019 is the HCG diet. We’ll run you through it so you can see for yourself.
Overview of the HCG diet
The diet first came about in the 1950’s when Dr. Simeons first experimented with the HCG hormone made during pregnancy. He found that the hormone curbs hunger while retaining natural energy levels. Then he proceeded to use it for dieting. The HCG diet has changed a lot over the years and now is more easy to follow. The HCG diet requires you to be on a diet of not more than 500 calories a day and be on HCG supplements to curb hunger.
There is another way the HCG diet is different from other diets. It has 5 phases which you can repeat after a break of 2 weeks.
Phases of the HCG Diet
Phase 1 – Stock up on your fat and energy reserves for the first few days and eat whatever you want. This phase is another reason the HCG diet is different from others. The other diets require to follow a regime right from the beginning. For the HCG diet it is very important that you do not miss this phase. You also start taking your HCG supplements as directed by your dietician or doctor.
Phase 2 – Limit your calorie intake to 500 calories per day. Continue taking your supplements. Eat a protein and fibre rich diet two times a day. As Gary Preacher from HCG Diet (https://hcgdiet.com/) puts it, there is an extremely large selection of approved HCG diet foods to consume while on the diet.
Phase 3 – In this phase you start regulating your diet while avoiding starch and sugar. You also stop your intake of HCG supplements. Take care that you slowly phase out the supplements. Abruptly stopping them could result in uncontrollable hunger. Gradually reduce the potency of the supplements.
Phase 4 – Reintroduce starch and sugar into your diet in moderation. In this phase you slowly ease your eating habits into a normal healthy lifestyle. When you do this, you could get massive sugar cravings. Combat the cravings by hydrating yourself and drinking a lot of water. You can also have fruit juices and smoothies. Eat foods rich in probiotics. They help in curbing sugar cravings too.
Phase 5 – This phase is the maintenance phase where you have started taking a normal diet without any supplements. You are now discovering a sustainable healthy diet which aids in your weight loss naturally. This is the phase where you may find yourself relapsing and putting on the weight you’ve lost. If this happens you need to re-evaluate your diet and maybe do the HCG diet again after a break of a week.
What can you eat during Phase 2?
Plan your meals according to the HCG diet. Breakfast is one big glass of warm lemon water. You have to divide the 500 calories between lunch and dinner.
The HCG diet requires you to eat 200 grams of protein twice a day. For protein you can eat chicken, extra lean beef, 3 egg whites and seafood. Lobster, scallops, white fish, shrimp, and crab are good sources of protein. If you find that you can’t handle meat, substitute it with one whole egg. Limit your protein diet to one whole egg and 3 egg whites if you don’t have access to other sources of protein.
Apart from protein include in your diet fruits and vegetables. Have a cup of vegetables per meal. Celery, broccoli, spinach, onions. shallots, green salad, fennel. Cauliflower, cucumber, cabbage, beet greens and red radishes are the prescribed vegetables. With such a variety, the HCG diet gives you a huge variety to choose from. Two servings of fruits a day are recommended, one with each meal. Fruits like apples, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapefruit and oranges are great with the diet. The bottom line is to avoid starch and sugar. Have citrus fruits that hydrate and give energy.
You have the freedom to have as much water as you want throughout the day. If you’re craving tea or coffee, you can have them without sugar. Substitute the sugar with plant stevia. Not all stevia is plant stevia so double check the ingredients before you bring it home.
