HCG Diet Hazards

To use hCG as an appetite suppressant should scare any thinking person. Quite simply put, hCG is a death hormone.

by Dr. Larry Wilson — 

The HCG weight-loss system is one of the most dangerous approaches to losing weight that I have ever seen. It consists of an extremely nutrient-deficient, 500-calorie diet, along with appetite suppression and metabolic stimulation that involves injections or homeopathic drops of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a glycoprotein hormone produced during pregnancy.

First proposed by a medical doctor who worked in a large hospital in Italy, the HCG diet appears to have a scientific foundation. Moreover, the weight-loss system was presented in a calm and reasonable manner to make it sound good — when in reality, it is not good or healthy.

Before explaining the problems with the diet, I will mention its benefits. First, the dieter is not allowed to eat much junk food, refined sugar or wheat, which is an excellent limitation that will help anyone lose weight.

Second, it appears that the hormone hCG may help in redistributing some nutrients from fatty areas into more critical enzyme systems of the body, which is also beneficial — if this does occur. However, these are the only two positive aspects of the HCG diet system.

Problems with the HCG weight-loss system

Now, let us examine the myriad problems with the diet. I have received numerous reports of problems with this weight-loss system from clients. They include muscle wasting, insomnia, exhaustion when you discontinue taking the hCG hormone and possible liver damage. Also reported are severe psychological problems, such as irritability and impaired judgment.

In addition, as one might expect, the weight tends to be regained after discontinuing the diet (and use of the hCG hormone), unless a person is willing to make significant and permanent dietary changes — a fact not emphasized enough.

Here are the reasons why the HCG diet is very dangerous and should be strictly avoided:

1. A 500-calorie diet — This is simply not enough food calories to maintain a level of nutrition. It is in reality starvation, which is unhealthy and unnecessary. Losing weight by starving oneself is not a good option and is quite foolish, in fact. A normal body can handle many more than 500 calories without gaining excessive weight. If a person gains weight on a proper diet, as explained below, then extra attention needs to be paid to their thyroid gland, adrenal glands and other aspects of their metabolism.

2. Improper food and poor nutrition — The HCG diet is terribly deficient in some basic nutrients. Besides being low in calories, its nutritional problems are:

• Coffee and tea are permitted in unlimited amounts. This is detrimental because caffeine is a stimulant, and stimulants are known to slowly wear down and deplete the body. Caffeine also irritates the intestines and stomach, thus further impairing proper nutrition. It can dehydrate the body as well, which is another serious problem. While one cup of tea or coffee may be fine, the HCG diet permits unlimited amounts at breakfast, with no other food to buffer the caffeine.
• Recommended amount of water is not adequate. The diet recommends two liters of water, which is not enough for most adults — who typically need three liters or three quarts.
• Type of drinking water is not specified. I find that common types of drinking water, especially water derived from reverse osmosis and multi-stage filters, usually do not properly hydrate the body. Generally, the best drinking water is spring water, and the second best is tap water that is solely filtered with carbon. Read “Water for Drinking” at www.drlwilson.com for much more about the topic.
• Fruit is allowed and encouraged. There are many problems with fruit today — it seems to have the wrong balance of minerals for our bodies, and the acids can be irritating. Today’s hybridized fruits are extremely yin (this means, in Chinese medical terms, they are expanded, cold and generally unhealthy), the sugar content upsets the body, and most are sprayed with pesticides, including many labeled as organic. Read “Fruit-Eating” at www.drlwilson.com for more information about fruit.
• Vegetables are virtually ignored. Only one vegetable is allowed with lunch and one at dinner. This does not make sense. Vegetables contain hundreds, if not thousands, of phytonutrients that our bodies require every day. In my opinion, a diet consisting of 70 to 80 percent cooked vegetables is essential to build health.
• The HCG diet does allow salad as a vegetable, but I find that the body cannot absorb enough minerals from raw foods like salads. Nutritionally, eating raw salads has no benefit; they merely fill up the stomach, leaving less room for the more nourishing foods.
• Eggs and raw dairy are not permitted. Properly prepared eggs and raw dairy are among the best foods available, supplying the body with many vital nutrients. Removing them from the diet is a sure way to become deficient in selenium, fatty acids and much more.
• Almost all shellfish contain too many toxic metals and possibly toxic chemicals. This is because they are bottom feeders and are fished in often-contaminated, shallow, coastal waters. Sadly, I find that today shellfish should be strictly avoided.
• Diet is too low in fats and oils. The diet severely limits fats and oils in order to restrict caloric intake. However, high-quality fats and oils found in meats, eggs, dairy and olive oil are extremely important foods. They are a necessary source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, D, E and K, and other valuable nutrients.
• No vitamin or mineral supplements are allowed, generally. This is nonsensical because the diet is deficient to begin with, and most people are already low in nutrients.

As a result, the diet is not only too low in calories, but it also lacks minerals and contains many harmful foods on its permissible foods list. It is worth repeating that the HCG diet induces a starvation situation, which is anything but healthful.

3. hCG hormone — Anything that suppresses the appetite is generally terrible for your health. Feeling hungry is how the body alerts a person to the need for food and nutrition. An excessive appetite is usually the body’s signal that it needs certain nutrients to satisfy some other deficiency.

To use hCG as an appetite suppressant should scare any thinking person. Quite simply put, hCG is a death hormone. This means that it is produced by the trophoblast, which is a parasitic stage of human life that depletes a host of nutrients, in addition to etheric energy.

The trophoblast normally arises only during the first three months of pregnancy. With the hormone it produces (hCG), it is able to shunt nutrients from the mother into the fetus, thus assuring the fetus of at least moderate nutrition at the beginning of life.

It also helps the mother feel fine, even though some of her vital nutrients are literally being stolen by the growing fetus. In other words, pregnancy is a type of parasitic condition, and hCG is part of the parasitic system.

And this gets even more interesting. Most cancers contain trophoblast and produce hCG. In fact, detecting hCG is the basis of a good cancer test. Cancer is also a parasite that has a way of siphoning off nutrients from its host so that most cancer patients slowly die of starvation.

What the hCG seems to be able to do is suppress the appetite and keep a person’s energy up at the same time, so that the person is unaware of starving to death. In other words, hCG is part of the stealth disease of cancer — it is responsible for making the disease hard to detect in its early stages, because the person feels fine.

Using hCG to make one feel fine and have some energy, while intentionally starving the body with a 500-calorie diet, is misguided and unsafe. Many better alternative methods are available to help one lose weight.

4. One-size-fits-all approach — The HCG diet, like most other diets, is basically set up the same for everyone, and it does not recommend any testing to assess metabolic rate, stage of stress, oxidation type or other indications. However, people are not all the same, and a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works, whether in clothing or diets. Some people will get better results, while for others, the diet will be more harmful. But overall, I truly believe it is quite dangerous for everyone.

5. Worse afterwards — Even after following a nutritionally deficient diet for only a month or two, the body becomes more nutrient deficient. When the dieting ends — as it must or it will result in death by starvation — the person is less able to balance body chemistry and, therefore, is less able to keep weight off.

A safer and more effective approach to weight loss

Losing weight does not need to be difficult, and it does not require shots, drugs or excessive exercise. I find that people are overweight because they eat too much, eat the wrong foods, are dehydrated, and/or have unaddressed metabolic, glandular and nutritional imbalances.

After 30 years of working as a nutrition consultant, I have found that if a nutritional balancing program is faithfully followed, weight loss is easy and simple. The science of nutritional balancing integrates the following to produce easy and, more importantly, safe and permanent weight loss:

1. A diet of 70 to 80 percent cooked vegetables — This amount of cooked vegetables will supply hundreds of missing nutrients. The diet must also contain properly prepared, animal-quality protein, a small amount of raw dairy products and a small amount of whole grains. This provides many of the necessary vitamins and minerals a person needs, in a more yang form. (In Chinese medical terms, yang foods are warming, stimulating and energetic.)

2. A diet for one’s metabolic type — This is determined by performing a correctly interpreted hair mineral analysis. Eating either a fast- or slow-oxidizer diet can make quite a difference. Some people need more fats and oils, while others need fewer of these foods and more vegetables and proteins.

3. A healthful lifestyle — The main factor is to get plenty of rest and sleep, preferably by going to bed early.

4. Three quarts of spring water each day — Spring water will supply 40 or more minerals and other benefits, while other kinds of water will not. Carbon-filtered tap water is second best, but only if it is filtered with a pure carbon filter.

5. Excellent-quality supplements — Among the most necessary are iodine, zinc, selenium, calcium, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. A digestive aid is needed by everyone as well, which should be of animal origin and not of vegetable enzymes. Vegetable enzymes are of fungal origin and, therefore, slightly toxic and much more yin.

Supplement dosage is best calculated following a properly performed and correctly interpreted hair mineral analysis that uses Dr. Paul C. Eck’s method of interpretation.

6. Other procedures — This includes coffee enemas and near-infrared sauna therapy, which can greatly speed up the healing process, as well as weight loss, in some cases.

This combination diet works as well or better for most people than the HCG system for weight loss, without the dangers or expense. A healthful diet, lifestyle and basic nutritional supplements should be continued all through life. In this way, the glands will slowly be rebuilt; the body will readjust its fat storage; and chronic infections, toxic metals, toxic chemicals and other imbalances that occur in almost everyone will also begin to heal.

This plan offers a far more lasting weight loss, plus a wonderful improvement in overall health and wellness. For more details about why people gain and lose weight, read “Weight Loss and Weight Gain” at www.drlwilson.com.

Other weight-loss systems

Other well-known weight-loss systems include Weight Watchers®, Jenny Craig®, Zone Diet, Eat Right for Your Blood Type, Atkins™ and diet pills. All of these dieting methods work to some degree for some people; otherwise, they would not be popular. Almost all of these diets are more nutritious than the HCG diet, which is another benefit.

However, problems exist with all of these other programs as described below.

• Most do not provide nearly enough of the nutrients most adults need for optimal health.
• They do not distinguish between metabolic body types, as some people need to eat differently for optimal health.
• Many allow some toxic foods and chemicals in the diet.
• In most cases, they allow fruit and raw foods, which are not helpful.
• Typically, they do not include extra vitamin and mineral supplements such as kelp, calcium and magnesium and perhaps, most importantly, a digestive enzyme.
• Diet pills or anything else used to suppress the appetite artificially are always dangerous. Feeling hungry is a normal regulator of the body that functions properly when the body chemistry is strong and balanced.
• Stimulants, such as the caffeine or amphetamines found in some diet pills, are always dangerous and should be avoided. Stimulants have the long-term effect of slowing, weakening and depleting the body.

For all of these reasons, be extremely careful when using any weight-loss system. Instead, set up a healthy lifestyle and diet — a program that you can follow for the rest of your life.

Dr. Lawrence Wilson has a medical degree and has been in the health field for more than 25 years. His books include Nutritional Balancing and Hair Mineral Analysis, Legal Guidelines for Unlicensed Practitioners, Healing Ourselves and Manual of Sauna Therapy and The Real Self. He also co-authored Toxic Metals in Human Health and Disease and contributed to The Dangers of Socialized Medicine. www.drlwilson.com or 928-445-7690.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 30, Number 3, June/July 2011.