The Truth behind Weight Loss with HCG
April 4, 2008 by Tom
In my previous article I exposed a number of myths that circulate the weight loss industry. New product are introduced to the industry every day complete with impressive claims regarding their weight loss prowess. Unfortunately, many people accept the myths behind these products without doing any additional research into the subject area. HCG (also known as Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) is one such weight loss product that has become rapidly accepted by the dieting community. In this article I will be discussing HCG in more detail and outlining how effective it really is as a weight loss supplement.
HCG is a hormone that is produced by the placenta of pregnant women. The presence of HCG in a woman’s blood stream generally indicates that they are pregnant. In fact, there was not a huge interest in HCG as a weight loss product until Kevin Trudeau released his book ‘The Weight Loss Cure’.
In his book, Kevin Trudeau claims that HCG injections can help you lose weight. His books have been bestsellers with ‘The Weight Loss Cure’ being on a number of best seller lists including; The New York Tims, Pulishers Weekly, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. However, Kevin Trudeau is also a convicted felon and has been subject to numerous legal proceedings including an FTC contempt of court action in 2007 regarding his book ‘The Weight Loss Cure’. He has also been heavily criticised on the grounds of having; no medical training, no basis in research, no proof to back up his claims and even accused of making false endorsements on another of his books ‘ Natural Cures’.
Furthermore, there are no medical or scientific studies which prove that HCG can assist with weight loss. In 1954, Dr. Albert T. Simeons, a British-physician claimed HCG injections would allow dieters to manage more easily on a 500 calorie per day diet. However, he had no clinical evidence to validate any of his claims. Since then a number of clinical tests and studies have been performed to test the effectiveness of HCG as a weight loss supplement and not one has found HCG to promote weight loss. You can view full details of these studies by reading this article.
Overall, I would recommend that you stick to the tried and tested solution of a well balanced diet and a good exercise plan when trying to lose weight. This is the only proven way to lose weight without putting your health at risk. Until, the effectiveness of HCG as a weight loss supplement is fully backed up with clinical evidence I suggest you give it a wide berth.
I can’t argue with the claims you make about Kevin Trudeau as I honestly don’t know enough about him to care what his background is or where he gets his information. However, I will say that his principles are correct in that we NEED to reduce our intake of highly-marketed crap. Americans are over-fed and under-nourished. Most of the foods we eat are over-processed, void of nutrients, and loaded with chemicals – both those that are sprayed on and those that are added in. I personally have just lost 58 pounds (and counting) in the last 3 months – 34 on the detox that Trudeau recommends (I did 74 days instead of 30) and 24 in the last 29 days of the HCG + diet. I started at 234 pounds, and am now down to 176. I was not morbidly obese so my weight loss in relationship to my starting weight is significant. I have followed the Simeons protocol exactly and am under the care of my doctor, who has done blood tests to check my liver and iron to make sure that it is safe to continue with the diet.
I think the idea of diet and exercise as the best way to lose weight is a novel plan. However, some of the ideas of “eating healthy” are bogus, for instance the cereal bars that are sold at Curves locations nation wide that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup, or the “100 calorie packs” that are oh the rage right now. That stuff doesn’t work. I work out 3 days a week, but honestly if I bought into the crap that they sell at the gym I would be gaining and not losing.
I do agree with some of your points. Yes a lot of people do eat overly processed foods which are both void of nutrients and full of chemicals. I personally try to eat unprocessed foods where possible. I try to avoid the processed snacks and instead have some fruit, and when it comes to cooking I try to ensure that I use raw meat and vegetables in my meals. Occasionally, I take the easy option and have a pizza or burger but generally I will cook something healthy such as a chicken curry with lots of onion, mushroom and pepper plus brown rice on the side. By eating this way and exercising regularly I have managed to maintain a weight that I am happy with and believe that I am quite a healthy person.
You say that some of the ideas about “eating healthy” are bogus but I don’t totally agree with this. I think that a lot of the claims made by food companies are very misleading. For example, a lot of low fat ready meals are low in fat but high in sugar and not very good for you. Many people associate low fat with healthy and therefore this does mislead them.
However, even though there is a lot of misleading information out there – healthy eating and exercise do help you lose weight. A lot of people can’t be bothered to do the research and instead just accept the claims that these products make. But if they did do the research they would quickly realise that (and this is a gross generalisation) the more processed the food the less nutritional value it has, a very basic example being an apple has greater nutritional value than apple juice (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16651652/).
So to summarise, yes the “100 Calorie Packs” are not healthy. This is partly the fault of the marketers who make these claim BUT it is also partly the fault of the consumers who fail to challenge these claims. I think deep down we all know that a sweet tasting treat is never going to be good for us, regardless of what it says on the packet.
If we rely on food companies to give us information on healthy eating then we really do not have any excuse. They are trying to sell a product and will bend the truth as much as possible to do this. Look at cigarettes. In the 1930s before the advertising of cigarettes became heavily regulated, Camel used athletes in their adverts to promote a healthy image for their product. Step forward to today and independent research has shown that cigarettes are not healthy, in fact they are very unhealthy.
A lot of what you have said is correct but I think people have to be accountable for their own health and do their own research. Trudeau’s other principles may or may not be correct (I do not know enough about them to comment) but I am standing by my guns on the HCG issue. It is a hormone produced by pregnant women and has no proven weight loss benefits. Whilst you seem to have been very successful on the diet I do not think the HCG will have been a contributing factor to your success.
The FDA is not interested in doing the right thing, they are interested in making sure that people stay fat, stay diabetic and stay many other things that could be fixed with a diet that humans really need, which is, without cereals. The pyramid is upside-down and that’s to keep the companies like Kellogg prosperous.
There’s a book out about the cholesterol myth and before it came out I had an idea that this was entirely a money-making myth to keep people on statins so that the pharmaceutical companies and Drs. make huge profits.
Dr. Simeon treated thousands and thousands of people with HCG and he wrote a manuscript about it and his experiences. Much of what he decided about HCG was a result of what he witnessed and what people said of their weight-loss, that they lost weight in different places than before when they dieted.
I’m afraid you have bought into the food pyramid that you’ve been taught and other fallacies. It’s hard nowadays to think independently with so many behind keeping us ill for profit.
Here’s a quote from the former FDA Commissioner.
The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn’t. The FDA is protecting the profits of the corporations that pay us and the politicians!
- Herbert Ley, M.D., Former FDA Commissioner
Hi Diane – Thanks your your comments. I do agree with a lot of the things you say. However, I don’t really see how any of it relates to this article. I haven’t mentioned the FDA at all in this article.