HCG Weight Loss Program

hCG = human chorionic gonadotropin hormone. Its use in obesity treatment was pioneered by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons.

The hCG diet is a medically managed program. It involves both weight loss and detoxification.

Want to see a slimmer you for years to come? Want to decrease your odds for heart disease and diabetes? The hCG weight loss program will deliver results.

It is easy to think of fat as simply "fat." It's all the same, right?
Not so. There are three different kinds of fat:
woman with abdominal fat vs. lean woman

•  Good structural fat to hold our organs in place
•  Good reserve fat to act as fuel for muscular activity and the maintenance of body temperature
•  Bad, unnecessary padding around the belly, hips, thighs

The third kind of fat, the unnecessary padding, is an excess of abdominal fat. Medical books call it adipose tissue. We often call it "belly fat" and it is almost impossible to get rid of. This is the kind of fat that is not only unpleasing to the eye, but downright hazardous to your health. This is the fat the hCG weight loss program goes after.

Abdominal fat is different than fat on other parts of the body. This fat is stuck deep within the abdominal cavity and these fat cells are much more metabolically and biologically active. They tend to produce more hormones and chemical messengers that cause chronic inflammation throughout the body. Low-grade, long-term inflammation drives most chronic illnesses.

Storing abdominal fat also causes you to store excess fat in your liver, which makes the liver less able to remove insulin from your bloodstream after it has done its job of driving sugar into your cells. This kind of fat makes you resistant to insulin and triggers calcium build-up in your arteries.

The inflammation, insulin resistance, and calcium build-up put you at higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and premature death.

If you are obese and try to lose weight by essentially starving yourself, you will first lose the normal fat reserves, then structural fat. Only as a last resort will the body yield its abnormal fat, though by that time you are so hungry, you've stopped the diet. The fat you wanted to lose stays on, and the fat you need to cover your bones diminishes. For your trouble, you end up with wrinkled skin.

The use of the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone, or hCG for short, is uniquely able to trigger the release of abdominal fat. It also appears to reset the hypothalmus gland, along with areas of the brain that regulate a variety of hormones, blood sugar metabolism, blood pressure, and other key body functions. So if you have reasonable follow through with diet afterwards, the weight stays off for the rest of your life.

Fat On the Move

HCG is what gets the fat moving. Nature triggers a rise in hCG levels to, among other things, put nutrition in our bloodstream 24/7 as opposed to just several times a day when we eat. Why would Nature want a constant stream of nutrition? To nourish a baby. Nature wants a fetus to have a constant, uninterrupted supply of food. So Nature uses hCG to release fat that the mother does not need. Those fat cells open up and dump their calories into the bloodstream to continually saturate the fetus with food. If hCG liberates fat in a person who is not creating a fetus, then the excess calories simply depart via the toilet bowl.

The History Behind hCG

The man who figured out the riddle of hard-to-lose fat was Dr. A.T.W. Simeons. He graduated summa cum laude at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, still one of the world's foremost medical training facilities. He discovered the use of injectable atebrin for malaria for which he was awarded a Red Cross Order of Merit, and also a new method of staining malaria parasites now known as "Simeons' stain."

While studying pregnant women in India on a calorie-deficient diet, and "fat boys" with pituitary problems treated with low-dose hCG, Dr. Simeons discovered that both lost fat rather than muscle tissue. He believed that hCG enables stores of abnormal fat to become available as a source of energy to carry a pregnancy to full term even during times of famine. He reasoned that hCG must be programming the hypothalamus to do this.

Dr. Simeons spent forty years grappling with the fundamental problems of obesity, its causes, its symptoms, and its very nature. He studied obesity in different cultures, and in different periods of human history. Among his conclusions:

Agriculture changed our diet and our eating patterns. In a research paper published in 1954, Dr. Simeons explained that hunter-gathering societies typically nibbled through the day; obesity was rare. But agrarian societies essentially "binged" at widely spaced intervals in order to meet the scheduled labor demands of farming.
With the advent of agriculture, "certain regulatory mechanisms" in the body went haywire with some individuals. "Persons suffering from this particular disorder will get fat regardless of whether they eat excessively, normally or less than normal."
Obesity is not a disease, but a symptom of an underlying disorder. Unfortunately, people with this disorder cannot lose weight simply by restricting calories because their bodies perceive this as famine and will begin to hold fast to its reserve supplies of energy-rich fat – what Dr. Simeons identified as "abnormal fat."
hCG forces their bodies to utilize "abnormal" fat. Dr. Simeons' genius was seeing that hCG is responsible for regulating the hypothalamus of the brain. Too little hCG means your hypothalamus is not regulated so you will burn structural fat and lean muscle tissue instead of the excess fat that leads to obesity.

Doctors from all over the world traveled to Rome, Italy to study under Dr. Simeons. He published a brief synopsis of his program in the British medical journal Lancet (vol. 2, pp. 946-947, 1954) and then wrote it down in a book, "Pounds and Inches."

Dr. Simeons' hCG diet has literally revolutionized the science of weight loss, allowing people to experience success where they had previously known only failure.

How the hCG Diet Works

“Dieting is an ancillary procedure for treatment of overweight. If we do not find the cause of the overweight, we will not effect a cure. There must be intervention at the level of the hypothalamus, the appetite control center of the brain, in order to achieve a lasting cure of obesity.”

- Daniel Belluscio, MD; founder of the Oral hCG Research Center, Argentina

HCG by itself doesn't actually cause the fat loss. The hCG triggers the hypothalamus to let go of your abnormal fat (adipose tissue). Calories stored in the fat "safe deposit box" of thighs and hips and belly are released into the bloodstream. The bulk of your calories during the program come from the release of these fat cells, not from what you eat. That is why you do not feel very hungry or need to eat as much food on this regimen. If you do not overwhelm your body with excess calories from food while on the hCG diet, you can lose almost one pound each day. Twenty-one days = perhaps 20 pounds.

Dr. Simeons created a very specific selection of food choices. His protocol limits you to about 500 calories per day. Remember, your body is flooding your bloodstream with additional calories from your fat cells – think of this as the "inside" calorie count. The "outside" calorie count is what actually causes the weight loss, which is why those who are successful stick to the list of food choices and do not exceed 500 calories.

Giving the body the 500 "outside" calories supplies the basic sustenance to sustain the muscle mass. The "inside" calories freed up by the hCG provide the additional 1,000-2,000 calories you need for wellbeing. And that is why you never feel hungry even though you drastically reduce your food intake. At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, we use a homeopathic version of the human Chorionic Gonadotropin hormone (hCG). The homeopathic version gives us the information from the hormone without having to use the actual hormone itself. It is easier on the body and does not raise long-term concerns about complications from the hormone.

The homeopathic hCG uses the energy of the hormone instead of the substance of the hormone. Think of it this way: When you use the actual hormone, it is like changing the channel on the TV by getting up and physically pressing a button. When you use the homeopathic version, it is like using the infrared light of the remote control to change the channel. One makes the change physically, one makes the change energetically.

CASE STUDY:

One of my patients, an 80-year-old man who is still going strong, wanted to lose the unhealthy fat around his midsection, so he used our hCG program.

"It has helped me focus on my diet as I deal with my own adiposity. I usually lose weight during the summer but regain it over the winter. This involves various trousers and belts for each season.

"As of now, with weekly strenuous exercise at the farm, and concentrating on fresh vegetables and broiled meats, with a minimum of carbs, I am down to 166, at 5 ft 10 inches, my reduced height from a youthful 5 ft 11 plus. This gives me a respectable body mass, but I plan to lose a few pounds more."

How the Overall Program Works

This diet was developed by a physician who had people stay in his clinic. This was the 1950s – there were no cell phones, no microwave ovens, no franchised fast food joints. Dr. Simeons had total control of his patients' environment. Today, it is not feasible to leave home for a couple months and travel to Europe for a stay in a clinic. So we work closely with you, and you with us.

This is a medically supervised program. You will not only be losing weight, you will also be detoxifying. The body tends to park environmental toxins (chemicals, heavy metals) in fat cells, so as you shed fat cells, you can experience a significant detox. Detoxifying helps the fat cell to "purge," allowing for easier removal of the whole cell.

If you do not have recent (within 6 months) lab work, we will collect blood and urine samples. We will do a brief physical, take measurements. And we will actually start the detox process before you start with the hCG.

We provide:

•  UltraClear, a medical food specific to detoxing
•  AdvaClear, an adjunct to the UltraClear
•  Hand-outs about what to eat and when
•  Kitchen scale to weigh food
•  Relaxation CD – because stress increases your cortisol levels, raising your blood sugar and causing the excess to be deposited as fat. There is no point in driving ahead full speed (hCG and low calorie count) with the brakes on (cortisol, stress hormones)
•  hCG, the homeopathic version, for the 21-day duration of the diet
•  Weekly meetings to weigh in, do the measurements, and talk about the past week
•  Lots of moral support

Colonics are also available at the clinic if you would like to include them in your detox.

The program runs for 6 weeks. It can be repeated if you need to lose more weight than 20 pounds – a common factor with many of us. Weight loss is a little like training for a marathon. If you tried to run 26 miles on the first day of training, you would probably decide that training was just too dangerous and painful, and would then NEVER be able to run the full distance. To reset the hypothalamus without breaking it, it is important to allow it to re-equilibrate to the new level of weight and physical well-being before stressing it again. Think of it like a night's sleep before embarking on the activities of a new day.

We recognize that this method of weight loss is a tool to start making a life-long change. We give you a plan for a whole food diet to implement for the future. You may wish to transition from the weight loss program into the First Line Therapy nutritional and lifestyle program, so that you can maintain a healthy weight and healthy eating habits into the future.

Starting the hCG diet is a life-changing event for many people. Using homeopathic hCG for weight loss has proven to be both safe and effective – no dangerous side effects and an abundance of positive side effects.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q – Since hCG is a hormone a woman produces during pregnancy, should men be using hCG for weight loss?

A – People tend to hear the word "hormone" and think of a sex hormone like estrogen or testosterone that influences differences between men and women. Actually, the majority of our hormones do not carry sexual content. Most carry other important messages. Think of the hormones thyroid, insulin, adrenaline, and cortisone. Adrenalin, for example, is triggered in response to a "fight or flight" situation, giving us a big rush of energy to deal with a sudden, dangerous situation. HCG sends an important message to trigger the release of fat. It has no direct action on our sexuality. hCG is sometimes given to men because it mimics luteinizing hormone (LH) which helps testosterone production in the testes.

Q – I have diabetes. How will this affect me?

A – It is often possible to reduce or stop all prescription diabetes medication with this program. The blood sugar continues to drop from day to day and, depending upon the person, can reach normal values in 2-3 weeks. One of the reasons for medical monitoring is because of issues like blood sugar. If you are on medication, it will be very important to monitor your blood sugar, so that it does not drop too low.

Q – Will this reduce my odds of a heart attack?

A – Very possibly. We know that belly fat is a source of chemical messengers that trigger chronic inflammation, a root cause of heart disease. It was Dr. Simeon's experience that when an obese patient who had abnormally high cholesterol and signs of arteriosclerosis was treated with hCG, his blood pressure dropped and his coronary circulation improved, yet the total blood cholesterol may have increased. Dr. Simeon credited that rise to liberation of recent cholesterol deposits that had not yet undergone calcification in the arterial wall. In this way, the use of hCG is highly beneficial to those with heart disease.

Q – Will this affect menstrual periods?

A – No, because we do not recommend doing the diet during menstruation. Since the diet is accomplished in 21-day cycles, menstruation should not be an issue. If menstruation is irregular, it is very possible that it may become more regulated, as the total hormonal composition comes under better control, with the weight loss program.

Q – But I only want to lose a few pounds, so I can a do this for, say, just a week?

A – No. It seems the body needs 3 weeks to "reset" itself. We find that when people stop too soon, they regain weight much more easily because the hypothalamus has not had enough time to re-adjust itself.

Q – Can you overdo it with hCG and become malnourished?

A – No. hCG is self-limiting. That means that should you get to a point you have mobilized all the visceral fat, it becomes completely ineffective. You might as well be drinking water.

Q – Why do I read on the web that the American Medical Association has discredited and suppressed Dr. Simeons' diet?

A – Many voices have said that obesity is big business, and that the effectiveness of the hCG diet is seen as a threat. Unlike expensive surgeries and prescription drugs, the hCG diet program is relatively inexpensive. There have been numerous clinical studies performed over the decades that have attempted to invalidate the hCG diet that Dr. Simeons developed. All of these studies that concluded that hCG is ineffective for weight loss failed to adhere strictly to Dr. Simeons' original protocol. The studies that have actually adhered closest to Dr. Simeons' original protocol proved that hCG was an effective, safe method for rapid weight loss. Physicians who work with the hCG hormone and the homeopathic version report that they see a resculpting effect on the body, more inches lost, and a large decrease in emotional eating and binge eating.

Q – I read in a blog that the homeopathic version can't work because it is so diluted. Is that true?

A – No. The more diluted the homeopathic remedy, the stronger it is. We know, that seems counterintuitive and it causes some bloggers to write erroneously about what they do not understand. Homeopathic remedies work on the energetic level. So the further away you can get from the physical substance, the closer you get to its full energetic potency. A good resource for understanding the workings of homeopathy is a book by Dr. Robert O. Becker, MD, "The Body Electric."

Q – Is the homeopathic version just as effective as the hCG that is injected?

A – For most people, the experience is comparable.

Q – Will I feel jittery, tense, and cranky like people do on diet pills?

Q – No. Diet pills tend to rely on ephedra or caffeine to give you a false sense of "high" that also suppresses appetite. With the hCG diet, as the toxins and excess fat leave your body, you will feel more alert, with more of that get up and go feeling. Many people report that they think more clearly and feel a calm kind of energy, rather than a frantic energy.

© Copyright 2007 - 2010. All Rights Reserved. Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine.
Serving the Phoenix metro area including Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Tempe,
Paradise Valley, Peoria, Cave Creek, Carefree, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee, Queen Creek