Weight Loss/ HCG Programme
This is something of a trillion dollar plus business world wide and at some stage or other, every human being (at least in the developed world) has had a run in with so called ‘diets’ – think in the 80s it was the Atkins diet – followed by all sorts of what I call ‘fad’ diets (The Dukan Diet, The South Beach Diet etc.).
Some delivered a roaring success to the ‘dieter’ once he/she followed the guidelines of that particular diet to the letter – however once the subject started to re-lapse into previous eating patterns – the weight crept back on and sometimes even a bit more!!! Does that sound familiar to you?
I have never been what is termed ‘overweight’, but the years following my complete hysterectomy, I found my weight settling in new places, which I did not have any issues with before this procedure.
In 2011, I came across a woman at a conference here on the Sunshine Coast (Australia) called Dr. Sherril Sellmann, who made a lot of sense to me. She was talking about a weight loss program, assisted by homeopathic drops, which had been given life in the 1950s by an English doctor called “Dr. Simeons” (free download book – see bibliography). He had enormous success back then and Dr. Sellmann was reviving this weight loss method and offering a complete package i.e., a book with recipes and the homeopathic drops.
My daughter, who is a student and spends a lot of time sitting at a desk, wanted to lose some weight, so I thought I would join her in her quest and be a supportive co-dieter! We did not opt for Sellmans’ program, as it was pricey and found an identical HCG program being sold by a local naturopath.
We then set out to do the 21-day HCG program with the intent of losing some weight. I found the diet easy to handle (I did not get hunger pangs etc.) and managed to lose some weight. However, it was very restrictive to my social life as I could not go out and eat in company, but that did not bother me too much as it was only for 21 days. The program became less restrictive in the maintenance phase.
However, it was a different matter for my daughter – she continually felt hungry and because she was in the midst of her exams, she was finding it very difficult to concentrate on her work. All in all – she did lose some weight but it was very difficult for her and she felt it was like torture.
I have since had the joy of watching two of our close friends completely revamping themselves into vigorous and youthful looking people again using this system. And they in turn have seen several other people dropping weight and feeling great. However, I do feel that a certain amount of caution needs to be given to people wanting to do this – the lack of any fats in any shape or form are simply not good for anyone’s body, and the fact that the blood sugar levels can go through to China is worrying. These are factors that need to be considered before setting off down that road.
I personally feel that my skin deteriorated rapidly during the 42 days (21 days on 500 calories and 21 days on the maintenance phase) and I am now struggling to recover some of my elasticity through natural products.
One of my closest friends, Monica, a Swedish/Australian nutritionist of many years, was not very keen when I told her I was going to do the HCG diet – she is a great proponent of fats. She is adamant that we need fats – good fats and lots of it. Believe it or not – she is 100% correct and science backs her up on this too!!!
Back to the HcG diet- it was reasonably successful at the completion of it, but I did put some of the weight back on. Especially during our extensive travels last year, where it was difficult to have access to good nutrition. I have since adopted Monicas strategy, eating good fats, and have successfully managed to lose the excess weight slowly and most importantly, it is staying off. See separate information about Dr. Mary Enig “Eat Fat, Lose Fat”, “Definitions of Fat by Dr. Mary Enig” and “Stop the Yoyo dieting, it is bad for you”.
Tim and I have always looked at people who are fit, healthy and older, quizzing them about their regime. We then incorporated some of their ‘tricks’ into our routine, provided it resonated with us. Especially the octogenarians we met – they would often talk about having a toddy of Whisky daily, or a glass of red wine, or a clove of garlic – whatever it was, but most of them would say the following:
eat sparingly, drink lots of pure water
drink alcohol responsibly, exercise regularly
and above all HAVE FUN.
Bibliography – weight loss
– Dr. Simeons, free download book: http://www.poundsandinchesaway.com/dr-simeons/
– Dr. Sherril Sellmann: https://www.fatlossaustralia.com.au/
She has also written a book called “The Promise of hCG” which is very informative and has great recipes in the back.
– She has also authored books about hormones – see hormone section.
Hormone Heresy: What Women Must Know about their hormones (very informative read).
– What Women Need to Know to Protect their Daughters from Breast Cancer (don’t know that one).
– Dr. Mary Enig, “Eat Fat, Lose Fat”
A book that is a proponent of putting good fats into your system to help slow the metabolic burn so you don’t get insulin spikes if you eat too much refined carbohydrates. Great recipes at the back.
– “Nourishing Traditions”