Last time, I warned you about three sweeteners to avoid; but this time, I’ll give you the 4 best ones!

For Phase 2, my recommendations are:

• Stevia, a natural zero glycemic response sweetener
• Erythritol, a sugar alcohol with zero glycemic response

Stevia

Most of us on the HCG Diet are familiar with stevia. As far as safety, here’s the most recent study published in 2003 in the Phytochemistry journal, “Acute and subacute toxicity studies revealed a very low toxicity of Stevia and stevioside.” Read the abstract for yourself at PubMed: http://tinyurl.com/steviastudy.

Some folks do have trouble finding a stevia that tastes good to them, though. Sometimes, that’s just because they are using too much, which for some of us, causes bitterness. KAL and NuNaturals pure extracts seem to be the best-tasting and less likely to taste bitter.

For bulk use, here’s a good one that is totally pure, no fillers at all: http://tinyurl.com/bulkstevia. Use the coupon code CIN183 to get $5 off your first order if you haven’t bought at this site before. Remember, however, this is pure with no fillers to bulk it up, and 3/4 TEAspoon equals ONE CUP sugar, so don’t use too much!

Erythritol

Least likely to cause gastric upset when compared to all the other sugar alcohols, erythritol is also zero glycemic response, so it can also be used in P2 without jeopardizing the diet’s benefits.

For Phase 3, these two sweeteners can be added to your staples:

• Vegetable glycerin, a sweetener with a low glycemic response
• Xylitol, another sugar alcohol with low glycemic response that can be used in small amounts to limit the digestive upset it can cause when too much is eaten too frequently

Vegetable glycerin

The best thing about this sweetener is that it is thick, like honey. What that means is that you can use it in recipes that need a certain syrupy consistency or “mouth feel” to mimic the sugared version. Homemade ice cream is one of those recipes that needs a certain quality that only glycerin can give it, absent sugar. The person that was most excited when first learning from me about vegetable glycerin for P3 use, was my close friend Tammy Skye, who is working on a Phase 3 cookbook as a follow on to her original book, The HCG Diet Gourmet Cookbook, which most of you are familiar with. (She now has a second volume available to provide another 150 P2 recipes for us.) Before I filled her in on my secret of using this thick sweetener, she had been struggling to get the right consistency for P3 ice cream, but glycerin did the trick!

Xylitol

Although it can cause gastric upset if overused, xylitol is another sugar alcohol with low glycemic response that makes baking and other recipes in P3 work better. You do need to be aware that xylitol is harmful to dogs, so please protect your pets from accidently ingesting this one. http://tinyurl.com/dogsxylitol

And always remember, you DESERVE to be thin!

Love with Blessings,
Harmony

Editor and contributing author for the hcgdietinfo.com blog and moderator of hcgdietinfo.com forums
Author of HCG Diet Made Simple book and The HCG Diet Book of Secrets

Which sweeteners can wreck your HCG Diet experience, not to mention your health?

Aspartame

This sweetener is an excitotoxin, according to Russell Blaylock, and it can make you hungrier and fuel addictions to sweets and starches. Aspartame-induced DNA damage was shown in the Trocho Study in Barcelona in 1998, caused by the free methyl alcohol converting to formaldehyde, which then accumulates in cells to damage your DNA, causing toxicity in the liver and fat cells. Other studies show aspartame causes cancer in mice and rats. Aspartame (found in the blue packets in restaurants) is sold as NutraSweet, Equal, and other names now that the original patent has expired. Neotame is the newest patent on a similar sweetener, also to be avoided due to similar concerns.

Splenda

“Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar,” was the original slogan. In reality, Splenda (sucralose) is closer in molecular structure to many pesticides than it is to sugar, after the pairs of oxygen and hydrogen atoms in sugar are replaced with chlorine, a known carcinogen. Like many pesticides, sucralose is a chlorocarbon, a type of organic compound containing at least one covalently bonded chlorine atom.

Studies show that only 70-80% of Splenda is excreted. Wonder where the rest goes?  Ironically, although most folks will only absorb about 15% of sucralose, the healthier your gastrointestinal tract is, the more likely that more of the chlorine in Splenda will be absorbed by your body.

In a particularly disturbing study by Duke University in 2008, rats that were fed Splenda (sucralose) for only three months gained 9%-12% more weight than those that were not. Even more frightening, those rats continued to gain more after the Splenda was discontinued.  Splenda is the yellow packets in restaurants.

Stevia in the Raw

I consider this one the sociopath of sweeteners, with no conscience at all. How can you name something as being “IN THE RAW,” therefore implying that it is all-natural and healthy, while loading it with sugar? So many HCG Dieters have been taken in by this name, it is just horrifying. They use the product thinking that they have the very best pure stevia, since it is called “IN THE RAW,” all the while sabotaging their chances for completing the diet successfully and maintaining. We see it all the time, the poor HCG Dieter who can’t figure out why they aren’t losing weight as they had expected to do. I’ve had coaching clients that came in to their coaching experience using this product, only to discover that it was probably the single most harmful choice that they had made. I’ll do another blog later on label-reading, which would have prevented this bad choice had it been done correctly and consistently. Don’t rely on the name of the product, no matter how beguiling and health-promoting it might sound. Look at the ingredients list at a minimum.

The folks that make this imposter say that the amount of dextrose used as a filler is not significant, but it is the first ingredient in the list, meaning that it has more dextrose than any other ingredient, including stevia! Even more troubling, when I researched this, I found postings on diabetes forums indicating that diabetics are seeing blood sugar spikes with Stevia in the Raw (as documented by readings of blood samples after ingestion), but not with Truvia or other products that use non-dextrose bulking agents.  Not surprising at all, since dextrose has a glycemic index of 100, same as table sugar.

Next time, we’ll look at the four BEST sweeteners for the HCG Diet…

And always remember, you DESERVE to be thin!

Love with Blessings,
Harmony

New editor and contributing author for the hcgdietinfo.com blog and moderator of hcgdietinfo.com forums
Author of HCG Diet Made Simple book and The HCG Diet Book of Secrets

I remember when I first connected the dots….

I was sitting out on my back porch, drinking my Bengal Spice hot tea, taking a break to read a Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. At that time, I was doing a round of the HCG Diet, and had lost 9.4 pounds in the last 7 days, so I was feeling very proud and satisfied with my life. I read the first 30 pages of Eleven on Top, laughing out loud a lot and really enjoying it. It had been quite a while since I’d read Evanovich. All of a sudden, I realized that I was having colossal cravings for sugar and starch, something that hadn’t happened the entire time that I’d been on the HCG Diet. What on earth?

I knew that I wasn’t truly hungry. So I went straight to my stockpile of L-Glutamine, breaking open a 500 mg capsule under my tongue to dissolve, knowing that it would change my brain neurotransmitters so that I would feel satisfied and happy again. Ahhhh, what welcome relief! But what the heck had caused that unusual and powerful sensation, which I’d never ever had before while on the HCG Diet?

I knew that I didn’t have a Candida overgrowth, which I know can cause cravings, because I did a Candida cleanse before starting that round of HCG. The allowed foods on the HCG Diet wouldn’t have triggered more Candida, or even an insulin spike, as long as you’re eating all the foods at each meal together. (I don’t eat my grissini or fruit by itself, so that the protein and fiber in the meat and veggies will cause slower digestion of the bit of starch or natural fruit sugars.) So, again, what the heck was going on with me?

Then it hit me. The book! I quickly skimmed just those 30 pages, and sure enough, this is what I found:

– 15 references to doughnuts, including Boston cream style doughnuts

– 13 references to hot dogs, including eating NINE all at once

– 10 references to birthday cake, including a binge on FIVE pieces in one sitting

– 8 references to pizza, and additional references to fries, beer, Cheez Doodles, and Tastykakes

All in only the first 30 pages. For heaven’s sake, even her boyfriend Joe calls her Cupcake as a pet name! The cake and the pizza were described in mouth-watering detail, causing my brain to go off-kilter, just as if I’d watched nothing but nonstop cake and pizza commercials on TV for the last 30 minutes.

Mystery solved.

And lucky little Stephanie almost never suffers any consequences for eating all that junk, either. (Well, unless you consider her frequently getting shot at and her repeatedly exploding cars to be some sort of cosmic payback.) In fact, just once over the course of the first ten books in the series, she gains some weight, notices her jeans don’t fit so well anymore, and everyone comments that she’s fat. She only has to eat some fresh raw food and jog for a couple of days – then “Poof!” – that fat just miraculously vanishes, and the now-thin-again Miss Plum goes right back to her usual junk food diet. I don’t know about you all, but that’s just not how it works for most folks.

The first Stephanie Plum movie, One for the Money, just started in theaters 1/27/12, and here’s the trailer:

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I won’t stop reading Evanovich and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the first Stephanie Plum movie last night at  the theater, but I’m keeping my L-Glutamine at the ready, in case of an emergency. I KNOW that it’s all just supposed to be funny that Stephanie Plum lives on birthday cake, doughnuts, and pizza, but you know what? Obesity and poor health are still no joke in MY book.

And most of all, don’t forget, you DESERVE to be thin!

Love with Blessings,
Harmony
New editor and contributing author for the hcgdietinfo.com blog and moderator of hcgdietinfo.com forums
Author of HCG Diet Made Simple book
and The HCG Diet Book of Secrets

Along with Doctor Oz.

It has been said by many that the real hCG diet protocol is the way to weight loss success. On February 22, Dr. Oz had a show that focused on the hCG Diet and the use of hCG drops.  What the results showed was that not only did the hCG diet work for the majority of individuals who tried it, BUT it also revealed that people were keeping the weight off using hCG drops – even after other diets and exercise programs had failed.

Dr. Oz did a decent job of presenting the pro’s and con’s of the hCG diet and using oral hCG, he even emphasized the use of REAL hCG in drops or Injections. However, where Dr. Oz failed is in not exploring the falsehoods of homeopathic hCG. Yes, he did say it contained either trace amounts or no hCG at all, but what he failed to add was the FDA came out and said “it is not recognized in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia, therefore it is NOT recognized by the FDA as a homeopathic drug, so they are unapproved.” Elizabeth Miller FDA health fraud team.

There was a homeopathic hCG seller in the audience who gave the typical propaganda say “It is made in a FDA approved lab” however, that isn’t the point or issues. Unlike real hCG, the homeopathic version contains NO hCG and would need a prescription if it did have a trace amount in there per the FDA and HPUS own guidelines.

The majority of the audience who were there that went on the hCG diet had nothing but success in losing the weight and keeping it off. The few who did not expressed it was because they had stopped by week 2 when they felt dizzy or had felt they lost energy.

On the other hand, the Doctor who prescribed the hCG diet to her patients did a fantastic job of explaining the hCG diet protocol and why it works!  She did advocate the use of real hCG drops or injections.

Although his wife did the hCG diet protocol, Doctor Oz agreed that he may not be a fan simply because more studies needed to be done. But he also recognized the true evidence is that people really are losing weight and keeping it off using real hCG with the hCG diet protocol.

People losing weight on the hCG diet and keeping it off happens to be typical results when real hCG is correctly used. That’s why hCG diet journey only offers real hCG drops for the hCG diet plan as you need between 125 iu and 200 iu to do the diet properly, prevent muscle loss, rest your metabolism and release your abnormal stored fat!

On December 6, 2011 the FDA has targeted several Homeopathic hCG suppliers who  sell over the counter hCG.  The FDA has stated that these products are fraudulent and contain 0 hCG.

The hCG diet does work however it needs to be done with real prescription strength hCG as Dr. Simeons has outlined in his manuscript.  Homeopathic hCG doesn’t follow what Dr. Simeons manuscript requires from hCG.  Any hCG you buy must test positive on a pregnancy test strip.

hCG Diet Info has been the official source of hCG diet information for several years and we will be providing to you a directory of Real hCG sellers that are online so you, our readers can do the hCG diet correctly as intended.

Remember there are only 2 ways to get real hCG.  Doctor prescribed (some have online nationwide services) or from an online pharmacy that is not in the USA (and their affiliates, hCG Diet Journey).  Remember the FDA will allow you to import up to a 3 month supply of any drug for personal use.

Occasionally while on phase 2 of the hCG diet, some dieters may reach a plateau for a few days.  A plateau is 4 consecutive days without inch or weight loss. While the body will normally work itself through this stage, it can cause unnecessary worry and stress during an hCG diet stall.  In those cases there is an alternative that you can use for one day called the “Apple Day”.    You will follow this for 24 hours, eating only 6 apples and a minimal amount of water – no other fluids are allowed.

All dieters will have a plateau sooner or later. A hCG diet plateau always corrects itself, but many dieters who have become accustomed to a regular daily loss get unnecessarily worried and begin to fret. Nothing will convince them that a plateau does not mean that they are no longer responding normally to treatment.  Often, even though the weight loss is not showing on the scales, they are still losing inches.  Your body is being restructured, though you may think the scales are telling you otherwise.

It is permissable, to break up the plateau by having an “apple day”.  An apple-day begins at lunch and continues until just before lunch of the following day. Dieters can have six large apples and may eat one whenever they feel the desire though six apples is the maximum allowed. During an apple day no other food or liquids except plain water are allowed and of water they may only drink just enough to quench an uncomfortable thirst if eating an apple still leaves them thirsty. Most feel no need for water and are quite happy with their six apples. Needless to say, on apple day you will still do your hCG drops or injections. The apple day produces a gratifying loss of weight on the following day, mainly due to the elimination of water. This water is not regained when they then resume their normal 500 calorie diet at lunch, and on the following days you should continue to lose weight satisfactorily.

Sometimes, being overweight or obese can signal an underlying condition that no diet, no matter how safe or effective, can help with. Others, there might be a family history of physical or mental conditions that precludes you from dieting properly. Like any other regimen, following Dr. Simeons’ protocol should be done after consulting with a physician, as there do exist some general hCG Diet warnings and contraindications.

Since hCG is a pregnancy hormone, men and women with endocrine conditions should consult a urologist or gynecologist before use. Though the levels of the hormone in virtually any injection or oral drops form are many, many times lower than the blood levels found in pregnant women, those with excesses or deficiencies of other reproductive hormones may experience an increased risk of side effects when taking additional amounts of the hormone. Other hCG Diet warnings include the fact that, as a pregnancy hormone, supplemental amounts of the hormone has a risk of side effects similar to those experienced in pregnancy- however, for many people, the instance and severity of these side effects is still lower than that experienced during actual pregnancy. This hormone has also been placed on the “banned substance” list for athletes playing Major League Baseball as a performance enhancing drug. While this will not be a concern for most people, those taking steroids or playing other professional sports should make themselves aware of the hCG Diet warnings.

If you have been dieting immediately previously to trying Dr. Simeons’ protocol, you may experience an increased instance of hunger or cravings during the reduction phase. The hCG Diet warnings for previous dieters also include ensuring that you’ve eaten appropriately during the two-day gorging or loading phase, and that, while this method is effective at encouraging the burning of non-structural fat deposits, if you or a family member have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, do not attempt this protocol. A lack of sufficient structural fats, like those cushioning organs and blood vessels, is associated with an increase risk of health problems, including those not related to the protocol or other hCG Diet warnings. Seek the advice of a physician or mental health professional familiar with obesity treatments and eating disorders before pursuing Dr. Simeons protocol.

One of the lifestyle-specific hCG Diet warnings is that, if you are a vegetarian or a vegan, the “Steak Days” sometimes involved in the maintenance phase require eating a large steak. While a Steak Day may not necessarily be required for you during your maintenance phase, depending on your success at maintaining your weight, you should be aware that another protein source should not be substituted for the steak.

Though Dr. Simeons’ diet is designed to work with your body chemistry, and has a high degree of safety, like any new diet or exercise routine, you should talk to your doctor before beginning. Being prepared in advance with the hCG Diet warnings and contraindications will help you to get the most out of your experience with the protocol, as well as protect yourself from any unintended side-effects.

Some Information on hCG Diet

If you’re looking into losing weight, and have tried countless other diets, odds are you’ve heard the name “Dr. Simeons” or the words “hCG Diet” before. Also, if you’d like to learn more about the protocol (but aren’t sure where to start), here is some very basic information on hCG diet practices.

The protocol was developed by Dr. Simeons, and outlined in his book Pounds and Inches, an invaluable resource for information on hCG Diet. After studying the effects of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin on brain chemistry and the body itself, Dr. Simeons realized the potential for small, supplemental doses of it to help weight loss. Since hCG works on the hypothalamus during pregnancy to help mobilize certain fat deposits in the body to ensure adequate fetal nutrition, and these same fat deposits are often the “stubborn” ones everyone has a hard time losing (as opposed to the readily-metabolized necessary fat and muscle tissue lost during a starvation diet), he realized that introducing small amounts of the hormone could trigger fat metabolism in non-pregnant women, as well. Since it also has the same effect on the hypothalamus of men and children, it can effectively be used in people of nearly all ages, and either gender. For those concerned about  information on hCG diet side-effects, since the levels of hormone are several thousand times lower than that naturally produced by women in pregnancy, they are rare and generally mild, though those with other gynecological or endocrine disorders should seek the advice of a physician before beginning.

Calorie restriction to 500 calories per day during the diet is also important, and there is a wealth of information on hCG diet recipes and tricks to remain satisfied without cheating or binging. From calorie and fat loading during the very first days of the protocol, to flavorful recipes to make, there are numerous books and websites devoted to various incarnations of Dr. Simeons’ method. Beauty products containing fats and oils also need to be limited or avoided, and there are many lists of safe products online, as well as purveyors of “hCG Diet-safe” alternatives to things like lip balm and lotion.

For information on hCG diet methods of taking the hormone, you should find a protocol-savvy physician or clinic in your area. Though the hormone is synthesized naturally by the body, it is taken in one of two ways only.  By injection or  sublingually (absorbed under the tongue). The safest and most effective method for you should be determined by a doctor or clinician, after looking at your medical history and conducting an exam. This can help minimize or eliminate some unwanted side-effects if you are in poor health.

If you, or a loved one, are strongly considering going on the protocol and would like more information on hCG diet methods and practices, I strongly encourage picking up a copy of Dr. Simeons’ manuscript. Though many other hCG-based diets have come about since then, he developed the original, and offers a comprehensive look into brain chemistry, diet, and the minutia of how all of the elements of the diet work together to reset your metabolism, helping you lose weight, and keep it off.

Why is T-Tapp a good hCG diet exercise?

Because T-Tapp takes a different approach to exercise and fitness, there are several benefits to doing T-Tapp exercise. You can do T-Tapp during the hCG diet plan as it is a non-strenuous exercise, between hCG diet rounds for continued inches loss and or after you have lost all your weight from the hCG diet protocol, as T-Tapp will work to bring you the body you desire.

T-Tapp builds muscle density rather than building muscle bulk. Muscle density development enables the muscles to cinch in, pull up, and resculpt the body. This type of muscle development causes inch loss to occur quickly, in the places you most desire; waist, tummy and hips within the first week.

T-Tapp’s techniques maximize muscle movement and delivers muscle fatigue regardless it offers a high aerobic workout without any jumping or use of weights. In fact, unlike most exercises, the stronger you become from doing T-Tapp the less you will have to work out to maintain your new body.

In T-Tapp, your primary focus for the first 30 days is to move your body in order to rebuild metabolic functions so that the body can lose weight easier and better yet, MAINTAIN the loss without excessive exercise or dieting. What does this mean for the hCG dieter? How much weight you have to lose and the number of rounds may be shorten by doing T-Tapp exercise while on the hCG diet and between rounds. In other words, less dieting!

Unlike most exercises, T-Tapp uses a rehabilitative approach to exercise, always mindful of lower back, hip and knee problems as well as upper spine, neck and should issues. Often severely over weight or obese people have issues with these areas due to the extra weight being that is on the frame.

T-Tapp exercise incorporates neuro-kenetic flow, linear alignment, and isometrics while utilizing both attachments of the muscle rather than just one muscle attachment and belly of the muscle like most exercises. This helps you start burning fat in the first 7-10 minutes to doing T-Tapp exercise.

IF you want to super charge your hCG dieting efforts, lose inches faster, see results faster, burn belly fat, back fat and fat off hips, waist and thighs, then do the hCG diet and T-Tapp exercise.

30 days of T-Tapp and 26 Days of the hCG diet, you will have a new body.

After Phase 2 of the hCG diet there are three weeks of Phase 3 stabilization. However nothing in the Pounds and Inches manuscript details the Phase 3 food list. All Dr. Simeons says is avoid sugar and starch. When Dr. Simeons wrote his manuscript there wasn’t a large amount of foods being massed produced for consumption as they are today.

With this in mind hCG Diet Info has 5 tips for your as you build your hCG Diet Phase 3 food list.

1. Avoid man made pre packaged foods
2. Avoid sugars, processed foods and refined white flour
3. Portion control at every meal
4. Moderation is #1 rule when eating carb loaded, refined sugar foods
5. Exercise

There are several eating styles you can adapt to make the hCG diet phase 3 stabilization, short term and long term maintenance work for you. The maintenance phases of Atkins low carb, South Beach Diet, Mediterranean eating styles are all good choices to look for hCG diet phase 3 foods.

There isn’t any caloric restraints during Phase 3 or on maintenance. What most people find is that after being on Phase 2 of the hCG diet they eat less naturally and are better able to control portion size and their tastes have altered while on the protocol.

Picking up a good nutritional food counter book like Netzer’s is an excellent resource. And yes if you have eaten any Miracle Noodles on Phase 2 you can continue with Phase 3 and beyond!

Another rule of thumb while on Phase 3 is moderation in dairy. Dairy not only contains sugar but can cause gains. Use high fat dairy foods vs. low fat. Heavy whipping cream for your milk, full fat cottage cheese and such are much better than their low part counter parts. When in doubt read the labs or refer to you nutritional book.

There is no need to worry about gaining while in stabilization or in maintenance if you follow the tips above and in the manuscript, limited as they are, you will be fine!