Get Ready for Summer with HCG
By Karen Wheeler APRN
The full version of this article was originally printed in Health Hunters, May 2016
Time to start thinking about wearing shorts and swimming suits as the weather
warms up! This can be really intimidating. While your motivation for getting fit
may be to look good in a bathing suit, impress somebody at a class reunion, or
feel confident at a big life event like a wedding; I would encourage you to do so
for your health and well-being, as well.
Look around and you can easily see that obesity is an epidemic in the U.S.
According to the CDC website, “more than one-third of adults and approximately
17% of children and adolescents in the U.S. are obese.” The leading causes of
preventable deaths, which include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and
diabetes, are obesity-related. The “State of Obesity” estimates that obesity costs
between $147 and $210 BILLION per year to cover healthcare needs of our
population as the obesity problem grows (www.stateofobesity.org).
Prevention is cited as the primary way to control this epidemic. Start by getting
rid of junk food and fast food, eat lots of non-starchy vegetables, low glycemic
fruits, lean protein, drink plenty of clean water, and exercise!
If you want to jump start your weight loss, consider coming to Riordan Clinic and
using HCG to help you shed those excess pounds. Our program was awarded
“Best Non-surgical Weight Loss Program” by the Wichita Eagle Readers’ Choice
in 2014. It will help you get on the right path to better health.
The basis for the Riordan Clinic HCG Rx+ Weight Loss Program was developed
in Europe by Dr. Albert T. W. Simeons in the 1950s. It was his observations of
pregnant women in famine, giving birth to normal weight babies, and obese
women losing weight easily during pregnancy that started his interest in
discovering what it was about pregnancy that allowed this to happen.
The FDA has approved HCG to treat some cases of infertility and select male
hormone imbalances. The use of HCG for weight loss is considered off-label, but
it has been prescribed by hundreds of providers over the past decades since Dr.
Simeons discovered its weight loss potential. HCG stands for Human Chorionic
Gonadotropin. Both men and women can safely take HCG for weight loss. One
of the most prevalent hormones in pregnancy is HCG.
Dr. Simeons’ work showed that men and women given low doses of HCG are able to mobilize the “fixed” fat
stored in the body.
This is the fat that is the most difficult to lose, but also the most important to get
rid of because it is metabolically active. This is especially effective when
combined with a very low calorie diet, because it helps reset the hypothalamus,
which is the area in the brain that controls hunger and tells your body when you
have eaten enough.
By taking low doses of HCG every morning and restricting calories, the body
starts burning its fixed fat stores at approximately 1,000 calories a day, which
results in losing 0.5 – 1.0 pound A DAY! If a person experiences low blood
sugars or hunger on the program, adjustments are made to the eating program
so those symptoms are controlled. Drinking plenty of water (92 ounces a day) is
encouraged to flush toxins out of the body.
The foods allowed on the program are quite specific, but they are what Dr.
Simeons found to be effective. On this program, the person is restricted to
approximately 500 calories a day. Before you panic at that number, please
consider what is going on in your body – it will be burning your fat stores (which
are how you lose the weight) and the part of your brain that says you are hungry
for large portions gets reset! (Please do NOT try this calorie restriction without
the HCG because it may have harmful effects.)
Starting an exercise program while on HCG is not recommended. In fact, those
who are already exercising may need to decrease the intensity and duration of
their workouts to prevent low blood sugars. Gentle walking and some light
weights are okay to continue. Interval training can be started once in the
maintenance part of the program, when calories are not so restricted.
There are a few conditions that would prohibit the use of HCG. These include
pregnancy, a current cancer diagnosis and the use of some blood thinners or
steroids. If a person is on medications for high blood pressure or diabetes, we
encourage close monitoring of these conditions, because as the person loses
weight these conditions improve, so not as much medication may be needed.
If you want to lose less than 20 pounds, the HCG Short Program is ideal for you.
This consists of 23 days of HCG followed by six weeks of maintenance. For
those who want to lose more than 20 pounds, there is a HCG Long Program that
uses 40 days of HCG followed by six weeks of maintenance.
While the HCG part of this program has a very low calorie diet, the maintenance
part of it gradually introduces more variety of foods at healthy portion sizes.
The co-learner will continue to lose weight during this time, but at a slower rate. The
best part of maintenance, in my opinion, is that it is a healthy eating plan that
anyone can and should follow for the rest of their life! The duration of either
program will help you to form healthy eating habits!.
Since Riordan Clinic has always emphasized the importance of nutrients, our
HCG patients are provided with supplements to be sure that their body is getting
enough while on a low calorie diet.
When you are ready to reshape your body and reach your weight loss goals,
come see us at Riordan Clinic because we can help you make that happen!
Addendum: Please understand that the HCG program does not include the
entirety of the functional medicine approach to health, so it limits the provider’s
focus to only the HCG program. If you want the FULL scope of the Riordan Clinic
approach to achieving Real Health, start with becoming a new co-learner and let
us take a detailed health history followed by a physical exam, and then a
complete plan of testing and treatments that may help you feel the best you can!
Then, if you want to start the HCG program, another appointment can be made
to give you the focused information on the weight loss program.
