When looking around in Hollywood and seeing all the beautiful and fit people, diets and exercise almost naturally come to mind. So it is no surprise that I will take on one of the most popular Hollywood diets, namely the HCG diet. The diet has been very popular as of lately; a lot of celebrities have dropped substantial weight while on it.
So what is it? It consists of daily injections of HCG (a fertility hormone) and a daily food consumption of an apple and a chicken breast, which comes to about 500 calories a day. Weight loss can be rather dramatic, which is to be expected since your calories are around starvation levels. So, why not go on it?
Not so fast, I actually consider this diet outright dangerous. First of all, injecting any type of hormone shouldn’t be taken lightly (aside from the fact that this is a medical grey area, to say the least). Secondly, HCG does not have any proven fat-burning properties, so the side effects that you would be taking on don’t come with any real benefits. Lastly, dropping your calories to 500 a day will almost certainly ensure metabolic shutdown, which then sets you up for the dreaded yo-yo effect once you start eating regularly again. If you can reasonably foresee yourself living with a chicken breast and an apple a day until the end of time, my logic would of course not apply.
So the HCG diet gets zero stars from me and should be avoided at all costs, no matter what celebrity tells you otherwise. You will be much better off following a sensitive eating plan like the Paleo diet and do something radical, like exercising!
Until next time,
Maik Wiedenbach