We are taught that weight loss should be easy because it is just a matter of calories in verses calories out plus expenditure. Well other factors apply when it comes to weight loss and more importantly keeping it off. The biggest factor may very well be blood sugar and fat metabolism regulation.
When the Snackwell cookie came out in the 1980’s I cannot tell you how many women I would see that would be in my office crying because the intention was to start their diet and before they knew it the box of cookies were gone in the same day. In cookies alone they ate their allotted calories and of course they ate at least one other meal that day pushing them well over the weight loss calories needed and sabatoged their diet and negatively affecting their self esteem. What so many do not realize is that the biochemical response going on in the body was what sabatoged their weight loss success. It isn’t a matter of will power when the biochemistry is malfunctioning. At EWW we can find a program that suits your needs. It could be a more traditional program of calculating how many calories you need daily and what that looks like for weight loss or a more progressive program such as the hCG protocol. We will help you find what is best for you. To read more about the hCG protocol just keep reading.
This hCG program:
- Mobilizes stored fat and uses it as your energy source since the dietary energy macro nutrients are controlled effectively melting fat away
- Reset and optimize biochemical functions in your body to help you metabolize food and maintain your new weight
- Correct many underlying health concerns that may be preventing you from losing weight
- Safely detox your body
- Give you knowledge and confidence you need to maintain your new and healthy body weight
Overview of the program
- Phase 1: Nutrition consultation and discussion of medical history. Gather current health information and required medical tests. Prepare personalized plan.
- Phase 2: hCG supplementation and low calorie diet tailored to your needs.
- Phase 3: TRANSITION. This portion of the program is critical to maintaining your weight loss. During this time, you will stop taking the hCG and begin to increase your daily caloric consumption. We will also be changing the way your body uses food/fat.
Individuals that are not successful in maintaining the weight loss is because they are doing the protocol on their own and do not understand what is happening to them. Some challenges that arise when beginning the hCG diet as it is outlined on popular websites selling hCG is that the blood sugar is going crazy. This causes them to eat off the diet. There for high density carbohydrates and fats are being consumed negating their attempts at losing weight. You should work with a practitioner that knows how to regulate your blood sugar to set you up for success. Another challenge is that neurotransmitters may drop when starting the diet due to not getting the amino acid precursors for proper manufacture of these neurotransmitters. Not everyone needs support here but many individuals do as low levels may cause anxiety, dizziness, brain fog and other cognitive problems. By working with a practitioner this can also be supported so that you do not or minimally experience these challenges. Once blood sugar and neurotransmitters are regulated then the cravings and other symptoms remit allowing you to be successful. Another concern that should be addressed is that with all low calorie diets you run the risk of organ loss. The most common of course is the gallbladder. I find that with the proper liver/gallbladder support, detoxifying the body properly manages the oxidative stress that the rapid weight loss causes in the body. With the proper support during the diet and through maintenance the oxidative stress can be cleaned up reducing the aging affects on the body. Oxidative stress is the number one aging factor fueling the aging mechanism.
Once target weight is attained then the most important part begins. That is resetting the way the fat cells signal to the hypothalamus. At this time blood sugar is regulating significantly better and must be maintained during the maintenance phase which is the six weeks after hCG. It is the time we increase food into the diet and how that food you eat affects you. The Simeon protocol brings certain foods in much too quickly. To understand the signaling mechanisms you may read more below.
hCG known as human chorionic gonadatropin is a hormone produced by the body during pregnancy to mobilize fat stores that can be used for energy and meet the increase demand during pregnancy. This program uses a homeopathic hCG that is administered sublingually (under the tongue). It is a homeopathic version of an all natural hormone and is safe for men and women.
hCG activates stored fat that your body then uses as an energy source. This hCG, combined with a low calorie diet that supports lean tissue, effectively melts away fat without losing muscle. When you mobilize stored fat you activate components stored in fat such as estrogens, testosterone, xenobiotics, heavy metals and previously administered medications that were not fully metabolized. With all these things suddenly circulating in your body it is important to help your body detoxify in the safest possible way to limit oxidative stress which can be quite damaging.
For proper fat metabolism three hormones regulating appropriately are required. The three hormones are insulin, leptin and ghrelin.
Insulin is produced by the pancreas, leptin by the fat cells and ghrelin by the stomach. Leptin and ghrelin act on the hypothalamus in the brain and insulin acts on the liver and muscles in response to circulating blood glucose and amino acids via food consumption.
Insulin is a storage hormone as its function is to take nutrients and store them in the fat cells and to a lesser degree muscle cells. Since insulin is a storage hormone it has the ability to stop fat burning. High density carbohydrate diets (pastas, bread and rice) result in more insulin production than the low density carbohydrates (broccoli, spinach, and squash). By keeping carbohydrates lower density you can control insulin levels so you do not store fat. These lower density carbohydrate foods are higher in fiber, higher in micro nutrients (for oxidative repair, an unrelated benefit) and lower in calories. Another thing that can control insulin production is to eat smaller and if necessary more frequent meals. When stress levels are high causing increase cortisol production that also exacerbates insulin resistance, resulting in increase cravings and affects other hormones produced by the adrenal glands such as melatonin (resulting in sleep problems), serotonin and other neurotransmitters(resulting in mood disorders) and sex hormone imbalances.
Leptin is also called the anti-starvation hormone and its primary function is to decrease appetite because when fat is high it should ideally signal the hypothalamus and tell it to reduce appetite because fuel is available. So in dieting when the fat stores are lower than leptin levels decrease and appetite increases causing many dieters to fall off their diet. It appears obese individuals have of course increase fat and therefore increase leptin. However, the signal is not getting through and there is leptin resistance. This mechanism is not that unlike insulin resistance so many pre-diabetic and diabetic individuals experience but is a different hormone going awry. This is the reason you can have obese individuals without diabetes, diabetic individuals that may not have great obesity, but of course we often see one and the same, an individual with both obesity and diabetes. The important thing to note here is that these are different mechanisms and often both are dysregulating but not always. Leptin resistance may result from overeating as the receptors in the hypothalamus become desensitized to leptin resulting in food cravings and weight gain. Poor sleep will exacerbate leptin resistance so when chronic stress results in lower melatonin production than a viscous cycle is feeding this mechanism. The goal is to increase leptin production without gaining fat and increasing sensitivity of the hypothalamus to leptin which is the proper mechanism of leptin.. To begin reprogramming this function to prevent or overcome leptin resistance when it has gone awry the following can be followed: having one meal a week (this does NOT mean one day a week) anything you want to eat. This allows the fat cell to increase leptin and the hypothalamus to decrease appetite. Also avoiding excess sugar and bad fats, exercise daily, improve sleep habits.
Ghrelin is another hormone that should be discussed. Its function is to act on the hypothalamus to increase appetite (the opposite of leptin). Ghrelin is produced throughout the day but is highest right before mealtime. When dieting ghrelin levels increase significantly triggering overeating. We see this when someone hits a plateau and the appetite is strong. This mechanism is the bodies way of not losing too much and is a programmed survival mechanism. Unfortunately this mechanism when not functioning properly creates the desire to over eat. It is known that obese individuals have less of another hormone called peptide YY3-36 which blunts ghrelin levels that signal you are not hungry. This increase of PPY3-36 in thin individuals may be the reason they are “naturally thin”.
