Snake oil comes in all kinds of bottles
Snake oil comes in many guises, most of which exist to reduce the contents of one’s purse. Last week an Associated Press writer detailed how the government spent $2.5 billion of our money to test various so-called alternative health remedies, most of which would be considered snake oil by mainstream medicine, and came up virtually empty handed.
Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The lone exception: ginger capsules may help chemotherapy nausea.
Acupuncture and some of the hands-on manipulative therapies fared a little better.
As for therapies, acupuncture has been shown to help certain conditions, and yoga, massage, meditation and other relaxation methods may relieve symptoms like pain, anxiety and fatigue.
The article didn’t give a rundown of every alternative or non-mainstream therapy tested, so I don’t know what they all are, but I can add one to the list if it wasn’t tested in this $2.5B testorama. I would add the use of HCG for weight loss.
Many practitioners are using injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injections coupled with an extremely low-calorie diet to help their patients lose weight. Many practitioners and many patients swear by this regimen. But, a number of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have shown that the HCG regimen is no better than placebo.
But if this is so, how come so many patients and practitioners believe so strongly in this HCG/diet combo? Simple answer. Because it works.
But if it works, why is it a worthless regimen? Because it doesn’t work any better than placebo.
If you go to a doctor who tells you that he/she is going to start you on an extremely powerful weight-loss program that involves multiple injections along with a stringent diet composed of specific foods to be eaten on a rigid time schedule (especially if these foods add up to only 500 calories per day), you will come away convinced that you are going to do well. Especially after you’ve paid the bill, which is considerable in these HCG centers.
If you go in for all the injections and scrupulously follow the diet, you will lose a fair amount of weight pretty quickly. And you will develop and unshakable believe that this regimen did the trick for you. You will tell your friends, all of whom have witnessed your rapid weight loss, and they, too, (at least those who can afford it) will go to the same practitioner and fork over for the treatment.
Problem is this treatment works the same if the patients are given a salt-water shot or an HCG shot. There is no difference in outcome. The HCG doesn’t do diddly. It’s the fact that you get a shot that makes the difference. If you simply went on the 500 calorie per day diet you would lose the same. But it’s the magic of receiving the shot, especially after being told (as most are) at the practitioner’s office that the shot will help overcome the hunger of being on a drastically calorically-reduced diet. And it does. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a saline shot or a dose of HCG. It’s the magic of having something done.
Which is why in the $2.5 billion tests, the manipulative therapies worked and the others didn’t. There is something about having a procedure done that makes you feel like your getting a more powerful treatment.
I can’t tell you how many people came in to see me when I had a regular medical practice who demanded a shot because they were convinced that shots worked better than oral medications. For some things they do, but for most, they don’t. But you couldn’t convince most of my patients of that.
There are a few of what many would consider alternative medicines that do work. I posted on one that does here. But, as the large conglomeration of studies reported on by the AP showed, most don’t.
As you might imagine, the report of the failure of most alternative therapies was like catnip to mainstream physicians, researchers and writers. They were absolutely giddy with joy. Here are just a few representative comments:
Well, since I’ve been bagging on the alt-med nonsense lately, I simply couldn’t pass up this headline. And folks… the headline says it all… “No Alternative Cures Found”… Zilch… Nada… Zip… Zero! Despite their inability to understand the most basic aspects of science and the associated math, I think that zero is a number that even alt-med woo-meisters can grasp
(Woo is the derogatory term these mainstreamers have come up with for any treatment or therapy not taught in traditional medical schools or developed by Big Pharma.)
I never thought I’d see it, but I have. After an a decent article on the infiltration of quackademic medicine into American medical centers and a very good article on cancer quackery, Marilyn Marchione of the AP has done it again:
AP IMPACT: $2.5B spent, no alternative med cures…
I’ve documented the woo funded by NCCAM on multiple occasions. I mean, NCCAM is funding studies of that woo of woos, homeopathy, fer cryin’ out loud! I”m [sic] glad that the mainstream media is finally noticing.
One more.
Here’s a shocker for you: after a decade and 2.5 billion (with a b, folks) dollars spent, a government study shows that almost no alternative medicines worked.
So, they used actual scientific testing processes instead of anecdotes, and found that most of these simply don’t work. Like I said: shocker.
… the studies have shown that most of these remedies don’t work. And will this change the minds of their advocates?
HAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha! Oh man, sometimes I crack myself up.
This is just one more arrow in our quiver, but the alternative medicine believers will continue to move the targets around. Stay vigilant, and remember: people waste money, people get sick, and people die because of this antiscientific thinking. That’s why testing this, publicizing it, and fighting the misinformation is so important.
Believe me, this is just a small sampling of what I came across on the internet when I searched for links to the AP article.
Hostile and condescending as the tone of these remarks is, the people who made them are pretty much on the money. These treatments need to be evaluated in the harsh glare of double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. Now they have been, and, just as with the HCG regimen for weight loss, they’ve been found lacking.
But that’s not necessarily the end of the story. We don’t know the details about these studies. Was there just one study for each alternative therapy? Or were there multiple studies, each of which demonstrated no effectiveness? If just one, then the above criticisms may not be valid.
Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence. Just because we can’t get a positive result in one study doesn’t mean there isn’t a positive result to be had. Science is the continual testing of hypotheses until the evidence is overwhelming that the hypothesis is valid or it isn’t. But even overwhelming evidence doesn’t always prove out in the long run. Newton’s laws were held to be valid after centuries of testing, then Einstein came along.
What interests me so much about the glee with which these mainstreamers greet the failure of alternative medicine (at least the failure shown by $2.5B worth of research) is that the vast majority of these same folks believe in the notion that people are overweight because they eat too much and exercise too little, an idea that scientifically holds little water. A myth, really. But they all believe it because on the surface it seems to make sense to them. All the scientifically valid arguments that, say, Gary Taubes makes fall on deaf ears. (Here is a video of a recent lecture Gary gave to doctors at Dartmouth. Do you think any of them were moved to give up their antiquated views by the science presented? It’s highly doubtful.)
And while most of the people pooh poohing woo are doing so, they are out pushing statins for all their worth. And statins – other than for a small group of people – have the same efficacy as the alternative medicines they are so quick to disparage. Let’s see, how did that one writer put it? “…Zilch… Nada… Zip… Zero!”
That’s right. The category of drugs that are the top selling drugs worldwide have no efficacy in terms of reducing overall mortality, at least as shown by randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, in any group except men under the age of 65 who have been diagnosed with heart disease. This doesn’t mean men under 65 who have elevated cholesterol, but men under 65 who have actually been diagnosed with heart disease or who have had a heart attack. And even in that group, the efficacy is questionable.
The mainstreamers such as those quoted above don’t question the effectiveness of statins even though at least $2.5 billion has been spent to test them and found them lacking, but readily discount alternative medicines simply because they don’t fit with their belief system. Based on the evidence at hand, I wouldn’t give people Echinacea, shark cartilage and all the rest because the studies show they don’t work better than placebo, but for all the same reasons, I wouldn’t give a patient a statin either. In fact, I would probably give the Echinacea before I gave the statin because, as far as I know, no one has died taking Echinacea, of which the same can’t be said of statins.
If alternative medicines are going to be held to scientific standards, so should be pharmaceuticals. Snake oil is snake oil no matter what its bottle it looks like.
Rob~
Your relief may have come from just a couple of the many ingredients in that “proprietary blend” and not from the glucosamine/chondroitin at all (I’m thinking turmeric/flaxseed oil).
Very interesting post. I’m one who is struggling to lose weight on low carb (and I have a LOT of weight I need to lose, well over 100 pounds). If the placebo effect were all it took I’d be skinny by now because I utterly *believe* in low carb as the best eating plan. And yet the weight is not coming off. In fact I have *gained* 10 pounds in the month of June while sticking to strict 20-50g carbs daily and no grains, no sugars. I’ve tried all sorts of things designed to speed up weight loss including Pentabosol, and none did me the least bit of good. Yet I was utterly convinced they would be the “magic bullet” so clearly the placebo effect did not much help me.
LOL, just from the anecdotal stories here I’m ready to try HCG myself. Except googling for it I can only find it for hundreds of dollars, and I’m not *that* committed to something that may be worthless. I sure can’t find this $21/month version a few have talked about. At that price it’s worth giving a try as even if it proves to be as worthless as everything else I’ve tried I won’t be out a fortune.
I’ll continue to eat low carb as I feel the best on it ,and I feel it’s most optimal for good health. But I’m willing to try any reasonable product to help lose weight – reasonable meaning a reasonable price, and not detrimental to health in other ways.
Dr. Eades,
Any plans to blog about the Food, Inc. book or movie? I’d love to hear your take on it. I apologize if I’ve missed it in a prior post.
Paul
Haven’t seen it yet, but will when I get the chance.
It is simply just not true that the natural (or alternative) therapies don’t work. I have cured myself of diabetes, hypertension (I had 240/140 !!!), back pain, depression etc. and went through menopause without even noticing. I had no shots whatsoever, and went to no practitioner. I did it myself.
I continue taking the herbs, vitamins, enzymes etc. and I look and feel great. I have cancelled my health insurance. People think I’m at least 15 years younger. How’s that for a placebo effect?
Furthermore, I have cured my three dogs of hip dysplasia, allergies, pannus (an autoimmune eye disease), epilepsy and GI problems with completely natural therapies. I don’t think the placebo effect works for dogs. Do you?
Natural remedies work on the genes, mainstream drugs work on the symptoms. Big difference.
Well, of course, I must not foget to mention that all along, I have also been eating low carb. It’s the basis for everything. No natural therapy will be successful (or quite as successful) if the besic nutrition is not right.
I’m amazed at the inability of people to argue a principle without attacking the personality.
I”m also amazed at the negative view people have of placebos. Instead of thinking, “No, this isn’t a placebo. This [herb, hormone, alternative therapy, drug] actually works,” try thinking, “Wow, you mean the mind can do the same things all those therapies are purported to do?”
Regardless, most “therapies” aim at suppressing symptoms, and as such are useless for anything other than short-term pain relief.
A poster above mentioned aspirin. I used to take aspirin, tylenol, fiorinal, all sorts of pain relievers for chronic headaches. Then after reading that they only contribute to the continuation of headaches, I stopped taking them altogether. I lived with headaches for a while, but they became spaced further and further apart. Now I hardly ever get them, usually when I violate rules of health, like consuming a bunch of sugar at night or getting really stressed. I haven’t taken a drug in over five years.
As I previously pointed out – regardless on which “reputable journal” posted studies – kind of sullies the reputation of said publication to post studies that slap Dr Simeons name on them – but totally fail to follow his protocol.
As you pointed out – “significantly more people on placebo dropped out” which skewed the Asher Harper study… BUT – if the placebo group THOUGHT they were receiving real hCG – shouldn’t the drop out rate have been similar between groups if it’s just placebo effect ?
I mentioned in my first post it’s rare to find someone NOT on hCG to be able to stick with a 500 cal diet. I couldn’t make it 1 hour when I had my bout with immunity, and would assume anyone on placebo would feel like that for a month.
But as to my specific tests for a study in the 21st century – body comps would be the breakthrough as far as analyzing effectiveness of the protocol – IF someone could make it 30 days on 500 cals without hCG they might lose 30 lbs as well as the hCG paitent, but they’d be losing significantly more weight from the loss of lean muscle mass, whereas the majority of the weight from those receiving hCG would be body fat. That’s the theory at least – and to date I know of no study that bothered to determine where the weight loss came from.
As far as the Asher Harper study – they mention in the very first paragraph that the majority of negative studies significantly altered the original protocol. And they DO mention they did not expect to see significant differences in loss, just that the patient on hCG felt better.
If it was a true double blind study – and the literature makes it clear it was – should make no difference if Dr Harper ran an hCG clinic – as he’d have no idea during the study which patients were receiving the placebo vs. the real thing.
Would I question the results of a study you did on a high protein low carb diet ? Guess it depends on how much integrity you think someone has. As far as physicians go I hold you in pretty high regards, which is one of the only reasons I bothered to post in the first place, that and because I suggest your book to many to follow after the protocol.
4-4-3-2 … yeah, that must be healthy ’cause the govt says it is. And cigarettes AREN’T addictive… and STATINS are a GOOD thing. Of all the physicians out there – wouldn’t think you’d be one to just accept studies not knowing who might have influenced them. Guess I’ll make an open invitation on YouTube for anyone to do a real double blind. But would be really good for you to try the protocol with a few patients and THEN post your personal observations.
Thanks again.
Tim
You wrote:
I think you missed the point. Let’s say I have a study in which there are 20 people starting in each group with one group on HCG and the other on placebo and both groups consuming 500 kcal per day. Let’s assume for argument’s sake that neither the HCG nor the placebo have any effect on weight loss and that all the weight lost by the subjects over the course of the study comes about because of the caloric restriction. Now let’s assume that six people drop out of one side of the study and two people drop out of the other, and lets say that each person staying in the study until the end loses 10 pounds. So in one arm of the study, the one where only two people dropped, the total weight loss of the group is 180 pounds (18 people finishing the study losing 10 pounds each). In the other group the total weight loss is 140 pounds (the 14 people remaining in the study times 10 pounds each). If you calculate the average weight loss of all the people completing the study, you come up with 10 pounds each. But if you instead do like the guys did in this study and calculate based on the number of people starting the study, then the one arm (the HCG arm) shows an average weight loss of 180 lbs/20 or 9 pounds per person. The other arm (the placebo arm) shows an average weight loss of 140 lbs/20 or 7 pounds per person, which makes it look like the HCG is causing greater weight loss while it really isn’t.
You mentioned HH’s placebo group lost more than studies by 4 other practices – the point was the importance of sticking to the strict dietary guidelines… which the 4 others (as well as the many negative published studies) didn’t do. The Franks Study was a farce since he failed to follow the food restrictions. ( would equate to me doing a efficacy study on Protein Power – adding 5 baked potatoes & rice cakes to daily intake – then writing a paper as to why Dr Eades Protein Power did not contribute to weight loss ) The VLCD is paramount to effectiveness.
Each point I made from real experience you’ve dismissed without addressing…
immunity, hunger while on NaCl, rapid onset of a ketogenic state, that
if placebo effect alone there should not have been a drop out rate
more than twice as high in the placebo group.
Some people suggest that any drop outs in a double blind study would negate all results. It’s true that the Asher Harper Study should have adjusted results based soley on those who completed the study. I don’t believe the study provides complete info on which subjects dropped out, so unable to adjust their conclusions with study data. But the final numbers are all there.
Just to appease your negative view – I crunched some numbers – and recalculated the average loss for the hCG group – removing patients 1, 9, 14, 38 – 1 & 9 about midland at 14.5 lbs lost, 14 & 38 having the largest losses (41.5 lbs & 31.75 lbs respectively)
The hCG group lost 3.5% more weight over the placebo group even using negative bias. (just so you know – removing all 4 of the biggest losers from those receiving hCG – and the hCG group still lost over 2.5% more than the placebo group.)
To analyze more fairly – assuming those with the smallest % loss in each group were the drop outs – removing 5, 7, 9 & 38 from the hCG group and averaging by the number that actually completed the study – the average loss was 22.519 lbs… removing subjects 25, 33, 6, 26, 20, 10 & 39 from the placebo group and averaging by the number that actually completed the study – the average loss was 15.71 lbs. This more even handedly adjusted recalc shows the hCG subjects on average lost 42 % more weight.
hCG is causing greater weight loss – 10-14% of total body weight gone in 30 days with no exercise, it’s not the psychological impact.
* * * * *
While I have the calculator out – if you need a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 lb – based on a BMR of 2250 my first round – at the end of 32 days by deficit the most I could have lost is 16 lbs… but I lost 30 lbs. According to some that defies any logic – and many would call me a liar if not for my periodic posts on YouTube and the scores that have followed since.
“placebo effect” – the first 2 days of the protocol are “load days” when it’s suggested to eat foods high in carbs and bad fats while dosing with hCG – generally I’d estimate people eat about 4,000 cals on the load days – and based on 3500 cals per lb – no one should gain more than 3 lbs. Yet – is pretty common for people to gain 8-10 lbs in 2 days of loading. 8 lbs (using 3500 cal per pound) would be an astronomical 28,000 calories in 2 days – most people dread the load days as they know they’ll gain weight – does that sound like placebo effect to you ?
You seemed to imply a certain doubt to Dr Harper’s integrity regardling the study since he ran an hCG clinic. To the best of my knowledge Dr Asher – a member of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians Research Council – would have no alterior motive for slanting a study one way or another.
I’d be embarrassed to say how many hours I’ve spent going over studies & personally collected data from those I’m in contact with prior to posting to your blog. Now if you consider that I sell kits for the protocol because of the bad wrap the medical community has given it – and as an alternative to going to a high priced clinic – why in the world would I want a credible physician to come forward with positive results with the hope of getting primary care physicians onboard ? ( assuming it’d become widely used at reasonable price and there would be no need for high priced clinics, expensive medications or DIY – and there goes my little income stream )
It’d be to my financial detriment for a respected physician such as yourself to hit the broadcast circuit touting the protocol’s effectiveness and calling into question the legitamacy of the FDA’s position as well as the negative studies. (though if you want to thank me in the foreward of your book on the effectiveness of the protocol for my tenacity I guess I won’t complain) Why am I doing it then ? The greater good. I’d like to think I was a small part of the solution.
You can either stick with your opinion based on poorly run studies, or try the protocol with a handful of obese patients and see the truth. There are enough inconsistencies with the negative studies that I hoped you’d dig deeper, be willing to challenge conventional thought – I could be barking up the wrong tree. Until someone actually does a more thorough investigation (as previously mentioned who would fund one with billions on the line for far less effective pharma) no one will know for sure why it works as well as it does. Insulin, leptin, IGF-1…
You said it yourself – “Changing closed minds is a tough – and usually thankless – proposition.” You refer to the negative reports as “well-conducted scientific studies” – not acknowledging the Franks study from the meta was not even in the same ballpark as the Simeons protocol with the exception of injecting hCG. But you DO want to challenge the Asher Harper study (which is warranted but I think fairly adjusted above)
Discount all the studies, discount my data and observations – start with a clean slate and the truth will out.
“…I had spared no pains nor expense to accomplish the great end of stopping and curing obesity.” – William Banting – Letter on Corpulence – 1864
No, I fear the truth wouldn’t will out. At least not in your mind. If I were to conduct the most meticulous randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in the history of medicine, and it showed HCG to be no better than placebo, I’m fairly certain that you would believe the study somehow flawed because it didn’t confirm your bias.
Based on your experiences – which are all anecdotal simply because they haven’t been controlled with a placebo group – you are a firm believer in the notion that HCG brings about more weight loss, less hunger, etc. than following the same dietary regimen without HCG. It’s obvious that this us firmly hammered into your mind. Therefore any study that shows the opposite, you are going to believe is somehow tainted. So what’s the point?
I’ll make you a deal. You arrange funding for such a study, and I’ll get it done. It will have to be funded by you or some outside source because funding will never come from any of the normal sources of scientific-inquiry funding because there are at least 20 studies out there showing HCG to be no better than placebo, and any of these funding agencies won’t be willing to throw good money after bad. If you do come up with the funds for the study, I’ll make you a guarantee. If the study shows HCG to be no better than placebo, you won’t believe the results. That’s my guarantee.
As someone who has lost 26lbs (and counting) on the HCG protocol, I’d like to point out one thing in regards to the placebo effect.
Three days ago (day 40 of VLCD) I was given by my doctor an increased HCG dosage – from 150mg to 170mg. I was hopefully anticipating even greater losses over the next week of increased dosage.
To my surprise, the day that I took the increased dose I became ravenously hungry – starving, in fact. Why? Because too much HCG can have the same symptoms as too little HCG: great hunger. Not only that, but that day was the first day that my ketone levels dropped considerably, whereas before they unfailingly showed high levels. I hadn’t changed my diet, or done anything else differently. The next day I immediately lowered my dosage back to 150mg, have had continued losses, and my hunger almost immediately went away again. Placebo effect? I don’t think so.
Here’s a question that’s been bugging me recently: are those of us who read the studies and know the truth about placebos too smart for our own good? Are there ever any cases when time or money could be saved by using something that works purely by the power of belief?
I’m sure there are cases. But you’ve got to get the patient to believe, and you can’t do it unless he/she thinks some kind of treatment is being administered.
Who cares, I bet there are more people on the HCG DIET and losing weight, then there are people by your book and losing the same amount of weight.
S.P., if you don’t follow the scientific method, then you are being intellectually dishonest. Sometimes that means that you will need to change your mind, even if that’s hard.
Many can’t do it. There is truth in that quote about science progressing by the death of scientists.
Who is to say that any method except the scientific method is the end all and be all? Oh yes, ‘scientists’.
I’m quite capable of changing my mind if I’m proven otherwise, but in this case, NOT!
Bottom line is that HCG works for lots of people.
People who doubt it’s ability to ‘work’ will hopefully not be a person who needs to lose weight. It’s a very effective program and becoming quite popular simply through word of mouth because people who are on it and losing are perfect walking advertisements in it’s effectiveness.
I think that would beat any scientific data any day and either way, believer or non believer or whatever else, the bottom line is that people are losing weight and getting healthy and we can leave it to the ‘scientist’ to figure out ‘why’ or ‘how’ or whatever.
So anyone who has had a hard time losing weight and want a fast and effective diet, just Google HCG and conduct your own experiment on yourself, that might not fit all the criteria’s dictated by EADES, but I think quite sufficient if it changes your life and gets those pounds off!
I don’t gain anything from monetarily nor is someone’s belief or non belief in the effectiveness of HCG in conflict with my need to sell a book or product. Just give it a chance to work for you!
Here’s my theory:
when men take HCG, their bodies say “what?! WHAT!? A baby? WHAT!!! WHERE’S MY UTERUS? I can’t find it! Where is it where is it where is it…” and they’re so distracted looking for their missing uterus they forget about their hunger.
Simple as that.
Hmmm. A theory I had never considered.
This blog has been dead for awhile, but I wanted to add my 2 cents…
I battled my weight for over 12 years and was doing everything “right” to shed the extra pounds. I exercised my a** off and tried calorie restriction. Nothing worked, except that I got in great shape under a big layer of fat.
Last fall (2009) I was introduced to the HCG protocol and after reading it, I knew for sure that this would work for me. I started at 164 pounds and approx 35% body fat. I lost 21 pounds of fat in 35 days. I did a second round of the protocol 6 weeks later and lost another 10 pounds. I went to my local university’s “Human Performance Lab” to be hydrostatically weighed and I came in at 20.4% body fat. My body fat tests confirmed that I lost all fat on the protocol and no lean body mass. I ended at 133 pounds and a size 2-4.
I also had metabolic testing done before and after, using the FDA approved Korr REE. My pre-protocol REE was 1700 cal/day. Post 2nd protocol it had increased to 2025 cal/day. I would be really interested in having a doctor explain to me how my REE could increase after shedding 33 pounds of fat. To me, the only explanation is that losing fat has allowed my kidneys and liver to function more optimally. It is my understanding that kidney and liver function account for about 40% of the body’s metabolic needs.
It has been a year since starting the protocol and I have maintained my weight within 5-7 pounds. I am a self-admitted “carb addict” and I am yet to truly overcome the addiction. It is a daily battle to accept reality that I need to abide by a low-carb diet to maintain my loss.
I also found Gary Taubes book after losing weight and it has made a huge difference to how I view food. To me, his book really helped to explain why I had success on the HCG (the protocol diet is approx 72g of carbs in the form of veggie, fruit and melba toast plus 200g of lean meat, which is about 48g of protein). It seems to me, from my understanding of Taubes research, that when a person is meeting their basic protein needs, they ARE NOT starving, despite being on a very low calorie diet. The body is free then to look for the extra calories it needs from the fat storage. I have never succeeded at losing weight on any other diet (trust me, I tried them all) because I would get hungry. The mere fact that i could go 35 days on 500 calories without hunger is amazing.
I actually am conflicted about the role of HCG in weight loss. I think that it is very possible that it is a placebo. But, even if it is, it worked and the weight loss came from fat (also, the fact that I was sticking a needle in my leg every day helped me stick to the plan and take it more seriously). I actually have a friend whose father followed the protocol diet, without the HCG and lost over 20 pounds in a month. He is a physician and is convinced that the HCG is a placebo. Either way, it proves that a very low calorie diet with adequate protein can result in rapid fat loss without hunger.
This is a great website that I just found yesterday. I have ordered Protein Power and I am looking forward to reading it. I have read multiple books over the last year in an attempt to better understand human nutrition and the low carb, whole foods approach just makes the most sense to me.
I’m trying the HCG. My sister recently lost 52 lbs while on the HCG. She had tried all kinds of other low calorie diets but was very hungry and dizzy and could not stick with them for these reasons. She told me that while following the HCG regimen she does not have any dizziness or hunger and has therefore been able to continue with the diet. I do not doubt her so I am trying it and will follow it exactly. If I can sustain without feeling sick/hungry/light headed then that’s all I need.