Vegetarian HCG Diet Questions
Recently I’ve been getting a lot of question regarding a vegetarian HCG 2.0 diet protocol. Before we answer that question, let’s acknowledge the difference between a pescatarian and a vegetarian. A pescatarian eats fish and other seafood, but does engage in the consumption of land grazing animals. A vegetarian, on the other hand, eats no meat at all. As a meat eater, for some unbeknownst reason, I find it necessary to question my vegetarian patients on whether they eat fish? The conversation usually goes something like this…
Vegetarian Patient – “So Dr. Z, is there an HCG diet protocol for vegetarians?”
Meat-eating Dr. Z – “Do you eat fish?”
Vegetarian Patient – (said with confused and/or disgusted look) “If I ate fish, don’t you think I would have asked if there was a pescatarian HCG diet? As I am not a pescatarian, but rather a ‘vegetarian,’ I’d like to know if there is VEGETARIAN protocol?”
Meat-eating Dr. Z – “Oh, of course. My apologies.”
The purpose of the script above is to 1.) serve as an apology to all of my vegetarian patients who are obviously exhausted with this insensitive and naïve question, and 2.) enlighten all of my meat-eating readers on the quite substantial difference between pescatarians and vegetarianism so that in case you “meat” one or both of the above, you don’t make the same negligent mistake I often do.
Now that we’ve cleared the air, let’s answer the question, can vegetarians have success with the HCG 2.0 diet. Yes, they most certainly can, with the assumption that you like egg whites, tofu and you have a protein shake with a PFC greater than 3 that you’re very much in love with. If you can’t say yes to two out of the three, it’s going to be a struggle. The reason is because nuts are too high in fat, albeit good omega 3 fats, and legumes are way too high in carbs. The thing to keep in mind is that if you’re deficient in protein, you may lose weight, but you won’t lose FAT. Even with the assistance of the HCG hormone, a diet deficient in protein is NOT healthy and, in fact, counter-productive.
That’s one of the reason I wrote HCG 2.0. For men, I couldn’t, in good conscience, recommend a diet that deprived them of necessary protein, which is exactly what the 500-calorie version of the HCG diet (consisting of 50% carbs) does. If you’re deprived of protein, the human body has no other alternative but to steal protein from muscle mass because the amino acids in protein are necessary for nearly every chemical reaction within the human body. One extremely important function of protein and amino acids is the manufacturing of neurotransmitters, specifically serotonin, the “happy” neurotransmitter. The reason I find this interesting and worth mentioning is because the Standard American Diet (appropriately acronym's SAD) is short on protein and as a result, an overwhelming amount of Americans are on antidepressants, specifically SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors). But most importantly, a decrease in muscle mass may result in a decrease in body weight from your bathroom scales perspective, but it’s not going to improve our appearance. It will, in fact, make it worse. You’ll just look gaunt and malnourished, but still retain the same fat deposits in all of the areas you don’t want them. It’s vital to get the proper amount of protein if you’re attempting to lose weight. The original 500-calorie HCG diet protocol doesn’t do that.
Dr. Zach
To summarize, vegetarians are entirely capable of achieving success on the HCG 2.o diet plan as long as you’re comfortable eating tofu, egg whites and protein shakes for 30-40 days.