HCG...Am I missing something?

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Ok, I am NOT taking HCG or following some crazy 500 cals a day diet. My concern is that a friend of mine just boght a bottel of it for $60 from a well known supplement store. (Against all advice from me). The ingredients of said HCG are as follows:
Black Cohosh
Wild Yam
Chaste Tree Berry
Dong Quai

Also contains some Stevia and Peppermint for flavour.
No mention of mgs of any of the ingredients.
Am I nuts? Does this have anything to do with HCG at all? Sounds to me like she wasted $60 and is going to just starve herself on 500 cals a day.
She refuses to be educated on healthy eating habits because she wants instant gratification.
I am at a loss as to how to help her.
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Replies

  • knrob
    knrob Posts: 65
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    Focus on the positive...she will be eating clean, and getting rid of bad habits. it could be the jump start she needs to get focused on a better diet.
  • carrie_eggo
    carrie_eggo Posts: 1,396 Member
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    You mean there's NO HCG in the HCG supplement?!?! :noway: Now I've heard everything.....
  • jellybeanhed313
    jellybeanhed313 Posts: 344 Member
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    I did the HCG diet using homeopathic drops ordered online. The ingredients need to say Active ingredients: HCG 6x 12x 30x 60x otherwise, there is no HCG in the bottle and you are right. She needs to return them if she can. I know a lot of people are against the HCG diet, but it worked well for me and I am doing a second round in a few weeks. If she wants to send me a private message I can give some tips and resources.
  • thea724
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    Just tell her what you know to be true
    & Be the best example you can be...

    The rest is up to her.
  • thor1god1of1awesome
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    Well if she has heart set on this stupid fad there isn't much you can do. Just try to talk with her about the health benifets of eating right. But like my daddy always said ya make your bed you gotta lay in it.
  • sarallong
    sarallong Posts: 74 Member
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    My opinion is that HCG is bad!! You dont need to jump start anything. Eating right and hard work is what gets you there...slow and steady wins the race :wink:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    It looks like she bought a supplement for menopause relief on accident.
  • onedayillbamilf
    onedayillbamilf Posts: 662 Member
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    It appears the HCG is missing from the HCG.....
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Those herbs all have strong effects on female hormones. Please tell her to chuck it. It might even mess up her birth control if she's on it.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    Well, what she has isn't even hcg. It isn't hormones, just other ingredients. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do beyond telling her what you have Your best hope is that the 500 calories a day will be too difficult for her to follow. I know it is hard to watch others hurt themselves, but you can't fix what they don't want to have fixed.
  • asilva3111
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    I am going through, basically, the same issue. I have 2 family members using HCG and they are loosing weight like there is no tomorrow. I am telling them they are loosing weight not due to the HCG, but to the sub-800 calorie a day they are eating. Their answer is that the HCG is simply keeping their hunger away. I also mentioned to them that loosing weight, even though I am no master at it at all, but it is simply a math equation. What you put in you must consume. To loose weight, simply consume more than you put in. Obviously the body burns more than the sub-800 calories they are consuming so they are loosing about a pound a day. But I also mentioned to them that loosing weight is a way of life, not a quick fix. Again, I am no master at this since I was weighing 249 lbs when I started and I have only lost 50 lbs and gained 12 lbs over the Holidays and now I am trying to get sub-200 lbs again. But that loosing weight is a way of life. What are they going to do once they stop that 45-day regime of HCG. If they go back to eating what they used to eat, the body will grab all them calories and store the heck out of them. And they can't simply live on a sub-800 calorie a day diet. I see the quick gratification of loosing weight fast and seeing your changes quickly, but as fast as you loose them, at that same rate you will gain them again. Rather than loosing all that weight really fast, if you do it gradually it will stay with you. The reason why I haven't been able to loose the extra weight I put on over the Holidays is because I am eating normal again so I loose about a pound a week; without any exercise.

    Good luck and have them read posting like this and they might see that it is not just you saying it. Or simply do an HCG search on this board and you will see all the negative postings. Yes, we all wish there was a quick way of loosing all them excesses pounds, but think about it, you didn't gain them in a day, a week or even a month. Your body gained them pounds in years for most of us.

    Good luck!
  • Hi! You are right to be concerned! HCG is an absolute miracle, and has changed my life forever. However, it needs to be from a reliable source or prescribed by a doctor. I would tell them to ditch that stuff they got at the drugstore!
  • Health_Gal
    Health_Gal Posts: 718 Member
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    The only "Miracle" associated with the HCG Diet is how much money the people that promote that scam can make off of people that are desperate to lose weight. Any doctor that recommends that dangerous scam starvation diet should be reported to the state medical board and lose their license to practice medicine!

    The HCG diet has been studied by many scientific organizations, and they all concluded that HCG, even the "real" injectable version, is no more effective than a placebo, and eating only 500 calories a day for weeks, as recommended by that plan, can cause more health problems than it solves.

    The only reason people lose weight on that plan is you are only allowed to eat 500 calories a day. HCG has been scientifically proven to do NOTHING to help with weight loss or to make it safe to eat only 500 calories a day. It will not protect muscle, reset your metabolism or do anything else the snake oil salesmen that sell it claim. Dr. Simeons was a quack doctor. His "HCG protocol" has absolutely NO scientific backing and is not worth risking your health on.

    The MFP moderators have been cautioning members against attempting that diet because it is so dangerous.

    Please read the articles on these websites before you try HCG. I know some people that put their faith in the HCG diet, and became very ill from malnutrition as a result. It is NOT safe! I hope you can return the HCG stuff and get your money back.

    The Government is now in the process of getting all that fraudulent stuff off the market, and it's about time!

    http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm281333.htm

    http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/hcg-diet-dangerous-1428

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hcg-diet/AN02091

    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/truth-about-hcg-for-weight-loss

    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/weight-loss-cure-dont-want-you-to-know

    http://www.dietscam.org/reports/hcg.shtml

    http://www.tucsonmedical.com/pages/hcg.php
  • onehotgirl
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    Just get a pregnant women to pee in the bottle for her. Problem solved.
  • Health_Gal
    Health_Gal Posts: 718 Member
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    Unfortunately, one symptom people on the HCG diet often experience is a total loss of common sense. All they care about is how fast they are losing weight, and they lose sight of the fact the only reason they are losing weight so quickly is they are eating at a starvation calorie level, and will most likely regain more than they lost.

    I am really angry at chains like WalMart and Rite Aid/ GNC that sell the HCG diet junk. I bet most of the local store managers have ABSOLUTELY NO idea of the fact that people are being told in the instructions packed in the box that it is safe to eat only 500 calories a day went they use that "product."

    I wish the FDA would step up their actions about getting ALL the over-the-counter HCG diet junk off the market, and also go after the so-called doctors that are making money promoting any version of that dangerous scam diet. If I knew of any doctors in my state that were promoting the HCG diet, I would turn them in to the state medical board for malpractice.
  • Melanie12081
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    Ok, I am NOT taking HCG or following some crazy 500 cals a day diet. My concern is that a friend of mine just boght a bottel of it for $60 from a well known supplement store. (Against all advice from me). The ingredients of said HCG are as follows:
    Black Cohosh
    Wild Yam
    Chaste Tree Berry
    Dong Quai

    Also contains some Stevia and Peppermint for flavour.
    No mention of mgs of any of the ingredients.
    Am I nuts? Does this have anything to do with HCG at all? Sounds to me like she wasted $60 and is going to just starve herself on 500 cals a day.
    She refuses to be educated on healthy eating habits because she wants instant gratification.
    I am at a loss as to how to help her.

    HCG was deemed illegal by the FDA, who forced stores to remove it from shelves in April of last year. No OTC drops are allowed to contain the actual horomone anymore. The only way to get actual HCG is to go to a doctor. The drops are homeopathic, contain a variety of herbs and supplements, but not one single milli-drop of HCG. Just so you know...
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    You mean there's NO HCG in the HCG supplement?!?! :noway: Now I've heard everything.....

    That's because it's illegal to buy real HCG in "homeopathic" form now. So now, the manufacturers of these over-the-counter supplements can't put HCG in HCG supplements.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    Ok, I am NOT taking HCG or following some crazy 500 cals a day diet. My concern is that a friend of mine just boght a bottel of it for $60 from a well known supplement store. (Against all advice from me). The ingredients of said HCG are as follows:
    Black Cohosh
    Wild Yam
    Chaste Tree Berry
    Dong Quai

    Also contains some Stevia and Peppermint for flavour.
    No mention of mgs of any of the ingredients.
    Am I nuts? Does this have anything to do with HCG at all? Sounds to me like she wasted $60 and is going to just starve herself on 500 cals a day.
    She refuses to be educated on healthy eating habits because she wants instant gratification.
    I am at a loss as to how to help her.

    Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do. Just keep discouraging her to take this and continue to be a positive role model in your own actions.
  • MyFeistyEvolution
    MyFeistyEvolution Posts: 1,015 Member
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    You mean there's NO HCG in the HCG supplement?!?! :noway: Now I've heard everything.....
    *facepalm*
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Welcome to Homeopathy 101. The large majority (if not entirety) of homeopathic remedies don't even have what's supposed to be in them. It's nothing but fillers and water.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U

    James Randi explains.
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