I received several inquiries about the “HCG” diet and my first response is a question in itself.  “Do you know what HCG is?”  So far there has been no lay person that actually knew what HCG was or what the diet entailed.  I will make just a few brief remarks to start the conversation and you can add comments as we go.  First of all, HCG is “Human Chorionic Gonadotropin” hormone.  It is made either by a developing embryo, the woman’s placenta while pregnant (!) or by a tumor in the human body.  Think about whether or not that is something you want to take into your body!  Second of all, the original “HCG diet” is based on a 500 Calorie per day diet that is severely restricted and nutrient deficient.  Weight loss without appropriate nutrition support is a recipe for a detoxification disaster that can do much more harm than good.  So, let us know what you think of ingesting a hormone made by a tumor or  during pregnancy, while starving yourself on a nutrient deficient diet! OR consider a professional nutrition consultation here at Metabolism.com that will walk you through the steps necessary to achieve balance and healthy weight loss without any gonadotropin!
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Without effective intervention the early stage of type 2 diabetes known as prediabetes carries a high risk of progressing to outright diabetes. Metabolism.com provides an up-to-date summary of recommendations from national authorities, for preventing and possibly reversing this life long affliction
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Off- Label Use
The FDA is the U.S. government’s department tasked with evaluating and approving drugs for specific medical conditions. When a new medication is approved for treating a medical condition by the FDA the agency will, at the same time, set strict guidelines for exactly which patients may use the newly approved drug. When a medication is used “off-label” it means that these limitations are being overridden by the provider for a potential benefit which outweighs the drugs risks. It is a general misconception that off-label means illegal; it does not. This practice has been going on for ages and more than 20% of prescriptions in the United States are prescribed off-label. A common example is the use of beta-blockers (approved for heart problems) for the treatment of performance anxiety.
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