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Summary
Helpful Lists
Low Carb Vegetables
Starchy High Carb Vegetables
Low Sugar Fruits
Sample Menus
Notes and Tips
Beyond the Maintenance Phase
Summary
The maintenance phase (also known as Phase 3 created by Kevin Trudeau and
the stabilization period) is the 3 week period after you finish your
injections. There are a few simple rules you must follow: you must
weigh yourself every day, you must remain within 2 pounds of your last
injection weight (either above or below), and you cannot eat sugars and
starches. It is extremely important to eat enough protein on this
phase, many people eat at least 100 grams of true protein (about 400 grams
weighed raw). If you go over the 2 pounds, you must do a steak
day (this is explained in the protocol and in the tips and tricks page). We want to be
clear that this 3 week period is crucial to the success of the diet. The
entire phase is explained in Dr. Simeons Pounds & Inches, yet we
compiled a list to help you out. Before we get to the list, read an excerpt
from Pounds & Inches:
When
the three days of dieting after the last injection are over, the patients
are told that they may now eat anything they please, except sugar and
starch, provided they faithfully observe one simple rule. This rule is that
they must have their own portable bathroom-scale always at hand,
particularly while traveling. They must without fail weigh themselves every
morning as they get out of bed, having first emptied their bladder. If they
are in the habit of having breakfast in bed, they must weigh before
breakfast.
It takes about 3 weeks before the weight reached at the end of the
treatment becomes stable, i.e. does not show violent fluctuations after an
occasional excess. During this period patients must realize that the
so-called carbohydrates, that is sugar, rice, bread, potatoes, pastries
etc, are by far the most dangerous. If no carbohydrates whatsoever are eaten,
fats can be indulged in somewhat more liberally and even small quantities
of alcohol, such as a glass of wine with meals, does no harm, but as soon
as fats and starch are combined things are very liable to get out of hand.
This has to be observed very carefully during the first 3 weeks after the
treatment is ended otherwise disappointments are almost sure to occur.
One last item before we begin: The day that you give yourself your last
injection, you count 72 hours (continuing on the 500 VLCD for those 72
hours) from that moment and then you start the maintenance phase. That
weight that you were the morning of your last injection is the weight that
you use as a basis for your maintenance phase. Anything OVER two pounds
from that weight calls for a steak day.
NOTE: The time period to begin this phase is not 3 days after your last
injection, it is 72 hours! (For example, if you administer your last shot
on Monday at 8 am, you will begin the maintenance phase on Thursday at 8
am.)
First thing, when beginning the 3 week maintenance phase, make sure to
increase your calories to at least 1500. Don't try to continue the diet
after the hCG is out of your system. Bear in mind, your weight will
fluctuate the first week or two; this is normal. Do a steak day if you need
to. The weight will eventually stabilize. Watch the starch and sugar
religiously during the 3 weeks. Read labels. (Continue) eating organic food
if possible. Eat whatever you want, without starch or sugar, during the
maintenance phase. Make sure you are eating enough. Use healthy fats and
dairy products to up your calorie intake if necessary. Drink enough water.
Helpful
Lists
Click here for a
place which describes fats; this is helpful to know what to introduce into
your new maintenance diet.
Click here
for a list of starches (including certain beans); this is helpful to know
what you need to avoid.
Low
Carb Vegetables
This list is roughly arranged from lowest to highest carbohydrate counts,
but all are non-starchy and generally low in carbohydrates. Exact carb
count depends on serving size. Remember when counting carbs in vegetables
that the fiber is not counted, and can be subtracted from the total.
* Sprouts (bean, alfalfa,
etc.)
* Greens – lettuces, spinach, chard, etc.
* Hearty Greens - collards, mustard greens, kale, etc.
* Radicchio and endive count as greens
* Herbs - parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme, etc.
* Bok Choy
* Celery
* Radishes
* Sea Vegetables (Nori, etc)
* Broccoli
* Cauliflower
* Cabbage (or sauerkraut)
* Mushrooms
* Jicama
* Avocado
* Cucumber (or pickles without added sugars)
* Peppers (all kinds)
* Summer Squash (including zucchini)
* Scallions or green onions
* Asparagus
* Bamboo Shoots
* Leeks
* Brussels Sprouts
* Snow Peas (pods)
* Green Beans and Wax Beans
* Tomatoes
* Eggplant
* Artichoke Hearts
* Fennel
* Onions
* Okra
* Spaghetti Squash
* Celery Root (Celeriac)
* Carrots
* Turnip (see Carb Counts of Root Vegetables)
* Water Chestnuts
* Pumpkin
Starchy (High Carb)
Vegetables
The main veggies to be avoided when reducing carbohydrates are the
starchier vegetables:
* Beets
* Carrots (depends on diet)
* Corn
* Parsnips
* Peas
* Plantains
* Potatoes in all forms
* Winter Squashes (particularly acorn and butternut)
Choose Low Sugar Fruit
Fruit is an area where some of the low carb diets part company, as some
depend more upon glycemic index or glycemic load (South Beach, Zone), while
others just look at total carbs (Atkins, Protein Power). Also, some diets
(Atkins, South Beach) don't allow fruit at all in the first phase. In
general, your best bet fruits are these, but do check carb counts. These
are sort of arranged by sugar content, taking volume and weight, into
account. This is not an exhaustive list.
Good news: the fruits lowest in sugar are some of the highest in
nutritional value, including antioxidants and other phytonutrients.
Fruits lowest in sugar:
* Rhubarb
* Strawberries
* Cranberries
* Raspberries
* Blackberries
* Blueberries
* Grapefruit
* Melons
* Apricots
* Plums
* Peaches
* Pears
* Guava
* Cherries
* Apples
* Papaya
Fruits fairly high in sugar:
* Grapes
* Tangerine
* Oranges
* Pineapple
* Kiwi
Fruits to be avoided in the maintenance phase:
* Bananas
* Dried Fruit
* Mango
Foods to Avoid:
Avoiding sugar simply means
avoid cookies, cake, pie, candy, cupcakes, frosting, soft drinks, corn
syrup, kool-aid, processed food, energy drinks, fruit juice, honey, yogurt,
donuts, cookies, pudding, maple syrup, brownies, canned fruit in heavy
syrup, ice cream, cool whip, boxed breakfast cereals, breakfast bars,
granola - nothing with sugar.
Be sure to read food labels,
check to see if sugar is added into a product before you buy it. Nearly
every product in a can or box contains sugar in one of its many names. The first five ingredients listed
on an item is the majority of the product, so be sure that sugar is not in
the top five.
Avoiding starch means avoid
cornstarch, white flour, wheat flour, any flour, pasta, any bread or bread
product, breadsticks, bagels, hamburger and hotdog buns, crackers,
tortillas, oatmeal, rice, polenta, peas, corn, lentils, pita bread,
pretzels, corn chips, potato chips, yams, potatoes, pancakes, muffins,
nearly all root vegetables, any breading on fish, chicken, or other
protein., beans, grains, acorn squash, butternut squash, cereals, granola,
cereal bars, popcorn, biscuits, corn bread, taco shells, croutons, rice
cakes, Cream of Wheat, corn meal, and some nuts.
Most restaurants and fast
food places add sugar to nearly every product, so be wary of eating out all
the time. Other meats to watch out include deli meats, bacon, ham,
prosciutto, sausage, and hotdogs.
Do not eat processed cheese
(i.e. Velveeta), it contains unnecessary sugars and starches. Try not
to eat processed anything for that matter.
99
Names for Sugar
Sample
Menus
View a sample Phase 3 Menu here.
View a different Phase 3 Menu here.
Notes
and Tips:
1. If you've got a Half Priced Bookstore in your area, go in and see if you
can find any low carb cookbooks by Dana Carpender. She wrote 500 Low
Carb Recipes and 500 More Low Carb Recipes and a lot of the
recipes in those books would be Phase 3 friendly. Keep an eye on the
ingredients and avoid the recipes with nuts, nut flours, bake mix, guar
gum, molasses, honey, etc., or anything that could be a starch.
2. Also, Suzanne Somers has cookbooks which use Low Carb philosophy; you
can also try Low
Carb for Dummies. You can also check out the master of low carb--Dr.
Atkins. These can help the culinary challenged.
3. It is important to remind you: eat at least double the protein you were
eating on the protocol - at least 100 - 125 protein grams - that is not
weight, but grams of pure protein. On the protocol you averaged about
50 so at least double that so you won't be protein deficient. If you
get to a level of protein deficiency, be sure to do a steak and cheese day
(as described in Simeons Pounds and Inches
and here).
5. You can find out the minimum calories you should be consuming here. It is your
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), or the calories burned if you did absolutely
nothing all day given your particular height, weight, and age. You can use
your BMR for your lower range boundary, figuring that anything less than
that creates a deficit in calories, which you don't want. Then, add another
300-400 calories to that figure (given that you don't stay in bed all day).
It is important to eat enough calories because if you try to subsist on too
few calories or "rabbit food," then your body will require that
just to maintain. --JPS
6. It's a good idea to still write down what you are eating as you need to
know where your set point is and identify "problem" foods.
Many people can stay around 1700 calories with absolutely no problem; be
careful exceeding 2500 calories. In addition, insufficient calories
can also produce problems. Listen to your body and watch its
signs.
7. Remember, Dr. Simeons said you can eat anything you want except sugars
and starches. Follow one simple rule, watch the scale. This means exactly
that, you can eat up to three fruits a day, including bananas - eat cottage
cheese daily - sometimes two servings - and have avocado and feta with
dinner. You can drink beer and wine. The only thing to try to maintain is a
doubling of your protein from the VLCD as you don't want to become protein
deficient. Some sample foods on this phase include: prime steak slathered
in butter, lots of avocados, loads and loads of fresh fruit and vegetables;
you can put butter on those vegetables and cheese at times. You can eat
fresh shrimp and fresh fish, often baking it in butter, wine and herbs, You
can drink white wine on a few occasions. You can cook your eggs in butter
and make omelets with vegetables and a little cheese. Use olive oil, eat
more dietary fat—it can be the key to maintenance. Overall, eat the good
fats and the scale goes down, try to limit the fats and the scale goes up.
8. Many have found that the maintenance phase demonstrates a change in
attitude toward food. For example, not getting a second helping of food,
but just eating what is on your plate. People are not as hungry as they
remember being pre-protocol. Instead people eat because they need to
eat, not because they have this overwhelming desire to stuff their mouths.
People also find that they have ridden themselves of the emotional
attachment to food.
9. Don’t be afraid if the food you loved before the VLCD no longer tastes
the same or gives you the same feeling they gave you before. Sometimes, it
can take almost 4 or 5 days to even start enjoying the food again. We
believe it is because your body is so used to one way of eating, it takes
awhile to adjust to the new way of eating again.
10. Be careful of introducing too many new foods at once. Try to introduce
foods one at a time, so you can determine if a certain food causes a gain
or loss. Some people have trouble with dairy or nuts. Our suggestion is to
go with lean protein, fruit and vegetables during the first few days to
balance out. Then, GRADUALLY introduce foods like nuts and dairy one at a
time, so that if you react negatively it is easily identified.
11. Read the label on everything you introduce during this maintenance
phase. Be sure there is no form of sugar in it or other additives (look for
any -ose, corn syrup, MSG, etc.).
12. It is important on
this maintenance phase to look at the glycemic index of foods, rather than
the carb count. This specifically means that foods are ranked on the
effect they have on your glucose levels. These high glycemic foods
are exactly what Dr. Simeons wants you to refrain from. Check out
this website for more
information on glycemic levels.
13. Be careful of yogurts which contain sugar regardless of soy or milk
based. You can use organic PLAIN yogurt and then sweeten it with Stevia and
add fruit to it (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, or whatever else
you are craving.)
14. Use common sense when selecting your food for the maintenance phase.
Dr. Simeons really meant to avoid the obvious starches such as corn,
potatoes, cereal, white flour, beans, pasta, bread, etc., and not starches
in fruits/nuts. You can follow Atkins, but use more protein than fat.
15. If you are having trouble stabilizing your weight, begin by reducing
the fats a bit (i.e. cheese or oil) and increase protein and vegetables.
Some people, especially women, seem to be sensitive to cheese and the
sodium apparently increases water retention = nominal weight gain (though
not fat gain).
16. Don't worry about weight fluctuations (within the 2 pounds or close to
it) too much. Many people, have somewhat unstable weight for the first week
to 10 days after transitioning from the hCG to maintenance (a few lucky
ones don't). It is likely to stabilize for you in less than a week, don't
get upset by the minor swings.
17. Two important passages from Pounds & Inches to be aware of during
this phase:
· Beware of Over-enthusiasm
The
other trouble which is frequently encountered immediately after treatment
is again due to over-enthusiasm. Some patients cannot believe that they can
eat fairly normally without regaining weight. They disregard the advice to
eat anything they please except sugar and starch and want to play safe.
They try more or less to continue the 500-Calorie diet on which they felt
so well during treatment and make only minor variations, such as replacing
the meat with an egg, cheese, or a glass of milk. To their horror they find
that in spite of this bravura, their weight goes up. So, following
instructions, they skip one meager lunch and at night eat only a little salad
and drink a pot of unsweetened tea, becoming increasingly hungry and weak.
The next morning they find that they have increased yet another pound. They
feel terrible, and even the dreaded swelling of their ankles is back.
Normally we check our patients one week after they have been eating freely,
but these cases return in a few days. Either their eyes are filled with
tears or they angrily imply that when we told them to eat normally we were
just fooling them.
· Protein deficiency
Here
too, the explanation is quite simple. During treatment the patient has been
only just above the verge of protein deficiency and has had the advantage
of protein being fed back into his system from the breakdown of fatty
tissue. Once the treatment is over there is no more hCG in the body and
this process no longer takes place. Unless an adequate amount of protein is
eaten as soon as the treatment is over, protein deficiency is bound to
develop, and this inevitably causes the marked retention of water known as
hunger- edema.
The treatment is very simple. The patient is told to eat two eggs for
breakfast and a huge steak for lunch and dinner followed by a large helping
of cheese and to phone through the weight the next morning. When these
instructions are followed a stunned voice is heard to report that two lbs.
have vanished overnight, that the ankles are normal but that sleep was
disturbed, owing to an extraordinary need to pass large quantities of
water. The patient having learned this lesson usually has no further
trouble.
18. If you plan on doing a second (or third) round to lose more weight,
remember that Dr. Simeons recommends a 6 week break, followed by 8 weeks,
followed by 10 weeks, etc. Some people have chosen to limit the break to 3
weeks (going from the maintenance phase right back to the
injections). Dr. Simeons recommends this break to prevent immunity, but it
is ultimately up to you how long your break is; you will see how the hCG
reacts to the amount of time you chose to break for.
19. If you need recipes and information on low carbohydrate eating, there
is a very good Yahoo group with hundreds of low carb recipes in the
archives. It is a NO chat group-recipes only. Find it here.
There are also a multitude of recipe websites online. Many you can search
for free. Do a web search for low carb recipes. Also, check out the Low Carb Resources website for lots
of information on low carb dieting, including recipes.
20. For those who are
experiencing fluid fluctuations, you can combat it with drinking a lot of
water (more than 2 liters), drinking corn silk tea, taking Epsom salt
baths, and watching your salt intake. You can increase protein, use
fiber, magnesium as additional weapons for weight
fluctuations.
21. Stay away from the
surgery liqueurs (Bailey's, Chocolate, Amaretto, etc.)
22. Do NOT try to lose
additional weight during this period. Dr. Simeons states that you
will lose weight from your structural and reserve fat, rather than the
abnormal fat, which you do NOT want to do. In addition, the
hypothalamus needs time to adjust to the new "set" weight if it
is to be considered your "normal" weight. If you do not
allow this 3-week period of maintaining the last injection weight, it may
be much easier to gain weight in the future.
After 3 week Maintenance Phase
1. After you finish the 3 week maintenance phase, be sure to add your carbs
back in slowly. Take note of what makes you gain weight. Start with healthy
low glycemic carb like oatmeal and Ezekiel break or sweet potatoes or brown
rice. You can also print out a chart of foods which has low glycemic
foods on it here which can be used after
you finish the maintenance phase.
2. Keep drinking your water and teas. If you've managed to refrain from
diet coke and processed food...continue. This will contribute to successful
maintenance.
3. Be sure to continue to watch the scale and remain within 2 pounds of the
last injection weight. If at ANY point you are above 2 pounds,
immediately do a steak day.
4. You can now eat or drink any foods you wish. Continue to weigh daily and
see how the various foods you introduce effect your weight. Adjust your
intake in accordance with what you discover about your own unique response
to foods.
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