We start the hCG diet with a goal of losing weight and being healthier. One of the fall backs of this protocol is the power of the scale. When we track everyday our losses and gains we can see an unhealthy obsession with the scale take place. The best way to overcome this is to know your true reasons for eating healthier and maintaining your weight. You have to make a list of things are you are grateful for everyday and be focused on the long term health benefits that eating healthy and making smart choices will bring to your life over time.
If you notice that your moods are be influenced by the number on the scale you need to step back and reevaluate why you are in this journey. You need to refocus on being healthy, living longer and the freedom of weighing less will bring into your life. Do not be defeated by the day to day numbers on the scale. With this protocol and every other type of diet there are stalls and fluctuations as your body adjusts to the changes you are making. While the scale is a tool of measure it cannot be the only tool by which you base your success on.
Weight issues cause an insecurity in us that we can fall back into quickly when the scale is not cooperating with our goals. This protocol is about Pounds and Inches but it also is about learning to eat healthier, and focusing on how your body responds to different foods groups.
We encourage you to make a goal sheet in your daily tracking and list all the things you are grateful for that you have learned on this journey and focus on these daily. Stressing over the movement or lack thereof of the scale will only frustrate and defeat you. Be positive, walk in love and be grateful everyday for all the blessings in your life. This will take you so much further than letting the scale beat you down and give you a feeling of defeat.
If you are one of the millions of microwave users out in the world, then might I suggest that you read on! Your life may depend on it! By “nuking” your food you are literally “zapping out” the nutrition and “shorting out” the electrical impulses in your brain! And your chances for developing cancer is up! By the time your microwaved food hits your mouth, you no longer have food, you have a radiated pile of garbage! I believe this to be true and there are plenty of studies proving the horrible effects of microwave usage.When we microwave foods, structures of the water molecules are ripped apart and deformed, severely damaging any minerals and nutrients. The process of which foods are cooked is called microwave radiation, normally operating in 2.45 gigahertz within a normal wavelength of 122 mm. This wave of energy passes through the food and interacts with the molecules. Water molecules are known to be naturally electric dipoles or having positive and negative polarities and the polarities gradually changes at millions times in every split of a second!Microwaves cause dielectric heating, which means they spin around very rapidly inside your oven in such an electric field at high frequencies, and the molecular friction eventually causes the water to turn to steam and that heats up the food. But this can also change the food’s chemical structure and cause damage to your body.
Microwave radiation is a very serious concern that many people will overlook in order to maintain their busy lifestyles. These modern devices can cause a variety of health problems in humans that our ancestors dreamed of. Here are just a few of the possible health effects related to microwave ovens.
Cancer. One of the main reasons not to use a microwave is the increased cancer numbers among microwave users. Microwave ovens turn some minerals into cancerous agents and regularly eating microwaved foods can cause an increase in cancerous cells in human blood. Studies show that stomach and intestinal tumors and cancer is higher in those who use a microwave regularly. Also, it’s linked to the increased rate of colon cancer in America.
Decreased Immune System. The radiation dangers involved with microwaved food can cause decreased immune system function in any human but the most damage has been seen small infants. If you heat infant formula (or even expressed breast milk!) in a microwave, it will destroy the bacteria-digesting enzymes and antibodies that the infant needs as protection against infections. Studies show numerous immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.
Memory Loss. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term memory loss, emotional problems, and a decrease in intelligence. What is this doing to our children and grandchildren who most likely use it a number of times a day?
Hormone Imbalances. A steady diet of microwave-cooked food may cause your body to shut down its hormones production making your hormone levels completely out of balance. This effect has been seen in both males and females. There are so many hormonal imbalance related disorders and psychological disorders that may be linked to microwave usage.
Added Toxins. Why put more toxins into your body? Our bodies get enough toxins by just the environment we live in, so why add more? Toxins “zap” our energy and make us sick and sluggish. They clog up our liver which is our main fat burning organ. Studies and reports indicate that microwave ovens can cause carcinogenic toxins to leach out of your plastic and paper containers/covers, and into your food. The January/February 1990 issue of Nutrition Action Newsletter reported the leakage of numerous toxic chemicals from the packaging of common microwavable foods, including pizzas, chips and popcorn.
Loss of nutritional value. Microwave radiation has some effects on the food that can reduce its nutritional value due to the deformation of the molecular structures. Studies show that foods cooked in the microwave oven has great impact on the levels of vitamins and nutrients present in the foods. When you “nuke” vegetables in the microwave, you loose 97% of it’s food benefits and value. A study published in the November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli “zapped” in the microwave with a little water lost up to 97 percent of its beneficial antioxidants. By comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11 percent or fewer of its antioxidants. Also, any minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in a microwave oven, making it no longer healthy or nutritious food. When I began to do research on the dangers of microwaves, these studies were the ones that really caught my attention! I had been working so hard to be healthy and then I would “zap” away all the good stuff when I would cook my food in the microwave oven. All those nutrients were gone in less than a minute!
Most hospitals do not use microwaves, especially when dealing with the human blood. In 1991, there was a lawsuit in Oklahoma concerning the hospital use of a microwave oven to warm blood needed in a transfusion. The case involved a hip surgery patient, Norma Levitt, who died from a simple blood transfusion. It seems the nurse had warmed the blood in a microwave oven. This tragedy makes it very apparent that there’s much more to “heating” with microwaves than we’ve been led to believe. Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed, but not in microwave ovens. In the case of Mrs. Levitt, the microwaving altered the blood and it killed her.
Also, in 1991, Dr. Hans Ulrich Hertel and a Lausanne University professor published a research paper indicating that food cooked in microwave ovens could pose a greater risk to human health than food cooked by conventional means. An article also appeared in issue 19 of the Journal Franz Weber in which it was stated that the consumption of food cooked in microwave ovens had cancerous effects on the blood. The research paper itself followed the article.
Dr. Hertel was the first scientist to conceive and carry out a quality clinical study on the effects microwaved nutrients have on the blood and physiology of the human body. His small but well controlled study documented that the heat created by microwave ovens produces a degenerative force on the foods cooked in them. The scientific conclusion showed that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food; and, changes took place in the participants’ blood that could cause deterioration in the human system. Hertel’s scientific study was done along with Dr. Bernard H. Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University Institute for Biochemistry. (www.health-science.com)
I am happy to say that I stopped using my microwave oven all together when I learned of the numerous dangers of it. I don’t even put water in there! Don’t worry, you won’t miss it as much as you think you might. I find it very easy now to quickly re-heat food by using a stove-top, steamers or toaster oven. You can always plan ahead, or eat more raw foods!
So although I didn’t cover each of the many, many studies that are out there on this topic, I hope this has been an eye-opening blog post. I understand that not all research studies are valid, and I always question the ones that are funded by a company who benefits from the results. (We always have to question the results of sponsored/funded research studies!) I want to encourage you to look deeper into the numerous studies and make a decision based on your findings and beliefs. Or just take my word for it … if it’s not safe for infants and hospitals, then why would it be safe for us?
For more research on this important topic please visit these websites:
100 g cooked chicken (ground beef or steak can also be used)
1 lg tomato hollowed out (can slice in half as well)
1 melba toast crushed into crumbs (optional)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced onion (powder may be substituted)
cayenne pepper and salt to taste
*To prepare your tomato you must first hollow out and allow it to drain. This is best described as the ‘pumpkin method’ carve around the top and gently cutting into the tomato’s sides with a spoon, scrape out the innards into a small dish and set aside. If this is too difficult or your tomato is very ripe, you can cut it in half and do a similar hollowing out. Sprinkle your tomato with salt and turning upside down on a paper towel, allow it to drain. If you wish you may cut a thin slice from the bottom of the tomato which will allow it to sit ‘up’ in the dish while baking!
*using a bullet, ninja, blender, or similar device, combine chicken, onion, garlic, and 2 tbs of the tomato juice and blend. Carefully pack about half of your chicken mixture into your tomato.
Phase 2 Recipe
Place your stuffed tomato into a baking dish, top with melba toast crumbs, and bake for 20 min at 350, adding about 1/8 c water to the dish to prevent burning.
You can now have fun with the left over chicken salad and tomato ‘juice’. I like to combine the juice with 2/3 c water, (1 tsp milk optional), onion and garlic powder, 5 drops of stevia, blend in bullet, warm and voila… tomato soup! The Chicken salad is a great topping for celery stalks, melba toast (if not used as a topping), served on a bed of lettuce, or to make apple chicken salad! This can be a fancy dish for a dinner party or something simple for yourself… be creative and enjoy!
1 cup cottage cheese (fat free on p2 or full fat on p3)
Creamy Ranch Dressing
1/4 cup of milk soured with 1/2 tsp ACV
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper Cream the cottage cheese till all the lumps are gone then add the other ingredients. Let it rest for at least an hour so the flavors mix. If it’s too thick you can thin it down with more milk or cream.
Remember to be vary aware of how much you use in p2 and count it as a protein.
Question of the Week- What Kind of Teas? In this weeks VLOG Carol discusses the types of teas and why we drink them. We get many questions about the detox tea and smooth move. These teas are very beneficial to your overall health and you can enjoy them even into the lifetime phase. Detox Tea: [...]
As you read in this article Melba Toast has hidden sugars. Here is a recipe to make your own: Phase 2 Recipes for Melba Toast 1 cup whole grain flour (I used Bobs Red Mill) ingredients: Whole grain organic stone ground hard red wheat 3/4 cup water 1 tsp sea salt Mix it all up, [...]
