Understanding the hypothalamus and it’s role in your HCG Diet
The hypothalamus, in addition to being a strange sounding word, is an extremely small gland located deep within the brain. It weighs only about 4 grams and makes up less than 1% of the total mass of our brains. However, it provides several vital functions including the regulation of sleep, thirst, temperature, hunger and satiety, reproduction, and some primitive aspects of behavior. The hypothalamus also controls our thyroid gland which regulates our metabolism, establishing our BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. All of these terms are necessary to understanding how HCG is effective in helping you lose weight, but more importantly resetting your metabolism to maintain your weight loss.
When Dr. A.T.W Simeons developed the HCG diet in the 1950s, his work abroad studying infectious disease, often in impoverished third-world countries, lead him to an astonishing observation; that extremely malnourished women were still capable of giving birth to healthy, full weight babies. In researching this he found HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) and its effects on the hypothalamus to be responsible.
When a woman becomes pregnant, her body is responsible for providing calories to the growing baby for proper development. And just as the baby requires a 24/7 oxygen supply, it also requires a continuous supply of calories. These calories, along with oxygen and other nutrients are derived from the blood flow that enters through umbilical cord. As we’ve already established, any interruption in calories, just like any interruption in oxygen would be catastrophic to the development of the baby. Obviously the mother is capable of supply oxygen in available quantities to the baby, but what about calories? The baby can’t wait 3-5 hours in between meals in order to develop, so the placenta of the mother begins to produce HCG. pregnancy hormone diet pounds and inches
The sole purpose of the HCG hormone is to provide a continuous calorie source for the growing baby. It does this by acting on a gland in our brain called the hypothalamus. This is discussed more later, but the hypothalamus regulates all metabolic function and the HCG tells the hypothalamus that additional calories are needed to supply the baby. The hypothalamus then opens up mom’s fat reserves, releasing 1500 to 4000 calories per day of stored fat into the blood stream, which is then delivered to the baby.
Dr. Simeons discovered that when HCG is supplemented in the absence of a pregnancy, and combined with a low calorie diet, it has the same effect. The HCG taps into the unwanted fat we tend to store in our bellies, thighs, arms, etc., and converts it into calories in a process called Ketosis. The dieter can then use these calories as energy and literally sustain themselves on their own stored fat, leading to rapid weight loss. Women tend to lose 1/2 to a full pounds per day while men lose up to 2 pounds per day.