Raw Noodles, Vegetable Slicers and Spiralizers

Today's Weight: 133.8 lbs

Yesterday's Weight: 135.0
Thursday: 133.6
Wednesday: 132.8

VLCD #10

I've been doing a little better with the drops. I've noticed I need to hold the liquid under my tongue in smaller doses because if I use the whole .2 mls it won't stay under my tongue. I had a big gain the last couple of days because I binge ate late at night. I poured a whole bunch of walnuts, granola and strawberry flavored milk into a small bowl and ate it at 11:30pm! Shameful! I'm intolerant to dairy and nuts and hence the large gain and large drop once the inflammation goes down.

I try not to complain when the HCG diet isn't working for me because almost 99.9% of the time it's because I'm not committed to following it. I find I have to balance out trying to commit to the diet and living a semi normal life. I always remind myself that it's inconvenient to be on the protocol but that being a diabetic is just as inconvenient. So usually I fall off the wagon, dust myself off, and get back on.

A few weeks ago I bought a spiral vegetable slicer to make raw zucchini noodles to sneak into my kids regular noodles. It's neat and has been useful on P2 protocol. You're allowed apples, cucumbers and zucchinis and this little machine will make them all look cool enough to eat without too many complaints.

It's called the World Cuisine Tri Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer. A mouth full name in itself. I bought it through Amazon. I've heard them called spirooli spiral vegetable slicers or just spirooli machines or spiralizers. You Tube has some infomercial style videos that actually provide a good demo of what you can do with it. 

Spirooli Spiral Vegetable Slicer- Making Raw Zucchini Pasta and Onion Rings

Review: Spiralizer for Zucchini Spaghetti Noodles

I want to try this Raw Zucchini Pizza Nest for my kids and husband. We can't use it on phase 2 due to the oil and such but I'd love to try on phase 3.  I tried making one for them using a different recipe without the dehydrator and it came out way too mushy. I'd love a dehydrator and I 

think I just like to find recipes to give me an excuse to buy one. 

Picture from A Grateful Life of a Raw Zucchini Pizza Nest

Acne and Hair loss on HCG

I had written an entry last year regarding episodes of acne and hair loss after P2/HCG. I've done multiple rounds and during each round I've experienced the hair loss and re-growth phase. I've noticed I start losing hair in Round 3 about a month to 6 weeks after I stop the HCG. It's never a huge problem but it is something I have noticed.

The comment I had was:
Hey! I searched "hair growth after hcg" and found your blog. I'm glad it is growing back. If you don't mind me asking, How long did the shedding last and when did it start growing back? I've done one round of hcg and a half round..lost a total of about 30 lbs and have too experienced massive hair shedding. been going on for about three weeks. I am taking massive Biotin and multi vitamins...just wondering how your experience was? As for the acne, i HAVE it now. Its definitely unlike any acne ive had before. These pimples are bigger and purple... I'm actually using AcneFree system (20 bucks at any target) and its helped out a lot..took about 3 days to see a difference. on Acne papules after HCG

I got a prescription from my doctor for a topical acne cream, clindamycin phosphate and benzoyl peroxide get, 1%/5%. It's embarrassing but I feel the information will be helpful to others, I didn't just get the pimples on my face. *blush* I have not had any issues but it did take a few months of using the cream to clear up. The cream does not have any oil in it and I did not find it interfered with my weight loss during Round 2 though it will dry out your face and you can't use moisturizers to correct the issue on the protocol. Since the problem wasn't solely on my face it didn't matter that it dried out my.... well... but cheeks.

Hope the info helps. I'll keep an eye out for excessive hair loss this round and will post the information.

Comments

I didn't notice I had so many comments and am only now getting to answer them. I apologize and will try to share some of them with everybody. Sorry about that!

Sublingual HCG Mixing Instructions

Today's Weight: 133.4 lbs
Yesterday's Weight: 134.6

VLCD #5
Sublingual drops- appx 200 IU per day

I made a good call increasing the dose of my oral HCG drops. I noticed that the syringe I was using kept some of the liquid inside the tube so I wasn't getting the full dose. I was able to do one day of 500 calories and then had to eat some food because I was going crazy with hunger. It took about a day and a half to kick in but I noticed my hunger became more manageable.

The mixing instructions I used were from the website My HCG Journey- Sublingual Instructions written by guest writer Regina (EweWho).

I'm using .2 CC which is 100 IU per dose, two times a day for 200 IU. I used Tito's Vodka as the alcohol. I purchased the amber glass bottle at my local The Container Store.

My mixing instructions are as follows:

Supplies Needed:

Alcohol - DO NOT USE RUBBING ALCOHOL! Rubbing Alcohol is poisonous when taken internally! Just use good distilled liquor (rum, vodka, gin, etc.) This acts as a preservative and aids in absorption, so don’t omit it. You will not taste it.

hCG – it is best to use 5,000 IU when making sublingual. The potency will last about 30 days, or more.

Amber or Blue glass bottle – get this at a health food store or a compounding pharmacy. The smaller it is, the better (10 ml is best). You will only be putting two teaspoons of liquid in it.

0.3 cc/ml syringe (for taking your dose) – The best is an insulin syringe. Try to get one that you can remove the needle from the tip.  You can use any size, I just prefer the .3 cc/ml.

5 cc/ml syringe for drawing the water and alcohol.

1. In a small (10-15 ml) amber/blue glass bottle mix:

For a 5,000 IU vial, use:

5 cc/ml water (can be tap water or bottled water, whatever you have on hand)
5 cc/ml alcohol

For a 1,500 IU vial use:

1.5 cc/ml water
1.5 cc/ml alcohol

(This will give you 500 IU per ml.  With either mixture you will use the dose as listed below the mixing instructions.)

2. Draw up 5 ml/cc of alcohol and put it into the amber/blue bottle.

3. Open vial. Make sure you use something like an alcohol swab or a tissue to cover it to snap the neck so you don’t cut yourself.  Set the vial aside.

4. Draw up 5 ml/cc of water. Slowly inject some of the water into the vial. It doesn’t matter how much you inject into the vial, you are just making the powder into a solution.  Put the rest of the water into the amber/blue bottle with the alcohol.

5. Swirl the vial to mix. The powder is highly soluble and will mix easily.

6. Hold the vial upside down over the amber/blue bottle and put your syringe into the neck of the vial and draw out the solution. If you spill any, it will go into the bottle. Make sure you get every drop out of the vial.

7. Swirl the amber/blue bottle to mix.

8. Store solution in the refrigerator, away from the front if possible.  Do NOT store in the door as this part of the fridge is usually not as cold as the interior.

To use the solution, draw up the following amount for each dose. Remember, you will be taking your dose twice daily.

.1 cc (or 10 on an insulin syringe) = 50 IU per dose, 100 IU daily
.15 cc (or 15 on an insulin syringe) = 75 IU per dose, 150 IU daily
.2 cc (or 20 on an insulin syringe) = 100 IU per dose, 200 IU daily
.25 cc (or 25 on an insulin syringe) = 125 IU per dose, 250 IU daily
.3 cc (or 30 on an insulin syringe) = 150 IU per dose, 300 IU daily

The maximum dose is 333 IU per day. I personally haven’t seen anyone who needs this amount. Most need 250 maximum. If you feel that 300 IU isn’t doing the job, mix your next batch as follows:

Use 3.75 ml water and 3.75 ml alcohol for your solution, using part of the water to mix the powder into a solution.

Draw .25 cc (25 on an insulin syringe) solution each dose. This will give you 166.6 IU each dose. 333 IU daily.

Be careful though, because too much hCG will cause the same effects as not enough, slow or no weight loss.

Hungry Hungry Hungry

Today's Weight: 134.8
Yesterday's Weight: 134.6
+.2 lbs

Starting Weight After Loading: 137.6

VLCD #3

I did well starting out yesterday.

AM Snack: orange

Lunch: Grilled chicken and cucumbers with lime/salt/cayenne
             Big Glass of Jasmine Tea

Dinner:
Grilled Free Roam Grass Fed lean beef and tomatoes

PM Snack: half a grapefruit

Then it all went downhill from there. I was still starving at 9pm at night so much so that once I took my meds to sleep I cheated. I woke up this morning and found what I had eaten. Of course I don't usually remember what I've eaten, but I did find evidence of soy chips, cashew butter, & apple cider. I didn't gain much today so I'm going to increase the oral drops. I wonder if they are not really working yet and that first day I was not hungry because it was the first day after loading.

I do not think I will be doing the miracle noodles unless I'm starving and the HCG isn't working. Maybe it will help gain some time until I get the dose correct or decide to just do the shots. I'm also aware that HCG just might not be working for me any more and I have to give it up but I don't want to think about that just yet.

Starting Another Round

Phase 2

Day 1

Weight: 137.6 lbs

Previous Round LIW: 126.8 lbs

Difference: +11.2 pounds

I decided to start another phase but this time I am trying sublingual drops. I bought the injection HCG, mixed it with 5mls of water and added another 5 mls of Titos Vodka. I got the recipe from My HCG Journey. I've always read that you build up less of a tolerance with sublingual drops. It has been about 6-7 months since my last round and I was ridiculously hungry during the the entire thing. I was getting so discouraged. I was also unable to maintain my weight as well as I did in previous rounds.

Today was my first VLCD (Very Low Calorie Day). I had read that we could add Miracle Noodles/Rice to the HCG diet and was very curious. When I found them at my local Whole Foods I was excited about trying them.

HCG Diet Journey has some information on them being successfully used with the HCG plan. Others have stated it was not helpful and made them stall. I'm going to try them every now and then and see if I have any adverse affects. I had about a 1/4 cup with my VLCD meals today. 

The most compelling argument against using miracle noodles is from the HCG Diet 411 website.

"Mirical Noodles.Unfortunately, I've got some bad news for folks.  I've been doing a lot of research on the konnyaku/miracle noodles/glucomannan flour, and I do have some answers for you.

First, Miracle Noodles, Shirataki Noodles, Glucomannan Powder, Konnyaku, and Konjac Flour are all basically the same thing in different names and shapes.  It's a traditional japanese and chinese food that they've been eating for hundreds if not thousands of years.  It's safe, natural, and genuinely good for you.

Glucomannan is a soluble fiber that is indigestible by the human body - hence all it's health claims and advertisements – and the ‘zero calorie’ label.  What is not reported, except in medical journals, is that the more soluble a fiber is, the more it is fermented by microflora - gut bacteria in your large intestine.    As a result, glucomannan is 90%-100% fermented into waste products (gasses: methane which is ‘excreted’ from the colon and co2 and h2 absorbed by the blood and breathed out) and short chain fatty acids (specifically acetate, propionate, and butyrate) which are then immediately absorbed by the body as caloric nutrients and metabolized, mostly by the liver and colon.

As a result, people who naturally have intestinal flora that can successfully break down the glucomannan will be able to derive metabolic nutrients and calories from eating it, and will also be drawing nutrients and suppressing adipose tissue lipolysis, a fancy medical term meaning it makes the bad/spare-tire fat cells assume they don't need to release any of their fat stores.

On P3, or on a normal diet, the additional benefits of glucomannan that are covered by all the advertisements make it a great food.  Using the tofu-shirataki noodles (which are MUCH more pasta-like, but the tofu is barred on P2) are a good dietary choice.  Using konjac flour as a thickener and eating the shirataki noodles or miracle noodles in whatever shape you choose goes terrific with asian dishes, and is a very healthy choice.  The glucomannan fermentation and absorption is really a very positive digestive function, promoting a healthy digestive system.

The devil comes in P2, where HCG 'opens up' your metabolism.  The short chain fatty acids that are the principal result of the fermentation of glucomannan thus play a far greater role in your 'open' metabolism, blocking the release of the stored fatty acids in your adipose (bad fat) tissue and providing energy for your internal organs that would otherwise be drawn from your stored fat.

For now, the shiratake, tofu-shiratake, and miracle noodles will be going into the fridge for storage until P3.  The konjac flour will be staying in a tiny spice bottle on the shelf, next to the stevia and erythritol, where I expect to use 1/4 to 1/8th of a teaspoon at a time as a soup and sauce thickener.

Good luck folks, now I'm off to make some fake sweet and sour chicken. : ) "