hCG Protocol Diet - Getting the Skinny

Almond Flour Pancakes

Vicky — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:21:02 +0000

Pancakes – one of the ultimate comfort foods. And almonds make them all the more yummy. Be careful with these in Phase 3, as some people are sensitive to nuts, and there is a lot of nuts in these!

*makes 6 small fluffy pancakes (about 4″), or 3-4 large thin ones

Combine in a large bowl and stir to form a batter:

2 cups (about 150-200g) ground almonds or commercial almond flour (in Phase 4, try them with ground pecans)
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 tsp coconut oil
stevia to taste (depending on preference)
Salt to taste

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add about 1 tsp of coconut oil or just enough to swirl and lightly coat the base of the pan.

Pour in batter one small ladle at a time (if making large thin ones, spread batter out with back of ladle). Fry for about 1 minute or until bubbles start appearing on the top, then flip to cook the other side. Repeat until all batter is finished, adding more olive oil in between pancakes if necessary.

Serve immediately with whatever you want. In Phase 4, try a little real maple syrup! Or you can spread them with cream cheese and roll them up, or use crushed berries as a spread.

*Other healthy low-carb ingredients you can add to the batter: cottage cheese, vanilla extract or other essences, lemon or orange zest, cinnamon or other spices, unsweetened cocoa powder, chopped chives or other herbs (this will make them savory), chopped nuts, poppy seeds, chia seeds or even crushed cooked bacon! (Because everything is better with bacon!)

Crunchy Sweet Apple Chicken Salad

Vicky — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:56:47 +0000

Description

This is a sample recipe from Tammy Skye’s wonderful book of P2 recipes titled ‘The Ultimate HCG Dieter Gourmet Cookbook, which has over 200 recipes, and comes with a bonus of P3 recipes and instructions. I highly recommend it!!

Makes

1 serving (1 protein, 1 vegetable, 1 fruit)

Ingredients

100 grams chicken cooked and diced
1 apple diced
3 stalks celery diced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of cardamom
Dash of salt
Stevia to taste
Wedge of lemon

Methods/steps

Mix ingredients together, sprinkle with stevia and cinnamon. Chill for 20
minutes. Serve with a wedge of lemon and enjoy.

Phase 3 modifications: Add chopped walnuts or raw almonds. Mix in low
sugar Greek yogurt or 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise for a creamier texture.

Chai Tea – tea with attitude!

Vicky — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:51:54 +0000

Chai, pronounced with a long “i” as in the word tie, is the actual word for tea in many countries. It is also called masala chai (Masala meaning “spiced”). It is a centuries-old beverage from India which is basically black tea brewed with selected spices and milk. The spices vary from recipe to recipe, but is traditionally consumed hot and sweet. Play with the flavors and make this tea your own! This is a great alternative to coffee.

This is my personal mix for chai masala tea, otherwise known as chai tea. I’m a confirmed chai whore, and every time I make a batch of tea, it is a little different, preserving the delight in the tea. You’ll soon discover that your personal mix of spices will evolve to match your tastes. I happen to be partial to the more ‘Christmasy’ spices like cinnamon and cloves. Others like a sharper taste, and add more cardamom.

Ingredients

2 cups water
3 black tea bags or 1 tablespoon loose organic black tea (I use black tea or oolong)
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole green cardamom pods, crushed or about 1/4 teaspoon seeds
4 whole cloves
Dash nutmeg
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger root, peeled and sliced
1 (6-inch) piece vanilla bean (cut up into 1-inch pieces) or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 black peppercorns
heavy cream or almond milk
stevia to taste (try a flavored stevia! click here to order)

Methods/steps

* Decaffeinated tea leaves can also be used, but increase the amount of tea by either 1 teaspoon loose tea or 1 tea bag to make up for the loss in flavor.

In a large saucepan, add the water, tea or tea bags, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla bean and peppercorns. Bring just to a boil; then cover and reduce the heat to low. Let simmer for approximately 5 minutes depending on how strong a spice flavor you want. Strain mixture through strainer or coffee filters; press on the spices and tea with a spoon to extract all the fragrant liquids. Sweeten to taste and add cream or almond milk.

NOTE: Many people make the tea base ahead of time, just increase the amounts of spices

Serve hot or in a tall glass filled with ice.

Store unused portion in the refrigerator.

Makes 3 cups.

Bacon Avocado Deviled Eggs for Phase 3/4 – OH MY!

Vicky — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:12:27 +0000

Omigosh, I would have thought I had found all the really good uses for avocado and bacon, but I stand corrected! This sounds sooooo good, and I’m confident that you’ll love it!! (Unless of course you don’t like bacon, eek!)

So meat eaters rejoice, and egg lovers, dance….here is the ultimate combo of lovely healthy fat avocado, yummy, yummy bacon, and tasty eggs. What a great way to use up all those colorfully dyed Easter eggs!

http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/sidessoupsdrinks/bacon-deviled-eggs/

Interview with Pete Cerqua – Innovative High Intensity Workouts that Work!

Vicky — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:00:41 +0000

Please welcome Pete Cerqua, author of The 90-Second Fitness Solution and High Intensity Fitness Revolution for Men and High Intensity Fitness Revolution for Women.

This guy is dynamic and really easy to listen to. His methods work! And if you’re seeking more efficient ways to get fit without having to become a gym rat, then this is it!!

Pete Cerqua is one of New York City’s most respected and in-demand fitness trainers. He has been helping people lose weight since the 1980s, and he continues to increase his fan base through the four gyms he owns and runs in the New York City area.Pete is a frequent guest speaker on topics of health and fitness and has appeared in numerous media outlets such as CBS News with Kate Sullivan and Maurice DuBois, NC Morning News with Scott Fitzgerald, The Frankie Boyer Show, The John Carney Show, and in prominent magazines such as O Magazine, Self, and Health.

I’m talking with Pete about his high-intensity workouts and fitness approach, and how it can be incorporated to create change in *your* life with only 45 minutes a week of working out. This is a unique application of high intensity, short interval exercise, combined with very slow and even stationary routines that push your body to the limit and give you some pretty amazing changes to your body.

Join us at 6PM EST on Friday March 8 to Get Your Fit On! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kickbutthealth/2013/03/08/get-your-fit-on-with-pete-cerqua

I invite you to listen to his approach, and give it a try! You have nothing to lose but your jiggly bits!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kickbutthealth/2013/03/08/get-your-fit-on-with-pete-cerqua

Phase 3 Pumpkin snack – great for post workout!

Vicky — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:50:22 +0000

From: http://www.sj-r.com/blogs/community/fitnessleague/x1553290626/A-Perfect-Pumpkin-Snack-Paleo-Style

I LOVE PUMPKIN! To many that is no secret. Furthermore I love pumpking pie! Now let’s be real I can’t be eating pumpking pie all day long everyday for the entire season of autumn especially in regards to paleo eating habits. Here is a quick fix for others like me who love the taste, and health benefits, of pumpkin pie anytime but wish to stay on a healthy track and stay within paleo guidlines. Pumpkins are packed with Vitamin A as well as fiber and are very low in calories.

Pumpkin Pie To-Go.

Choose the pumpkin of your choice. It can be fresh pumpkin if available or if you are pressed for time canned will do.

To taste, add honey and cinammon. (Be sure to choose REAL honey rather than imitation)

Stir well.

THAT’S IT!

I place mine in a resealable container and place it in the fridge to chill.

When it is time to go I throw it in my lunch bag and away I go with a delicious paleo friendly pumpkin snack!

What’s your favorite pumpkin snack? I’d love to hear about it. Drop me an e-mail to rickschlemm@gmail.com and maybe I’ll share it with all our readers.

Hacked!!

Vicky — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:24:02 +0000

UPDATE: 9/28/12-4AM

Well, I have made progress, but the main site is still a mess. It looks like I will have to completely re-install it. The good thing is that this forces me to make some updates I’ve been putting off. The bad thing is that it will be at least late Friday before I am done fixing this mess. For now, I’ve been up 24 hours messing with this, and I’ll make mistakes if I don’t sleep. So have patience please, and I’ll get this fixed up by sometime late Friday night (it will take several hours).

The main site got hacked last night, and I am madly scrambling to get things back up and running. Please stay tuned, and the site will be back up as soon as I can get it fixed. So far I’m 24 hours in and counting, but I’m hopeful I’ll get it fixed up sometime tonight.

Thanks for your patience and understanding while I recover from the vicious web attack!

Combining Exercise with the hCG Protocol – Does it Work?

Vicky — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:08:00 +0000

I’ve been spending a lot of time while my elbow ligaments were healing (got Dr. approval to resume exercise 3 days ago, WHOOHOO!) studying various methods of working out, and getting lots of input from my runner friends, my Crossfitting ripped daughter, my biking friends and my personal trainer friends. Much of it was conflicting, all of it was interesting, and I ended up with a mish-mash of ideas.

What I kept coming back to with all of these was that:

a) I can’t spend 3 hours a day going to and from a gym and working out (that is how long for me because the gym is a 20 min drive) – and that makes it too easy to blow it off in favor of working on projects
b) I don’t want to spend $150 a month for a trainer or Crossfit membership
c) Having joint pain from arthritis means that most group or gym intense approaches are pretty much guaranteed to leave me with swollen painful joints, and the easy stuff isn’t effective
d) I want to get into shape, but really, really, REALLY don’t want to make it a religion. I want a fast, effective and EFFICIENT workout regimen that will let me lose fat, gain muscle and not leave me in pain all the time.

I want to feel fit, not have jiggly bits, get rid of the love handles, and be able to not be gasping for air after an activity. But I don’t want to be working out every day for over an hour like my daughter, I *hate* running distances (really, horrible shin splints), live where biking is outright dangerous due to curvy country roads and idiot drivers, and work long days on my home business, and hate dropping a project for hour long workouts.

Sooooo….long story short, I had created a whole idea of what I thought would work for me, pieced together from all my studies.

Then, along comes this trainer (funny how the universe works, isn’t it?), Jeff Kappel is his name, and Jeff and his cousin were teaching a 5-step approach to what I’d been thinking about already, and they covered the bases I’d missed in my studies (since I’m not a trained fitness person, LOL).

I hooked up with him on the phone, and ended up being on with him for nearly 2 hours, as we discussed various techniques and tools, ways to get from couch to fit efficiently, and how it will all fit in during and after the protocol (he was interested in Dr. S’ work because some of his friends were doing it and was really keen to see what they could put together as appropriate levels of exercise on Phase 2 and 3).

Long story short (again), he asked me if I thought that people doing the protocol might find a seminar on this 5-step fitness program helpful, and I said yes (I know I was, and figured there were others out there that would be too!). So he and I are presenting a free webinar on this very thing, this coming Thursday, September 27, at 9PM EST. We’re going to do our best to blend his workout approach with the protocol, and I think it will be a very interesting meeting!

You can sign up for this free webinar here:
https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/769711255

It is limited to 100 people, we want to do a Q&A during the webinar, so if you’re interested, go sign up!

I hope to see you guys there! Thanks!

Strawberry Smoothie (Vitamix!)

Vicky — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:37:46 +0000

Tired of your strawberries just laying there looking at you? Had enough apples to make Johnny Appleseed sick? Then try this for a great way to get your fruit in Phase 2!

Strawberry Delite

1 large handful of fresh strawberries, cut off tops
2 packets truvia or purevia, or 1 dropperful (about 10-12 drops) liquid stevia
2 tbsp lemon juice
handful of ice cubes
1 tbsp milk (optional)

Toss in your strawberries and all other ingredients. Turn on Variable 1, turning up quickly to Variable 10 until well blended, about 20 seconds. If you wish to use milk, it makes it creamy, and sort of ‘milkshakey’.

Uses 1 fruit and your milk and lemon for the day (if you use them)

Creamy Asparagus Soup (Vitamix!)

Vicky — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:30:33 +0000

News on the Vitamix: I made another batch of the creamy asparagus soup, and *man* is it yummy! With the Vitamix it was so easy, and *quick*! Love this new tool for my kitchen. I use it at least once a day, sometimes more.

Here is the recipe:

Creamy Asparagus Soup

2 bunches of fresh asparagus
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
2 tbsp whole milk
2 tsp chopped garlic
salt & pepper to taste
Mrs. Dash garlic and spice to taste (optional)

Remove white ends from asparagus, cut into halves, and steam until tender. Place asparagus into Vitamix with water, milk, broth and spices. Set speed to Variable 1, and turn on, quickly increasing speed to 10, for about 15 seconds, then flip to High, and blend until creamy and smooth, usually about 30 seconds or so.

This recipe will make 4 – 1.5 cup servings, and is very filling. It counts as 1 veggie and 1/2 your milk for the day. For a variation, cook up your chicken or other meat, chop and add to your soup.