Phase 1 of the HCG diet, often referred to as the HCG diet loading days, is often one of the most overlooked and misunderstood parts of the HCG diet. This may stem from the fact that the HCG diet loading phase is often not completely understood, or even believable for most people. When told to eat as much as they can, many people don’t realize that this literally means to eat as much fattening food as possible.
To better understand what to eat during the HCG diet loading days, it’s necessary to understand the reason behind Phase 1. The purpose of Phase 1 of the HCG diet is to load up on as much excess fat as possible for the body to use during the subsequent phases. The more food that is eaten, and the more fat that can be stored during this loading phase, the better the body will be able to adjust to the very low-calorie diet during the following phases.
This is just a brief description of the purpose of HCG diet loading, but understanding the purpose of Phase 1 will help in maximizing your benefits from it.
Creating Your Own HCG Diet Food Lists
One of the mistakes that people make when creating a food list for the HCG Phase 1 is either just sticking with foods that are to be eaten during the later phases, or even skipping the food list altogether. Although the HCG diet loading days are only a couple of days, it’s very important to make sure that you are eating the right foods during this phase, in order for your body to properly take advantage of it.
For Phase 1, you want to focus on eating foods that will later be prohibited during the HCG diet. The purpose of this is not just to show you what you will be missing, but to give your body as much excess fat as possible while you start your HCG intake. This means that foods that are high in fat are going to be necessary.
For some people, it is unimaginable that a food list for this phase would be necessary. However, many people tend to skip over the best types of foods to eat during this phase, and then have problems with the low-calorie diet later. Let’s take a look at some of the foods that you should eat during this phase.
For starters, you want to think big, as in big calories. Since you are supposed to eat fatty foods during this phase, you want to think of what types of foods will bring in as much excess fat as possible. The first thing that comes to mind would be anything loaded with sugar. Sugar is probably the number one ingredient for “unhealthy” foods. Ice cream, cake, cookies, and pretty much any other kinds of sweets are loaded with sugar, which the body automatically turns into excess fat. This should make loading days quite easy to follow for those with a sweet tooth.
Foods loaded with sugar are not the only thing you should focus on, though. If you think of fast food, you think of lots of excess weight, which makes a lot of fast food ideal for the loading days. A bacon double cheeseburger loaded with mayonnaise and ketchup along with French fries, swallowed down with a shake is an ideal meal. It sounds almost insane to think of this meal belonging in a diet but believe it or not, this works great for bringing in excess fat to the body.
Other foods are also good for loading days, especially those high in fats. Bacon and eggs, while today being recognized as a health risk, is a good way to start your loading day with a high-calorie breakfast. Adding in ketchup, which is usually loaded with sugar, is a great way to enhance not only the taste but the calories that you take in. Toasted covered in butter and jam is also a great addition to this breakfast. Fried meats and pastries should also be added into your diet during the loading days, if at all possible.
While this all sounds like a lot of unhealthy food, you need to remember that maximizing the fat reserves in your body is very important for the diet. Eating as much of this as you can will also not only help with maximizing the fat reserves, but it will also help in reducing hunger during the first week of Phase 2.
How to Prepare for the HCG Diet
As already stated above, the HCG diet loading days are essential for properly preparing your body for the very low-calorie diet that will follow in Phase 2. This means that of all of the types of food mentioned before, you need to eat as much of this food as possible. Eating up to your fill at every meal with high-calorie foods will leave you ready to stay away from the table for a while, but it’s necessary. Your body will need as much reserved fat as possible to burn away during the first week of Phase 2, while the HCG intake is starting to work within your body.
Properly preparing your body with HCG diet loading is just as important as the HCG intake and the very low-calorie diet, so doing all you can during this phase of the diet will help make things easier for you later on.
