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So for this particular article it’s important for me to say I am NOT a doctor, I’m not a medical professional, man I’m not even a front desk receptionist at a medical facility.
I am going to share:
Why I chose to not eat the fruits and melba on Phase 2 of the hCG Diet for 2 of my rounds, and
what you need to know if you choose to try this too.
Many of you may be overweight simply because you weren’t really thinking too hard about what you were eating. Life was crazy busy and you just ate whatever was around or whatever your family likes you to cook, or whatever.
Some of you actually WERE responsible eaters and exercisers but due to hormone, thyroid, and adrenal issues, you gained weight or couldn’t lose it – despite totally responsible, best efforts.
For you, doing this protocol the regular way, including those 2 fruits of strawberries, grapefruits, orange or apple may be completely fine. In fact, one of my rounds using these fruits went perfectly well and I have no complaints about it.
However.
There is another group of us out there who are overweight at least in part due to another reason. This reason has to do with either food addiction or more specifically sugar addiction. Perhaps you were even a binge eater.
I learned the hard way that sugar was my worst enemy and that to get through Phase 2 reliably, removing it was the best answer.
What NOT Eating Fruits (and grissini/melba) on hCG Did for Me
- No more cravings
- Didn’t feel as “hungry” – felt much more satisfied with my 500 calories
- Had better energy and felt much more positive about my experience on the diet
What Eating the Fruits on P2 Did to Me
Horrible cravings.
ie. Ate one apple and suddenly 1/2 hour later, I am feeling like the diet is miserably hard, all I want do is make a full plate of food with all kinds of yummy stuff, and I have no idea how I’m going to get through the next 4 weeks if I feel like THIS everyday.
NOT COOL on this diet folks.
“I am reaching out because I wanted to thank YOU for the advice you have out there recommending using nonfat Fage mid-morning and mid-afternoon instead of fruit. That was such a game-changer for me too and really seems to stabilize my blood sugar.”
– Catherine
Why This Is A Big Deal
The difference in how easy or hard this diet feels with cravings vs. without cravings is, I might say rather strongly, a deal breaker. It’s much less likely you will cheat or give out too soon on this protocol if you can get your body to on board with you and eliminate at least the majority of those cravings to eat.
Watch James’s Full Interview here
Are You An hCGer Who Didn’t Have a Good Experience?
Barring hunger from an hCG dosage issue, which is KEY to finding the no hunger sweet spot on this diet, finding out if fruits (and I didn’t mention it but this goes for the melba/grissini as well) are causing trouble for you on this protocol that doesn’t need to be there could make this diet much more do-able for you.
In fact, if you are one of those “I did hCG back in 2010 but it was hard and I gained all the weight back” persons, you might give this protocol a fresh look with a deeper look at why you and hCG didn’t mix well last time – these types of factors can actually change your experience.
Satisfying a Craving or Fueling the Craving?
Sometimes we might think to ourselves when we have cravings that if we FILL that craving, we’ll feel better. And in some cases in life, this may be true. If I haven’t had enough protein lately and I see a grass fed ribeye steak at the store, I find myself CRAVING it and you can bet I feel pretty satisfied after eating one!
However, when it comes to cravings for carbs and sugar, and especially on this diet, filling those cravings for sugar or carbs by eating, from my experience, only fuels them further, causing more cravings, longer lasting cravings, etc.
Contrast this with when I removed the cars/sugars/starches completely, and BAM my cravings would disappear completely pretty fast.
Sometimes if you haven’t had a chance to clear your body of carbs prior to starting hCG, you might experience some cravings for a couple of days while on the protocol when trying to remove the fruits, but usually after that, if you are like me, you will notice a very distinct difference if what your body is hankering after (or basically, all of a sudden NOT hankering after).
Removing the Fruits Can Also Be a Natural Hunger Suppressant
When you remove both the fruits and the melba/grissini from the protocol, it makes the diet much lower carb than usual.
What this means then is that sometimes your body will end up in Ketosis, which is actually a state that creates a natural hunger suppression in you – this too can aid in the diet feeling easier to stick to.
Watch Mary’s Full Interview here
So What Do I Eat in Place Of These Missing Calories?
So you’re probably wondering when I removed the P2 fruits and melba if I just ended up eating far less overall than the 500 calories, or if I replaced those calories. Actually, a little of both.
Most of the time, I replaced these calories with:
1. More P2 veggies and/or
2. 0% (fat free) Greek Yogurt – I used the FAGE brand. Others may work, the key is to compare sugar content of the various fat free greek yogurts and pick the lowest ones.
So in real terms, I would say have 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the yogurt with some stevia as a snack twice a day.
I was more generous with my veggies, and I decided to include a greater variety of vegetables on my final round as well. I felt that most likely this would work out okay because since I had removed so many of the carbs and sugars by removing the fruits and melba, that I had a little more leeway with my veggies.
This may or may not work for you, but I was very pleased with my results doing this, and it made the diet more easily done and completed by me.
These are the other vegetables I included:
– Mushrooms
– Zucchinni
– teensy tiny amounts of carrot (we’re talking like 1/4 of a carrot shaved into a P2 salad)
– bell pepper
– broccoli
These are all vegetables that are NOT on the original protocol that Dr. Simeons came up with. Again, I only chose to do this when at the same time not eating the fruits or melba. The mushrooms were DIVINE. Simmered in water they made the most delicious mushroom broth for my P2 soups.
When not hungry, I DID eat less than 500 calories at times as well – this is actually okay to do – you can learn more about is it okay to eat less than the 500 calories on hCG if you like. The key here is WHEN NOT ACTUALLY HUNGRY. So some days I ate all 500 calories, other days I simply wasn’t hungry so I just ate less those days. When eating less, removing protein was never an option- that was always eating daily without fail.
And I’d like to add, the feeling of not needing to eat much and eating less than 500 calories happens a lot more when the fruits are out of the picture, again, because those cravings aren’t there messing things up for me!
2 Cautions on Doing This
Be Careful of Low Blood Sugar
Because this makes the diet VERY low carb, I have to mention that you need to be careful about your blood sugar and such and it’s essential to get your dosing of hCG right or I don’t even think this will work.
Especially at the beginning of the VLCD- those first couple days when you are transitioning from loading to P2, usually there won’t be hunger if you loaded well, BUT if you do have trouble and you’re not eating the fruits, getting low blood sugar can easily happen.
The reason I knew this was because I just felt WEIRD on the 2nd day part way into the afternoon – took my blood sugar and it was maybe 70 which is too low for me personally. Some bell pepper and fat free yogurt snack fixed it.
This DID go away for me- it happened to me both rounds, only at the very start – meaning, it seems that once the hCG really is in full force in your system and your body is adjusted, your body normalizes and won’t keep having these issues with low blood sugar- at least that is how it worked for me.
No Fruits on P2 = Artificially Low Ending Weight
It’s also very important to note that if you do this, you will most likely have an artifically low LDW/LIW.
I’ve already discussed this in detail in my post here, so you can check that out.
Now it’s your turn – in the comments below, let me know if you have done a round of hCG without fruits and what you’re experience with it was?
PS – just got an email from an hCGer who also gives more food for thought – she says,
“towards the end I started bingeing on carbs and sugar while still having hcg in my system. I realized that when I didn’t drink my daily requirement of water I was so thirsty that my body craved carbs and sugars. “
This comment is from my Instagram post about this topic, according to this hCGer
“I cut out fruit for about a week and a half into this round and feel it’s making a big difference with maintaining a steady blood sugar throughout the day thus making me feel better.
My experience has been that I began to struggle to try to get all my food in so I started to ‘listen to my body’. I began cutting out my fruit so that I could focus on eating my protein. Without fruit, I notice that I am not hungry until the afternoon and easily satisfied with protein. By eliminating fruit, I have plenty of room for the calories from my protein shake and I don’t have blood sugar fluctuations from the protein. But again, just what works for me.”
And here is another hCG-er who wrote out her experience going fruit-less on P2:
I took your advice about taking the fruit out completely and replacing it with veggies. OMG!!! The first 2 days were super hard, as you mentioned they might be. But then, after that, I can’t explain it, but something literally felt like it clicked in my brain and said, “You don’t need sugar anymore and you don’t have to binge to feel happy.” Can I tell you Rayzel, I started crying and said to myself, “Is this the feeling of freedom she was talking about?” I was scared it wasn’t going to last or wasn’t real, it felt so good!!! Since then, I have not had the urge to binge and I am not craving cakes and cookies. Now one day, I was at Giant and it was past my dinner time and I was hungry. In the self check out, they have all the impulse buys….chocolate pretzels, cookies, all that stuff. I was looking at it but told myself, “No, you don’t need it, you are just hungry.” I didn’t buy any of it!!! I know that I still need to stay away from looking and smelling sweets. Because being free like this is still very new to me. But it is amazing. My days at work go by and also with my son…who always has his snacks and before all I would do is eat them…but not now. Unless I stop to think about the sweets I used to eat on purpose….the thoughts don’t enter my head!!! I can’t thank you enough. This whole time, on all of my rounds I always did the two fruits. No one ever said not to. And to think, I could have beaten this and been done my rounds a long time ago. But, that’s okay, with your advice, I am on my way… Another thing, I have lost 5 lbs. since we last spoke!!!! The change jumpstarted something for me. Again, the fruit was destroying my efforts and I didn’t even know it!!!
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This was very helpful as I am new to the hCG diet and I didnt want to sabotage my efforts by not including the fruit or melba. I have a wheat allergy, so no melba, and I am on the candida diet, as per my Dr, so I cant have fruit either. I am only in my first week of phase 2. I started the protocol in an effort to help me with the candida diet because sugar and carb addiction is real and I was genuinely struggling. So far the hunger and cravings are reduced and I look forward to the outcome.
🙂 Thank you so much for a great website and so much helpful content!
Hello everyone. My question is about eggs. I ready somewhere that you can substitute one whole egg and 3 egg whites in place of your protein. Is this true?? At times I get tired of the choices of protein. Thanks so much for being available and answering all our questions. This is the second time I am tryng this diet. So far I am doing good. But on my 8th day I gained 1.5 llbs. Then lost .5 the next day. But I am sticking with this. Also Can I eat brocolli as a veggie?
Hi Maria!
Yes, that is an approved protein sub. There are also many others who eat broccoli and cauliflower on P2 and they’re doing fine.
Hope that helps!
I hope this site is still active. I’m on D8VLC and I’m stopped up. I’ve chosen the no fruit no grissini for the first time, and SO glad I did! It was the right approach for me for sure. My question though, in anticipation of a stall, I’m wondering if I still do an Apple day? I drank Smooth Move tea yesterday with little results. (May need to repeat this, I realize) But what would rating fruit do if it should come to that?
Hi MaryJo,
This is Lucelle, Rayzel’s assistant. Nice to meet you! 🙂
You can also do a steak day instead of Apple Day. Just to give you idea. Others also do egg day but I’m not really familiar with it.
Hope that helps somehow!
When you cut out fruit and your carb did you still use lemon juice for your veggies or water?
Hi Amber,
Yes, Rayzel still consumed lemon a day on P2. 🙂
Thank you for all this amazing, helpful information.
I am on Phase 2, lost 8 lbs the first 2 weeks, stalled for 5 days, did an apple day yesterday….this morning nothing lost, I am still at the stalled weight. Trying to not be discouraged. Should I go back to OP, should I try a steak day today, or ????
Hi Laurie,
Check out Rayzel’s post here on Apple days and stalls: http://hcgchica.com/apple-days-hcg-diet-two-cheats-and-stalls/
Li-an, Rayzel’s assistant
Look at what you are eating and change it up. You are doing something your body doesn’t like and will have a good loss day. For me, tomatoes create a stalll, for example. Never had an issue with them. Make sure you take your magnesium and double your adrenals until you get over the stall.
I am so glad I found this post! I was thinking about eliminating the fruit also because it’s so unsatisfying eat for me I want more protein. So I’m definitely going to try eating the yogurt which will give me the extra protein and craving and eliminate the fruit. I never ate the Melba toast because I don’t eat wheat and that just didn’t make sense to me. Thank you!!!!!
artificially low end weight??
Just curious on thoughts about eating watermelon vs strawberries. I’m allergic to strawberries.
Hi Gaile!
Please keep in mind that watermelon is an off-protocol food – which means some people successfully lose weight on it but some did stall. Just a heads up! ???? Subbing watermelon for strawberries is considered a modification. More about that here: http://hcgchica.com/modifications-to-the-hcg-diet-protocol-what-works-and-what-doesnt/
Hope this helps a little! 🙂
Li-an, Rayzel’s assistant
Faye says,
What would cause my weight to stay the same for two days and then up .6 lbs. the next day, what could I be doing wrong? I have been doing wonderful up to now.
Are you using any kind of lotions and any kind of liquid makeup? If so that could be it.
Hi Faye!
And thanks Gaile for chiming in the idea! Yes, that may also be a consideration.
Also, here is Rayzel’s blog page with topics dedicated to Stalls on the hCG Diet: hcgchica.com/stalls
Hope that helps! 🙂
Li-an, Rayzel’s assistant
P1 is the 3 load days. We just call it P1 because p2 your on a VLCD diet.
I have a 10,000 unit bottle of hcg. I’m taking 20 units a day. How many iu’s is that?
Finally, thank you so much for creating this amazing website!!
Hi Julia!
This is Lucelle, Rayzel’s assistant. Nice to meet you! 🙂
If you mixed that with 10ml of bac water then you’re getting 200iu per day.
Hope that helps!
I am about to do my first HCG diet and found this post because I was wondering how I was going to manage eating fruit and Melba toast and restricting calories. I was seriously considering keeping them in the car so I would at least have to walk outside to binge on them.
The nurse practitioner and I were discussing sugar/carb cravings at my appointment and she said the thing that I hate, “everything in moderation”. To which I usually reply, “let’s go shoot some heroine,” because it is clear to me that people who don’t have it, don’t understand the issues/addiction that some of us have with SUGAR. For me it is as strong as a drug addiction and if I have a taste, I’m going to go all in. So I have been looking for/trying to figure out a modification of the diet that excludes the fruit and toasts and feel excited to read this post and comments.
I have eaten the Fage yogurt before with J Robbs protein powder (stevia sweetened) in it and it is yummy. I am also going to attempt to walk and do yoga to minimize muscle loss. I will keep you apprised.
This post really helped me tailor the P2 to my personal metabolism and i think it’s one of the reasons i’ve found success this round, versus other rounds. At first it’s hard to giv eup the carb/fruit but now two weeks in i rarely if ever experience cravings. so worth it and i’m so glad you wrote this THANK YOU
Hi abbie,
I am also cutting out the carbs in this round and i have found after a few days my cravings and hunger are like non-existent. definetly a good choice for me to go fruit/carb free in P2. What has your round been like?
I am on day 3 today and on my first 2 days after eating my fruit I was so hungry about an hour later so today I didn’t have any fruit and I wasn’t hungry at all. I haven’t had the Grissini at all because I haven’t been able to find any that weren’t high in carbs (I live in New Zealand). So for me I will be sticking to no fruit and see how it goes.
Hi Rayzel,
I am wondering if the fruit is eliminated if a glass of wine (equal in calories I believe, with a red cabernet wine) could replace this?
Thanks for your help!
You can’t have wine on this protocol. Very high in sugar, no matter what the calorie content is. The original plan doesn’t address the amount of sugar you might get in this diet, which is an issue, no matter how low calorie. The good thing is does is that it removes most sugary veggies from the protocol automatically, but I personally think it’s much healthier to eat 5 cups of organic lettuce than an apple, at least if you’re breaking free from sugar. This protocol calls for way more sugar than I eat in a normal day, so the carb content is high, which actually makes you feel hungrier in the long run when you get off. Someone really needs to modify the plan to fix that.
I have eliminated the melba and if I have fruit it’s only one small serving per day of either strawberries, blueberries or raspberries. No issues and no slow down in weight loss. I have not added yogurt in any form.
Hi Rayzel,
Do you think it would be okay to switch over to a no fruits protocol if I have already started the diet according to Dr. Simeon’s protocol? I think it would be beneficial for me because I too have a sugar addiction. I am only on day 5 of the diet and just seen your post on modifications yesterday.
Thanks!
This is actually really great advice. I’m a couple days into p2 and am going to implement this tomorrow. Thanks for the tip!
If you are not eating apples / fruit what would be your alternative for a apple day as I am on a major plateau at the moment.
Instead of introducing dairy, would it be ok to have a boiled egg at breakfast time?
I eat an egg white when I need something at breakfast. Just hard boiled egg white – toss the yolk!
I’m a bit disappointed that none of the questions below have been answered.
@lauragardnertortorice:disqus It does seem like I missed all these! The week I published this post must have been a crazy week for me. I answer many comments though on my other blogposts – not always, but I definitely do my best. I am first and foremost a mom and can only do hCG related work 2 days a week, so this really limits me, but I do cover quite a bit of hCG help for my time involved I think. Take care.
Yes you do. More than anyone would wish for. Thank you for all the help 🙂
I went fruitless (and Melba-less) in P2 and enjoyed Fage w/stevia throughout. I’m now 20 lbs down and prepping for P3 next week. The recommendation is to introduce dairy gradually. However, since I’ve been consuming ff yogurt all along, wondering if I can continue into P3 (w/some blueberries or strawberries).
If you go fruitless on phase 2, is it okay to have the two servings of fat free Greek yogurt everyday? Or do you have to switch it up. I find I literally eat the exact same thing every single day, and I still look forward to it each time, so I’m okay with repeating. Just curious if that is too much dairy to include in this diet? Also, could you cut out just one fruit serving? So still have one piece of fruit and one serving of yogurt?
I had this questions too – can anyone answer?
Hi Erica,
This is Lucelle, Rayzel’s assistant. Nice to meet you! 🙂
Rayzel did have the Greek Yogurt every day to replace the fruits. And yes, if you want to replace just one serving of fruit that could work for you too.
She also has some new articles about Greek Yogurt that might help you here:
https://hcgchicahelphub.com/greek-yogurt-p2-hcg-diet-same-weight-loss/
https://hcgchicahelphub.com/how-much-fat-free-greek-yogurt-is-1-protein-serving-on-the-hcg-diet/
Hope that helps!
I have noticed that if I cut one or both apples out – I am far less hungry that day! I lose better if I limit myself to one apple or less or one serving of strawberries. Am considering yogurt (plain Greek) for breakfast next Time with strawberries and no fruit rest of day & no Melba or wasa. The Melba & wasa … Sigh eat one … Am ready to fight someone for more!
Yes, you can pre fill your injections. Especially since you are only doing a week's worth, it should be fine. I keep mine in a zip-lock baggie in the bottom drawer of my fridge. Rayzel also recommends putting foil around the vial since it degrades in light. I thought that was a good idea and just started doing it myself.
What exactly do you mean by an “artificially low end weight”? I am curious just how much of a difference it can make.
Is it ok to get injections ready ahead of time as i leave so early in morning ? I filled a week worth of injections and food ready.
I'm confused is there a p1 or is it just p2
P1 is loading. P2 is low calorie diet.