6) The Very Low Calorie Diet (my abridged extract from P&I)

• Consume a total of 500 calories per day. (No more, but less is OK, but don't skip on the 200 grams of protein.)
  1. Skip Breakfast
  2. Lunch and Dinner consist of the following;
     1. Meat: 100 grams or 3.5 oz of the following; veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp (See the menu item titled: calorie count and list for allowed food items). 
        • All visible fat must be carefully removed before cooking, and the meat must be weighed raw.
        • It must be boiled or grilled without additional fat.
        • Salmon, eel, tuna, herring, dried or pickled fish are not allowed.
        • The juice of one lemon daily is allowed for all purposes.
        • Salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweet basil, parsley, thyme, majoram, etc., may be used for seasoning, but no oil, butter or dressing.
        • The 100 grams of meat must he scrupulously weighed raw after all visible fat has been removed. To do this accurately the patient must have a letter-scale, as kitchen scales are not sufficiently accurate and the butcher should certainly not be relied upon.
        • Those not uncommon patients who feel that even so little food is too much for them, can omit anything they wish.
        • Chicken breast does not mean the breast of any other fowl, nor does it mean a wing or drumstick.
     2. Fruit: An apple, or and orange, or a half grapefruit, or 12 large strawberries (See the menu item titled: calorie count and list for allowed food items). 
     3. Vegetable: One type only to be chosen from the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage (See the menu item titled: calorie count and list for allowed food items). 
        • The calorie count of the meat varies, so you will subtract calories of the meat for lunch and dinner, adding the calories of your chosen fruit for lunch and dinner, adding the calories of the 2 breadsticks, and then subtract from the 500 calorie total, and then eat the remaining calories in the vegetables of your choice.)
     4. One breadstick (grissini).
        • Look hard-Grissini breadsticks are available at some stores and then look on the side of the box. You need to get about 12 to 20 grams per meal).
     5. NOTE: The fruit or the breadstick may be eaten between meals instead of with lunch or dinner, but not more than than four items listed for lunch and dinner may be eaten at one meal.
        • The whole daily ration of two breadsticks or two fruits may not be eaten at the same time, nor can any item saved from the previous day be added on the following day.
        • There is no objection to breaking up the two meals. For instance having a breadstick and an apple for breakfast or an orange before going to bed, provided they are deducted from the regular meals.
        • It should also be mentioned that two small apples weighing as much as one large one never the less have a higher caloric value and are therefore not allowed though there is no restriction on the size of one apple.
        • Some people do not realize that a tangerine is not an orange
  3. Tea, coffee, plain water, or mineral water are the only drinks allowed, but they may be taken in any quantity and at all times (he did say diet, no calorie stuff can be consumed as well).
     • Coffee and Tea without sugar and if possible without milk. Only one tablespoonful of milk allowed in 24 hours. Saccharin or Stevia may be used. Decaf is far better than regular.
     • In fact, the patient should drink about 2 liters of these fluids per day.
       • In 2004 the daily amount of water needed was studied and 2 liters ruled inadequate.
         http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/06/07/how_much_water_should_you_drink.php
       • Also take a look at this calculator that calculates based on weight and environment and other factors.
         http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm
     • Many patients are afraid to drink so much because they fear that this may make them retain more water. This is a wrong notion as the body is more inclined to store water when the intake falls below its normal requirements.
• In the beginning patients are advised to check every meal against their diet sheet before starting to eat and not to rely on their memory.
• No medicines or cosmetics other than lipstick, eyebrow pencil and powder may be used without special permission.
  • Every item in the list is gone over carefully, continually stressing the point that no variations other than those listed may be introduced.
• All things not listed are forbidden, and the patient is assured that nothing permissible has been left out. (Your body is going to want to absorb sugar and fat wherever it can, including sugar in seasonings and fat in lotions, soaps and shampoos. For this reason, make sure your seasoning doesn't have any added sugar and that there is no lanolin in your soap or shampoo).

Making up the Calories

• The diet used in conjunction with HCG must not exceed 500 calories per day, and the way these calories are made up is of utmost importance.
• For instance, if a patient drops the apple and eats an extra breadstick instead, he/she will not be getting more calories but he/she will not lose weight.
• There are a number of foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, which have the same or even lower caloric values than those listed as permissible, and yet we find that they interfere with the regular loss of weight under HCG, presumably owing to the nature of their composition. Pimiento peppers, okra, artichokes and pears are examples of this.
• While this diet works satisfactorily in Italy, certain modifications have to be made in other countries.
  • For instance, American beef has almost double the caloric value of South Italian beef, which is not marbled with fat.
  • This marbling is impossible to remove. In America, therefore, low-grade veal should be used for one meal and fish (excluding all those species such as herring, mackerel, tuna, salmon, eel, etc., which have a high fat content, and all dried, smoked or pickled fish), chicken breast, lobster, crawfish, prawns or shrimp, crabmeat or kidneys for the other meal.
  • Where the Italian breadsticks, the so-called grissini, are not available, one Melba toast may be used instead, though they are psychologically less satisfying. A Melba toast has about the same weight as the very porous grissini which is much more to look at and to chew.

• When local conditions or the feeding habits of the population make changes necessary it must be borne in mind that the total daily intake must not exceed 500 calories if the best possible results are to be obtained, that the daily ration should contain 200 grams of fat-free protein and a very small amount of starch.

• NOTE: Just as the daily dose of HCG is the same in all cases, so the same diet proves to be satisfactory for a small elderly lady of leisure or a hard working muscular giant. Under the effect of HCG the obese body is always able to obtain all the calories it needs from the abnormal fat deposits, regardless of whether it uses up 1500 or 4000 per day. It must be made very clear to the patient that he is living to a far greater extent on the fat which he is losing than on what he eats.