The HCG diet is not vegetarian and vegan friendly but vegetarians and vegans can absolutely do the HCG diet with no worries. And yes, they can even lose the maximum amount of weight when done properly.
In case you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you can still lose weight with HCG Diet by making a few simple changes to the meal plan.
Vegan and vegetarian options
From pounds and inches, Dr. Simeon recommends the following:
- Vegetarians who eat eggs can substitute one whole egg with the whites of three additional eggs served poached or boiled.
- They can have about ½ liter of skim milk per day, split between lunch and dinner.
- ½ cup of plain sugar-free yogurt or ½ cup of non-fat cottage cheese.
- Vegetarians can’t have conventional vegetable protein sources such as rice, wheat, beans, and nuts because of their starch content.
- Soymilk is a safer alternative to skim milk, but it should be sugar-free.
There are different types so vegetarian. The most common includes:
- Vegan: They do not consume any animal products or by-products like milk, eggs, and honey. They do not consume white meat, red meat, fowl, or fish.
- Lacto vegetarian: They do not eat any meat, fowl, fish, or eggs but they consume animal by-products like milk, cheese, and yogurt.
- Ovo vegetarian: These types of vegetarians do not eat meat, fish or fowl, or dairy products, but they consume eggs.
- Lacto-Ovo vegetarian: They eat eggs and consume the dairy product.
Vegetarians who can eat seafood can substitute lobster, crawfish, shrimp, or crabmeat for beef or chicken. Since strict vegetarians do not consume animal products, they are likely to lose about half the weight of someone who eats meat.
Getting enough protein
Protein is a vital component of achieving weight loss on the HCG Diet. It helps regulate hunger hormones, reduce appetite, and to make better food choices. Your body uses protein as a source of energy. The protocol includes lean protein from beef, chicken, and fish. If you do not eat meat, you can still get enough amount of protein while maintaining a calorie-restricted diet.
For vegetarians who do not consume fish and are looking for some high–protein foods to help them reach the recommended protein intake, they can have the following foods:
- Tofu
- Cottage cheese
- Tempeh
We also recommended that you replace 30 grams of meat protein with 30 grams of vegan or vegetarian protein. A cup of cottage cheese contains approximately 30 grams of protein. A cup of protein shake has somewhere between 20 grams to 30 grams of non-meat protein. Tofu also contains around 20 grams of protein for every cup while tempeh has 30 grams of protein per cup. One large egg (50 grams) contains approximately 6.5 grams of protein. You can add them to salads or vegetable dishes for a high protein meal.
If you choose vegetarian or vegan alternatives to the meat while following the HCG diet, include probiotics in your diet too. Adding probiotics can help control the bacteria in your gut, which leads to food cravings.
