Dr . Simeon s Diet

This consists of 500 calories a day.

Breakfast:
Tea or coffee in any quantity without sugar. Only one tablespoonful of milk allowed in 24 hours. Saccharin or Stevia may be used.

Lunch:
1. 100 grams of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp. 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 chicken breast must be removed from the bird.
2. One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad,
tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage.
3. One breadstick (grissino) or one Melba toast.
4. An apple or a handful of strawberries or one-half grapefruit.

Dinner :
The same four choices as lunch.
The juice of one lemon daily is allowed for all purposes. Salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweet basil, parsley, thyme,
marjoram, etc., may be used for seasoning, but no oil, butter or dressing.
Tea, coffee, plain water, or mineral water are the only drinks allowed, but they may be taken in any quantity and at all times.
In fact, the patient should drink about 2 liters of these fluids per day. 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.
The fruit or the breadstick may be eaten between meals instead of with lunch or dinner, but not more than four items listed for
lunch and dinner may be eaten at one meal.

No medicines or cosmetics other than lipstick, eyebrow pencil and powder may he 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. 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.
There is no objection to breaking up the two meals. For instance having a breadstick and an apple for breakfast or before going to
bed, provided they are deducted from the regular meals. 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. 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. It is also worth
pointing out that any attempt to observe this diet without hCG will lead to trouble in two to three days. We have had cases in
which patients have proudly flaunted their dieting powers in front of their friends without mentioning the fact that they are also
receiving treatment with hCG. They let their friends try the same diet, and when this proves to be a failure - as it necessarily must
- the patient starts raking in unmerited kudos for superhuman willpower.

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 chicken
breast does not mean the breast of any other fowl, nor does it mean a wing or drumstick.
The most tiresome patients are those who start counting calories and then come up with all manner of ingenious variations which
they compile from their little books. When one has spent years of weary research trying to make a diet as attractive as possible
without jeopardizing the loss of weight, culinary geniuses who are out to improve their unhappy lot are hard to take.

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 will not be getting more calories but
he 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.
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.

Many patients ask why eggs are not allowed. The contents of two good sized eggs are roughly equivalent to 100 grams of meat,
but fortunately the yolk contains a large amount of fat, which is undesirable. Very occasionally we allow egg - boiled, poached or
raw - to patients who develop an aversion to meat, but in this case they must add the white of three eggs to the one they eat
whole. In countries where cottage cheese made from skimmed milk is available 100 grams may occasionally be used instead of
the meat, but no other cheeses are allowed.