Rich n Fit Life !

Hoodia, popularly known as Hoodia Gordonii is in actual a plant with finger like stems devoid of any leaves in addition to being spiny succulent in nature. This plant is known to have strings of thorns along its stem bearing bright colored flowers, but is still highly valued due to its medicinal properties. The natural habitat of the plant consists of rocky areas & plains which can be best found in harsh desert conditions of South Africa & Namibia.

Hoodia Gordonii is known to posses’ characteristic property of suppressing appetite in addition to being equally effective in treating small infections & indigestions. There are numerous species in the Hoodia family but only Hoodia Gordonii is bestowed with the natural appetite suppressant trait. It was therefore very common for ancient tribes in earlier times to use this medicinal property of Hoodia Gordonii plant to suppress their thirst & appetite during long trips of hunting in search for food. Due to the blessings of modern technology, ingredient known as P57 responsible for appetite suppressant effect was isolated from the plant & is used to manufacture weight loss products worldwide.

It is said that Hoodia pills; if taken in the right proportion over a period of time in a proper manner, gives the results with least amount of efforts & thus is the most effective of all diet pills & products. On the other side, supplementary products & weight loss aids requires greater awareness & control on the part of user for e.g.; one has to follow strict calorie charts, diet sheets, scales in order to get some results. Hoodia pills have no side effects & to keep your weight under control, the weight loss is effectuated over a little bit of longer period so that body gets acquainted to new calorie intakes & diet requirements.

Such is the popularity of the pills that a protected status has to be implemented on the Plant Hoodia in several countries so as to save the plant from extinction….

The definition of weight loss in the perspective of health, physical fitness or medicine can be stated as the reduction in the total weight of the body due to any one of the following-

* Mean Loss of Fluid from the body

* Loss of Body Fat or Adipose Tissue

* Loss of lean mass such as Bone Mineral Deposits, Muscles, Tendons and other such connective tissues

The weight loss can be unintentional or intentional either due to some prolongs disease or due to urge of the self to improve body physique or to shed extra weight or obese state.

Some popular health tips useful in weight reduction are as follows-

1. Exercise & Balance Diet- The most efficient weight loss method that is recommended even by most of the physicians is to control eating habits with balanced diet & increasing the physical activities in the form of various simple exercises which can be anything from walking, dancing, yoga, etc. A little bit of exercise every day & calorie-controlled diet will be of great aid to you in loosing weight naturally apart from maintaining an optimum balance of fat to lean muscles in your body.

2. Crash Dieting- In this methodology an individual willfully restricts the supply of nutrition to the body usually for a period exceeding twelve hours. The goal is to enforce the body to burn fat so as to derive energy for daily activities. It should be carefully practiced with intakes of liquid at regular intervals; otherwise the body may react by preserving the fat stores & burning lean muscles instead.

3. Using Drug & Supplements- These drugs & supplements help to reduce the weight of the body by decreasing appetite, blocking fat absorption, or reducing stomach volume. The fact is that these supplements along with methods like Colon Cleansing also plays psychologically in the sense that they kick in an extra dose of motivation & intent in you to lose weight as you start feeling positive which is also reflected in the natural tendency of avoiding over-eating.
Apart form the above listed methods, reading several good reviews on diets also helps in becoming aware of the various alternative diet plans and techniques.

Hoodia Gordonii, a spiny leafless & lush plant from semi-deserts of Africa is at present is in great demand globally. Hoodia based pills or products are well known to inherit plants ability to fend off thirst and hunger which subsequently is of immense aid in reducing weight or kicking off some extra pounds from your body.

According to the scientific studies on the behavior of Hoodia, it was revealed that plant releases some kind of ingredient which tricks the brain with the belief that you are full even if you have practically eaten nothing. The fact was confirmed with the help of studies on rats where injections of P57 were infused into rat’s brain which resulted in distorted levels of ATP. ATP is known as an energy molecule that may affect appetite.

Another popular theory says that Hoodia works by fooling brain that it has sufficient levels of blood sugar & as a consequence, consumption of Hoodia without proper regulation can cause a sharp drop in blood sugar levels. Still, not sufficient information about the working of Hoodia as a natural thirst & hunger suppressant agent is unearthed. Research is still going on & so for the time being mystery remains unanswered.

Hoodia, a plant often known for its succulent nature in botanical world; primarily grows in the harsh environment of semi-deserts of countries like Botswana, Angola, Africa and Namibia. One can trace the plant by its looks which resembles to one with dill pickle with some spines on it. It usually takes a bit of five years or more for the appearance of pale color purplish flowers after which only plant can be harvested. There are almost more than 13 species of Hoodia in existence today.

The story began back in 1930’s when a noted Dutch anthropologist observed that San Bushmen of Kalahari Desert totally rely on Hoodia to ward of their thirst & hunger during their long hunting voyages. Then a British company, Phytopharm with the help of South African scientists was able to successfully isolate the ingredient responsible for appetite suppressant nature of the plant. The ingredient was named P57 which was first patented by Phytopharm and subsequently developed into a Hoodia drug by pharmaceutical major Pfizer. However later, the rights were once again returned to Phytopharm, which is now working with Unilever.

Hoodia came into the sudden limelight after much hyped travel story of 60 Minutes correspondents to deserts of Africa where they were supposed to rely on Hoodia to carry on their expedition without food or water for entire day.
Today popularity of Hoodia drug as an effective weight loss supplement is another marketing story since then.