Hoodia gordonii: Hoodia and Weight Loss 1
Obesity is a Major Problem
It can be argued that obesity is almost pandemic in proportions. It’s our fastest-growing medical problem, afflicting at least one in four adults. This accounts for the booming rate of type 2 diabetes, which is caused primarily by obesity. Amongst the other consequences of obesity are substantially increased risks for hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart disease, and osteoarthritis. It has been said that, on a statistical basis, it will soon be more dangerous to be overweight than to be a smoker. As a result Hoodia's appetite-suppressing effects have granered considerable interest.
Of course, the best remedy for obesity is a healthy lifestyle consisting of a balanced diet (where the calorific intake ins controlled) along with regular exercise (which should include both aerobic and anaerobic exercises). However, as one necessary component of successful weight loss is the control of appetite both drugs or nutritional supplements can also play a valuable role in weight control. Unfortunately most prescription drugs intended for this purpose also tend to be stimulants and have 'nerve-jangling' effects. Thus, an appetite-suppressing supplement that is free of these effects would be a tremendous boon.
Hoodia, a key to Weight-loss?
Based on the informaton filed in the patents concering Hoodia, and the results on trials using rats it may well be that Hoodia fits the bill for an ideal appetite suppressor, with minimal side effects. Patents typically contain much technical information—including, in this case, favorable data from animal trials with Hoodia as an appetite suppressant. However, the point of a patent is to gain exclusive world-wide rights to a product and does not meet the rigorous standards required of papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and thus far no papers have been published reporting extensive trials of Hoodia on humans. However the current evidence, which is presented here does strongly indicate that Hoodia is effective. Or, at the very least that extracts taken directly from the raw plant are effective.
How Hoodia Could Help.
Part of the problem for those who have tried to lose weight over a long period and have failed is that of re-training the appetite. The body has become used to binge eating and so the appetite needs to be normalized. Calorific intake needs to be reduced in any succesful attempt at losing weight and that reduced calorific intake needs to be maintained. This can only be done in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise however.
How not to use Hoodia
The proper way to use hoodia would be as an aid to reducing calorific intake. What it should not be used for is as an aid to starvation. Suppressing the appetite completely may result in an initial rapid loss of weight. However, this method of attempting to lose weight is ultimately dangerous. Firstly a starvaton diet sends the body into an emergency-response mode where the body's own protein reserves (the muscles) are converted into the body's energy store (fat). You may be losing weight, but you're actually sacrificing lean muscle to develop more fat. Once you stop your starvation diet the body's basal metabolism may have shrunk by as much as 30% and though you may be eating less that you were before the diet you actually need much less food so you start putting-on weight again. You end-up yo-yo-ing from starvation to weight gain which plays havoc with your blood sugar levels and will actually be detrimental to your body.
The only way to diet succesfully is to reduce your overall calorific intake over a whole day (don't start skipping meals to reduce your food intake either as this can also tip the body into starvation mode). Taking Hoodia before meals may reduce your need for food during that meal and thus reduce your overall consumption without eliminating it altogether. Maintain this over a long time and you will begin to re-train your body to consume less food. Ad to this a vigorous exercise regimen and you will notice the weight coming off and staying off.