Weightloss Information Blog

Were you disappointed with your weight loss results when you tried hoodia? As with any weight loss aid, hoodia works for some and not for others. Why?

First, let me explain how hoodia works and then we will talk about the 3 most common reasons why hoodia failed to help some people.

South Africa is home to the hoodia gordonii cactus. An anthropologist noticed hunters chewing on the stems of this cactus. There was something in hoodia that helped them reduce hunger while hunting in sparse lands.

It was found that hoodia contains a compound known as p57. Hunger is triggered when our blood glucose levels drop, and p57 looks like glucose to the brain. In other words, p57 fools the brain and hunger is not triggered.

When p57 resembles glucose in the body, the hunger signal is not triggered. You end up being able to go longer without food. For this reason, those who are diabetic should speak with their healthcare provider before trying hoodia to suppress their appetite.

If hoodia is working for you, you have been able to control your appetite and take in fewer calories than your daily needs. If you are not losing weight with hoodia, it may be due to any of the following three reasons.

For one, hunger is not everything when it comes to controlling appetite. Much of the time, eating is an emotional affair. You might eat when you are anxious, sad or angry. Food may have been a part of a reward system when you were a child. Did you ever go out for ice cream when you had a good report card or were you given a piece of candy to take away the blues? If you use food as instant gratification to temporarily take away negative emotions, hoodia probably will not help.

Another reason hoodia might not work is if you eat too sporadically. If you skip breakfast and lunch, your body will eventually override the hoodia and you will feel extremely hungry at dinner time. As well, when you skip meals, you lower your metabolism, which thwarts weight loss.

Probably the biggest reason hoodia does not help some people is the “magic bullet” idea. You need to exercise and eat properly to lose weight. Exercise is very important for lasting weight loss. When you build lean body mass, you also burn more calories doing normal activities. Hoodia will not help you lose weight if you continue to stay “motionless.”

Hoodia can help you lose weight if you remedy the above situations. Find other ways of coping with negative emotions, eat regular (but small) amounts of food throughout the day and take a brisk, 30 minute walk every day. Hoodia will help you stick with the smaller portions and boost your weight loss efforts. You will lose weight more quickly, but still at a steady enough rate to ensure lasting results.

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Hoodia gordonii became extremely popular as a weight loss supplement or more appropriately, an appetite suppressant. The popularity, unfortunately, is also directly correlated to its potential ban by the FDA. The weight loss industry took a hit awhile back with the ban of ephedra. Is hoodia unsafe like ephedra?

Not exactly — ephedra use was implicated in the deaths of a few young women who used this strong, stimulant type appetite suppressant. They suffered cardiac complications and died. After evaluation, the FDA banned the sale of ephedra in the United States.

Hoodia supplements are now the target of FDA scrutiny, but this time, it has less to do with safety. Hoodia seems to be a relatively safe appetite suppressant. It is mild and works in a way that tricks the brain into thinking you have had plenty to eat. A compound in hoodia mimics glucose in the body and the brain believes you do not need to eat; therefore, it does not signal hunger.

Although diabetics should check with their healthcare providers due to this effect on blood glucose, most people who consume diets high in refined carbohydrates may benefit from taking hoodia supplements. Often times, the brain begins signaling hunger at higher than normal rates when a person consumes mostly refined carbohydrates. They become hungry even though they do not really need to eat.

So, hoodia is relatively safe, but may still be banned due to weight loss companies who offer their customers fake hoodia at low costs. There are also a few companies offering “free trials” and then signing people up for automatic shipments for which they are charged on the credit card given for the shipping costs.

The frenzy over hoodia created a situation where legitimate companies were selling pure hoodia supplements at a premium price, and other companies low-balled the pricing. Unfortunately, this was not a situation where companies were seeking to make revenue via higher quantity of sales with lower cost per unit. Their profit margin swelled due to the actual product they were selling: fake hoodia.

Hoodia is expensive. The demand for this cactus grown in South Africa led to a diminished amount of hoodia. It is difficult to grow conventionally, and farmers have been unable to produce enough to meet demands. In fact, the hoodia cactus does not seem to grow very well outside its native habitat. Those who have tried to grow their own have realized it has a rather unpleasant odor meant to attract flies for pollination. In addition, it takes three years for the plant to reach a point for harvest.

The scarcity versus popular demand lead to black market trade. Eventually, the South African government stepped in to preserve the species and lessen illegal trade. They made it necessary for companies to obtain a C.I.T.E.S. certification in order to legally buy hoodia from South Africa.

If you want to benefit from hoodia while you can, you should expect to pay a fair price for the product; fair in this case meaning a bit pricey. If you find cheap hoodia, it probably is not the real deal, or it contains such low amounts of pure hoodia, it will not be effective.

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The weight loss industry has its share of overly hyped supplements, but some remain in the spotlight for many years. Ephedra was once widely used in weight loss pills, but now it is banned in the United States after the deaths of some young women were linked with its regular use. Other less harmful herbal weight loss aids were popular until those trying to lose weight deemed them too mild. How is it that hoodia remains in the weight loss game?

Used for centuries by native hunters in South Africa, hoodia is a cactus. The hunters chewed on the stems of this cactus while out on lengthy hunts in sparse vegetation. Hoodia seemed to stave off their hunger, which lead researchers to explore the use of hoodia as an appetite suppressant.

It was found that hoodia contains a component called p57, which resembles glucose in the body. You feel hungry when blood glucose is low and a signal is sent by the brain to the hypothalamus to trigger hunger. Of course, this is partially what makes dieting difficult; ignoring the hunger.

Because our hunger is triggered by low blood glucose levels, p57 is capable of tricking the brain into thinking the blood glucose levels are fine and therefore, hunger is suppressed. For this reason, diabetics should not use hoodia as an appetite suppressant. However, hoodia seems to be a very popular appetite suppressant for those who have been consuming a typical Western diet. Why?

The Western diet is loaded in sugar due to overly processed refined carbohydrates, ready-made foods and canned products. High fructose corn syrup is another widely used ingredient in processed foods. Coincidentally, since the introduction of these types of foods, we have also seen a huge rise in overweight and obese people. Could it be due to sugar?

Our bodies were designed to adapt to our diets. In the case of consuming large amounts of sugar, our blood glucose levels become skewed. The brain becomes used to higher than normal levels of blood glucose and begins to signal hunger more quickly. The end result is feeling hungry more often and craving sugar. Because hoodia can mimic glucose, it may help fight your hunger and sugar cravings and lose weight.

Products high in sugar are often empty calories. We consume them and soon after, we experience hunger. They have little staying power, yet they are converted to fat quite easily. By using hoodia to control your appetite and stave off sugar cravings, you may lose weight.

Hoodia may not be as powerful as ephedra, but it is still an effective appetite suppressant and it is far less harmful than stimulants like ephedra. Check the authenticity of the hoodia product before you make a purchase.

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Do you like to do things on your own? I do. I try to save money whenever possible. I would probably never hire a painter or a landscaper. I bake birthday cakes rather than buying them at the store.

Some would say I am cheap, but actually, I rather enjoy the reward of doing things myself. So, when I heard that I could grow my own hoodia and not pay $60 a bottle for the supplements, I thought, hey! I could stand to lose a few pounds and would it not be great to do it for less?

Well, that was a bit of a mistake. I found out that hoodia is grown in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa and that it is a succulent. It can suppress your appetite because of a component called p57 contained in the hoodia plant. This component acts as glucose in the body, which staves off hunger by fooling the brain into thinking you do not need to eat. (Hunger is triggered by low blood glucose). Though I knew I could not develop a pill form of hoodia, I knew the natives in South Africa chew on the stems, so why could I not? Or perhaps make some sort of tea with the plant.

Well, I delved in and ordered some hoodia seeds and special sand, supposedly from the Kalahari Desert. I was a bit skeptical when I found out the sand cost more than the seeds. Well, I figured out why quickly. In a few weeks, I had tiny little plants sprouting up through the sand, only they did not resemble a succulent at all. They looked more like normal little plants. They were. I recognized them because we grew these little seeds years ago in elementary school. They were bean plants, and not the magic sort. And, I could not get my money back from the company, either.

Now, I was determined to make my plan work. I had told all my friends about my plan and could not tell them what happened. So, back to the drawing board. I ordered seeds that were more expensive. Yes I know, I should have just paid the $60, but I was on a mission! Apparently, hoodia seeds are scarce and the price has been driven up. I guess I am not the only one trying to grow my own hoodia.

This time, I had little plants growing with finger-like stems. Yes! Now that is what a succulent should look like. I showed off my hoodia babies to my friends and waited to see what would happen next. In about a month, I had little flowers on the plants. One would think this was a good thing, but it was not! It smelled like something died in my house! Another F.Y.I. about hoodia: the flowers are meant to attract flies to pollinate the plant.

I decided the garage and some grow lights were in order. Despite their stink, I did everything I could to care for my little hoodia dudes; however, after two weeks they began to whither. Another little known fact about hoodia: even commercial growers have yet to have much success in growing hoodia. I guess they contract disease and fungus easily.

My plants withered away and I had to give up my D.I.Y. project. My friends have not said much. I suppose they are just happy they do not have to put smelling salts under their noses to visit my house anymore (or swat away the flies). South Africa can keep its corner on the hoodia market. And yeah, okay, I ended up paying the $60 for the bottle of hoodia supplements. There is a happy ending. I have lost five pounds so far!

Can you grow your own hoodia? Go there and join our great hoodia community on Facebook.