Hoodia gordonii is a succulent plant that grows wild in the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa and Namibia. For centuries, the San tribe, the Bushmen of the Kalahari have eaten it to suppress hunger and thirst before embarking on long hunting expeditions, in their search for food. During the 1960s, the South African government along with a British company began studying hoodia gordonii. They isolated an active ingredient, a molecule (naming it P57) that caused suppression of hunger and thirst. Since then the British company has been running tests and clinical trials on hoodia gordonii. So far, they have also noted that ingesting hoodia gordonii, apart from causing suppression of appetite has shown no other side effects.
To our modern society – suffering from obesity and obsessing with being thin, thinner, thinnest – continuously looking out for the new diet, the new fad, the new magic medicine or the miracle pill, hoodia gordonii certainly looks like the pot at the end of the rainbow. A natural plant that suppresses appetite and has so far, displayed no side effects at all.
The active ingredient in hoodia gordonii – P57 –basically affects the hypothalamus, a small region of the brain that monitors hunger, thirst and blood sugar. When you eat food, the nerve cells in the hypothalamus sense the rise of glucose in the blood and trigger messages that tell you when you are full. P57, the molecule in hoodia gordonii appears to be thousands of times more active than glucose. Ingesting hoodia gordonii causes the hypothalamus to register the feeling of fullness without you having eaten anything else.
Some studies have shown that people were able to reduce their daily calorie intake by almost 2000 calories, without feeling hunger or any other feeling of discomfort at all.
Studies also showed that hoodia gordonii had no stimulant qualities and the subjects had better levels of energy than control groups who were given no hoodia gordonii.
Just keeping your appetite suppressed may help you to melt the pounds off, but it is hardly going to lead you to a healthy body. A well-balanced nutritious diet and a simple exercise regime, on the other hand will help you achieve a slim and well-toned body, a glowing skin and enough energy and vitality to lead a happy life. Where hoodia gordonii could play a role in this plan, is at the beginning. To change one’s bad habits for good ones is not easy. The mind may be willing, but it is the weakness of the flesh that led to the bad habits in the first place. After you have made up your mind to change your lifestyle, hoodia gordonii could possibly get you over the hurdle of “cheating” during the first few days. Once you have got into the new habit of regulating your food intake, eating the proper food at the correct time and exercising as planned – you should be well on your way to a newer, healthier, slimmer you….quite a miracle!