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[H990]How To Curb Appetite

by Gregg Hall, Gre

The Chinese have used herbs for medicinal purposes for over 4000 years. Today, the medical community, who once shunned the use of herbs for medicinal purposes, is starting to take notice of the benefits of using herbs. Herbs are nutritionally sound and can offer a healthy, natural alternative to nourish and heal the body. Herbs can also give the body the nutrients that the body does not always get through a regular diet.

Herbs can include leaves, bark, berries, roots, seeds, stems, gums and flowers. They can also come in many forms including tablets, capsules, bark pieces, powders, extracts, creams, lotions, oils, liquids and salves. When buying herbs of any kind, it is important to look for the word ?standardized? on the label. Because most herbs are not FDA approved, the label on herbs provides important safety and dosage information. When purchasing herbs you should look for freshness. Those that are loose and sold in bulk have almost no nutritional value. Instead opt for freeze-dried over air-dried herbs.

Herbs have always been used as a weight loss remedy. There are many herbs that can be used both safely and efficiently to suppress appetite and help control weight loss. For people need or want to shed a few pounds but who already eat healthy and participate in regular exercise, adding natural herbs to the diet can help aid in weight control. Herbs may not be a good choice for those seeking to loose a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Some herbs do have side effects and some should be taken carefully. As with any weight loss program or diet, caution should be used and it should be used in conjunction with regular diet and exercise. The following are good starters to help you curb your appetite with herbs.

Brazilian Cocoa: This herb is almost identical to caffeine. Both stimulate the central nervous system and increases metabolic rate. Brazilian Cocoa has a very mild diuretic effect. The side effect of this herb is that is also similar to caffeine. When taken in excess, it can cause restlessness, trembling, nervousness and anxiety.

Cayenne: Cayenne pepper when added to food can help stimulate capsaicin, which stimulates saliva. It also stimulates digestion and can help accelerate the metabolism at a safe level.

Green Tea: Green tea is a natural stimulant that acts much like coffee, but has the added benefit of vitamin C and antioxidants. By steeping the tea quickly or for a longer period of time, it is possible to control the strength of the tea. Green tea is available as a capsule formula, but works better in the body as a liquid.

Evening Primrose: This herb has been shown to be effective as a natural alternative to help reduce cholesterol levels and help people who do not process fats correctly loose weight.

Seaweed: Seaweed is a good natural source of trace mineral and is a natural thyroid stimulant. It is widely available in capsule or tablets forms at many health food stores.

Psyllium: Studies show that the granules of these seeds consumed with water before a meal helps control the appetite. This herb causes an instant reduction of appetite by making the stomach feel full. The full feeling leads to less caloric and fat consumption.

Queen's Flower: Queen's flower has been shown to be one of the most effective plant used in alternative weight control and diabetes.

Herbs can be taken in using different methods. Infusion involves using the soft part of the herb plant including the leaves, flowers, and the whole herb. Infusion of herbs is much like tea is made. Boiling water is poured over the plant and allowed to steep. Then liquid is then strained and the liquid is consumed. Honey may be added to the infusion liquid to improve the bitter taste. With decoction, the tough part of the plant-the bark, root, twig and stem are simmered for about thirty minutes and then consumed.

Juice can also be made using small pieces of the herb. The juice is taken right after it is made because the vitamin content declines rapidly. This method works well for getting vitamins and are sensitive to heat. Tinctures are often considered the best way to take herbal supplements. It is a good way to take well-preserved herbs. During this method, the herb is soaked in alcohol or a water mixture. The mixture is pressed and this makes the tincture.

Hoodia Gordonii is a leafless, spiky succulent in the family Asclepiadaceae found in the semi deserts of Botswana, Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, in particular, the Kalahari desert, home of the San People. Being a succulent it is technically different from a cactus, and it is also know by the name "Xhoba".

Hoodia gordonii is one of many species in the Hoodia genus and it takes a trained botanist or San collector to be able to distinguish species without looking at the flower. It is part of a genus that has other Hoodia species which do not contain the much sought after active ingredient present, P57 that occurs in Hoodia gordonii.

Hoodia's popularity stems from claims that the tribemen of the Kalahari desert relied on hoodia for thousands of years to ward off hunger and thirst during long hunting trips. Hoodia Gordonii is not a drug and does not have the unpleasant side effects of a drug.

Weight Loss

The only way you're going to lose weight is to eat less.

Derivatives of the Hoodia Cactus have been used for many centuries by the African people for weight and appetite control however have only become known to the general public only a few years back when it was published on TV in BBC News and ?60 Minutes? at around the same time.

This unique property has led to the successive research studies on extracting the active component of the plant and developing it into the world's safest weight loss/diet supplement.

South African scientists have been testing the Hoodia plant since 1996 when they discovered the plant contained a previously unknown molecule, dubbed P57 by Britain's leading pharmaceutical researcher Phytopharm, that replicates the effect glucose has on nerve cells in the brain fooling the body into thinking it is full, even when it is not. Hoodia Gordonii is completely natural and has not shown to have any side effects in the studies conducted.

This unique property of the plant has raised interest in the pharmaceutical community for the development of a safe and effective food supplement for weight loss.

This created a new buzz in the weight loss market with people who were hungry for new weight loss supplements after their loss of Ephedra a few months before.

Kalahari

Since Hoodia Gordonii can only be found in the Kalahari desert of South Africa, so to satisfy the current demands drug companies are performing experiments to try to synthetically create the active ingredient, the appetite suppressing part of Hoodia Gordonii in the lab.

Therefore the native Hoodia Gordonii plants growing on the San Bushmen's land are the only source of this much sought after weight loss supplement.

The San ("Kalahari Bushman") have used Hoodia Gordonii stems to stave off hunger and thirst when on long hunting journeys, as it acts as an appetite suppressant.

The Active Ingredient, P57

Research of the Hoodia Gordonii and its active ingredient P57 officially started in 1937 where a Dutch scientist first noted that bushmen who ate Hoodia Gordonii had the ability to suppress their hunger and thirst.

Of all the 500 varieties that grow in Africa only the specific variant called Hoodia Gordonii has the active ingredient P57 which works as an appetite suppressant.

It was then South African scientists, working with a British company named Phytopharm, who isolated what they believed to be an active ingredient in hoodia gordonii, a steroidal glycoside, which they named p57.

Recently, Pfizer, who developed Viagra, has invested approximately $21 million for the right to develop the active ingredient, P57 which mimics the effects that glucose (it is ten thousand times as active as glucose) has on the brain.

Summary

Hoodia gordonii is completely natural; it is not a drug like most diet pills. It is not a stimulant as you might think, and has no known side effects that have been encountered. It is not a fat burner, it is not a carbblocker or a pharmaceutical cocktail of chemicals.

Pharmaceutical companies are trying to duplicate the active ingredient, P57, so that they can patent it for use in the burgeoning weight control industry.

Hoodia gordonii is very rare and is protected by national conservation laws in South Africa and Namibia. .

Hoodia gordonii is now accepted as a remarkable weight loss product that can effectively aid one to lose weight and feel great again.

Article Source : muscle and strength training

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Both Gregg Hall & Ian Finlayson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Gregg Hall has sinced written about articles on various topics from Lingerie, Desserts and Mortgage. Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. Get these and other great