Deep in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa a prickly like plant called Hoodia grows that could literally take your appetite away. Although this plant has been gathered and eaten by local habitants for probably 100,000 years, it was only recently documented as being discovered in the 1960’s as a possible appetite suppressant.

The plant looks very much like a cactus, is light green in color and has stalks with very sharp prickly spines. Unlike other appetite suppressants sold on the market today, Hoodia will not give your body a jittery feeling or a fast heart rate. Typical diet pills have ingredients like ephedrine or caffeine, which cause blood pressure to be elevated and give you a shaky feeling.

The Hoodia plant became known by accident because the local “Bushmen" of the Kalahari ate Hoodia as a standard part of their diet and that diet was the center of a study by South Africa’s national lab. Once researchers found out that anyone who ate this plant actually lost weight they realized they were onto something, but it would be a three long decades before the real science came about.

Will Hoodia diet pills curb you appetite permanently? The answer is no. You cannot completely starve your body no matter how much Hoodia you eat. At some point your brain will figure out you do need food to function. However, when you feel hungry because your insulin levels are bouncing all over the place, this is called hormonal hunger. It is this hormonal hunger, which ruins most people's diets. When our blood sugar levels spike and fall, we crave more sweets and carbohydrates. This is why you might crave ice cream at 3am.

Hoodia gordonii can eliminate snacking when it is caused by hormonal hunger. You want to continue to eat meals when you are really hungry, but you want to eliminate all the snacking that is due to hormonal hunger. While Hoodia can help eliminate both types of hunger, it is unhealthy skip meals. The real advantage to Hoodia is that it eliminates cravings and snacks when you don’t need to eat.

Most diet pills and supplements work by trying to increase the rate at which our body burns fat. If you think about our body as a machine, calories provide the fuel. If you run the machine (body) faster and harder - you burn more fuel. (calories). You can probably see the problem here - run any machine too hard for long and you can have problems. This was the problem with ephedra. Many people who took ephedra supplements lost weight, but there were serious health risks. Things like strokes and heart attacks were too real a possibility when using ephedra.

As much as everyone argues about which is better low carb or low fat - in the end losing weight is a simple equation. Take in fewer calories than you burn and you will lose weight. Hoodia gives you a powerful weapon to fight hunger and therefore take in fewer calories. No need to run the body hotter or faster or harder, simply consume fewer calories and therefore lose weight.

Hoodia has been shown to be safe and effective in reducing appetite and weight. With obesity reaching epidemic proportions across the world, Hoodia may be the answer to millions of peoples needs. Just think - the hardest part about dieting was hunger and cravings. Hoodia does away with all this.