Hoodia

The Kalahari Desert is a harsh desert, but biologically a very active one. South Africa, Angola, Namibia and Botswana border the desert. The native tribe, known as San or Bushman by the white South Africans, is one of the oldest living tribes in the world, may be as old as 100,000 years. Even then, they do not live a settled life with agriculture or animals rearing. They are pure hunter-gatherers. They were hunted down by the white settlers of South Africa as a nuisance, and as late as the early part of 20th century, there were hunting parties organized to exterminate them.

When the San go on long hunting trips following the game, they eat a cactus-like plant and they do not feel hunger or thirst for a long period. They called it Xhoba. South Africa’s government research organization, CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), in a routine investigation tested this plant and found that this indeed blocked the sense of hunger and gave a feeling of fullness to the stomach.

Hoodia is the name of the plant, and it is not a cactus but a succulent in the family of Asclepiadaceae. It is multi-stemmed (about 18 inches high, averaging ten tentacles), looks like a long cucumber with spikes, smells unpleasant, and has purple disc-shaped flowers of three to four inches in diameter. It is bitter tasting and grayish brown in color.

CSIR scientists isolated the active ingredient, which gave the feelings of fullness when consumed. It is a molecule that they named P 57. There are about twenty varieties of Hoodia, but only one of them is Xhoba, with the ingredient P 57. This is Hoodia Gordoni. In 1776 Col. R. J. Gordon, while exploring the Orange River, found this plant and recorded it. It is named after him as Hoodia Gordoni. It is also called Queen of Namibia and African hats.

Medication made from this plant is one of the hottest products in the market for weight-reducing treatments.
By Eric Morris at http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Morris

Healthy Weight Loss: Start Right Away

In order to consistently keep your weight under control, it is advisable to walk about 10,000 steps daily. It is the easiest activity among all the exercise programs and does not involve stress to the body. Apart from the activity of walking, a systematic dietary pattern should be followed so that you are always free from the obesity symptoms.

Generally the people, who are overweight, are usually not interested in physical activities. They prefer doing any type of work but without moving from one place to another. They usually enjoy watching TV and having a delicious munch. For this category, fixing a program like aerobics or floor exercises would require greater efforts. Therefore walking is the most recommendable form of exercise. For the beginners it is ideal to walk for 15-20 minutes daily. Gradually, the time can be extended day after day until they are capable of walking 60 minutes daily.

When the doctors prescribe pills for the patients, they advice the patients to spend some time walking around. The tablets such as Phentermine are effective only when combined with the healthy dietary patterns and a daily exercise activity. Losing weight is a difficult task, and people who are disciplined and take exercise seriously, would lose weight.
By Paul cris at http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Cris