Each year, Americans spend more than $40 billion on products designed to help them slim down, firm up, and feel better about their bodies. Up until now, none of them seems to be working very well. Along comes Hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it will be tripping off your tongue, because Hoodia is an all-natural substance that literally spirits your appetite away. Having trouble believing in another miracle drug? So was I until I did extensive research on the Hoodia cactus.

Hoodia is a leafless, spiny, succulent cactus that has been used medicinally for centuries by the indigenous inhabitants of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa. Actually, Hoodia has several beneficial uses as both a natural remedy for indigestion and a salve for small infections, sort of like the Neosporin of the Desert. Moreover, the tribal hunters of Southern Africa have tested Hoodia on their long hunting trips in the Kalahari Desert as an appetite suppressant. The hunters seek out the plant when they know that they will not be able to return to their village for several days in order to combat their growing hunger. Hoodia has only recently been discovered by western scientists and journeyed from tribal life in Africa to your fast-paced American lifestyle.

It is very different from diet stimulants like Ephedrine and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects including symptoms such as sleeplessness, increased heart rate, nausea, dizziness, and/or high blood pressure. Hoodia does not stimulate at all. In fact, the all-natural substance has NO side effects whatsoever. Unless of course, you consider losing weight a side effect.

In non-technical language, Hoodia works by fooling the brain into thinking you are full, even if you have eaten just a morsel. Imagine going to your favorite, local Chinese restaurant. You start with spring rolls and then maybe General Tsu’s chicken for your entrée. Ever noticed how you just cannot make it past that first few bites into your main course? That is because Chinese restaurants use a chemical called MSG in order to suppress your appetite. With all the preservatives and steroids that are injected into our food supply, who really needs more unnatural chemicals in their diet today? Now take Hoodia, the all-natural supplement, and you get the best of both worlds: An appetite suppressant with no side effects that comes from a natural source. Still need more evidence? How about scientific proof?

In 1977, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) isolated the ingredient in Hoodia - now known as P57 - which is responsible for its appetite-suppressant effect, and patented it in 1996. After extensive animal research, Dr. Richard M. Goldfarb - the medical director of clinical research in Morrisville, Pennsylvania - ran the first extensive human testing of Hoodia and found that “Hoodia is effective as a natural appetite suppressant and has no adverse side effects.” Case closed.

Where can you find Hoodia? Actually, as Hoodia is a protected plant in South Africa only a few companies have been granted rights to export the substance to the United States. The best distributor I have found is www.hoodiburn.com. So get going, pick up your miracle drug, and begin to enjoy the wonderful world of Hoodia.