As I was searching online for hoodia supplements, I found Hoodoba hoodia diet pills. I immediately thought “here we go again” another company trying to jump on the hoodia bandwagon with inferior products. So, I went searching for their lab test results and C.I.T.E.S. certificates. Anyone searching for hoodia should know that these two pieces of information are the tell-all as to whether a hoodia product is authentic, or not. I was surprised to see that Hoodoba had their lab test results posted and they also had C.I.T.E.S. certificates posted. The pills are real!

The next step I took was to find out if the Hoodoba hoodia diet pills were packed full of other ingredients besides hoodia. A lot of companies will put other ingredients in their capsules along with their hoodia. I was surprised to see that Hoodoba only contained hoodia. It didn’t have any additives, fillers or stimulants in their capsules. Very impressive!

I was really surprised to find that Hoodoba uses veggie capsules instead of gelatin capsules. This is good news to someone who has digestive problems and who doesn’t want to bother with pulling apart gelatin capsules. Hoodoba uses veggie caps for all of their hoodia diet pills.

I will honestly say that I was a bit turned-off by the Hoodoba site. It was a very professional site, but it has the typical sales pitch telling you how much weight you can lose with their supplement. You may or may not achieve the results they hype, but you need to know that you will need to eat sensibly and exercise to achieve your long term weight loss goals. There is no magic pill.

Despite that one negative, I will report that Hoodoba hoodia diet pills are economically priced and consumers have a choice of purchasing 400mg or 750mg capsules. Either product will work. Yet, I feel that the better financial deal is the 750mg capsules. A bottle of these will last longer because individuals won’t have to take as many.

I was really surprised to read that if someone finds they are in the minority of people who doesn’t respond to hoodia, the company allows you to return any unopened bottles back to the company for a refund-within 30 days of purchase. This money back guarantee is really unique and impressive to me.

I really don’t have anything negative to say about Hoodoba hoodia diet pills. They are authentic, powerful, affordably priced and the company’s 30-day money back guarantee closed the deal for me. I give it a thumb’s up.

Anyone who has considered hoodia diet pills and has done any research on them has read about the importance of looking for a CITES certificate to identify authentic hoodia gordonii. I often wonder if people even understand what the certificate is and why it so important to look for one. If you have a basic understanding of what a CITES certificate is and what its role is within the hoodia trade, you’ll know why looking for one is so important when trying to find authentic hoodia gordonii.

The hoodia gordonii plant is a protected species due to its limited supply and high demand. It is only found in South Africa and until recent years, was only grown wild. Due to the increasing popularity for hoodia gordonii, farming began in an attempt to keep up with skyrocketing demand. In order to protect the hoodia plant and the industry as a whole, including the San people who have a vested interest in their native crop, the South African government implemented controls, licenses, and regulations for the harvesting and exportation of hoodia gordonii.

As a consumer, one of the regulations that you should know about is the CITES certificate. While there are other documents involved in the hoodia gordonii trade market, I am going to limit this article to the discussion of the CITES certificate. CITES stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The certificate serves as an international agreement between countries that, in essence, protects the plant from being threatened due to trade.

For hoodia gordonii to be exported from South Africa by a company, they must first obtain an export permit from CITES. There is no getting around it. Any shipments of hoodia gordonii out of South Africa must have these CITES permits. These permits are valid for six months. This means someone who has obtained a CITES permit has six months to get their shipment of hoodia gordonii exported. If they fail to get their shipment out within six months, they must reapply and ask for a new permit.

This is important to understand because there is some confusion in the hoodia industry about the dates shown on CITES permits. People are led to believe that CITES permits must be “current” in order to be valid, otherwise they don’t mean anything. They mistakenly believe that if the CITES certificate is older than six months the company must be lying or must be trying to pull a fast one on the consumer. In some instances an “old” CITES certificate may be just that, but it is not necessarily the rule.

Suppose a supplier exports several thousand kilograms of hoodia on one permit, and that inventory of hoodia gordonii doesn’t actually sell out for eight or nine months. The original CITES permit, along with the original issue date shown on the permit, will always be attached to that inventory. Even though the date on the CITES permit will be older than six months, that CITES permit is still valid and still provides proof that the hoodia gordonii used is authentic. Keep that in mind as you are looking at CITES certificates from companies you are considering buying from. An older date doesn’t necessarily mean the CITES permit is invalid and the hoodia gordonii used isn’t real.

Another point to keep in mind is that the company or supplier shown on a CITES certificate doesn’t always match the name of the company selling the actual end product. For example, you may be interested in buying a hoodia supplement from “Helen’s Health Company” so you go to their website and you view their CITES certificate. Everything checks out except you notice the supplier shown on the permit is a company called, “Supplier Incorporated.” Shouldn’t the company listed on the permit be Helen’s Health Company? Not always.

Supplement companies purchase their hoodia gordonii from suppliers. Suppliers are the ones that are listed on the CITES permits. These are the companies that actually go in and export the hoodia out of South Africa. There are only a limited number of suppliers who can obtain CITES permits. In the above example, the ABC Company is the supplier of the hoodia gordonii to the XYZ Company.

Finally, just because a CITES certificate is displayed on a website doesn’t mean the company uses as much authentic hoodia gordonii as they claim. Hoodia products are classified as supplements so they are not regulated. As a result, companies can make claims that aren’t necessarily true. For example, you may be interested in a hoodia diet pill that contains 500mg of hoodia gordonii per capsule. You go to the company’s website and sure enough, they display a CITES permit so you immediately think the product is authentic.

All the CITES permit is meant to convey is the supplier had permission to export a certain amount of hoodia gordonii out of South Africa by a certain date. Once it arrives at the companies that are packaging hoodia products, they can do whatever they want with it. They can claim they are selling a pill that is 500 mg of pure hoodia gordonii, but it may only contain 150mg or 250mg.

I hope you now see what the CITES certificate is, and what it isn’t. Now that you know the role of the CITES certificate in helping you identify pure hoodia gordonii, you can find the hoodia products that are authentic.

Who doesn’t like free stuff? I know the popularity of free hoodia samples is very tempting to people. After all, hoodia is fast becoming one of the top weight loss supplements available. Who wouldn’t want a free sample of an all natural weight loss supplement that has virtually no side effects?

There are so many companies making hoodia that it’s only a given that many of them would offer free hoodia samples to consumers. They hope people will like their samples so much that they will come back to them and make future purchases. It sounds like a win-win deal for both consumers and companies.

Yet, there is an ugly side to free hoodia samples that you need to know about. With some people reporting that nearly 80% of the hoodia being sold are actually fakes, trying these products probably won’t do you any good! Only hoodia products that are made with authentic hoodia gordonii work to suppress the appetite. Trying free samples of an inferior or fake product can make you believe that all hoodia doesn’t work - and that’s not true.

Before you agree to receive free hoodia samples from a company, make sure the hoodia they are offering you is authentic and not fake. The two easiest ways to identify real hoodia from fake hoodia is to view the company’s CITES certificates and their lab test results which were completed through an independent lab.

In regards to CITES certificates, these certificates must be obtained by the government of South Africa before you can legally ship hoodia gordonii out of their country. If a company doesn’t have one, they are not using hoodia gordonii that is authentic South African hoodia gordonii. Companies that do bring in the real plant from South Africa for their products will proudly display their CITES certificates for all to see. To prove they have nothing to hide they will also have independent labs test their products for authenticity.

Companies that use authentic hoodia gordonii in their products will go out of their way to display their CITES certificate and their lab test results on their websites so that consumers can buy in confidence. If you can’t find CITES certificates or independent lab test results on the websites of companies offering free hoodia trials, then they most likely don’t have real hoodia gordonii in their products. If that’s the case, you should not accept their free hoodia samples no matter how tempting it might be.

Often times when you agree to accept free hoodia samples you are the one paying for the shipping and handling. Some free hoodia samples come with a twist, too. If you don’t do certain things after you receive your free sample, some companies will sign you up to be automatically shipped their hoodia products - and you may be billed for your original “free” samples.

When you are signed up in an autoship program, a company may ship you a 30 or 60 day supply of their hoodia every month or so. These programs can be cost effective and convenient if you are dealing with a company that is producing authentic hoodia gordonii supplements.

If you sign up for free hoodia samples, make sure you understand how to cancel out of the trial and that you know whether you are being enrolled into an autoship program. Many companies will try to make you believe it’s easy to get out of these programs. But, in many cases it’s not as easy as they would have you believe.

There are many people who have had their credit ruined simply because they accepted some free hoodia samples. They were unable to cancel their trials because they couldn’t get in touch with representatives of the company, or their requests to cancel were ignored. But, charges were made like clockwork to their credit cards for the hoodia they were automatically being shipped.

Be smart before you accept any free hoodia samples. Make sure you have read all the information involved in receiving the samples. Make sure you have a telephone number for the company. Before you agree to the samples, call the number and see if there is a person on the other end who can answer your questions about the free hoodia trial. Talking with someone can help you determine if the company is on the up-and-up.

You should go through this same process with any email address you are given as a point of contact with the company. Send an email inquiry with questions. How quickly did you get a response? Were your questions answered sufficiently? If you can’t make contact with a live person via email or telephone, it is probably a good idea to decline the offer for free hoodia samples.

Yes, free hoodia samples and hoodia trials are a wonderful way to save money while you sample hoodia products. Just be very cautious about who you hand over your credit card information to and make sure they are a reputable company that isn’t full of loopholes. These guidelines should help you find legitimate free hoodia samples without wrecking your credit in the process!

After researching and writing on hoodia gordonii and hoodia supplements for years, I felt it was important to write an article about the hoodia 60 Minutes and BBC reports that are supposedly endorsing specific hoodia diet pills. The BBC and 60 Minutes never endorsed a specific hoodia diet pill. Any website that claims they did is lying.

There are a number of websites that promote or sell hoodia supplements that say “as seen on 60 minutes” or “endorsed by” followed by the logos of the BBC or the 60 minutes program. This is a misrepresentation because it leads many consumers to believe that the product being sold is endorsed by these two media giants. When, in all actuality, neither of them have endorsed or tested a hoodia diet supplement.

60 minutes did do a hoodia story on November 21, 2004. Reporter, Leslie Stahl, went to the Kalahari Desert in South Africa to see the hoodia gordonii plant growing in the wild. She wanted to eat a small piece of it herself to see if it affected her appetite. After eating the plant, Stahl reported the hoodia gordonii plant worked to suppress her appetite and she wasn’t hungry the entire day.

That’s all she said about hoodia. 60 minutes did not endorse any specific hoodia supplement. The CBS program didn’t even feature a hoodia supplement to begin with! You would never know this unless you actually read the transcripts of the 60 minutes program yourself. Unfortunately, all too many hoodia sellers have capitalized on this story and have twisted it to their advantage to sell more of their products.

The BBC report is another example where hoodia sellers have taken a story and have spun it to their advantage. The BBC did a documentary on hoodia in 2003. Tom Mangold, a well-known BBC correspondent, also traveled to the Kalahari Desert to try the hoodia gordonii plant himself. Mr. Mangold and his camera man each ate a small piece of the plant. The pair reported that they, “did not even think about food” for the rest of the day. Even more amazing, they reported that they didn’t want breakfast the next morning and their appetite during lunchtime was nearly nonexistent.

Again, you’ll notice the BBC story did not even test a specific hoodia supplement, let alone endorse one. Just as Leslie Stahl had done in her 60 Minutes story, Tom Mangold of the BBC actually ate the plant itself. Neither reporter tried a specific hoodia product. And they certainly didn’t endorse a specific brand.

The next time you visit a website promoting or selling a hoodia supplement that claims their product was featured or endorsed by 60 Minutes and the BBC, immediately click to another website. Any company that is willing to misrepresent a media story so that it works to their advantage so they can sell more of their products obviously isn’t honest. If they aren’t willing to be honest about something as simple as the media coverage of hoodia on 60 Minutes and the BBC, how honest do you really think they are about the quality and authenticity of the product they are selling?

The purpose of natural appetite suppressants is to help you control your biggest challenge of weight loss: appetite control. Controlling your appetite prevents you from overeating which means you can lose weight faster and easier.

When it comes to natural appetite suppressants, you have two primary options to choose from. You can take supplements or eat whole foods. Supplements can be more convenient but they can also be very expensive. Whole foods are excellent because they’re inexpensive and provide additional nutritional benefits you can’t get from a supplement. You need to decide which works best for you. Following is a list of some of the most effective natural appetite suppressants you’ll find today.

Supplements as Natural Appetite Suppressants

Hoodia Gordonii

The cactus looking plant is found in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert. It has been used for centuries by the natives of this region to control their appetites. It was especially used by the Bushmen to help them control their appetites when they would take long hunting trips. Eating a small piece of the hoodia gordonii plant controlled their appetites for hours.

Granted, you won’t find hoodia gordonii growing in your back yard, but you can purchase hoodia supplements. Just be careful when shopping around for hoodia diet pills. Many of the cheap ones aren’t effective. They only contain a small amount of hoodia. Don’t waste your money on these fakes. The powerful hoodia supplements that work are made of 100% hoodia gordonii and they will generally cost about $50 for a one month supply.

Whey Protein

Whey protein powder has been used for years by dieters as an effective natural appetite suppressant. Whey protein powder is also excellent for muscle growth, which is crucial because muscle burns fat. It is also very cheap, convenient, and comes in a variety of flavors. You can drink it as a delicious shake or add it to smoothies or any variety of food recipes.

Whole Foods as Natural Appetite Suppressants

Water

Water is the cheapest and one of the most powerful natural appetite suppressants. You can easily curb your appetite by drinking water throughout the day. The next time you feel hungry, try drinking water. Many people confuse hunger with their body’s need for water. Drinking water when you first feel hungry can easily make those nagging “hunger” pains go away. Also, an easy way to eat less at meals is to drink a glass of water before your meal. This simple trick can go a long way in reducing your total caloric intake.

Green Leafy Vegetables

Cabbage, spinach, lettuce, and bok choy are great natural appetite suppressants. These green leafy veggies are a great source of fiber and they are low in calories. In fact, these green vegetables are considered “negative calorie” foods. This means it takes more calories to digest these foods than the foods actually contain!

Pickles

Did you know that if you ate an entire jar of pickles you would probably consume less than 100 calories? I’m not talking about the commercial brands of pickles that are stocked full of sugar, artificial colors and calories, but natural organic pickles. These natural pickles only have a few calories each and are a wonderful and powerful food to snack on during the day. You can munch on this food virtually guilt free!

Apples

Apples are a great source of fiber and they are only about 100 calories each. They are wonderful natural appetite suppressants. Apples are a great substitute for those snack foods that have more calories in them such as chips, candy bars, pies and cakes.

Now that you have seen the top natural appetite suppressants available, decide which ones will work for you. Once you start controlling your appetite you’ll see your weight loss program take off and the inches start falling off!

When surfing the Internet for hoodia gordonii, you may have read there is a hoodia Oprah connection. You may have seen websites that claim Oprah uses hoodia, or that she has endorsed a particular hoodia product on her show. Would it surprise you to hear that these statements may not be true?

When surfing the net looking for hoodia, you may run across sites that say “as seen on Oprah” or “Oprah uses hoodia.” Truthfully, I can find no record that hoodia has ever been featured on the Oprah show. I also haven’t found any documentation that claims Oprah uses hoodia gordonii. I went to Oprah’s website and did a search for “hoodia” and a search for “hoodia Oprah” and got zero search results. Until I find evidence to the contrary, it is safe to say there is no connection between hoodia and Oprah Winfrey.

There is a minor hoodia connection, however, in Oprah’s magazine, O, that many websites reference as proof that Oprah endorses it. The article all these websites refer to was published in the July 2005 issue of her magazine titled, “Diet Pills: The Next Generation.” I wasn’t able to find an archive copy of the article anywhere online so I purchased the issue on eBay to find out what exactly Oprah Winfrey supposedly said about hoodia. I was very surprised what I found out.

At first, the picture that accompanied the article made me think that there possibly could be a hoodia Oprah connection. The picture was of a San tribe member and I immediately recognized a piece of the hoodia gordonii plant that he was holding. But, after reading the entire text of the article, I can firmly say there is no hoodia Oprah connection in it. There were no statements by Oprah in the article and the article itself was written by someone else.

The article opens with the first two paragraphs briefly talking about the history of hoodia and the popularity of hoodia diet pills. However, the article doesn’t talk very highly of hoodia supplements. In fact, here is a direct quote from the article, “So far, however, there’s little proof that the supplements are even mildly effective: Most contain only small, probably insignificant levels of Hoodia extract” This is hardly a ringing endorsement for hoodia supplements - let alone a specific brand of hoodia!

The article goes on to inform the reader that pharmaceutical firms are still trying to come up with the latest and greatest weight loss supplement. Beyond the first two paragraphs, there is no mention of hoodia at all. As far as Oprah’s magazine is concerned, there is no hoodia Oprah connection.

With so many websites using Oprah’s name to make consumers believe there is a hoodia Oprah connection, there is bound to be some legal actions taken in the future. Oprah’s legal department will no doubt come down on these people. They are twisting a small mention of hoodia in an article in Oprah’s magazine to make it appear that Oprah herself endorses their brand of hoodia, when in all honesty, that is just not true.

Once the baby arrives, most new moms begin to think about losing a bit of weight. Many new moms may be tempted to opt for a diet pill to help kick start the weight loss process. Some of the most popular weight loss supplements sold today are hoodia diet pills. While they have been shown to be safe with little to no hoodia side effects, breastfeeding moms are advised not to take them.

You should wait until your baby is no longer breastfeeding to start this, or any other, weight loss supplement. Yes, it is true that hoodia gordonii has no reported side effects, but if you do any research on it or simply read the labels on hoodia supplements, you’ll see the warning against breastfeeding moms taking it. There doesn’t appear to be any specific reasons for this warning but I have a couple theories.

Hoodia is an appetite suppressant. If it passes through to your breast milk, and there is no proof that it does or doesn’t, but if it does, it is likely that your baby’s appetite will probably be suppressed as well. Everyone knows that a baby needs all the milk and nourishment she can hold. No one wants their baby to feel “full” when her body is actually hungry. That isn’t healthy.

The second reason you should avoid hoodia while you are breastfeeding is that you need to keep your calorie levels up. Hoodia diet pills work by making you feel full sooner. This results in less food being consumed. Feeding a baby requires you to have an adequate, well balanced and nutritious diet. You do not want the quality of your breast milk to be effected by consuming insufficient nourishment.

An excellent way to start getting back into shape is to put your baby in the stroller and go for a brisk walk each day. Start off slow until you build up your energy levels. When doing any form of exercise while breastfeeding it is vital to keep your water intake up. Take a water bottle with you and make sure you drink it. Dehydration and breastfeeding do not go hand-in-hand.

If exercising on your own for weight loss doesn’t motivate you, consult with your medical practitioner or local clinic for post natal exercise groups in your area. Surrounding yourself with other new moms may be exactly what you are looking for to keep you interested and motivated.

While you may be tempted to take various diet supplements while you are breastfeeding, it is not recommended. Breastfeeding alone is increasing your metabolism. A sensible diet combined with gentle exercise will be far more beneficial for you and your baby. Your baby is relying on you to provide all of their nourishment.

Despite the recorded hoodia side effects being almost unheard of, it is still not recommended that breastfeeding mothers take this diet supplement. Postpone the hoodia diet pills until after you have finished breastfeeding. A sensible diet and gentle post natal exercise will have you glowing and toned up in no time.