By Anita Cherry for Buzzle.com

Hoodia is a herb that contains is a molecule that tricks your brain into thinking that your stomach is full even though it isn’t. No side effects have been reported so far even though it has been used for thousands of years...

Hoodia gordonii is a plant which is used as an appetite suppressant. It is considered a Herbal Diet Pill because it has a molecule which makes your brain feel that you are not hungry. It looks like cactus but it is a succulent. It is shaped like a cucumber, has many tentacles which has spikes and is fleshy inside. The texture of hoodia is almost like cucumber. When eaten raw it is not very tasty.

The San tribesman who has a history of 40,000 years living in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa used to eat the bitter-tasting stem of the plant. Hoodia gordonii has kept them from feeling hungry on long hunting trips when they have little other food or water. Hoodia grows at very high temperatures and takes at least 7 years to grow. There are many variations of the hoodia plant. Only Hoodia gordonii has the appetite suppressant molecule. Hoodia doesn’t have stimulant properties and is not a drug. It took the South African national laboratory 30 years to isolate and identify the specific appetite-suppressing ingredient in hoodia. The plant contained a previously unknown molecule, which has since been christened P 57. When they found it they applied for a patent and licensed it to Phytopharm who in turn sold the development and marketing rights to the giant Pfizer Corporation. This molecule behaves almost like glucose and makes the brain think that the stomach is full. Hoodia effectively helps to reduce the appetite by 100 to 1000calories a day.

The main effects of hoodia are that you will feel hungry only after your usual time of eating, a general feeling of well being and feeling your stomach is full as soon as you have eaten only little.

The San bushman used to eat it raw after removing the spikes and skin. The san people used it only sparingly. Even though there's nothing in the research that shows hoodia to be dangerous everyone should also be aware that nobody can claim it to be free of side effects 100%.At the same time it is advisable that people who are underweight or have eating disorders or are having anorexia nervosa with or without bulimia should not be taking hoodia. Some people can be allergic to some plants and so be on the lookout for some allergies as well. When you eat refined carbohydrates blood sugar drops and hoodia does not counteract it so people with diabetes mellitus should be cautious as well.

Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in health food stores and on the Internet. Prescription drugs containing hoodia or its synthetic P57 derivatives may take up to 3 more years from being on the market. Natural hoodia supplements are currently available.

Want a spin bike delivered to your room? Get that and more with our guide to staying fit on the road. By Ryan Brandt for Outside Online

After a predawn start, a bout with jet lag, and a triple-meeting afternoon, you're ready to head to the hotel bar rather than face an aging rowing machine stashed in a dank, windowless room. Put that martini on hold. You'll feel better during and after your trip if you squeeze in a workout, and we're here to restore your motivation with a guide to fitness-centric hotel services, the perfect in-room regimen, smart tips from a travel-savvy exercise physiologist, and more. Take our advice and you can retire to the bar and toast your health.

ROOM SERVICE
Hotels nationwide are catering to health-conscious travelers. Here are eight ways you can reap the rewards.

[1] PERSONAL GYM: Stop waiting in line for the cardio equipment and book a WestinWorkout room. For about $20 more than the standard-room rate, you'll get a treadmill or spin bike, adjustable dumbbells, and a stability ball, plus a fitness library, training videos, and total control over the remote. www.starwoodhotels.com/westin

[2] AWAY GAMES: What's better than a hotel with a gym? A gym with a hotel. At Renaissance ClubSport, in Walnut Creek, California, your room comes with 12,000 square feet of workout space, an Olympic-length swimming pool, and full-size basketball and racquetball courts with regular pickup games. In May Renaissance broke ground on a second ClubSport, this one in Southern California. www.marriott.com/property/propertypage/oakbr

Run the Numbers
Cross a GPS with a sophisticated wrist-top training tool and you get the GARMIN FORERUNNER 305, an ultraprecise data cruncher that can track pace, mileage, heart rate, elevation change, and calories burned, then help you find your way back to your hotel, anywhere in the world. $350; www.garmin.com
[3] ROOM WITH A RIDE: Call down to the Fairmont Chicago's front desk and an hour later you've got a Trek 1000 road bike. Take it for a spin on 21 miles of paved paths along Lake Michigan. $15 per hour; half-day, $50; www.fairmont.com/chicago

[4] CARDIO TO GO: Omni hotels deliver stationary cardio equipment to your room. Reserve a treadmill for $15 and it'll be in your suite upon check-in, so you can go for a run without going out. www.omnihotels.com

[5] ADRENALINE CONCIERGE: The Rock Stars program at selected Rock Resorts one-ups the "dude at the front desk" found at typical mountain-town hotels. Exhibit A: The Lodge at Vail's "spokes-person" is charged with dishing beta on the area's singletrack. A climbing guide is in the works for the chain's Keystone Lodge. www.rockresorts.com

[6] FITNESS CHANNEL: Order one of ten complimentary on-demand workout programs covering the likes of yoga, Pilates, core work, and meditation on the new Mind.Body.Spa channel at Kimpton boutique hotels (yoga mat included). Westin's DVD-based fitness programming includes similar offerings, as well as spinning instruction. www.kimptonhotels.com

[7] GYM BAG: Omni, Kimpton, Marriott, and Hilton all offer bundled exercise equipment you can take to your room at no charge. Hilton's Fit Kits include sets of low-weight dumbbells, yoga mat, resistance tubing, and a 30-minute workout book. Marriott provides the BodyRev, a handheld cardio-and-strength trainer. www.marriott.com, www.hilton.com

[8] NEW YORK EXCLUSIVE: Manhattan's Affinia Dumont features exercise equipment delivered to your door and rooms with full-length wall mirrors and ample workout space. You also get access to a wellness library, an exhaustive city fitness directory, and a minibar stocked with healthy snacks. www.affinia.com

By Gail Gedan Spencer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hiring a personal trainer can be a great way to personalize a workout but can get quite expensive. And fitting your schedule to theirs often isn't convenient. So bring one home on a DVD.

Here are a few new DVDs that allow you to customize a workout to your favorite moves or least favorite trouble spots.

• "Build Up Your Muscles" (Gin Miller Fitness, $29.95; available at collagevideo.com or ginmiller.com). Video fitness pioneer Gin Miller offers four 45-minute workouts, whether you own resistance tubing, weighted balls, dumbbells or wrist and ankle weights. The only other thing you need is a chair. Miller has a high fun factor (she likes to do funny voices and such) but that's relatively toned down in this disc, which is simple to follow and a great no-frills workout.

• "Prevention Fitness Systems Personal Training" (Gaiam, $14.98). The calm and friendly Chris Freytag leads you through five targeted workouts: lose weight, get firm, improve your health, flatten your belly, or slim your hips and thighs. And each workout has a weekly schedule, so you can just click on the day of the week in your chosen workout. (You can't click on Sunday; it says "rest.")

Or you can mix and match the two 13-minute cardio segments and five toning sections, as well as a warmup and cooldown, to make your own custom workout. It's infinitely customizable, and you're not bound to be bored with this many combinations.

Bonus segments include portion control, moves to beat knee pain and a waistline checkup.

• "Get Ripped!" (Razor Digital, $14.99). Canadian trainer Jari Love leads a scrupulously well-led and no-nonsense 55-minute weighted workout that's aerobically challenging as well as muscle building. It's all in the pacing, which is quick and includes a lot of reps. You'll need a barbell or dumbbells as well as an aerobic step.

Two background exercisers show modifications, and the propulsive music is timed to keep your pace.

Bonus segments include a conversation with an exercise physiologist, great tips on technique and modifications and somewhat of a self-serving gushfest of Get Ripped fans.

FITNESS FREEBIES

Go to www.propelfitnesswater.com/gunnar-one-on-one/ to build a personalized workout to load to your video iPod or computer desktop, courtesy of Propel Fitness Water and "trainer to the stars" Gunnar Peterson, who's personable and encouraging. You can use bands, weights and/or a fitness ball in these exercises.

And for more downloadable video workouts, go to www.propelfitnesswater.com/your- bones-your-body/, which has weight-bearing, bone- and muscle-strengthening workouts from the always-great Kathy Kaehler.

Businesses promote employee health through weight-loss contests By Antonio Young for the Daily Journal

Debbie Ronek of Bradley knows all about health challenges.

As a radiation therapist for Riverside's Betty Burch Bridgewater Center, she issues high doses of radiation for countless cancer patients fighting for their lives.

However, earlier this summer, Ronek took on a wellness test of her own. She entered Riverside's first "Biggest Loser Competition," a contest that motivated employees to slim down and shape up.

For eight weeks, Ronek and more than 200 other Riverside staff members split into 45 teams and competed for a prize pot that reached $3,006.

Each participant paid $10 to enter the contest, and weigh-ins featuring exercise and nutrition information, were conducted weekly. If an employee skipped a weigh-in or gained weight between the weigh-ins, he or she paid a dollar, which went toward the prize pot, said Christi Landeck, Risk Management specialist for Riverside's patient safety and employee health office.

The winning team was chosen based on the percentage of body weight lost, with a quarter of the reward given to the top individual "loser."

"We figured it would be a way for us to stay on a diet and be accountable to each other," said Ronek, 39, who participated with three of her co-workers.

They took half of the prize money by finishing in first place for losing 119 pounds.

Ronek, who weighed 201 pounds at the start of the contest, also took the individual crown for shedding 40 pounds and losing 20 percent of body fat. She also won $751.03.

It wasn't easy, however. Ronek had to stick to a no-salt, no-sugar diet mainly consisting of sweet potatoes, rice, turkey and chicken breast. She also ran on a treadmill five times a week for up to 50-minute sessions. Feeling much healthier, Ronek hopes to drop down to 135 pounds, she said.

Meaningful workouts

Companies across the country looking to contain their runaway health care costs are encouraging weight-loss competitions among their employees. A trimmer work force could mean decreased medical claims and higher productivity among employees.

According to a 2001 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, almost 65 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past two decades. Companies bear as much as $61 billion in direct health care costs and $56 billion in indirect costs due to lost employee productivity and premature death due to obesity.

Provena Health System was been able to save about $200,000 in health-care costs with its 2005 wellness program dubbed, "Bottom Line Challenge." Provena St. Mary's Wellness director Mike Grimsley said more than 10,000 of its employees have participated in the 10-week contest over the last two years.

In "Bottom Line," teams of six compete; and the winners are awarded for pounds lost, percentage of body fat lost, reduction or maintenance of blood pressure, inches lost and amount of cardiovascular exercise and resistance exercise. Past prizes have included cash, tickets to sporting events and even vacations.

But their improved health and energy matters most to employees.

"Some people use it as a springboard to get themselves back on track. They lose (weight) in the first contest, gain confidence and when the next contest comes around, they lose even more," Grimsley said.

This year's "Bottom Line" female winner was Lisa Adair. She lost 13 pounds and shed 9 1/4 inches of body fat after performing more than 5,000 minutes of cardio exercises and weight training.

A desk clerk for Provena St. Mary's Total Wellness Center, Adair also participated in "Walk the Line." The employee wellness program promotes increased walking through the use of pedometers. Over a two-month period, she took 652,643 steps. That's nearly 22,000 steps per day.

About two years ago, Adair weighed nearly 270 pounds. She now weighs about 150 pounds and hopes to get down to 135 pounds in the near future. Adair had lost 24 pounds in the 2005 "Bottom Line" contest.

But hospitals aren't the only ones promoting good health to their employees. Armstrong World Industries, a floor-tile-manufacturing plant based in Kankakee, has conducted weight-loss contests for its employees for more than 10 years.

The company's program, called "Biathlon," gives points for exercise. Prizes include lawn chairs, duffel bags and polo shirts.

Starting a wellness program at your work

Step 1:
Set the foundation. Build support among all levels; a successful program requires commitment from management and employees.

Step 2:
Form a workplace wellness committee to ensure employee participation and management support. Consider representatives from a cross-section of different departments.

Step 3:
Gather data on demographic information; health risk factors; number of medical claims; and injury rates and causes to identify key needs and expectations.

Step 4:
Implement goals. Do you want to reduce absenteeism by one day per employee? Decrease unnecessary emergency room visits? Or improve dietary habits of employees?

Step 5:
Consider incentives for the employees. Offer perks that are attractive and meaningful such as discounts on health insurance premiums or co-pays, fitness center discounts, time off or cash. gift certificates to restaurants are other good options.

Guest contributor: Karen Collins, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.

Americans spend billions of dollars each year on weight loss supplements. Although we wouldn’t buy a car or a dinner without knowing some details, many who purchase these supplements have no idea what is in them, or what independent reports say about their safety and effectiveness. Even though the Food and Drug Administration has charged some companies with using banned ingredients, and the Federal Trade Commission has successfully prosecuted marketers who made illegal claims, the same products, or copycat versions, still remain available.

Appetite suppressants. Some weight loss supplements contain ingredients meant to suppress the appetite. Caffeine and its herbal counterparts, guarana, bitter orange and yerba maté, as well as ephedra (ma huang), fall into this category. Animal studies suggest that they may slightly suppress the appetite, but the limited human studies lasted only a few months. All these ingredients are nervous system stimulants, so they commonly produce side effects like headaches, insomnia, elevated blood pressure and heart palpitations. Product labeling can be deceptive: Weight-loss supplements labeled ephedra- or caffeine-free may contain other ingredients from the list above, which may pose the same health risks. Although ephedra (ma huang) has been banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), you may still see it in some supplements. In a summary of more than 50 trials, this substance created a 2 to 3.6-fold increase in the risk of psychological, heart and digestive system problems.

Metabolism accelerators. Supplement manufacturers claim other ingredients aid weight loss by speeding up the metabolism. For example, EGCG, a phytochemical found in green tea, is being studied for its potential to reduce cancer risk. Some initial studies suggest it could slightly increase the rate at which calories burn. Now it can be found in many weight loss supplements and “weight-loss vitamins.” However, since there are only extremely short initial studies so far, the body might adapt to EGCG, reducing its effect over time. Second, the weight loss benefit seen with EGCG amounts to about 60 to 70 calories a day. This small difference is more likely to help prevent a gradual yearly weight gain than reverse excessive weight gain. Third, the effect of EGCG appears to depend on the dose. Supplements with amounts of 30 to 40 milligrams (mg) of EGCG, which is commonly seen in these products, may not have the same effect as a dose over 250 mg used in the studies.

Fat blockers. Supplements may also contain ingredients that manufacturers state will block the absorption of fat or carbohydrates. Chitosan is a common example, and a few preliminary studies made it appear promising. However, several controlled studies found that chitosan had no significant effect on fat absorption. In the most recent study, men would need seven months to lose one pound of body fat. There was no fat loss for women.

Satiety inducers. Another group of ingredients are said to increase the feeling of fullness and decrease eating. Guar gum appears safe for this purpose, but 11 well-controlled studies show it has no benefit for weight loss. Psyllium can help control blood sugar and blood cholesterol, but studies do not support its reputed ability to reduce eating and assist weight loss.
There are more than 50 individual supplements and 125 combination products now available for people who want to lose weight. Yet a Harvard Medical School review of these products that set standards for product quality, safety and effectiveness concluded that none of them met all three standards. Future research may identify some safe and effective ingredients for weight loss, but for now it seems smarter to invest in walking shoes, a gym membership, or healthier food instead.

(This article was provided by the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. A registered dietician is available to respond to questions about diet, nutrition, and cancer at the free AICR Hotline at 1 (800) 843-8114 during business hours.)

Karen Collins holds a B.S. degree from Purdue and an M.S. degree from Cornell, both in nutrition. When she’s not writing or speaking, she conducts a private nutrition practice in Jamestown, New York.