How to Lose Weight with Hoodia & Be Socially Responsible at the Same Time
By Erik Kruger Like many people I struggle to keep my weight down. Ive tried many diets and weight loss supplements as well as exercise regimens ranging from walking to jogging and cycling, etc. Yet no matter what I do, the weight just seems to sneak back when Im not looking. Thats why the whole hooplah about Hoodia has caught my attention. This all-natural appetite suppressant basically tricks the brain into thinking that youre full. The chemical constituents in Hoodia gordonii work within the satiety center by releasing a chemical compound similar to glucose but much stronger. The hypothalamus in the brain receives this signal as an indication that enough food has been consumed and this in turn curbs your appetite. Pretty smart I have to say. Eliminate the appetite and you eliminate over eating at the source! Now Im not going to get into the whole debate about whether Hoodia liquid extract is better than the capsule form. These are aspects that have been written about at length all over the web. To be honest, I think we should be more concerned at this stage about where this plant material comes from and who might be getting ripped off in the process. Hoodia gordonii is indigenous to certain parts of Southern Africa. The San people call it !khoba and theyve been chewing on this cactus for literally thousands of years to combat hunger and thirst on their hunting trips in the dry Kalahari Desert. However, this is where the problem arises. You see, whilst a heck of a lot of attention is devoted to Hoodias weight loss effects, how to check for those lab reports that authenticate the Hoodia content, and so forth, youll find very little out there about how the resource is being protected. You see, real Hoodia gordonii is in short supply because its RARE. In fact its so rare that its regarded as an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In fact you need a CITES permit to cultivate Hoodia or to gather it! Hoodia isnt exactly the easiest wild plant to cultivate either. Producers are experimenting with cultivated Hoodia crops but there are still a number of challenges to overcome. So until Hoodia gordonii is cultivated in larger quantities there is going to be great pressure on the wild resources and illegal exports from Southern Africa are bound to increase. In an attempt to promote the development of Hoodia products, South African authorities are making a limited amount of wild material available to companies under a permit system managed by Northern Cape Nature Conservation and Western Cape Nature Conservation. However, it appears from the sheer volume of Hoodia products being sold in the US and European markets that illegal exports could well be flourishing. That, however, is only part of the picture. Have you spared a thought for how the original custodians of this indigenous knowledge, i.e. the San, are benefiting from the explosive profits being made from selling Hoodia products all over the world? The San have been in Southern Africa longer than anybody else, at least 20,000 years. Over the centuries theyve been driven to the brink of extinction. They were attacked and displaced by African pastoralists starting about two millennia ago, and nearly annihilated by European colonists in the 19th century. Today they are a people under pressure. They have lost their land, social cohesion and they are losing their language. Isnt it, therefore, a terrible irony that many Hoodia retailers on the web use the San traditional knowledge to promote their products whilst these very same San have yet to see a slice of the profits from this brisk trade? To protect their rights the San signed a so-called benefit sharing agreement in 2006 with an organization called The Southern African Hoodia Growers. The SAHG has apparently been set up to facilitate the fair and legal trade of Hoodia gordonii. According to the SAHG they offer Hoodia traceability and authentication along with a San endorsed logo and, perhaps most importantly, the San receive 6% of the revenue from all fresh Hoodia sales. Time will tell how effective the SAHG system can become in giving the San a fair slice of this lucrative business. So what can you do? Well, in addition to looking for a test report from an independent, preferably accredited, laboratory authenticating the presence of Hoodia gordonii, you should also be looking for a copy of an authentic CITES and USDA permit from the Hoodia supplier. Make sure the CITES permits havent expired by checking the date in Box no.2 If youre looking for a way to lose weight with Hoodia but youre worried about getting scammed or youre concerned about where the product comes from and you want to avoid these pitfalls and soothe your conscience then visit http://www.usfreeads.com/803432-cls.html Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erik_Kruger http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Lose-Weight-with-Hoodia-and-Be-Socially-Responsible-at-the-Same-Time&id=568881 return said visitors be to can church very petit any jesus are cuisine would bobby for brown come christian been news did vacation too bible another school at art under projects by
