I was thinking back in time to when Hoodia first made an impression on me. I remember it clearly. One of my nearest and dearest had just announced her pending nuptials that year. Fantastic! Even more intriguing is the fact that one of my long ago exes is a friend of a friend of a friend of a cousin of a friend of the groom and is going to be there. I'm happy with my current relationship, but I think deep down, we all like to stick it to an old fling that did us wrong. I was thinking I had one last chance to kick it to him and show up in nothing but a shower of fabulousness.

Good thing is, I had some time on my hands to prepare for the extravaganza. The only thing though, I didn't quite know how that was going to happen yet. But I kept hearing about this Hoodia that was being touted as the be-all and end-all for anyone with a weight loss interest.

As usual, my skepticism was winning this battle, I figured I would check this out and see what the Hoodia Hoopla was all about.

Best case scenario, I would find a product that works and be in top fabulous form for the wedding. Worst case, I would have some personal experience with a product that was getting a lot of attention. This experience is valuable when you consider my employment as a fitness consultant/personal trainer. Looked like a win-win for me.

Think back to November 21, 2004. Ring a bell? No, me neither. However apparently this is THE day that Hoodia discovered America. CBS 60 minutes ran a segment on the Hoodia Gordonii plant and its astounding effects on weight loss. People were referring to it as the 'greatest breakthrough of the decade'. Does anyone realize the decade's not over yet? At any rate. My first thought was, huh! If 60 minutes is touting it, there must be something to it. I kept reading. Not just 60 minutes, but the Today Show and the BBC were jumping on this weight-loss bandwagon. All very reputable news streams. So -- what is this Hoodia Gordonii?

The Hoodia Gordonii is a plant that hails from the African Kalahari desert, a land that is home to People called San. They have been using the Hoodia plant for literally centuries. What on earth do people in Africa need a weight loss plant for? Well, it is used for those long hauls and hunting trips across the wild to help them stave off hunger for hours on end. There is the key to Hoodia, it is said to be the most powerful appetite suppressant available without a prescription. My ears were opening a little wider now?.tell me more!

The active and all natural ingredient in the Hoodia Gordonii plant has been proven with clinical trials to actually suppress appetite and reduce overall calories. The ingredient has been studied in South Africa for over 30 years by the CSIR ? Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. 30 years they have been sitting on this secret!! The plant grows only in extremely high temperatures, takes years to come to full maturity, and ONLY grows in South Africa. Remember that, because it will be important later on.

When the South African research team examined it, they found a molecule they eventually termed the P 57 molecule. It is this molecule that creates the astounding appetite control effects and is only found in the Hoodia plant.

The molecule when consumed has zero side effects and it essentially tricks your brain into thinking that you are full. At this point, the license for the molecule was sold to Phytopharm, who followed with selling the development of the product to Pfizer Corporation. Now things are starting to sound familiar.

According to Pfizer, here is the magic of the P57. We all have a control center in the brain, it's called the hypothalamus that detects glucose levels in our blood. When we eat, blood glucose levels go up and the hypothalamus senses that we are 'full'. The Hoodia P57 molecule works about 10,000 times faster than glucose, so it sends immediate signals to the brain that you are full. Whether you have eaten or not, the P57 is telling your brain that you are NOT hungry.

Pfizer didn't just explain that, they confirmed it in research trials. The first trial was an animal trial on rats, a species known to eat just about anything. In this trial, once they received the Hoodia, the rats stopped eating all together. The first human trial was then conducted by Brown University Medical School on a group of morbidly obese. They were allowed to only eat, read, or watch TV. Half of them got Hoodia, the other half a placebo. After fifteen days, the Hoodia group saw a reduction in calorie intake by about 1000 calories a day.

Then I read a testimonial from the BBC reporter, who actually went to Africa to try it himself. He ate the plant directly from the source, and went about 24 hours without any food at all, or any desire to eat period. He also described a nice side effect of an overall good feeling following consumption, a kind of aphrodisiac sense.

So far, I like what I am hearing about Hoodia.

But as I researched, I kept reading about the imitators of Hoodia. In fact, even the BBC guy said that the leading Hoodia supplement on the Internet had been tested to show no Hoodia content at all. So what the heck? I finally get sold on something and I am about to get scammed?

It seems in fact there ARE many imitators, but there are some honest products out there as well. You just need to know how to find them.

The key to understanding and ultimately purchasing Hoodia authenticity is that for starters, the product is a controlled substance and requires certification to be brought into THIS country.

Even more interesting is that every shipment requires its own certification. The certification document is called a C.I.T.E.S. Certificate. So ? do not buy any Hoodia products that are not accompanied by this C.I.T.E.S. Certificate. You should be able to pull them up right off the website, I found a few very good ones. And because every shipment requires a separate certificate, the dates on them should be fairly recent.

Give a 4-6 month period of leeway here. How do you know if the certificate is for real? A real certificate should be easy to read, and clearly legible, and should have a toll free number on it. A faker is going to be blurred, impossible to read, and have sections whited out. While I was looking for some Hoodia, I ran into both kinds and finally settled on a liquid form that made me a little more comfortable and less skeptical about the people selling the product.

Second thing to know about authenticity ? you don't typically want to see extra ingredients in there like green tea, caffeine, ephedrine. These additives are being thrown into the fakers to bulk up the product and act as the weight loss supplements. Keep in mind that these ingredients ARE reported to help you lose weight, but if you want to buy ephedrine, buy it. Don't buy it disguised as Hoodia, because you won't be buying Hoodia at all.

There is at least one exception to this rule which is discussed at www.lohanbehehold.com/hoodiagordonii where a test on 10 different people using different types of Hoodia, reveals interesting results.

Ok, last note on authenticity ? real Hoodia is not going to come cheap. Expect to pay a minimum of about $50 a bottle for pure Hoodia, and a little less if there are other ingredients included. I tell you this because you will see bottles out there at the $29.95 price point, and they aren't going to do you any favors as far as Hoodia effects. Chances are almost certain those are fake.

There are a couple companies that will offer discounting on bulk purchases, but you need to know who to order from. I include a resource list on my blog.

Hoodia is imported out of Africa at a rate of $330 USD per kilo. Factor in a little markup, shipping, export, duties, and your bottle of authentic Hoodia is not going to be cheap. Anyone that says otherwise will more than likely have those blurry certificates on their website.

Ok, I know we ALL want a cheap fast way to lose weight, but you know what? If you are trying out product after product to lose weight, you've already spent the cost of Hoodia a few times over.

Because there is not a TON of research out there yet, you have to go on reports such as this and testimonial evidence. But it seems it HAS worked for a lot of people, so long as you are trying the real product and not some imitation. And try it out for yourself, that is the only way you will know 100% if this supplement will work for you.

After my research, I tried Hoodia and it worked great ? just as described. It looks like I picked the real deal from a real company.

Fast forward to a more present time. I put nearly a dozen of my fitness clients on various brands of Hoodia, and discovered some fakes as well as some that really work well. That's a whole other article, but you can read that article just by visiting my blog linked below.

Best Wishes,