October 1, 2011

Herbal Weight Loss List

In addition to changing life styles, many people turn to herbal supplements and herbs to aid their weight loss. There are various ways by which these herbal supplements and herbs are thought to work for weight loss and those include adding bulk to the diet, increasing metabolism and increasing fat burning, nutritionally-rich preparations and mood enhancement.


Dieting and binge eating can play havoc with our metabolism and lead to further weight gains, making the prospect of losing weight harder to achieve. If you want to lose weight with herbs and herbal supplements, consider a balanced preparation that also has a quality B complex to boost your energy levels.


Below are herbal remedies for weight loss.


Aloe Vera juice effectively cleanses digestive track and controls weight gain.


Astragalus improves nutrient absorption and burns down fat. It is an effective weight loss herb.


Bitter Orange (Citrus aurantium) contains beta antagonists which are known to cause body fat loss. It helps to increase metabolism in those who are combining exercise and dietary measures to lose weight.  There are not much scientific studies for weight loss, so it should be used with caution, especially if you have heart disease, high blood pressure, other cardiovascular conditions or diabetes.  It shouldn't be taken with caffeine or herbs containing caffeine (green tea, yerba mate), because it could theoretically increase the risk of adverse effects and interacts with many medications that can increase or decrease their effect.


Bladderwrack has fat burning agents and helps one to lose weight.


Cayenne (Capsicum minimum, Capsicum annuum, C. frutescens) is rich in capsaicin stimulating burning of accumulated body fat.


Chickweed is an effective herb for shedding weight.


Hoodia gordonii a succulent from the deserts of southern Africa. The San Bushmen called it Xhob and it ate it as an appetite suppressant when on long journeys. Now, Hoodia is remarkable for appetite suppression in the United States. While there are many varieties of Hoodia, only Hoodia gordonii has P57- the active constituent.  What we known about this steroidal glycoside is it works on the brain to suppress appetite.  On the other hand, it also indirectly reduces fat storage by lowering blood glucose, which lowers the insulin circulating in the blood.  Till now, Hoodia has not shown to have significant side effects and looks set to become a major treatment in weight control.


Coconut oil is rich in medium chain triglycerides, promotes weight loss.


Since I am personally interested in weight loss management, the list of herbs will be a bit longer than usual and we will continue explore integrative herbalism from any traditional wisdom, that not limit to only from Ayurvedic, western or traditional Chinese medicines for weight loss in next post.  Hope that will be useful information background for all who are having weight problem.

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