Very interesting... hoodia was effective for me for about 6 months, before it lost effectiveness; yet Acomplia lost effectiveness for me by the 3rd-4th week!!!
Never heard of Eucommia root; thanks for mentioning, I'll have to keep that in mind! What were you taking it for initially?
Another natural thing that worked very well, which you may want to try is the herb, caralluma fimbriata (patented blend = SLIMALUMA™). This compound worked even more potently than hoodia, but again lost effectiveness over time.
Right now, the hunger (and blood sugar) have been much better... although (as much as I try to avoid changing more than one thing at one, when the shit hits the fan, I sometimes get desparate); so it could have been any one or a combination of things:
- increased HGH dose from 2 IU to 2.5-3 IU/day
- started bee pollen (which is supposed to suppress appetite)
- started resveratrol
- re-ordered one of my fav. stimulant/energy products, Stim-X, only to find they had changed the formula (added a li'l yohimbe, LOL); I was worried about it making me too crazy/crashing on it, but Anabolic Xtreme really hit the fucking mark. AWESOME energy, AWESOME appetite suppression & no crash! ;-)
I'm about to add anavar to the mix, so I'm very eager to see how that works.
Hoodia never worked for me
and I initially tried Eucommia root because it increases nitric oxide and may protect liver function. Bee pollen is an appetite suppressant? I never heard that. Not an appetite suppressant but if you want to reduce bodyfat momordica might be worth a try:
Br J Nutr. 2008 Feb;99(2):230-9. Epub 2007 Jul 26.
Bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) inhibits adipocyte hypertrophy and down regulates lipogenic gene expression in adipose tissue of diet-induced obese rats.
Huang HL, Hong YW, Wong YH, Chen YN, Chyuan JH, Huang CJ, Chao PM.
Department of Health and Nutrition, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan.
Abstract
Bitter melon (Momordica charantia; BM) has been shown to ameliorate diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance. To examine the effect of BM supplementation on cell size and lipid metabolism in adipose tissues, three groups of rats were respectively fed a high-fat diet supplemented without (HF group) or with 5 % lyophilised BM powder (HFB group), or with 0.01 % thiazolidinedione (TZD) (HFT group). A group of rats fed a low-fat diet was also included as a normal control. Hyperinsulinaemia and glucose intolerance were observed in the HF group but not in HFT and HFB groups. Although the number of large adipocytes (>180 microm) of both the HFB and HFT groups was significantly lower than that of the HF group, the adipose tissue mass, TAG content and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity of the HFB group were significantly lower than those of the HFT group, implying that BM might reduce lipogenesis in adipose tissue. Experiment 2 was then conducted to examine the expression of lipogenic genes in adipose tissues of rats fed low-fat, HF or HFB diets. The HFB group showed significantly lower mRNA levels of fatty acid synthase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1, lipoprotein lipase and adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein than the HF group (P < 0.05). These results indicate BM can reduce insulin resistance as effective as the anti-diabetic drug TZD. Furthermore, BM can suppress the visceral fat accumulation and inhibit adipocyte hypertrophy, which may be associated with markedly down regulated expressions of lipogenic genes in the adipose.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2010 Jun;48(6):1619-26. Epub 2010 Mar 27.
Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) triterpenoid extract reduces preadipocyte viability, lipid accumulation and adiponectin expression in 3T3-L1 cells.
Popovich DG, Li L, Zhang W.
Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
[email protected]
Abstract
Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) contains a variety of potentially bioactive compounds which includes two classes of saponins known as cucurbitane and oleanane-type triterpenoids. A bitter melon (BM) extract was investigated for the potential to reduce cell viability, reduce lipid accumulation in differentiating 3T3-L1 cells and affect subsequent adiponectin expression. BM extract contained at least five different triterpenoids and reduced preadipocyte viability with an LC50 concentration after 24h determined to be 0.402+/-0.04 mg/mL, 0.314+/-0.01 mg/mL for 48 h and 0.310+/-0.01 mg/mL for 72 h. BM treatment increased the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from cells and significantly (p<0.05) increased cells in the G2/M while reducing cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. BM treatment of 3T3-L1 cells resulted in a decreased in lipid accumulation and significantly (p<0.05) decreased intracellular triglyceride amount compared to untreated control cells. PPARgamma expression was significantly (p<0.05) down-regulated. Adiponectin expression was significantly (p<0.05) decreased after 12 and 24h of treatment and was increased in response to troglitazone, a positive control. BM extract reduced preadipocyte proliferation by a G2/M arrest of the cell cycle and reduced lipid accumulation of the adipocyte.
I have not tried this yet but it looks interesting.