Guggul what?

Confession time. I like fads. I think it's fun to jump on various band wagons. I might not stay long, or I might hop on pretty late, but I admit to playing around with fads.

So why not try the newest weight loss supplement called guggul. Actually, it's been undergoing testing since 2008, but I've never heard of it before this week.

Apparently guggul comes from the sap of Commiphora mukel trees in India and is a natural supplement to help lower cholesterol. One nice side affect when doubling the dose is that it causes weight loss due to increased thyroid function. (They had me at hello.) Guggul allegedly stimulates the thyroid to produce the hormone which increases metabolism. Yep, I'm caught hook, line and sinker. Now heading to Whole Foods to buy some.
Per WebMD, don't take guggul if on estrogen or birth control, as they interact. There is something about not taking it if you've battled cancer before. I'm not sure why, but since I don't need to worry about any of those, I'm going to give guggul a try. I will heed WebMD's advice about not taking it longer than 24 weeks.

I also read an important tip on Real Solutions, to purchase guggul standardized to 25 mg guggulsterones (also spelled gugulsterones and guggalsterones.) For weight loss, 30 to 60 mg should be taken with each meal. So that's 180 mg a day. The picture of the bottle below shows 750 mg, but only 2.5% guggul. I hope Whole Foods carries a more potent brand.
It will be fun to give this a try. I'll keep you posted and visa versa, if you like fads too.