"I've heard a lot about fat burners and how they can help you lose weight without really changing your habits and what you eat. Is hoodia a fat burner?"
The short answer to your question is, no. Hoodia is not a fat burner.
A fat burner is what we call a supplement or pill that uses ingredients to elevate the metabolism. Your metabolism is the rate at which your body operates. Metabolism is like the idle setting in a car - some cars idle slowly, some idle much faster. A car that idles fast burns more gas. In the same way, people with high metabolisms burn more calories whether they're jogging, sitting at their desk or sleeping.
Fat burners contain stimulants such as caffiene. Fat burners used to contain Ephedra, before it was banned by the FDA. These stimulants can lead to insomnia, feelings of jitteriness or jumpiness and heart palpitations.
Hoodia on the other hand does not appear to stimulate the metabolism. Hoodia primarily affects the appetite, causing weight loss due to fewer calories being consumed.
The car analogy breaks down here, so let's think about weight like it was a credit card bill. The weight you want to lose is like debt you've accumulated over time. You're still using this credit card on a daily basis, but you also have the option of making daily payments.
Fat burners allow you to make larger daily payments without curtailing your spending, thus reducing debt..
Hoodia curtails your new spending and therefore allows the same payments to go farther, thus reducing debt.
I hope these metaphors help you understand rather than just muddying the issue. And yes, hoodia and fat burners can be used together.
