• units of energy you body uses to fuel its functions and activities
• created from proteins, fats and carbohydrates found in our foods and beverages
• necessary for basic body functions like keeping the heart, brain and lungs functioning (also know as basal metabolism
• essential to fuel activity – from the smallest hand gesture to a 5-mile run

The number of calories we need each day depends on how much we weigh, how much muscle mass we have and how active we are.

• If you consume more calories than your body needs, those extra calories will be stored as fat.
• If you consume less calories than your body needs, your previously stored calories (fat) will be used to supply additional energy.

A Pound = Approximately 3,500 Calories 

To Lose Weight 

• By cutting down 500 calories per day, you will cut a total of 3,500 calories per week – resulting in the loss of 1 pound of body fat. But never consume fewer than 1,200 calories per day.* (Refer to Weight Management section for Program.)
• If you want to lose more than 1 pound a week, you will need to either reduce your calorie intake further,* or increase the amount of calories you burn with exercise.

To Maintain Weight 

• Balance calories from food and beverages with calories expended.**

If you are a woman:

• You will need about 12 calories for every pound of body weight (A 150-lb. woman needs about 1,800 calories a day.)

If you are a man:

• You will need about 14 calories for every pound of body weight. (A 200-pound man needs about 2,800 calories a day.)

*Source: “Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
**Source: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture

When protein intake is out of whack, it undermines energy, exercise performance and overall health. New research has even found that a protein-rich diet helps to maximize fat loss while minimizing loss of lean body mass.

An easy way to estimate your daily protein needs is to divide your current weight in half. The number you get is the amount of protein (in grams) that you should be eating daily.

Dr. Oz: Could A Food Allergy Be Making You Fat; Today we found out that a food allergy could be making us fat, and it could be a dairy allergy, and Oz has the test you can take. Dr. Oz said if you are one of the millions of Americans who diet and exercise and can't seem to lose weight a dairy allergy may be to blame. Dr. Mark Hyman joined Dr. Oz today with a 3 week Anti-Allergy Diet to get your system back on track and lose those pounds.

Dr. Mark Hyman told Dr. Oz food allergies cause inflammation in the digestive tract, they damage the gut and cause inflammation and that leads to obesity. Doctor's debate whether inflammation comes first or obesity comes first, but Dr. Hyman believes inflammation most often comes first and that starts the vicious cycle of weight gain and further weight gain.

One allergy in particular Dr. Oz & Dr. Hyman focus on today is an allergy to dairy. You can gain up to 30 pounds a year because an allergy to dairy might be the blame.

Dairy is hidden in foods and we don't even know it. Most people think of allergies as the acute allergies such hives or your tongue swells up. Not always so, that affects only 2-5 % of the population that way, up to 60% of the population can be affected by hidden foods like dairy and that causes slow delayed response that you might not even notice for hours after with symptoms that could include weight gain.

Dr. Oz said he is focusing on this today because he believes over half of us might have some kind of an allergy, and those allergies lead to inflammation that cause weight gain. these cause the bowel to distend causing bloating, irritable bowel syndromes, lethargy, you can get bloating and the weight gain that Dr. Oz and Dr. Hyman talked about.

Dr. Oz's 3 Week Anti-Allergy Diet

The Anti-Allergy Diet Are hidden food allergies making you gain weight? Mark Hyman, MD, has a 3-week anti-allergy diet to help get your system back on track so you can start shedding pounds.

Are you doing all the right things yet you are still unable to lose weight? A hidden food allergy could be the culprit. Dr.  Mark Hyman, New York Times best-selling author and an advocate for functional medicine, supports groundbreaking research linking food allergies to weight gain.

Sudden-onset vs. Slow-onset Food allergies Most people think food-related allergic reactions are sudden and fast acting – such as peanut or shellfish allergies which can cause immediate inflammation (an IgE immune response), resulting in swelling or difficulty breathing and can be life-threatening. On the other hand, dairy, which can be hidden in many everyday foods causes a far less acute allergic reaction, creating inflammation hours or even days later (an IgG immune response). Up to 60% of the population could be affected by hidden sensitivities to foods such as dairy.

Dairy Allergy and Weight Gain Foods with dairy can cause unhealthy bacteria to overgrow and produce toxins that cause systemic inflammation that swells the intestines and prevents normal digestion, causing weight gain, among other conditions such as irritable bowel. In fact, you can gain up to 30 pounds a year due to a dairy allergy. 

Lastly, a dairy allergy is tied to inflammation in the gut, as opposed to lactose intolerance, which is an inability to digest the milk sugar called lactose.

The first step to finding out if a dairy allergy is making you gain weight is to identify both the main and hidden sources of dairy in your diet.

Main Dairy Sources: Milk, butter, yogurt and cheese.    Hidden Dairy Sources:   Desserts: Cakes, muffins, cookies and chocolate may contain basic dairy ingredients along with “hidden” dairy derivatives such as casein or whey, both milk proteins. Be sure to look for these ingredients on labels and avoid them.

Deli Meats and Fish: Processed meats often contain dairy products such as lactose, casein and caseinates that act as emulsifiers or flavor enhancers. Meats labeled “kosher” will be dairy-free. Be aware that some brands of canned tuna contain casein.

Bread: Both white and wheat bread often contain casein, whey or milk powder. Freshly baked yeast breads are sometimes prepared in buttered pans or brushed with butter as they bake. Ask your baker if this is the case.

Energy Bars: Countless brands of protein and energy bars consist primarily of whey protein. As with all of the above, remember to read these food labels very carefully as well.

Dr. Oz 3-Week Anti-Allergy Plan

To find out if you could be allergic to dairy, follow this plan based on the 3 “Rs”: Remove all dairy, repair your digestive track, and reboot your body.

Week 1: Remove All Dairy Remove all the dairy from your diet for an entire week, which is how long your system needs for internal inflammation to settle down. Replace dairy milk with almond milk, which tastes good and has high quality protein and fat in it. In addition, replace butter with olive oil, a great source of good fat that contains oleic acid and anti-inflammatory properties.

Week 2: Repair Your Digestive Track If your gut is damaged by dairy, repair it with healthy bacteria found in probiotics. Choose a probiotic supplement that contains both bifidobacterium and lactobacillus bacteria. Select a product in pill or powder form that has 10-50 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) and take that amount daily. Be wary of liquid-based products, which may not be as active, along with food products with added probiotics. Click here for a smart guide to purchasing probiotics. 

Week 3: Reboot Your Body Now that you have a clean digestive slate, it’s time to reboot and see if dairy was causing your weight gain. Start by adding one dairy food back at a time and keep a food log of your body’s reactions. Ask yourself: Am I more tired? Am I bloated? Do I have fluid retention? All of these potential factors could be clues that you have a hidden food sensitivity to dairy.

Dr. oz said if you think you’re allergic to dairy at the end of three weeks, see your doctor for a blood test, which can help determine if you have elevated levels of a certain antibody that could be causing inflammation. If you are indeed allergic, you can use the above plan stay allergy- and inflammation-free.

HERBALIFE FAMILY FOUNDATION OPENS ITS SECOND CASA HERBALIFE PROGRAM IN MALAYSIA

The Herbalife Family Foundation (HFF) will launch its second Casa Herbalife program in Malaysia at the Good Samaritan Home on December 9, 2011 (Friday), bringing good nutrition to more children at risk. 

The Casa Herbalife program provides financial resources and volunteer support to non-profit organizations around the world in the area of healthy nutrition programs for at-risk and low income children. 
Good Samaritan Home serves 36 abandoned and orphaned children who receive food, shelter, clothing, medical care, early childhood development, physical therapy, speech therapy, psychology services and counselling. 

The initial grant will help support the organization’s construction of a new kitchen and dining room facility. 
The first Casa Herbalife program in Malaysia was established at Rumah Bakti Hulu Kelang in 2006. Located in the capital city of Hulu Kelang, Kuala Lumpur, the organization serves approximately 81 abandoned children and youth.  

This program marks the 71st Casa Herbalife program in the world. After an initial grant from HFF, local Herbalife independent distributors and employees will support the program through volunteerism and fundraising. 

To learn more about the Herbalife Family Foundation and its Casa Herbalife program, please visit: HerbalifeFamilyFoundation.org.      

The Herbalife Family Foundation (HFF) is dedicated to improving children's lives by helping organizations provide healthy nutrition to children at risk. Additionally, HFF often supports relief efforts in response to natural disasters.

Here are the facts surround five myths about metabolism:

Myth: Aging slows your metabolism.
Truth: People do tend to put on weight as they get older – but it’s typically because they tend to exercise less, or less vigorously, than they used to – and that means fewer calories burned per day. As a result, loss of muscle mass can occur which reduces the body’s lean body mass – which results in a slower metabolic rate. Cardiovascular exercise to burn calories and strength training to preserve or build up muscle are great defenses against age-related weight gain.

Myth: You’re stuck with the metabolism you have and you can’t change it.
Truth: While it may appear that there are people who eat all the time and never seem to gain, chances are they make healthy, relatively low calorie selections naturally. Many of these “lucky” people also burn more calories simply because they move more - they might fidget more, or get up from their desks frequently during the day to stretch, or walk down the hall to talk to a colleague instead of e-mailing. So, once you’ve made the commitment to boost your metabolism by building more muscle, use those muscles more by moving around frequently throughout the day.

Myth: You burn more calories digesting ice-cold foods and beverages than foods that are room temperature or warmer.
Truth: In a laboratory, very slight increases in calorie burn have been measured in people who drink very cold beverages. But the change is too small (amounting to about 10 more calories burned per day) to have any meaningful impact on weight loss.

Myth: If you cut calories, your metabolic rate will slow down, so what’s the point?
Truth: It is true that your metabolic rate can slow a bit when you cut calories – your body’s natural inclination is to try to conserve calories as best it can. But, these decreases are relatively small, and if you become more active as you lose weight, you can offset these small changes. With a combination of diet AND exercise, you can help to preserve the rate at which your body burns calories.

Myth: If you stop eating at night, when your metabolism is slower, you’ll lose more weight.
Truth: When people lose weight because they stop eating after a certain time of day, it’s only because they’ve cut their overall calorie consumption - not because they are eating their calories earlier in the day. Consuming all your calories before the sun goes down won’t speed up your weight loss unless you also eat fewer calories than you need.

Susan Bowerman is a consultant to Herbalife.

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Skin Care Expert Joins Herbalife

LOS ANGELES --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) announced today that skin care expert Paolo Giacomoni , Ph.D. joined the company as vice president, worldwide outer nutrition, with responsibility to develop innovative solutions for global skin and hair care needs.

Skin care expert Paolo Giacomoni , Ph.D. joins Herbalife (Photo: Business Wire)

Giacomoni joined Herbalife after 13 years at Estee Lauder , where he most recently served as executive director of research. In this position, he oversaw scientific research and communications for the Clinique line and played a leading role in the development of multiple products, introducing new technologies to the marketplace and spearheading concept formulations. Previously, Giacomoni was with L'Oreal for 13 years, first in basic research and then in product development.

A native of Italy , Giacomoni is fluent in Italian, French, German, Spanish and English. He holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Paris VI , and a master's degree in physics from the University of Milan . He holds several patents and has had over 100 scientific studies published in the areas of biochemistry, cellular biology, photobiology and skin aging.

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