NEW PRODUCT

Protein Drink Mix (PDM) 22/30 Servings

Curb your hunger* and stay energized* with the power of protein!
Add Protein Drink Mix to your favorite Formula 1 shake or mix with water for a nutritious protein snack.

24 vitamins and minerals.
15g of heart-healthy soy protein.
Only 5g of carbs per serving.

#1122 Vanilla 616 g
#1123 Chocolate 638 g
#1426 Vanilla (30 servings) 840 g

-Gluten-free

*All the results are individual and may differ.

Reach your family fitness goals in 3 steps

21/08/2015 11:53 pm

If you set your children up for success when they're young, it will help keep them on track when they're adults. Here's your action plan for reaching your family fitness goals. Added bonus: you'll up your own fitness level too!

The old saying 'monkey see, monkey do' comes to mind when we're talking about teaching children about physical fitness. Especially when they're in the early stages of development. When it comes to physical fitness, parents can positively encourage their children to be active by being active themselves. It's not an easy task, and there's no one proven approach to raising a healthy, well- balanced family. There is a way that I do it, and these three simple steps make a lot of sense to me. I hope they work for you too.

Step one: Positive words
Our choice of words is so important in life. Whether it's friendships, relationships, business affairs or your body confidence, it's essential to make an active choice to use positive language.
I'm convinced that we all have some sort of body issues. I've been guilty of upsetting my daughter unintentionally by referring to my tummy scars as 'horrid.' Her response was "I love your tummy because without it. we wouldn't be here." As you can imagine, I felt terrible when she said this. My negative thoughts (like many women's) came right in the middle of summer swimsuit season a few years ago. I think I felt even worse because she has a small scar on her arm. It made me realize that I must always be positive with my words. I believe true beauty comes from within, even on a tough day. Always try to find a positive verbal approach to situations.

Step 2: Positive thoughts
If you do have negative thoughts about your body, try to work on finding some positive body confidence statements. These statements come much more naturally when you make small physical changes in your routine to make yourself feel better.
For example, referring to a healthy diet as something to be dreaded because you feel deprived is a prime example of teaching kids that there's some form of negative emotion attached to restricting the consumption of unhealthy calories. Like I said, the balancing act is not easy. A change in mindset about what you know is best for your overall health is the key.
Attempt to only share positive statements such as 'I'm getting healthy' or 'I'm working on being an active parent.' This is especially important when speaking in front of young children because they're most influenced before teenage years. Remember that positive actions and words start with positive thoughts.

Step 3: Mindset to action
Have you heard the saying "all talk and no action?" Well, it's time for the action part of my post! It doesn't have to be a chore to get the entire family moving. Once you get going with weekly activities, your entire family will start to look forward to family fitness time together.
Start getting yourself active and feeling great. Then slowly start introducing your family to your ideas. Here is a custom workout to help get you started!

Workout of the week
Ultimate Goal: Perform this routine 5 times through
Every second counts goal: Get through this once.
-Walk-jog-run (1-2-3)
-Choose two numbers based on your fitness level.

-Note: If you're new to exercise, choose numbers 1 and 2. If you feel ready, choose 2-3
-Perform 45 seconds of the low number followed by 30 seconds of your second number.
-Perform a few stretches while catching your breath for 30 seconds
-Repeat

Not ready for jogging? Walk slowly as your 1, then walk fast as your 2.
Stick to the time frame and sets set but adjust your running/jogging/walking as needed to fit your current fitness level.
***

The majority of your actions start with a thought so keep your thoughts positive, your words to match your thoughts and hopefully your body will follow. For the full article, click here.

Written by Samantha Clayton, AFAA, ISSA. Samantha is Senior Director of Fitness Education at Herbalife.

Glycemic Index vs. Glycemic Load – What’s the Difference?

20/04/2015 10:37 pm

By Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD, FAND

You may have heard the term Glycemic Index - and if you have, you probably know that the Glycemic Index ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on their effects on blood sugar. But in order to really understand the effects of foods on your blood sugar, there's another term you should get familiar with - Glycemic Load.

And the reason is simple.

In essence, the Glycemic Index measures a quality in a food. The Glycemic Index indicates whether or not a food contains easily digested carbohydrates - carbohydrates like refined starches and sugars that can lead to rapid rises in blood sugar.

But the Glycemic Load factors in the quantity of carbohydrate - the amount that is actually eaten in a typical serving.   This is a very important distinction - and requires a little bit of explaining.

How The Glycemic Index and Load is Determined for Foods

To establish the Glycemic Index for a food, people are fed a measured amount of that food - specifically, an amount that supplies a set amount of carbohydrate (usually 50 grams). Then, blood sugar measurements are taken over a set period of time after the food is eaten. Using these measurements, the effect of the food on the blood sugar is calculated, and the resulting value is compared to pure sugar, which is given a value of 100.

Foods that cause the blood sugar to rise quickly and steeply will have a higher number (in other words, have a high Glycemic Index, or GI), while foods that cause a less dramatic rise in sugar will have a lower value.

High GI foods = have a value of greater than 70
Moderate GI foods = have a value between 56-69
Low GI foods = have a value of 55 or less

But here's the catch. The amount of food that you'd need to eat in order to 50 grams of carbohydrate - the amount needed to establish the GI - varies quite a bit from food to food. For other foods, the amount of carbohydrate they contain per serving is so small that you'd need to eat huge amounts of them in order to get 50 grams of carbohydrate.

50 grams of carbohydrate = white bread (two slices) OR white rice (a small bowl) OR 13 whole apricots OR 50 watermelon balls

This is where the Glycemic Load, or GL, comes in.

When a food has a high GI value, it means that the food contains readily digestible carbohydrates that could cause your blood sugar to rise quite high, relatively quickly.   But what really matters is how much of that readily available carbohydrate you actually eat.

The amount of carbohydrate you get from two slices of white bread - about 50 grams - is a lot different from the amount you'd get from a typical serving of watermelon (only about 6   grams), but white bread and watermelon have almost identical GI values.

So, the Glycemic Load takes into account the amount of carbohydrate that you would typically consume in a serving of food.

The GL is calculated by:

GI index of the food X the grams of carbohydrate in the serving of that food / 100

High Glycemic Load = Foods with a value of 20 or more
Moderate Gycemic Load = Foods with values that range from 10-19
Low Glycemic Load = Foors with values of 10 or less

Foods that have the lowest amount of carbohydrate per serving, then, will have a low GL. Vegetables (even higher GI vegetables like carrots or beets) have a low GL because they have so little carbohydrate per serving. And most fruits don't have that much carbohydrate on a per serving basis, either, which is most of them have a low GL. Watermelon has a high GI (72), but a typical serving of watermelon contains so little carbohydrate that it won't have much impact on your blood sugar - in other words, it has a low Glycemic Load (GL=4).

This is important, because if you were to focus only on eating foods with a low Glycemic Index, you might be cutting out healthy foods (like carrots or watermelon) unnecessarily. So, it's important to consider the GL, too.

While the GI is defined only for individual foods, the GL can be calculated for any serving size of food, for an entire meal and, in fact, for an entire day's meals. For this reason, it's important to consider the GL of the diet overall.

Refined starches and sweets contribute the most to the overall Glycemic Load of the diet - so cutting down on these high GI foods can greatly reduce the overall Glycemic Load of the diet.   At the same time, choosing healthier carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, whole fresh fruits, and whole grains can help to reduce the GL of the diet as a whole.

Low GL foods tend to be higher in fiber and, since they're less processed, they retain their natural vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. The fiber makes these foods more filling, and the low GL means they're less likely to cause big swings in your blood sugar.   As a result, you may experience better hunger control, while getting a healthy nutrient boost at the same time.

Try This Formula 1 Shake using low GI/GL ingredients!

Mango-Kiwi Shake

2 scoops Herbalife FI Nutritional Shake Mix, Vanilla Flavor (GI=20)
1 cup (250ml) lowfat milk (GI = 27; GL=4)
¾ cup (120g) frozen mango chunks (GI= 5; GL = 8)
1 medium kiwi, peeled (GI = 53; GL =5)
4 ice cubes (GI = 0; GL = 0)

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.
F1 Shake

Note: Formula 1 Nutritional Shake Mix is low GI tested.

Don’t let holiday weight gain creep up on you! 12 tips to curb overeating

25/12/2014 1:40 am

Don’t let holiday weight gain creep up on you! 12 tips to curb overeating

Holiday weight gain doesn’t have to happen. Here’s how to avoid overeating during the holiday season.

Gaining weight over the holidays is what you might call a “no-brainer.” When you’re facing a month-long holiday season of non-stop parties, family get-togethers and once-a-year holiday foods, it’s easy to think, “who wouldn’t gain a few extra pounds?” Holiday weight gain doesn’t have to happen, but a lot of people just assume that it will. And that kind of thinking could get you into a lot of trouble. If you’re convinced that holiday weight gain is inevitable, you’re probably not going to do much to prevent it.

Why It’s So Easy to Gain Weight Over the Holidays

That’s not to say that maintaining your weight over the holidays is easy – it’s a hugechallenge to keep your eating under control during the holiday season. When you’re facing so many situations (and for so long) that entice you to eat more than you should, your willpower is being tested nearly nonstop.

Look at it this way: in your daily life, you can probably name a situation or two that you know will trigger you to overeat. Maybe you eat too much when you’re stressed, or you overdo it on the weekends. And when you’ve only got one or two triggers to manage, you can probably do that pretty well most of the year.

But when the holidays come around, it’s not just one or two things that can trigger you to overeat. In fact, if I were to list (as I’m about to do) some of the most common overeating triggers, it’s as if every single one of them is coming at you from all sides during the holidays. And, it goes on for weeks. When you look at it that way, it’s amazing we don’t gainmore weight than we do over the holidays.

NEW PRODUCT

Protein Drink Mix (PDM) 22/30 Servings