Stay Healthy and Active

Live your healthy active lifestyle

At Herbalife, our Healthy Active Lifestyle philosophy is about inspiring you to take the leap to become your best self. We want to make people feel good and help them build a strong sense of self. We want to create a positive community that supports and empowers everyone, no matter what their fitness level or goals are.

People often shy away when they hear the term ‘healthy active lifestyle’ as they imagine having to dedicate hours to extreme workouts. While that certainly counts, a healthy active lifestyle is simply one that contributes positively to your physical and mental well being. It is not as hard as it sounds. Small changes to your daily life and diet can add up to big results in the long term.

Whether you are already fit or just starting out on your fitness journey, you can live a healthier and more active lifestyle.

THE RIGHT NUTRITION MATTERS

Eating right is an essential component of a healthy active lifestyle. The food we eat provides us with all the energy we need to survive.

The right diet should include adequate high quality protein, healthy fats and oils and the right carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables, which bring along vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

KEEPING ACTIVE

Whatever your starting weight, shape or fitness level, there are physical activities that will be suitable for you and will help you in the direction of living a healthy active lifestyle. Here are 4 pillars of healthy active lifestyles you can maintain to stay fit and healthy in your daily lives.

Easy

Start with small changes to your daily life and introduce more easy, low-intensity physical activities into your day. You can walk or cycle instead of driving or taking public transport, use a stationary bicycle or treadmill while watching TV, or take up yoga, aerobic, pilates or dance classes.

Fast

Once you are comfortable with easy physical activities, challenge yourself take it up another notch with higher intensity workouts like jogging, running, tennis, swimming or cycling.

Strong

In addition to maintaining your cardiovascular fitness, there are other activities that will focus on helping you strengthen your muscles and body. Get involved in high-intensity sports like triathlons, weights and circuit training, or try training for a full marathon!

Powerful

Just like the rest of us, professional athletes are confronted with challenges every day – self-doubt, dread, pressure, etc. How do they overcome these to put up the stellar athletic performances that keep the rest of us in awe?

The secret lies in not just training your body, but your mind as well. Learn to develop the mindset of a champion to help you overcome your own personal challenges – dig deep within yourself to do better each time and learn to face your obstacles with a never-give-up attitude.

Information from Herbalife-Hub, June 2014

Five butt-lifting lunges without the boredom

Lunges effectively work all the muscles in the lower body – especially those in your backside. Using lunge techniques for toned glutes is age-old, but need not be boring. Keeping a straight back and chest high, try these five effective lunges, holding each for 3 seconds.

Can your metabolic rate make you gain or lose weight?

When patients tell me their weight problems are due to a “slow metabolism”, I think they truly believe that their bodies simply burn calories at a slower pace than other people’s bodies do. In their minds, if they only they could speed up the process, their weight problems would be solved. But what is “metabolism”, exactly? And – more importantly – is there anything you can do to change it?

Truths and myths about metabolism

In truth, your body weight and your metabolic rate are linked – but perhaps not in the way you might think. Simply stated, the term metabolism refers to all the chemical processes that your body undergoes every day in order to keep you alive. When your body converts the calories in your food into energy, or manufactures specialised chemicals that your cells need in order to do their job – those are metabolic processes. These processes your body performs every day – hundreds of them – make up your “metabolism”.

I can see how the term metabolic rate could confuse people. When you hear the word “rate”, you might think “speed” or “tempo” – so, it’s reasonable to assume that metabolic rate can only mean how fast (or slow) your body performs its work.

In reality, though, your metabolic rate (or, more accurately, your resting metabolic rate) refers to the number of calories you burn during a 24- hour period just to keep your body’s most basic processes going – processes like pumping blood, or breathing. Of course, this isn’t all the calories you burn in a day, but your resting metabolic rate accounts for a sizeable chunk – about 75% of total calories you use up every day are used simply to keep your body ticking.

What factors influence metabolic rate?

Some people’s bodies use up more calories to perform these basic metabolic processes than others (you might think they have a “fast” metabolism). And for those who seem to require very few calories, you might think their metabolism is “slow”. But now that you know that your metabolic rate isn’t really about how quickly you burn calories – it’s really the number of calories you burn each day – you can’t technically make your body burn calories any faster.

But, let’s look at what affects your metabolic rate in the first place – it will give you a better sense for what you can and can’t do to change it.

Your body size

Larger people have higher metabolic rates than smaller people do, and this is due largely to the simple fact that they just have more cells – each of which is doing some metabolic work. That’s one reason that men usually have higher metabolic rates then women – they just tend to have bigger bodies overall.

Your body composition

A very important factor in determining your metabolic rate is your lean body mass. Imagine that your body is divided into two parts: one part is your fat, and the other part is your lean body mass (everything else that isn’t fat, like bone, fluids, organs and muscles).

This lean body mass determines your metabolic rate because every pound of lean mass you have burns about 14 calories per day (or about 30 calories per kilogram) – while a pound of fat only uses up about two. Muscle cells have a lot more machinery that converts calories into energy than your fat cells do, so it makes sense that as your muscle mass increases, so would your metabolic rate.

Your age

As you age, there is a tendency to lose some muscle mass. Natural hormonal changes contribute to some loss of muscle mass. Furthermore, the muscle damage that results from everyday wear and tear isn’t repaired quite as quickly as you age – and that can contribute to some muscle loss, too. With fewer muscle cells overall, you can’t help but burn fewer calories over the course of the day.

Your gender

Men have higher rates than women do for two simple reasons. They tend to be larger overall, and they tend to have more muscle mass than women do.

Cutting your calorie intake too much

It’s true that when you cut your calorie intake too much, your metabolic rate can take a dip. This makes sense if you think about it – your body is just trying to do the same metabolic work with fewer calories in order to keep you alive. But, in general, these decreases are relatively small, especially if you make modest – rather than dramatic – decreases in your calorie intake as you attempt to lose weight.

So, what can I do to boost my metabolic rate?

Now that you know what factors affect your metabolic rate, what can you do about it?

• Eat enough protein

Your body uses the protein you eat to build and repair muscle tissue. If you don’t consume enough protein in your diet, your body simply doesn’t have the raw materials it needs to manufacture and repair your muscle cells.

• Build muscle mass

This is probably one of the most important things you can do, since building muscle will increase the amount of lean body mass you have – which increases your overall resting metabolic rate. And, don’t think strength training is only for the younger set – with the right diet and proper exercise, your body is capable of building muscle at any age.

• Increase your daily activity

Any activity burns calories, but that, in itself, doesn’t affect your metabolic rate. But, when you exercise, you are using your muscles to move your body – and that helps to preserve your lean body mass.

And, bumping up your activity can also help to offset any dips in your metabolic rate as a result of cutting your calorie intake.

Written by Susan Bowerman

MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

Keep Your Heart Healthy at Any Age

Even if it’s not something we look forward to, aging is inevitable. As the years come and go, signs of aging appear. With time, everyone will notice a few gray hairs and wrinkles revealing their age when they look in the mirror.

It should come as no surprise that for all the external signs of aging we undergo, we’re actually aging internally too. You may have already noticed creakier bones, worsening vision, and achy joints, but you may not have noticed the changes to your cardiovascular system.

One of the most important organs in the cardiovascular system is the endothelium, which lines your blood vessels and produces Nitric Oxide. As the endothelium ages, Nitric Oxide production naturally declines. This decrease is completely normal, but since healthy Nitric Oxide production maintains blood flow to your vital organs, it makes sense to do everything you can to make sure your endothelium is as healthy as possible.

The great thing about cardiovascular health is that it’s never too late to start making healthier choices – I was in my 60s when I started running marathons! By supporting the health of my endothelium and heart every day, now that I’m in my 70s I feel better than I did in my 40s.

Make the commitment to your well-being by aging as healthfully as possible. While you can’t stop or reverse the aging process, you can still look and feel great as you get older.

5 easy ways to support healthy aging of the endothelium:

Eat well

A healthy diet is the cornerstone for endothelial health. Closely adhering to a diet that emphasizes healthy fats, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, herbs and spices, and whole grains supports healthy endothelial function.

Move often

Movement stimulates the endothelial cells to produce Nitric Oxide, making exercise one of the most important steps to supporting endothelial health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend 150 minutes of exercise per week. If you can move more than that, great! More movement equals more support for the endothelial cells.

Take nutritional supplements

In addition to a healthy diet and regular exercise, be sure your endothelium is getting the nutrients it needs to support healthy function. Dietary supplements like L-arginine, L-citrulline, CoQ10, krill oil, Omega-3 DHA and EPA, and garlic support healthy endothelial cells and Nitric Oxide production.

Laugh more

Laughter has been long known to have positive effects on the body and mind, and it turns out it’s good for the endothelium, too. Research presented at the Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology showed that laughter causes the endothelium to dilate, or expand, in order to increase blood flow.

Sleep well

When you’re busy, it’s tempting to scrimp on sleep. But getting plenty of sleep and rest is actually a productive activity for the body, and especially the endothelial cells. Getting the recommended eight hours of sleep per night gives your endothelial cells the chance to heal and regenerate.

Healthy aging really comes down to healthy living. Take it one day at a time, and remember that each great choice you make adds up to a lifetime of wellness and vitality.

Written by Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.

Dr. Ignarro is a member of both the Editorial and Nutrition Advisory Boards of the Herbalife Nutrition Institute and receives compensation for his endorsement of Herbalife® products. Herbalife markets an heart health supplements.

Live a healthy, active lifestyle with Samantha Clayton

The fitness routine that’s right for you

Living a healthy, active lifestyle is something that is great for everyone. Making good nutrition choices daily and striving to become more active in your everyday life can have a positive impact on your health and your overall body confidence. Once you find activities that you enjoy doing, it’s easier to be consistent with your fitness routine and to improve your overall fitness level. Exercising consistently is key to getting fit. Many people believe that exercise has to be done in a gym or using specific equipment, but the truth is even walking can be an effective way to improve your fitness. In my opinion, any type of physical activity that you do consistently, enjoy and strive to do a little more today than you did yesterday, can be turned into a successful fitness routine. Whether you enjoy walking, hiking or running, here are some tips that allow you to challenge yourself and improve your fitness level.

Walking, Hiking and Running

Cardio training can lower your resting heart rate, lower your stress level and, when combined with reduced caloric intake, lead to weight loss. Walking, running and hiking can all be great ways to get a cardio workout and improve your fitness level.

Walking 

If walking is your preferred form of exercise you can make it more challenging by:

• Increasing your walk duration/distance.
• Increasing your pace and using your arms in a power walk style.
• Adding some lunges to your regular walk to help improve your leg strength.
• Increasing the frequency of your walks by adding one extra day a week.

Hiking

If you enjoy hiking, you can get more out of your hike by:

Finding a hike with a challenging gradient - the steeper the hill, the harder your body has to work.

• Varying the type of trail surface you hike on, starting out on mostly flat trails and building up to sandy or rocky surfaces.
• Picking up your pace and giving trail running a try - it will increase the intensity of your hike.

Running

If running is your workout of choice, you can take it to the next level by:

• Setting a time-based goal (20-30 minutes, for example) and, once you can successfully run for the entire duration, increase your time.
• Adding in some hill running or varied terrain into your program.

Samantha Clayton, Director, Worldwide Fitness Education, is a former competitive sprinter, AFAA and ISSA certified trainer, holds a degree in applied chemistry and is a proud mother of four.

Information from Herbalife-Hub, September 2014