Sunday, September 26, 2010

Tropical Fruit























Ingredients:

3 heaping scoops of F1 Tropical Fruit
One-and-a-half heaping scoops of F1 Vanilla
One heaping scoop of F3 (depending on need)
One green apple
One orange
One pear
Ice water


Remove cores and seeds and skin (for orange, and partially for apple and pear) and cut fruits into smaller pieces. Blend the fruits in some ice water. Add water until the 800ml mark and add all the F1s in. Blend again. Serve in two glasses!

You can do without the pear too but it seems to taste better with the pear.

For me, I still prefer mine with a slice of lemon. Gives you the “kick” in the morning.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Cappuccino and green apple

This is a recipe that a friend tried out with cappuccino for one-person serving:

Ingredients

2 heaping scoops of F1 Cappuccino
(alternatively, 1 heaping scoop of F1 Cappuccino and 1 heaping scoop of F1 Vanilla)
1 scoop of F3
1 green apple
Ice water

Wash and cut up apple into small pieces and blend in some water. Add ice water up to about the 400ml mark on the jug. Blend until smooth. Serve.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Why am I not losing weight?

Some of you may be asking why you could not lose weight. Well, for one, the company’s formula is 3-2-1 (3 teas, two shakes, 1 colourful meal a day). So if you could not reduce your weight with just one shake a day, you will have to stick to the company’s formula.

John and I could lose weight even though we took the Herbalife shake only once a day, instead of twice, on most days because:

1. We were very discipline in not snacking. And even if we did, it was bird size portion, just for the sake of pleasing our taste buds.

2. We avoided sweetened drinks. Our drinks were usually plain water or juice kosong (without added sugar) with our meal. We figured that if we don’t get enough exercise, we don’t deserve to drink sweetened drinks because we would be taking in more calories than our body could handle.

3. At tea time, we either had a shake, a fruit, or milo kosong or chocolate protein bar, muesli snack, and for me, once a week, either one goreng pisang or hum chi peng or a small piece of cake, if I wanted to break out of the regiment, to tie over until dinner.

4. We avoided deep fried food as much as possible and choose steam or grilled or gravy or soup dishes (the less oily ones).

5. We avoided coconut milk as much as possible. But when we decided to have a bowl of chendol once in a while, John and I shared one.

6. We have been eating half rice even before we went on the Herbalife programme.

What really helped me was that I found the ideal and healthy breakfast in Herbalife. I always wanted a big and healthy breakfast but could not have them unless I am away in a hotel where they would prepare salads and fruits and all the best choices available, which I don’t always have the time or energy to prepare them on my own in the morning. So, I had often ended up eating nasi lemak, roti canai, mee hoon goreng, porridge and milo. I believe that was how I kept putting on weight and it became unmanageable.

It was John who told me about Herbalife when I told him I had yearned for healthy breakfasts every morning and could hardly find it in the Malaysian diet. I could not take milk and cereal because it would make me sleepy and I found oats too boring although I did and still do, take it once in a while. Half boiled eggs and bread with butter was splendid but I was often hungry within an hour, so that was also not adequate for me.

It was through Herbalife that I learned we need to take adequate protein to begin our day besides adequate water and fibre, to maintain our blood sugar level. I thought the shake would not be enough since I need a big breakfast, otherwise, I might end up with hunger pangs and could not function well at work. So it was a total paradigm shift when I was told that it was the lack of protein and nutrition that caused me to be hungry and that was what I needed. It was initially very hard for me since I was so used to a high-caloried breakfast, but I soon found that I didn’t have hunger pangs anymore. I feel so alert every morning even on days I did not get enough sleep. I could take on the world. Nowadays, when I have nasi lemak in the morning, I find myself feeling sleepy, hence, I favour the shake more.

Some people think that they can lose weight through dieting, but more often than not, it is not sustainable. It is best if we can familiarise ourselves with the amount of calories that we take in daily and make a more conscious effort on selecting healthy food choices until it becomes a habit that we don’t even need to think about, rather than avoiding food to a point of starvation.

Some people said such careful eating habits is not really "living" because they don’t get to eat all the fried and oily stuff all the time. But we need to ask ourselves, would it be worth living if we end up being obese and with it, comes a whole range of health problems and our family members have to constantly take care of us if we end up with a stroke, heart attack or lose our kidneys or sight due to diabetes? We also need to take care of our health for the sake of our children. Basically, it should be about having a balance.

The yearning for oily food also indicates that our body needs healthy oil. There are always other options such as flaxseed oil or olive oil or taking fish oil supplements.

Here is a sample of a regular Malaysian diet compared with a diet during Herbalife weight loss programme.

Before weight loss (calories figures are just an estimation)

8am - Roti canai and teh tarik = 600 calories.

Noon – Nasi kandar or economy rice - one fried meat + two veges + teh ice limau = 900to 1100 calories.

4pm - Milo/coffee with sugar and kueh/snack = 400 calories.

7.30pm - Home cooked food rice, 1 non-fried meat, 2 veges and soup = 600

Total calories a day = 2,700 calories when one may need only an average of 1,500 to 2,200 calories a day depending on height, and less for women.

Programme while losing weight:

7.30am Wake up and take Herbalife tea

8am – plain Herbalife shake (two scoops of F1 and one scoop of F3 protein unless advised differently) = 180 calories (220 if blended with a fruit)

Noon - Colourful meal – palm size rice + one non-fried meat + two stir fried veges + plain water = 700 calories.

Herbalife tea

4pm – Herbalife shake without protein OR light snack with drink = 200 to 300 calories

5pm – Herbalife tea

7.30pm – Herbalife shake OR light meal/lean meat and vege soup = 200-400

11pm – Sleep.

While losing weight, you need to take less calories than what your body needs, but once you have achieved the ideal weight, you increase the calories intake and eat according to the amount of calories your body needs and not how much you want, otherwise, your body cannot handle it and will end up putting on weight again.

To calculate the amount of calories that you need to maintain your weight according to your height and gender, I have found this website that calculates it for you:

http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

So if you need to lose weight, you should consume less than the calories that maintains your weight without starving yourself and ending up with gastric.

All the best to great shape and good health!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Irresistable apple-kiwi shake

Some days, I made the worst shakes. So bad that I had to force myself to finish it. But this morning, I made a shake that I really, really like and I think it’s the best shake so far. Here is the recipe for two persons:

Ingredients
3 heaping scoops of F1 Tropical Fruit
1 heaping scoop of F1 Vanilla
2 small red apples
1 yellow kiwi fruit
2 tablespoons of plain low-fat yoghurt
Ice water

1. Remove the core of the apples and cut into smaller pieces. Cut the kiwi fruit into half and scoop out the flesh.
2. Put in half glass of water and fruits and blend.
3. Pour ice water until it reaches 800ml.
4. Scoop out 3 heaping scoops of F1 Tropical Fruit and 1 heaping scoop of F1 Vanilla into the blender.
5. Add in the 2 tablespoons of yoghurt
6. Blend until smooth.

Pour into 2 tall glasses and enjoy!

Next week – look out for calories count and how to lose weight effectively.