Sports Nutrition

Professional sportsmen, but also amateurs, need good nutrition, why not eat the best sports nutrition available to you: Herbalife.

Herbalife not only has excellent weight management programmes, but because Herbalife contains all essential nutrients which will be absorbed by the body very quickly, it is also an excellent sports nutrition.

Above all, Herbalife is healthy nutrition, containing everything your body needs. Healthy nutrition supports a healthy body. You will feel better, withour the extra pounds and you will perform better. Not only professional sportsmen, also professional amateurs and recreational sportsmen (and of course women!) benefit from Herbalife's nutritional supplements. You will perform better and you will recover faster.

If you consider eating Herbalife's products as sports nutrition, we advice you to contact us first, because every person, their level and every sport differ. You can imagine a marathon-runer needs a different programme than a body-builder.

Sports nutrition

Herbalife's nutritional supplements make sure that:

• necessary nutrition is absorbed before a exercise
• you can refuel after or during exercise
• you'll recover faster
• damaged cells will be repaired
• your body will be protected against free radicals

Although everybody will get his/her own programme, depending on their personal needs and your type of activity, there's something like a 'general programma' for athletes. It contains Formula 1, Vitamins and minerals and Anti-Oxidants. A minimum sports-programme will look like this:

All products are sufficient to last one month, but it depends on how much exercise you do how long the canister Formula 1 lasts.

The basics of sports nutrition

The science of sports nutrition is complex and often confusing, but it can be simplified to four basic components: fuelling, refuelling, repairing and recovery. These will be discussed here in further detail.

Our body has two main 'fuel tanks': our fat cells and our muscles. When doing exercise, we use mainly the fuel our muscle cells provide, the muscle glycogen. When we run out of glycogen, our body switches to using fat stored in our fat cells, but these provide less immediate energy, and you will notice it immediately because your performance will suddenly drop.

You can fuel your muscles before exercising by eating are carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice, vegetables and fruit. You can also use a Formula 1 shake, which fuels the muscles very quickly.

You need to refuel your glycogen quickly after exercising. Waiting too long prevents the glycogen being absorbed. After exercise the cells are 'open' to glycogen for about 25 minutes, so you need to refuel before your cells are 'closed'. Fortunately Formula 1 is perfect for refuelling, because it is absorbed very quickly by your body. Usually all Formula 1 is absorbed in less then 20 minutes, much faster than carbohydrates like bread and pasta. By the time these are absorbed by your body, your cells are 'closed' for immediate glycogen intake. Therefore you should take formula 1 immediately after exercising, or, if you're in an endurance sports, you can also take them during exercising. That's why some professional cyclists drink a formula 1 solution during their cycling match.

You should also take in high quality protein. Every activity in life damages muscle cells, and this is often even the goal when exercising (your muscles won't grow without afflicing microscopic damage to them!). Of course, the more strenuous the activity or exercise, the more damage that can occur. Adequate, high quality protein assists muscle cells in repairing themselves (or assist in muscle growth). Protein comes in the form of meat, soy products, cheese and dairy products. However, most of these are in the form of animal proteins, which add greatly to the bad cholesterol in our bodies. Therefore we need to look for high quality proteins from non-animal sources.

Again Formula 1 offers high quality soy protein. For those who exercise a lot (damage their muscle cells a lot), additional protein intake is recommended by adding Herbalife's protein powder to your shake.

Free radicals are highly reactive oxigen molecules that can be found in your body. Because of their high reactivity, these free radicals may damage your cells or they may react with the vitamins present in your body, therefore making the vitamins less or non-effective.

When doing exercise, you breathe in more air, thus oxigen, then usual, leading to more free radicals in your body. Anti-oxidants which combat the free radicals and additional vitamins are therefore essential to recover.

Of course there's a lot more than this to sports nutrition, eg it is very important to drink additional water to the 2 litres you're already drinking. Drink still water, not sparkling. You can use Herbalife's Herbal beverage drink to make a sports drink (add 2.5 grams to 1 litre of water), and/or you can drink Herbalife's Aloe drink, which is very effective if you suffer from stomach problems after or during exercise.

How to use the sports programme

• Use the Formula 1 shake about 30 minutes before exercising, and drink a shake immediately after exercising. During an endurance sports (like cycling or running a marathon, you can take a shake during the exercise. (It is easier to drink when mixing it in diluted fruit juice)
• Use Formula 2, Vitamins and minerals three times a day.
• RoseOx, use it once a day at breakfast.

As discussed, the above is just a basic programme. You can contact us to personalise your programme, or, if you want to order the basic programme, you can also order it.

Finally, a short list of people who use(d) Herbalife products in their sports:

• Tony Underwood - Rugby
• Vic Charles - Karate
• Andy Hill - Football
• Sue Worley (Australia) - Triathlon
• Wayne Larkins (Australia) - Basketball
• Simon Baaij (Netherlands) - Marathon
• Zachary Odunes (USA) - Bodybuiling
• Mark Huizinga (Netherlands) - Judo
• Lance Armstrong (USA) - cycling

For more information you can also download our brochure.