The answer is:

Carbohydrates

Protein

Healthy Fats

To tell you the truth, I saw these three things I mentioned above as enemies when it comes to losing weight. In all my years of different diets, the rumour of avoiding especially carbohydrates and excessive protein was the top of my list for losing weight. But what happen in the end? I’ve put on more weight than ever! Read my story and my struggle of losing weight.

Hey.. and what did I find out? The very first thing I thought were my enemies were actually my friends. This is true if you really understand these foods and know the right amounts that you’re eating. I realized that you need carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats to lose weight. But remember, eating any of them excessively and they become your enemies. And I am referring to your normal daily food. That’s why nowadays when I see low/nil carbohydrate, protein diets.. I cringe and know that they are not good and healthy diets. Why? Because our body need these fats and carbohydrates – a fuel for our body to gain energy and to burn fat.  Plus, protein is a great way to build lean muscles so that it can increase our metabolism to burn the fats in our body efficiently.

I am not saying that you can’t lose weight with going on a low carbs/protein diet. Of course you can and you can lose weight really fast too in some cases. All I am saying that kind of diet is terrible  and unhealthy simply because without the right carbs, protein and healthy fats, we are actually losing mostly water and muscle from our body. We will not be losing fats and that’s why these yo-yo dieters simply lose the weight to gain all of them back again. If not more than what their original weight were.

But the good news is with our products – is that you can’t have too much of everything. The reason being they are low in fat, high in protein (without all the hidden saturated fats – and that’s what you should be looking for), high in vitamins, minerals and nutrients that your body needs everyday. Why? It’s simple. It’s because your body needs a certain amount of these vitamins and minerals everyday to function well. But sad to say, our daily food do not provide the necessity nutrients.

I personally felt a great difference by consuming a shake before my work out. I feel really toned now and (as I mentioned in my last post) there has been an increase in my muscle mass too.  And sometimes I have a glass of Lift Off before my work out and I realized that it has helped me gain more stamina during my work out plus,  I definitely felt a great boost of energy as well. I’ve been exercising often for years now and I never had the stamina as I do now. I don’t feel as tired and lethargic after every work out session. And Zumba is my new love – if I haven’t mention it already

Dr Luigi mentioned one thing which I thought was really important. The importance of recovery of your muscle tissue. A shake after your work out will do the trick to replenish/repair and recover your muscle tissue so it doesn’t wear and tear. Also that is one of the ways to maintain and build lean muscles.

I hope you learned something today

Just a little update on myself. I am very grateful for the HL products that I am consuming because it has made such a difference in my life. I have been consuming them everyday and a day without it feels like I am truly missing something so essential that my body needs. You’ve got to be in a coma not to experience anything different.

I found out last weekend that my husband, Peter lost another kilogram and he was absolutely amazed because he was not even trying to lose weight. Plus, he still manage to eat the food he loves. In all, he has lost about 5 kgs without dieting or lifting a finger at exercise in 4 months. Even Peter’s mum saw a difference in him asked him whether he has lost weight and he denied having lost any. But the scale proved him wrong!

The shakes and supplements that I’m consuming has helped me to manage stress, sleep better and has helped me to think and concentrate better. Plus, I have lost centimetres of my waist and I have built more lean muscles while maintaining my weight. In fact, I’ve lost 2.3% of body fat, gain about 9 kgs of muscle mass and have an increase of  1% of body water. No wonder I am not losing weight because muscle is more dense than fat! I will try harder though. I am looking to losing another 5-6 kgs. Though I do feel that my body is more toned now than before especially on my arms, thighs and tummy.

The calculations that I’ve mentioned earlier was all possible because we’re using a bio-electrical impedance analysis to analyse your body fat, body water, muscle mass and more. That’s why I am handing this invitation to you all:

I am offering a FREE service to give you a Personal Wellness Evaluation – comparing your results to where you are now and what you should be. This will help you understand your body better, eat better and we offer other solutions to your weight/health problems too. Plus, you get to sample our products for free. Come along and find out for yourself!

Venue: My Apartment

Contact: janicemcbanks@gmail.com

(but you have to contact me first if you’re interested and we’ll make a suitable time to meet up – no pressure!)

Unfortunately, this is only extended to Aucklanders (NZ). Oh, you lucky duck! But if you are in Auckland, give me a holla and I’ll make the time for you! Not to mention, to my overseas readers who are interested, you may go to my International Online Shop to learn more and get back to me if you have any questions. I will be more than happy to oblige

Anyway, you might want to hear what Dr Luigi got to say about my question above:

I hope you guys are having an awesome week!

I hope to post another one soon. Catch you later =)

As you know, protein is essential to have in our diet everyday. Protein helps with the growth of new skin cells, build lean muscles, control hunger and Dr Luigi explains further in this video below:

Watch this video to help you understand the importance of fiber and you can also get a few ideas on how you can add fiber in your food everyday.

First of all, I would like to dedicate this post to my Virtual Weight Loss Challenge participants who have just begun their first week of this challenge. Congratulations to you all for taking part in this awesome challenge. I promise that at the end of your 12 weeks, you will all learn something valuable.

Now, for those of you who are struggling with eating too much- I’ve been there and done that. You may want to read my story.

One of the reasons why you tend to eat too much at one setting is because your body is confuse of being hungry when you are actually thirsty. Your body weight is made up of 55% to 78% water. So the more body fat you have, the lower your body water percentage will be. Women (adult) tend to have less water than men due to their percentage of body fat. The table below illustrates what I mean.

So I would say drink lots of water throughout the day. The recommended glasses is 8 glasses per day or 2 litres – at minimum. This is very important and you should try to make drinking water a habit in your everyday lives. If you’re the type of person who hardly/dislikes drinking water at all, start with 1 litre per day and slowly build it up.

And what does drinking water got to do with eating sensibly you ask?

Oh, everything.

Drinking water (this does not include drinking sweet drinks/coffee/tea etc.) before your meal will help you eat less. Water is the number 1 solution to weight loss as it helps you to burn fat and flushes waste and toxins from your body. The less water you drink, the more water is retained in your body, the hungrier you’ll be, the harder it is to flush away waste and toxins from your body plus you will be hydrated and your body will not function properly. And this will lead to weight gain.

How else can you eat sensibly?

Sure, let me illustrate to you. Oh, how I love Illustrator.

Recommended serving for a standard meal

Look at the pie chart on your right and imagine that you have a round serving plate like that. The recommended serving is for you to have half a plate of vegetables (celery/garden salad/mix vege), 1/4 plate of carbohydrates (rice/potato/kumara) and 1/4 plate of protein (meat/fish). For more ideas on veges, carbohydrates and protein you can google and look it up. Vegetables are so important because they add fibre in your food that helps you with your digestive system and are packed with essential vitamins and minerals. So if you want a guide when you’re out having a meal. Remember this guide and think of this pie-chart —>

And remember, drink lots of water.

These are simple easy steps and if you combine drinking water and eating this recommended serving, you will have a recipe for sensible eating.

For now, this is a good start. I will further expand on this topic as you continue to read my posts. Stay tune for more.

Yes, of course it is for REAL!

But in New Zealand, we call this fat blocker ‘Chitosan Fibre Complex’. Awesome product. I have been taking it with my food. It gives you the feeling of fullness and able to block those fats especially when you eat fatty foods. Eww. Not that I’m suggesting that you go eat those terribly fatty foods like KFC. Though of course, Chitosan helps if you choose to do so especially if you have not been eating for a long time. Then yes, treat yourself. Just don’t blame me if you put on weight! I know how delicious KFC can be. All I’m asking is for you to eat sensibly. Don’t over do it.

I will talk more about ‘how you can eat sensibly’ hopefully in my next post.

Other than that, this is an amazing product.

For more info click here http://www.vwlc.info/ to register.

The closing date: 21st July 2010

When you fill out the “Registration form” simply type in my name as your “Personal Wellness Coach” (Janice Banks), and enter my email address too (janice@greathealthnz.com).

Look forward to hearing from you!

At first, we never thought of doing the business as we purely took the products to gain better health and to lose some weight. And we experienced all of that. It is because of these products and also I can relate really well to this wellness industry that we decided to do the business. Those who do not know me very well, I have been overweight all my life ever since I was a child and I know and understand the life of being overweight, unhealthy and not to mention, being ridiculed by my friends and family. I understand the hurt well and for years, I have struggled with the way I look and feel; I’ve had very low self-esteem and confidence; I was weak, tired and depressed. So this is really not something which I stumbled upon and made up my mind overnight to do the business. I finally understood; to enjoy life, you’ve got to be healthy. That’s how ‘being healthy’ became my new-found passion. After God of course. I would not have found Herbalife if God did not lead me to it. As in my previous post – I was sick of being sick. Oh, I am forever grateful to my God.

Aside from that, we want to also gain financial freedom, at the same time being able to help others gain better health and lifestyle will be our dream come true. So please, if you want to know more we are here to help.

Or you can visit our website – www.greathealthnz.com

Or those who are looking for a business opportunity working full time or part time without disturbing what you’re currently doing, this opportunity might be for you. You can go to www.nzworkathome.com for more information.

From my headline you probably know what I’m talking about. The pus from that horrible-looking skin infection has finally come out. Yeap, yesterday.

Somehow it reminded me of a volcano erupting but without the aggravating sound and blood spitting everywhere. But it came swiftly and smoothly flowing out from my skin exactly like lava flowing out from the volcano. Man, it was the worst sight ever but I was really intrigued for some reason.

I am feeling so much better today though. Not a 100% but much, much better.

You know in the past, it took (the past 2 serious infections) two to 3 weeks for the swell to get bigger and for the pus to come out – yes, this is also when I’m on anti-biotics. The good news with my third infection is (and also the most serious one among the three), it has only taken less than a week for the pus to come out – which is actually amazing. So I think this particular product I’m taking (Rose Ox) is doing the trick of getting rid of the toxin out from my body as fast as it can. And now its out, I know I will recover soon. Oh, praise our good Lord! Hey I’m seriously not exaggerating about that two to 3 weeks.. that’s why I get sick so often and a long period of time too because it just took so darn long for my infection to heal.

I know tomorrow I will feel a lot better than today – and as much as I don’t like to say this – I can go to work tomorrow.

Long live the Queen and a very happy birthday too