MANILA, Philippines – Dr. David Heber, Chairman of the NAB and the Herbalife Nutrition Institute, had revealed during an event last Oct. 23 held at the Manila Hotel that nine in 10 Filipino consumers surveyed by the global nutrition company Herbalife are “highly concerned” about the potential diseases that an unhealthy lifestyle can cause them, with the same number believing that simple lifestyle changes can help improve their overall well-being.
Dr. Heber said the new epicenter of obesity is in the Asia Pacific is China and India. The Philippines, however, is gradually catching up as Filipinos are too accustomed to Western diet and lifestyle.
He further said while the population in Asia seems so thin, but obesity is a looming problem that needs to be addressed before it becomes a regional pandemic. “Body weight can be normal and you can still have excess body fat. Body fat in the abdominal area is associated with many problems even when people are ‘overfat’, but not obese by weight criteria. There is also an increased popularity of a Western diet and lifestyle in Asia, which has increased abdominal fat and worsened biomarkers of metabolic syndrome which is very common in the United States and growing rapidly in Asia,” he added.
The endocrinology experts, who was recognized several times as one of the best doctors in America, strongly suggested a diet that incorporates meal replacements to improve weight loss and weight maintenance for the following reasons:
- Easier to plan meals
- Reduces barriers to dietary adherence
- Helps instill regular eating patterns
- May increase accuracy of calorie estimation and estimation of portion size
- Provides a simple guide for healthy nutrition
- Positively affects self-monitoring
- Facilitates making less deleterious food decision
“A practical guideline is 1 gm/lb lean body mass based on bioimpedance so that a construction worker gets 150-175 gm while a small women may get 75-100 gm. The key is to individualize protein in the diet based on Lean Body Mass not Body Weight,” explained Dr. Heber.
Herbalife Health Poll
The Herbalife Health Poll, meanwhile, was conducted in September 2015 and polled 1,200 respondents across six countries – Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Philippines, South Korea and Thailand – on their perceptions of their health and current lifestyle.
According to the findings for the Philippines, a good number of the respondents expressed willingness to adopt a healthy lifestyle; 79 percent said that they would cut down on unhealthy foods, 78 percent expressed their willingness to exercise more regularly, and 72 percent said they would make better nutrition choices.
“The respondents shared the following as the top obstacles to achieving a healthy lifestyle: lack of time for exercise (75 percent), lack of time to make proper nutrition choices (64 percent), and high cost of healthy food (62 percent),” the survey cited.
The same health poll showed that the top three aging-related concerns in the country were heart, brain, and eye health.
4th Wellness Tour
Dr. Heber was in the country in relation to the Herbalife Asia-Pacific Wellness Tour, which is now on its fourth leg and aims to deepen people’s practical understanding of the various aspects of living a healthy active lifestyle. The three previous tours saw close to 60,000 participants across the region.
This Wellness Tour featured five members of the Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board (NAB) visiting 14 markets and 21 cities across the Asia-Pacific in the month of October. They shared their expert views on how people can make use of the little time they have to make simple lifestyle changes that will enhance their well-being.
Herbalife’s NAB experts also shared their views on a wide range of health-related topics, including weight management, brain health and aging; heart health; immunology; and skin care at the medical symposia being held in Australia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnamn.
Dr. David Heber, founding Director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles, conducted a symposium to Filipino medical practitioners on October 23 at the Manila Hotel. The symposium gathered a group of 100 doctors, nurses, physical therapists and medical practitioners. The title of the symposium is “Obesity: More Than Just Being Overweight and Nutrition Forecast for 2020.” Seminars of Dr. Heber are recognized by US hospitals as part of Continuing Education Studies, which are often required of applicants. The following day, Oct. 24, Dr. Heber held seminars for thousands of Herbalife Independent Members in the same hotel.
Other Herbalife NAB experts participating in the Wellness Tour include:
- Dr Lou Ignarro, a specialist in heart health. He received a Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 1998 for his discovery of nitric oxide’s range of benefits to the human body.
- Dr Gary Small, a specialist in brain health and aging. He has authored over 500 scientific works and received numerous awards and honors, including the “Senior Investigator Award” from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.
- Dr Marion Flechtner-Mors, a specialist in nutrition and obesity research. She is currently head of the nutrition and obesity research group at Ulm University, Germany.
- Dr Wang Jae Lee, a physician and academic specializing in immunology. He has been a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine since 2003.
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Herbalife is a 35-year-old global nutrition company that sells weight-management, nutrition and personal care products intended to support a healthy lifestyle. Herbalife products are sold in more than 90 countries to and through a network of independent members. The company supports the Herbalife Family Foundation and its Casa Herbalife program to help bring good nutrition to children. To learn more visit Herbalife.com. ADVT