Herbalife have been offering quality supplements and weight loss programs since 1982. Mark Hughes started Herbalife selling products out of the back of his car, and today Herbalife has reached a 2 billion dollar turnover and climbing. It is now available in over 60 countries, and is arguably one of the largest herbal product companies on the planet.

Herbalife's "bread and butter" has been it's weight loss programs. The key element of these programs involves a meal replacement shake and supplements. The meal replacement shake is high in protein and low in saturated fats and carbohydrates. The supplements also add to the program by ensuring that the user gets all the vitamins and minerals that they need to support a healthy diet. They do stress that one meal of the day should be "solid food" but should also contain lean protein and vegetable and ideally be low in starchy foods (potatoes, rice, pasta) which are high in carbohydrates.

Herbalife's philosophy is largely based on supplying the body with adequate nutrition rather than starving it to reduce weight. Depriving the body of it's required nutrition has the following results: while the body does lose weight by feeding off it's fat storage, it also loses muscle mass because it also eats into the muscle; because the proper nutrients are not being fed to the body the person will feel lack of energy, annoyed and quite often they will feel hungry and get sugar cravings.

By feeding the body the correct nutrition, the weight loss will be slower, but it will be steady and consistent and more permanent. The body needs protein, fibre and a multitude of vitamins and minerals. It does not need saturated fats and a vast amount of carbohydrates. Herbalife's program supplies what the body needs.

Feeding the body protein, rather than carbohydrates, will result in the building of lean muscle mass, without the need for excessive exercise. As a result the body will naturally burn more calories because muscle tends to burn off calories even in a resting state. The better the muscle mass, the easier the fat will burn off. That does not mean to say that we will all look like Mr. Universe (or Mrs. Universe for that matter). But compare this situation with the so-called "soup" diets where there is very little protein. Result - the muscle mass withers and as a result the person finds it harder to keep the weight off after returning to normal food (which is inevitable, because nobody can live off soup forever).

The surprising thing to many people on the Herbalife program is the resulting health benefits that can ensue. The reason for this is that many conditions are actually a result of poor nutrition (the most striking example that is part of history is Scurvy being the result of a vitamin C deficiency - it only took doctors several hundred years to work that one out!). People have reported improvements in conditions from arthritis and lactose intolerance to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Chron's Disease.

A few years ago Herbalife made a significant improvement in their weight loss programs by increasing the overall protein content of their weight loss programs. This came about as a result of weight loss research by Dr David Heber, now a member of the Herbalife Scientific Advisory Board. He researched the optimum amount of protein required by the human body. The new Herbalife Personalised Protein Programs are based on his extensive research.