Strong Comes in All Shapes and Sizes

A Women's Guide to Boost Energy, Manage Weight, and Be Healthy.

What is your ratio of body positivity? Do you know how to improve it? When we embrace our body and work on being balanced, fit, agile, and strong, we power up in all aspects of our lives, including our self-esteem, resilience, and longevity.

More now than ever before, men and women are connecting to making health a daily priority. Today we look at all the healthy ways to reach for our inner and outer strength and ways to support your active lifestyle and fitness journey in achieving your personal body goals one day at a time.

Sports nutrition and supplements are not only for elite athletes, hardcore gym lifters or body competition contestants; sports nutrition has nothing to do with steroids or hormones, and they will not alter your natural physiology or appearance.

Rather, they are designed to suit your different needs, preferences, and lifestyles, with sports nutrition supplements providing you with essential nutrients, proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, and more which can be tailored to your individual needs. It simply complements your lifestyle and helps you achieve your goals whether it is to enrich your daily nutrition intake, speed up fat loss, build lean and toned muscle, bulk up your weight, or simply maintain a healthy weight management plan.

Depending on your personal goals and specific preferences, women too can benefit from sports nutrition. Let’s dive in and look at the categories and products to consider when complementing a balanced diet and exercise routine to optimise your all-over performance and specific bodywork results that you want to see looking back at you in the mirror.

Understand Your Goals and Choose the Right Supplement:

An Energy Boost Your Way

An active, healthy lifestyle requires at least one thing in abundance – energy. It’s what makes us, and the world, go round. In fact, energy is essential for our existence. Whether you need a daily boost in energy to get you through the day, improve training endurance, or enhance muscle pumps during resistance sessions, it's important to select the right supplement that aligns with your needs and objectives.

One of the most underlying causes for low energy is poor nutrition. When it comes to getting an energy boost, nutritional status can make or break you. If you’re not getting the nutrients you need from food, then your body, and many body systems, are lacking in the raw materials necessary to produce energy.

Dragging through each day wondering where your energy went? Fatigue or lack of energy is one of the most common early signs of vitamin B12 deficiency especially among vegetarians as this vitamin comes from animal-only dietary sources only (meat and dairy). Now Foods® Ultra B-12 drops (R369) include a blend of vitamin B-12 and nutrients supplying cellular energy production and can help naturally boost your energy levels. You can also opt-in for Now Foods® B-12 Lozenges (R349) which aids in your body’s production of energy from fats and proteins and will certainly give you a natural boost of energy.

If you enjoy the surge that caffeine adds to your day, fat burners such as the Ripped Freak Hybrid Fat Burner (R399) and Ripped Freak 2.0 (R649) with unique formulations can boost energy and mental alertness daily and prepare and sustain you for your fitness session later. Take it with breakfast in the morning and experience a healthy stream of energy all day long while it helps you burn resting calories and aids in healthy fat loss when used in conjunction with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

When you need that extra edge for your workouts, a pre-workout is recommended that can simply help you through the toughest sessions. The Shatter pre-workout from MuscleTech® (R899) is sure to amplify your performance with extreme energy and is carefully and scientifically engineered with healthy doses of ingredients to help you deliver optimum performance (plus it comes in a delicious rainbow fruit candy flavour).

Weight Management for Every Level of Fitness (even the non-fit)

Whether you have that ultimate toned physique painted amongst your dreams, desperately need a solution to aid fat loss, or simply have the need to maintain a healthy diet, there are multiple ways to support your body to achieve your goals.

Weight gain can be extremely frustrating, especially when you don’t know what’s causing it. Some of the most common reasons are eating large amounts of processed or fast food (high in fat and sugar), drinking too much alcohol (which contains a lot of calories), grabbing something to eat at the local fuel station, and eating out a lot (foods may be higher in fat and sugar).

A good way to start is to add a highly nutritious protein shake to your eating routine. This will help you balance your daily macronutrients for a healthy lifestyle and help you feel fuller which leads to less unhealthy snacking. Protein is especially important for women who exercise, as it can help prevent muscle loss, increase your strength, and boost a lagging metabolism. The Nitro Tech Ripped Whey Protein by MuscleTech® (R1 149) is a one-of-a-kind formula to deliver ultra-pure protein plus real weight loss results through a key weight loss ingredient, C. canephora robusta. This great-tasting formula doesn't pack on extra sugars and carbs - giving you more protein per scoop and a better overall macronutrient profile.

Are your sugar cravings taking the toll on your diet? Any healthy diet generally includes no processed sugar and may cause slight side effects like lower energy levels, headaches, and irritability. A Grenade Carb Killa® Protein Bar may complement your sugar detox routine perfectly. It is high in protein (20g per bar) which will contribute to your daily macros and only contains 2g of sugar, which is approximately half a teaspoon per bar compared to regular chocolate bars that contain up to 13 times that amount! Alternatively, try a Grenade Protein Shake that offers 24g of protein and just 198 calories and is ideal as a post-workout refuel, midday treat, or on-the-go snack.

Taking the first step towards a fat-burning program will change things up for your metabolism. The most important aspect to remember is to start this journey in conjunction with a healthy diet and regular exercise. Ripped Freak Hybrid Fat Burner (R399) is a tested and proven fat burner best taken with breakfast or your morning workout. Its appetite-suppressing properties will help you to have fewer cravings, and its high caffeine content will increase resting energy expenditure to aid whole-body fat loss and will boost your energy levels so you can take your reps, strength, and stamina a step further to tap into further fat burning.

Tired of wearing baggy tops that hide your waistline and camouflage your belly? Ripped Freak 2.0 (R649) specifically target and enhance abdominal fat loss, and let’s face it, we all have days when we need support. For those who have a sensitivity to stimulants, Hydroxycut Non-Stimulant (R399) is 99% caffeine-free and designed for people who want to lose weight without experiencing the energy surge of stimulants. This formula includes B Vitamins to help metabolise carbs, proteins, and fats; Vitamin D to support general good health, along with a complex of B vitamins.

Body Essentials For an Active Lifestyle

Depending on your type, intensity, and duration of exercise, it is important to support your body with necessary nutrients that will enable you to get stronger and fitter through subtle muscle growth and physical recovery from training.

When training hard, you may need to take more vitamins than the average person as exercise can double the need for B vitamins involved in energy metabolism and red blood cell formation. You may also be unaware of a vitamin deficiency due to your diet or lifestyle or medical condition. Some athletes like to take Vitamin C to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation and Vitamin E for muscle support and endurance.

Enhance your daily lifestyle with a world-class range of products that aim to help you achieve your health goals naturally and safely, Now Foods Essential Supplements and vitamins contain natural ingredients that can boost your health, metabolism, energy, and recovery without causing any unwanted side effects; what is labelled on the bottle is what you get inside.

We also know that disruptions in hormone balance can cause a cascade of negative effects on the female endocrine (hormonal) system. When oestrogen becomes out of balance, it can affect your metabolism, mood, energy, sleep and physical performance. Restore the natural balance of your female endocrine system and reduce levels of hormones that impede your ability to burn fat and build muscle with Ripped femme Estro Therapy (R429), a supplement designed for the female hormonal system for healthy oestrogen metabolism and support.

During any active lifestyle, it is also important to put back what is lost during training sessions. Help your body recover better with amino acids, the building blocks of protein, to speed up your recovery process even further and reduce muscle soreness after your workout so you don’t lose the motivation to get back to training. Xtend BCAA Powder (R799) is a sugar-free and carb-free way to help anyone grind through a tough fitness session. It facilitates both fat loss, new muscle construction and shortens recovery time so you just don’t just feel recovered but are indeed recovered!

NOW Foods®, MuscleTech, PharmaFreak, Grenade, Ripped Femme and Xtend are available in South Africa through DS International Distribution and can be purchased on Takealot and selected independent health shops. 

You can also shop directly at DS International Online at www.dsinternational.co.za.