Thoughts On Network Marketing and Authenticity

As I use and fall in love with the product and how it makes me feel, I have the opportunity to create a home based business selling these products, and for the past week or so as I've been delving into the business side more, I did a lot of soul-searching, and I am having a hard time starting the business side of Isagenix. I've never been a salesperson. Well, I've been employed as one a number of times, but I'm bad at it! I couldn't, in good faith, tell people to buy things that were a waste of money. Like attempting to persuade family farms in Canada to buy postage stamp machines. Or selling Bath and Body Works lotions, of which I don't even like. 

Conversely, in college I was the Vice President of Recruitment for the Panhellenic Counsel, which is the governing body for the entire sorority community on my campus. You could say that I directed the activity of all recruitment activities... in other words... sell. But I wasn't selling a product. I wasn't selling anything really. My main purpose was to align our communities with their original higher purpose of education, philanthropy, and community and to SHARE our values with the larger community. We were not in the business of gaining members... we were in the business of living our values and then attracting members who share our values to join us. In the process, we break stereotypes, we change minds, and we change lives. The result of these focuses on values and finding members who share our values skyrocketed the numbers of our entire community as a by-product of living our values; of being good students, good leaders, and good people.

Number Crunching! 30-Day Cleanse - Day 15

I completed 15 days of the program - exactly half of the 30 days! I literally can not believe the results. What's most insane is that normally, I would have been the most excited about losing the weight and inches, and in fact, I am more excited about the freaking ENERGY that I gained. It's like... a switch turned on somewhere in my body. This is the feeling I searched for when drinking two, four, eight cups of coffee every day at work. Drinking four-plus cans of diet coke. Succumbing to that need for the energy of a sugar rush with a quick trip to the vending machine for a snickers bar or three. I feel this freeing, joyful energy. I feel as if I could do anything again. And I haven't drank caffeine in 15 day (with zero withdrawal symptoms by the way - that was a shocker!) I asked my boyfriend today about the changes he noticed in me, if any, and he spoke about how my mood changed to being consistently more positive every day. There are less sad days or frustrated days, and I am less tired and more energized.

As far as numbers go, I tracked my weight and measurements every morning as well as my total caloric intake and levels of hunger, mood and energy. Based on this data, I created wonderful charts to share. I

30- Day Cleanse - Day 12 and 13

Saturday night, I started my first 48-hour cleanse. After completing my first cleanse day, I did a LOT more research on the subject, and maybe it's not so crazy after all. 

Our bodies divide most of its energy between three major areas in the body: the brain, the heart and other essential functions (like breathing), and the stomach (digestion). Obviously, the heart and other essential functions cannot get energy diverted from it, because then we would die. The brain and the stomach therefore are two areas that divide up the rest of the energy depending on need. Think about when you eat too much - you normally feel tired; you're body is using any expendable energy to digest the huge meal you just consumed which diverts some of the energy from your cognitive functions. When food is in your stomach, it must be digested. Consider when you are sick, the best thing to do for your body is rest and drinking water. Eating a lot is generally not encouraged, because it takes energy to digest. Chicken soup is normally recommended when ill... and that's because it's most made of water, which is the best thing to consume when sick. If you eat something, your body, again, needs to digest it, which diverts energy away from your body to fight the bacteria or virus that created your cold. 

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Whey Protein

The products that I use include organic, non-GMO undenatured whey from grass-fed, free-roaming cows in New Zealand. Undenatured means the company uses a gentler process to separate the whey protein from the other parts of milk, and many people report better digestion and absorption. I like the fact that the cold processing of concentrate allows some of the beneficial bacteria to remain active, which boosts levels of the antioxidant glutathione. Undenatred whey protein has also been linked to better weight loss properties compared to soy (plant based) protein. 

30 - Day Cleansing - Day 10 and 11

While my scale and measurements seem to have stalled (except for today, down 5 lbs again - why do I always weigh less on the weekends?), I FEEL great. I feel like I finally have enough energy to do all things I want and need. Every day at work, I write a to-do list for when I come home. I normally get through 1 or 2 things out of 10, because I am tired.

Honestly, I thought my energy problems would cease after I stopped working overnight retail management when I started working at a new day-time, office job. I mean, how could I be tired and low on energy after sitting around and typing all day. I love both of those things! Unfortunately, it did not seem to be the case. I was tired in the morning, tired at work, and then tired at home. I felt like I just didn't have enough ENERGY to do anything productive.

Compare then to now, just 11 days later after starting this program, and I feel like a different person. I actually have the energy to start working out again, as I did today, doing more household chores regularly, and cooking homemade meals more often.

30-Day Cleansing - Day 9

While I normally would feel disappointed to have kept the same measurements and weight for so many days straight, I have so much energy and focus! Truly, from before the cleanse day to after the cleanse day, it's like night and day. For the second day in a row I felt energized and engaged in work (and believe me, it's not the work that's changed!) 

Weight update: it seems that the 160lbs measurement that I took a few days ago truly was, unfortunately, a fluke. I've been holding steady at 165 since then. However, big picture is that I released 5 pounds in 9 days, and even more impressive: I released 10 inches from all over my body, with the biggest being the three from my tummy and 2 from my bum. That's about 1 inch per day since I started this program! 

I am loving that I FEEL healthier and LOOK better. My pants fit again, which is my favorite part. It's hard to feel good about yourself when you can't even button your pants that you wear to work. 

In other news, I do have a rash on the back of both my hands... I don't think it's related, but I've never had a rash before. So I'll keep an eye out on that. 

30-Day Cleanse - Day 7

One week in - and I feel great! I felt energized all day and THAT it the effect I have been waiting for. This is the first time since I started my job, that I was awake and engaged throughout the day and into the evening. Now, after making dinner, making lunch, and preparing food for tomorrow, I will go to bed with only this short update. I can't wait to keep feeling this great or even better!

30-Day Cleanse - Day 6

Today is the day - Cleansing Day - the star player of this cleansing system. This whole program works around the idea of cleansing "toxins" from your body, like caffeine or anything else unhealthy. If I understand correctly, when losing weight quickly and safely (which this program does), your fat cells shrink, which makes the yucky toxic stuff in your body a greater percentage of your body. This triggers a reaction in your body to want to gain the weight back as recon for the presence of all the toxins. I could literally be butchering the explanation, since I fully do not understand it that well. Can anyone with more experience help me out?

30-Day Cleansing - Day 5

I messed up and ate three candy canes while I did chores last night. It messed up my awesome numbers, my energy, and my health. I also came to some really serious personal realizations about me, my life, and my health that I may write about at a different time. I am going to take a scoop of the cleansing powder and go to bed early. No more late nights or candy for me.

Number Crunching - 30-Day Cleanse Day 5

The first thing I set up when I started this program was a wonderful excel sheet with all the pertinent data that I could easily enter and track, because making things in excel pretty much gives me a human equivalent of a dog playing catch: pure joy. How else would I really know it worked?

The highlighted areas indicate areas of change. 

So far, the number indicate a significant change in my body. In five days, I've released ten pounds. It sounds impressive, but inches are the real proof that a program works. In addition, some of this weight is probably water weight, but hey, if the scale moves, the scale moves. I'm not complaining.

30-Day Cleanse - Day 4

First of all, just to mix things up this morning, I made a chocolate vanilla shake. And it was delicious! I added one IsaDelight Plus™ Dark Chocolate to the shake as well as my usual three ice cubes and 8oz of water. In addition, I added 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to add more fat to my daily energy. Really, you can't go wrong with the ease of these meals.

My delicious vanilla-chocolate superfood creation.

30-Day Cleanse - Day 3

So today was full of ups and downs. It started out great, I got super-ultra energized during the morning and afternoon, which is awesome because I love feeling productive at work,  but then I overate for lunch. I became WAY too full and all my energy went to digesting food, I'm assuming. So straight from top energy levels to bottom. I slept when I came home, and now am actually feeling sick-sick, with the kind of tickle sore throat that means imminent sickness is coming soon. Maybe that also contributed to my tiredness.

In any case, I don't think how I'm feeling has much to do with the cleansing program as much as my own

30-Day Cleanse - Day 2

Only the second day, and three pounds lost and a significant development in my fitness recovery!

This morning, the scale moved for the first time in... months. I pretty much had given up every morning on ever seeing that small line move down, so you can imagine my surprise when my 170 lbs dropped to 167. Surely just water weight, but still makes me feel good. Also, can you lose water weight if you've already lost water weight? I lost a good 10 pounds right away when I started my ketogenic diet. It was awesome. Then I lost 10 more. Then I lost 3 pant sizes. I've been stalled for the last three months.

In fact, let's jot down some personal background information: I started a new job in December, right when my weight loss and inches were REALLY on a roll. This was problematic because my old job in retail required walking - a LOT of walking. A lot of physical activity, heavy lifting etc. (Oh how I don't miss logistics.) I estimate that I was probably, on a low side, walking five miles a day, five times a week. Which brings me to now, at my desk job where I just... sit. I love it, but now I understand why fitness and going to

30 Day Cleanse. Day 1.

So, maybe you're like me, and you don't know anyone who's done a "cleanse" program or "shake" program or any other diet program, and to be honest, you're a little skeptical . Does it seem a little too "sales-person-ey?" A little too "Infomercial?"

It seemed that way to me. After time though, the results can't be ignored. My friend from college, who I unashamedly facebook-stalked due to her success on this cleanse program, got me into trying this 30 day nutritional superfood that she and so many of her friends and family also tried.

To be honest, I don't feel as if there's enough genuine and thoughtful discourse from everyday folks like myself readily available out there, at least, I couldn't find much. I did find a lot of shiny marketing materials and glowing "personal testimonies." It's as if all the negative reviews or thoughts about this product were scrubbed clean from the internet. What is this company so afraid of? Controversy is to be expected with any product - it's the overall results that matter.This is my experiment to see if it really holds up to it's claim of losing weight, better performance, and healthy aging. I hope so, because I'm tired of feeling sick and sick of