The Skinny on Products

Most of you know I've recently begun selling the high-end health products of a wonderful Swedish company called Arbonne.  I started this business with two goals in mind.  Number one, get healthy.  I have been diagnosed, mis-diagnosed, re-diagnosed, and simply dismissed from many medical facilities.  I've gone from feeling okay to feeling miserable fairly quickly this year.  As I sit awaiting the results from a third Lupus test, I am not simply letting my health-status stagnate.  Much prayer has gone into my well-being.  When I pray for specifics things, I often keep my eyes open for a clue to the Path.  I learned about Arbonne through a friend and it looked interesting.  I didn't immediately know that this was my answered prayer.

I was impressed by their commitment to healthy ingredients.  No artificials.  No preservatives.  No soy, no gluten, and...this was the deal-maker...no dairy!  My brilliant mother, who would've been burned at the stake in another century for her naturalist ways, always taught us the perils of dairy.  We are the only mammal who continues to drink milk after being weaned from the breast.  The whey in milk is a huge allergen...most people don't realize their body is reacting toward it because we've just gotten used to phlegm and bloating.  Yes, I said phlegm.  Mucus.  Guess what...dairy products multiply the mucus inside of you immediately upon ingestion.  Gross.  Notice next time you have dairy.

But, like all other good Americans, I bought into the idea that milk is a necessary product... bones, skin, and all that.  So wrong.  Most every "health" product on the shelves includes milk products.  And I used to consider this a good thing!  I forgot what my mother taught us and I actually sought ways to incorporate dairy into my daily meals.  And I kept getting fatter.  Not to mention the feeling-crummy thing.  So, when I found that this company doesn't put dairy into their nutrition products and, in fact, adamantly preaches against dairy, I paid attention.

I learned that the reason the sizes of the products are small is because they do not use preservatives.  Even in the skin care line?  I mean, that's a little bottle of eye cream there.  Well, would you rather have your skin-care products mixed with formaldehyde or made with bat poo?  If the ethyl alcohol hasn't dried out your skin and burned your pores, then, just buckle up. It will happen.

Did you know that most chapsticks on the market have a drying ingredient in them so that you will have to continue using the product?  What about your anti-aging stuff?  What chemicals are you putting on your face in order to hide wrinkles?  I was overwhelmed when I looked at my own shelves at home.  The ingredients on some of my stuff made me sick to my stomach.  I had to Google most of the ingredients because, not only could I not pronounce them, I didn't know what they were.  They all come with side-affects (side-effects?).  Most are synthetic.  When a product professes to be "all natural", please investigate what their definition of natural is!

I mentioned that Arbonne is a Swedish company.  That alone is good enough for me.  Why?  Because Europe has banned over 12,000 products from the shelves.  12 Thousand ingredients are not allowed in products that are being sold.  How many has America banned?  10.  10 whole products.  And formaldehyde isn't one of them. Neither is arsenic.

So, I'm in.  I'm not preaching to you or trying to sell you...I just thought I'd journal my journey.  I started the nutrition program today.  Had a protein shake (vanilla) this morning (and just because it's called a "shake" doesn't mean it has milk).  I ate brown rice cooked with two eggs for lunch.  I'll confess that this was not as tasty as I was hoping, but fat's not as pretty as I'd hoped either.  I'm hoping to make a veggie stew for tomorrow that will be much tastier!

Here's to a thinner and healthier New Year!!  When the ball drops at midnight on January 1, 2015, I'll be yelling, "Happy New Me!"  :)

P.S.  For those of you wondering what that 2nd goal is.... I hope to bring in some much-needed income for my family.  So...if you want to order some great product....  :)