"The Wells Fargo Wagon Is a Comin' Down the Street!"

Well, I suppose that was a somewhat cryptic title for those of you under a certain age who have never ever seen "The Music Man"!  It refers, my children, to a time in another century when our U.S. Mail trucks were horse drawn wagons from Wells Fargo (It is, I believe, the same company that we know now with different functions.  Instead of stagecoaches filled with mail & frequent stage-coach robberies and the eventual (or not) delivery of goodies from back East, we've got the United States Postal Service, and I'd say that's a good thing.

Except for the fact that Wells Fargo is now a bank, and we have gotten rather used to the banks robbing US these days.  I speak from bitter experience.  But never mind that!

Delivery days are a very good thing, and I had a double whammo the other day; I received two things in one day that I wanted very much!  The first was a replacement printer for my beloved HP 6500 wireless (insurance on printers is important for people like me who seem to burn through electronics at a fearsome rate).  May seem like a crazy thing to get excited about, but not in this house, where a printer is an object dearly beloved by me.  That was item #1.


The second big box was from Herbalife, and not a moment too soon!  This is not going to be one of those blogs wherein, every page or two I go on a rant about how I've sponsored 50,000 people in the last hour and so can you!  I'm not going to tell you that in the last year, while bipolar disorder was kicking me in the head, I still managed to make bank.  But I HAVE developed a deep and abiding LOVE for these products; if I can help it I will never be without them.  I'd like to make as many of you as possible see why -- they are that good!

Back to the other parcel that caused so much joy in my house on Saturday -- the big box from Herbalife.  We haven't been able to order several of my favorite Herbalife products for a few months due to financial difficulties.  We've been a little cold and hungry lately, hardly a fashionable thing to admit, but really I don't give a damn.  It's true and I don't care if you know it.  Because of the particular way in which I was smashed by giant banks and left for dead, the trauma was so deep and the cost so steep that it has taken a while to even comprehend what it would take to come back.

When a big box of your favorite Herbalife goodies arrives at the door after a drought, there is much rejoicing.  I admit it freely; I am virtually addicted to the protein bars.  We all have our favorites -- Patrick is partial to the citrus lemon - he says it's just about the best "candy bar" he's ever tasted - it's so good he puts it in the "candy" category instead of the boring oatmeal based protein bar that's so ubiquitous in Whole Foods.  Mine is the "vanilla almond" and it is so good, so yummy and chewy and tasty -- 10 grams protein, 5 grams sugar, 140 calories and it's a perfect mid-day snack.  Perfect.  

The great thing about these super-deluxe bars is that you can have a couple a day and do yourself NO HARM at all because instead of indulging in carbs -- even if they are healthy ones -- you're munching on protein, and without noticing it your body begins to re-shape itself. 
Follow this link and glance in over at the Herbalife site, where the bars are featured, so that you can take a look at them -- of course, it isn't until you've tasted your favorite that you start wondering what goes into those delicious little chewy things that makes them so very tasty and satisfying -- something addictive perhaps?


Confession:  there were days (blush) when I ate 3 of them a day and still lost weight.  It's the PROTEIN!!
  
Strangely enough you actually feel as though you are getting away with something, because the damned things are soooo good they couldn't be good for you, right?  Well, no -- wrong, as it turns out, wrong, wrong, wrong!  Sooo good and still good for you.  My body does not lie, and neither do I!


Yes, protein! Easily assimilable protein.  So if you like them, go for it without guilt.  My body is MUCH happier with them than without -- I like the leaner look that simply happens to me when that protein is upped on a daily basis.  I have had people say to me that it isn't THAT hard to get enough protein -- but it is a matter of daily consistency, and it isn't as easy as you might think, especially if you aren't paying attention.  This is, I admit, the lazy AND health-conscious person's way out!

Try them all -- which one would your favorite be?  Vanilla Almond, Citrus Lemon, or Chocolate Peanut? There are other, non-deluxe Herbalife bars that I've only tried one flavor of.  I will admit I was not overly impressed.  I would rather pay a few more dollars for something delicious that REALLY works for us.  Next time we'll discuss the other goodies in the box -- back soon!


Health and happiness,

Julie and Patrick

Time for the Monthly Post

Oh my dears, forgive me!  It has been far too long since I have written here, and the time has come for me to pull myself together and take this a lot more seriously.

It is true confessions time, and there are so very very many of them to make.  I know it will take more than one post, as I have some stories for you.

First of all, I love writing -- it's nothing I ever really feel blocked about, and I haven't been writing long enough to be burned out.  So what happens?  Am I just a lazy, bad thing?  No, alas -- I used to think I was, but that was before I understood I had Bipolar disorder -- the one thing Herbalife cannot fix.  I'll tell you, if they could they would, because this stuff could fix just about anything.  But I digress.

I felt I needed to talk about what it is that makes me periodically disappear, because I am so stoked about what we've experienced with Herbalife that I want to write about it, and the benefits that I can see for all sorts of health issues with all sorts of people.  It isn't just about the weight.  It's the whole body, the whole system, that transforms itself.  If I could upload it into my poor disordered brain I would.  But I fear I cannot.

And sometimes I get depressed, and it is hard to write or do much of anything.  But -- I have opened some floodgates for myself re advertising -- a bundled package with AT&T Yellow Pages -- or yellowpages.com -- which includes a hosted website, SEO, traffic driving and the like for the Megalopolis that is the Greater San Francisco Bay Area: Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz!  Sooo I'd better get on my game, and make this a more regular thing.  

It's kind of a bipolar thing to blitz out into the mainstream, all sparkly and ready to roll -- and then the energy goes away and you crawl back into bed for a year or two.  Oh I wish I were kidding.  But the time has come to try to change some MORE patterns.  And I truly want to make a more disciplined approach to this blog.  Plus I want Patrick, my dearly beloved, to contribute as well.  I am saying this to you so that I will have to come up to it.

Plus I have just signed on over at a really fun place called "Sponsored Tweets" -- a lot of my traffic comes from my two twitter accounts and the 3500 followers I have there.  Sponsored Tweets connects people up with advertisers.  The Twitter Nation is now filled with scads of mini-copywriters, everyone trying their hand at finding just the perfect phrase to describe a product in that 140 character parameter.  It's a really fun way to pick up some extra cash, and I really want to recommend this to you! 

So let's just say I am really just beginning.  Soon this blog will be hosted on something a wee bit more professional than blogspot, as I am ready to focus more of my energy on Internet marketing in all of its glory.   I have never been so interested in anything in my life --  not professionally, not ever.  So I have a few great things shaping up for me -- products I truly believe in, a place to write for (o jason at politicus I'm not ready yet forgive me!), and I'm almost ready to put up a product website!  The last one truthfully sucked, and I could not bear to be associated with it. 

We're still going to get out those emergency nutrition packs.  We are getting cloth bags -- made of a light  muslin.  We were going to call them Emergency Nutrition Packs but I'd rather call them "Adventure Packs" and focus on the hikers and campers and festival goers -- our great land is full of people who know how to have fun!  We can put together a little something nutritionally to make your experience much easier, and I'll be showing you soon!


I promised myself I would only write a few things and a few paragraphs tonight, so that I would have to come back and tell you the really big discoveries I have made in the last two months WITHOUT MY NORMAL SUPPLY OF HERBALIFE GOODIES.  ICK!  Seriously, just ick -- that's all you have to know until later!


Love, Julie

America, We Have a Problem!!

I have a confession to make:  I have never been inside a Wal-Mart.  There isn't one around here, and it is one of life's experiences that I have not sought out.  I think that Wal-Mart has been doing some great things to combat global warming, and this is not an anti-Walmart screed.  But the pictures I have seen on this page jolted me out of what little complacency I still had, which wasn't much.  While I don't think that the people who visit Wal-Mart are any different than anyone else, there are some disturbing images coming out of those stores!

This rant is more along the lines of:  "How did it happen that we became a nation of fat/obese people?  When did this occur, and where is the trend leading? How do we get off this train??"  As I was pulling in some facts for this post, I read an article by Kim Benson, author of "Finally Thin", who mentioned that 2/3 of our nation would qualify as "fat".  We've had to change the size of our movie theater seats, our airplane seats and even our coffins come in super-size.  Wow.

Ms. Benson's article, titled "Is It Okay To Be Fat?", made the excellent point that we have been given free will with which to make our own decisions, and neither one is easy.  On the one hand we are surrounded with more and better cuisine, or more and worse -- name your poison!  We have food from exotic countries that are exquisitely delicious, or we can go for a junk food binge.  It has never, from what I can tell, been easier to eat in the United States.

The thing is, and I speak from experience, being on the plus side weight-wise just isn't a lot of fun.  Clothes don't fit, bodies don't stay healthy, people don't treat you the same and you just plain don't feel as well.  Personally, I hate being over-weight.  I grant everyone else their right to be over-weight, but I don't wear it well.

The reason I got into this business -- once I discovered, to my utter astonishment, that Herbalife did all it promised and then some -- was that I realized how obsessively desperate so many people are to find some way to get and keep the pounds off.  Why do so many diets fail?  Why do we have such a hard time with this issue?

Well, clearly this is a substantive issue, and no single blog post can fully answer it.  There are so many factors.  Some overeat for psychological issues, out of boredom or neurosis.  Some don't like exercise and live a sedentary life.  Some are compulsively attached to sweets, some don't want to be bothered with the whole consideration.  Some have lousy metabolisms and hormonal problems.  The list goes on and on and the point is -- losing weight and keeping it off is one of the challenges of modern life.

How are we doing so far, do you think?  I'd say we aren't doing so well.  As Ms. Bensen notes, about 2/3 of our nation has some sort of weight problem.  I'm not one to throw stones at the over-weight -- it's just another one of life's annoying little glitches that we were put here to deal with, in my point of view.  And I really dislike it when I hear people putting out negative energy towards the overweight.  Chances are those same people will get their turn to feel the disapproving stares of strangers when they are older and less fit.

But even though we were given free will, and we can make our choices, I think most of us would say that the best choice is to stay fit.  Yeah, right!  You tell that to the mom who has been pregnant and can't take the extra off, or to the person with the sluggish metabolism who doesn't feel up to exercising, or to the chronically depressed! Or to the post-menopausal woman who NEVER had any problems before menopause.  Or to the man who has eaten exactly as he liked his whole life until one day he realizes he's let himself go and he isn't quite sure how or when it happened.  And he sure doesn't know how he's going to get his body back together again.


That is exactly why I am in this business.  Because I have found a way that has worked, not only for me but for thousands of people around the world.  Anyone who has read any of this blog knows my story and I won't bore you by repeating it.  But after I lost weight so effortlessly on Herbalife after many other starts and stops, I was so impressed with the health-giving, life-saving properties of the Herbalife product line that I determined I was going to spend my time telling people about them -- talking about them, yes, and selling them.  They are THAT good.

Because Herbalife works.  And when I have a client that doesn't get results, I've been through enough with my own body over the years to know when they need to see a doctor about potential thyroid or other metabolic problems.  I'm not going to say it will always be as effortless for others as it was for me.  Every body is different, and that's the honest truth.  Some take it seriously and really are patient and will follow instructions; others don't have the staying power and won't end up with their desired results.


But with support from a wellness coach (that's a great name for what we do) and perhaps a group of like-minded friends who want to take walks together, or get together and discuss nutrition -- you've got a really good chance of taking off weight and keeping it off with the right diet plan -- and Herbalife -- now in 72 countries because it works -- with the brilliant concept of "targeted cellular nutrition" in play -- works.  Remind me to post my (ugh) before and (much better!) after pictures one of these days soon!

If you have any questions about Herbalife in action -- go to www.herbalife.com and do some reading.  Feel free to contact me with anything more personal.  I will have my own e-commerce site up soon, and I look forward to welcoming you through its doors!

That's it for this evening -- now if I only had been smart enough to lay in enough Herbalife Vanilla Almond protein bars for the weekend! They are the yummiest ever made.  Period.  End of story.

Herbalife -- 30 Years and Counting!

Well, hello out there once again!  There are so very many things I want to write about Herbalife that I find myself literally overwhelmed; so I've decided to simply plunge in and speak about what's on my mind.

Herbalife is celebrating its THIRTIETH YEAR in business!  Does anyone out there have ANY idea what that means for a Direct Marketing (ooooh, the dreaded MLM) Company?  Herbalife has literally survived the premature death of its charismatic founder, Mark Hughes, and soldiered on.  No other Direct Marketing Company that I am aware of is publicly traded on the NYSE.  This MEANS something.  It means that Herbalife has had to pass muster -- all those inspections and book-checkings and everything that goes with certifying that a business has what it takes to compete on those levels.

Any business like Herbalife has to have its proverbial nose clean.  When I look at the international success story this company represents, I am floored.  We are now in 72 -- 72 countries -- the latest being Vietnam and Paraguay.  This means that our standards must be above reproach.  We must meet the various and complex regulations of all those countries in order to import/make our goods there.  Now that's really something.

Anyone have any idea how crazy that is??  Well, if you have any knowledge of the complexities of the import/export business, you'll know that every country has its own set of regulations and they are all mostly different.  What a headache!  You won't find every single product in every country, but you'll find the basics -- the Core Products for which we are rightfully famous!


What I am most impressed by (as the daughter of one of the first female chemistry students at the University of California at Berkeley back in the forties when they thought women were too stupid to be chemists!) is the science of Herbalife.  For THIRTY YEARS in laboratories around the world men and women have labored to find the best combination of proteins, carbohydrates, probiotics, vitamins, minerals -- the list is endless -- for optimal nutrition down to the molecules, the very molecular structures of our bodies.


That struck me, and it struck me hard.  Anyone who knows me from this blog or from life knows that my body "betrayed" me when I was 17 -- undiagnosed hypothyroidism & bipolar disorder.  Even when I was properly diagnosed and on decent if imperfect medication, I still never felt well.


Until I met up with Herbalife, which changed my life in six short months.  That's science at its best, folks.  When you can speak with all your integrity intact about what a product has done for you and yours, you've got something. 

There's a reason Herbalife has lasted so long and KEEPS GROWING!  Because it works!  It is pure, utter nourishment at the cellular level.  Because it's not "dead food" like the costly pre-made meals advertised everywhere.  In my opinion you might as well eat the cardboard those things come with as the food.  But I'm biased.


Where's that bias coming from?  Well, there's something about losing 30 pounds without effort in 6 months, and having 60% of the gray in my hair disappear.  Only my hairdresser knows for sure, and guess what she bought from me that day?  The Quick Start pack, that's what -- she's no fool, and once she saw how tiny I'd gotten and that my hair color had changed, she didn't need any more convincing.


I suggest any of my readers check out the link I posted above.  It will take you right to the page on www.herbalife.com that speaks about their peerless scientific findings.  Fascinating.  Check it out!!



 

Happy New Year to One and to All!

Well hello everyone -- I have been AWOL from this blog for quite some time.  We could not get the Weight Loss Challenge going before the holidays, but we are about to start again.  I've been spending these lovely rainy days wondering how best to communicate with people about joining up in one of our Challenges, especially when the rain is coming down so hard that it's absurd to think of posting anything!  When my girls came home for the holidays we threw our hands up in the air and decided to start up again in the New Year.


A sunny day will come and we shall poster again, and meanwhile I know there are many, many people out there facing the "battle of the bulge" post-holidays!  We'd like to help, and will be letting you know when we intend to begin the first Weight Loss Challenge in Marin in 2010.  Come one, come many!  

I hope you all had a great time over the holidays!  If you've any questions about what it is that makes Herbalife so special, feel free!  I'm going to be talking about that in any case very soon.  I'll leave you with these special words:

1.  "targeted cellular nutrition"

2.  Julie (that would be me) lost 30 pounds in 6 months to her utter shock!

3.  Julie now has at least 60% less gray hair than she did before last April.

4.  Patrick has recovered from two life-threatening illnesses and he's got his   health back!

5.  People who haven't seen us for some months are truly surprised at how      
good we look! That's a great experience at any age, but especially now!


Naturally, it follows as night follows day that we have developed a great and undying loyalty to the products that have saved our lives as well as our love-life.  I literally cannot imagine not being able to use these super-foods.


Well all right!  I'll be back soon.  I plan on including a lot more research in the months to come.  We need to discuss what part protein plays in weight loss.  We need to examine what molecular nutrition means. There's a lot to discuss.  I look forward to 2010 -- I've found health, and it's a great place to live.  I'd like to bring as many of you as I can to that neighborhood.  Talk to you soon!


Cheers, dears!


Julie