Multi level pyramid schemes

Herbalife, what is it? Is it good for you? Does it work?

Herbalife was fonded in the 1980s according to the website Herbalife it promises to change your life through a balanced diet and using their products and exercise. The website does a really good job at selling the product, by stating how to advancing sports nutrition through scientific research, they have done an excellent job at promoting it by stating how they have people with PhDs working for them, scientists etc, to he average,person they would be feeling very excited that they will be looked after by all these people and the products will be excellent. 

The principle of Herbalife is to help you loose weight through their shakes and their protein bars, the website has a meal plan for you to follow, it is basically shake for breakfast, which is 220kcal it does give you other examples such as porridge, scrambled egg on toast , snack is their protein bar or fruit etc, lunch is another shake, snack is protein bar or their soup, and dinner is a proper meal

This sounds ok, easy enough to do, however it is also very similar to slim fast etc, 2 shakes and 1 meal, however the products on the website do not give you the ingredients that are in them, they state they are high in protein from dairy and soy, but does not state the sugar or the fat content, or the carb content, now on other websites such as dolphin fitness which is a website that sells protein products, it states all the nutritional value of the products that you are purchasing so you can actually see what you are putting in your body.

The thing is with this is how little calories you are actually putting in your body, if you are drinking two shakes a day and having the protein bar as 1 snack, which is 140 kcal and then the soup which is 104 kcal you are only taking in 684 kcal so for dinner you are allowed a meal now even if the meal was 500 kcal you would only be taking in 1,184 kcal a day, when the average person should be taking in around 1600/2000 calories and most of that is before you do any physical exercise, not just your average days walking. 

Do you see why people see results with this product? It is to do with how little calories they are taking in, now we all know what happened if they stop the product, they are likely to pile on more weight which leads to yo yo dieting, things like is isn't really long term because your body will eventually stall and you will up your exercise, or try to but with the little amount of energy your body is taking in, you will become ill.

On the website it gives you career opportunities, and people will get in contact with you promising excellent career opportunities, excellent benefits of selling, you will see people on social media sites like Facebook saying how they are doing really well selling the product, have a great team behind them, going on holiday etc, now his makes it sound so exciting, all you have to do is promote the product and sell it, and you make money, great.. You are told that two really big stars are using the product, Christian Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, now these stars are paid millions of pounds to endource this product, but if you think about it they really won't be using it, they play football which requires 90 minutes 2 times a week, they train every day sometimes twice a day, now they need to be taking in more than 1,184 calories a day, especially as they are male, so please think about this before signing up to the product because they are promoting the products.

Herbalife is what is described as a multi level pyramid scheme, a multi level pyramid scheme is based on people distributing the products and people buying the products, the people at the bottom of the pyramid will not be earning any money and the people at the top will be he high earners, people are recruited with the promise of earning big money, working from home and being able to quickly move up the chain, the more you sell the more money you make. To join Herbalife you need to buy the products, you will then receive a discount on the products, you then have to sell the products in any way you possibly can, by door to door leaflets, by promoting he products on your social media site, pyramid schemes this website describes pyramid schemes in better detail, but basically you won't be making any money till you make your way up the pyramid scheme, and most people won't be doing that because they won't get enough people to buy he products.

Most people that distribute Herbalife are not people with any background knowledge on health, nutrition or fitness, I'm not saying that everyone should have that background knowledge, but personally if you do not know what you are selling how do you expect to sell it, I have been as,ed on many occasions to sell it, and to start with the idea of earning extra money did seem like a great idea, until I reseated the product or the lack of research I could do on the products, as the website is great at saying how they have all these amazing people working for the product but lack any information on the product it self, personally I am a big believer in eating food and exercising, the old saying eat less move more works well for me, however I certainly know I need more than 1000 calories a day to survive let alone if I am doing exercise. 

Recently I have been told I would be good at being a coach for them, and that I am wasted in my job! I am a fitness coach I am also saving up to do a nutrition course, now I work in a gym and coaching people would be good, and giving them advise on nutrition, which I am not yet qualified to do, however the Herbalife people automatically think they are qualified to give nutritional advise to people, now unless you have done a degree in nutrition or done a course and worked your way up for 7 years, you are not qualified to give nutritional advise, also these people coach people exercise etc, just because you have done your level 2 fitness exam, which any one can do, does not mean you are greater than the next person, it is a hard job being in the fitness industry and there are always new things to be learnt and researched, Herbalife being one of them, before you decide extra income is good, make sure you research the product you are trying to sell.

Would you buy a product by someone who is just a Joe Bloggs from across the road, that has no knowledge in the fitness and nutrition industry? I know a lot of people are after quick fixes, have tried it all and are still depressed about their weight, but please do not take to shakes as a way to do it, there is enough information on the Internet, books, join a gym, even go to the doctors and get sent to a dietician who will help you! Sign up for slimming world or weight watchers which also have great results (I will do a post on them) do it as a family, just please make sure you eat.

Juice plus what is it? Will it work?

Juice plus was founded in 1993 so it is actually a relatively new product, juice plus, juice plus states how it is hard to eat fruit and veg a day, so have concentrated the best part of 30 different fruit and veg and put them into capsules, that adults take two capsules and children take one a day. 

Here is a quick run down on the programme thanks to a weigh loss website what is juice plus?

- meal replacement plan with 3 elements

- cut down on calories by substituting meals for shakes or bars

- up your fruit and veg intake

-supplement your diet with juice based tablets

How to follow the plan:

- detox for 2 weeks

-replace 2 meals a day for 2 weeks

-take the juice plus supplements

Yet again it's only around 1000 calories a day, just like Herbalife, which is why people, especially very overweight people see the results

It is yet another pyramid scheme so only the people on the top will benefit from it, it contains a lot of chemicals in the shakes and the capsules, only the people with the products can see what's in them as the website are very good at hiding them, and just promoting how amazing it is to have the products.

You will get results if you are severely overweight, the same as if you cut down to 1000 calories without the shakes, the same as if you would to just drink an average protein shake at every meal rather than food.

Please do your research properly before falling down those routes, and remember photo shop is a lot of people's best friends