Guest blog post by Rachel Walmsley 'Herbalife - the view of a distributor'

On the 21st May 2014 we posted the below picture showing a Herbalife rep making a quick breakfast stop at McDonalds. The post attracted a lot of attention as was at the time by far the most popular we had ever posted, as always Herbalife came in for some stick but a few distributors held their own and made some valid comments for what turned out to be an educating an interesting debate.

Link to post on the Nourish Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nourishrestaurants/photos/a.549162805130974.1073741835.523732641007324/664781753569078/?type=1&theater

On the back of this Rachel Walmsley messaged us, initially through disapproval that we had posted the image but as we conversed there was a mutual respect for each other's work and ethos on wanting to educate people. Rachel wrote with real passion, something we like to see in the health industry. At this point we asked Rachel if she would like to write a guest blog for Nourish on her views and experience of not just Herbalife but the bigger picture of health.

Here's what Rachel had to say and as always any feedback you have please feel free to post.

I believe that we’re all entitled to an education on good nutrition. The World, not just the UK is massively obese and we will soon have an epidemic on our hands. In my personal opinion I believe this is NOT down to people stuffing their faces with the incorrect foods, but it’s a case of people knowing they want to be healthy, knowing they should be healthy but lack the knowledge to know where to start so they don’t. Unfortunately we also live in a world where profits are more important to supermarkets than helping people buy a balanced weekly shop.

We are faced with offers on all the things that are bad for you and vouchers offering extra loyalty points for buying something you don’t usually buy, typically laden with lots of sugar to keep you addicted to that bad diet. And then another twist of the dagger is that the “healthy” food that we think we are buying isn’t as “healthy” as we think it is. A study carried out in Spain on Oranges found that some of the tested Oranges contained NO Vitamin C whatsoever. So now we’re not only faced with trying to make the better choices but not really knowing whether they are better because mass production and crop rotation leaves us no better off. Have you ever picked up a bag of apples and seen the nutritional values on each one?

So what ARE we going to eat? That’s the ultimate all important question. And a question, that for me, has a one word answer. Herbalife.

I believe that there will unfortunately come a time where we have exhausted our planet and there will be limited real food left to eat and we will rely on anything that is processed and genetically modified thus leaving us highly malnourished on a global scale. So how do we counteract that? We look at supplementation.

Since getting my top grade nutrition supplements I am in better health now than I was 2 years ago. I feel it and I look it. I’m trimmer, my skin is glowing, my hair is shiny and the body analysis scales tell me it’s true also. Herbalife have a seed to feed programme and all the nutrients that are in the products were grown the optimised way to maintain true healthy ingredients. They don’t mass produce or rotate the crops too quickly, to make as much as possible as quick as possible, to make as much money as possible. We are a company that cares, we are a vision that believes we can help the world.

My name is Rachel Walmsley and I am a Personal Wellness Coach for Herbalife. I joined Herbalife nearly 2 years ago and have never looked back. I was introduced to the company by my old landlord and friend, Ross whilst living in Leeds. At this time I was just starting to get into lifting weights in the gym and thought it was a good idea to purchase a post workout protein shake to prevent muscle loss. I decided to visit Groupon and ordered some brand that was on offer as it looked like it gave me what I needed. Little did I know it didn’t.

Ross found Herbalife via a Wellness Coach at his office and was instantly sold on the quality of the products. At this time I thought I knew most things related to nutrition and just wasn’t interested in any of what Ross had to say about Herbalife. I didn’t need any of what he was peddling and told him to politely “do one”.

A few weeks after pestering and trying to persuade me of the magical wonders of Herbalife, my giant tub of discounted powder from Groupon was about to run out and Ross was ready to pounce. One evening I finally gave in handing over my bank card and let Ross win.  And so I became a member of Herbalife! You see I signed up straight away as a Distributor because I wanted 25% off the products (can you tell I love a bargain?), I really wasn’t interested in the business side as I was far too sceptical about these so called wonderful products, figured I’d buy a tub, use it and buy something else the next month. Ross showed me the products, told me what I needed, I gave him a “yes boss” and away I went.

My product result was 10 stone in 1 day…..nahhh just kidding, I lost 7 pounds of fat in 6 weeks, healthy and sustainable. Now previous to Herbalife I was experiencing a lot of headaches, they were unpredicatable and always very annoying, once on the products these started to fade away and the hair that would not grow past my shoulders was finally getting some length to it, a silky soft feel and a thickness better than ever. Now for the ladies out there reading this that use hair extensions, you will know how tiring and hardwork they are. I finally saw the end to the bald patches! (from the clips & glue).

It took a while for me to settle into the Herbalife way as does any change in lifestyle. Meal replacement shakes for breakfast were a strange concept for me, every so often I would choose something else over a shake but the difference I noticed was astonishing. Teacakes for breakfast (layered in butter) is not a good breakfast no matter what you say! Now I love a toasted teacake but the energy it gave me lasted the whole of 10 minutes and I was back to square one. No protein, no slow release carbs, no vitamins, no minerals, no fibre. My body was starving for nutrients after 8 hours of sleep and I just weren’t giving it what it needed!

If you press on to 2 years later I still feel fantastic and I’m helping others do the same. I love coaching, supporting, motivating and educating people on the right foods to eat, the best types of exercise and the right products to use to supplement their lifestyles. My journey has been a tough one, not everyone believes in the Herbalife way and thanks to social media I have quite frankly put up with abuse from people that believe they know best (most of these people having not got a single ounce of education on science, biology, nutrition or health, you name it). Now as a sensitive soul this can take its toll on the old self confidence and you really have to fight to keep your head above water. Having dealt with numerous episodes of depression in my past, being told I’m taking advantage of uneducated people really makes you question yourself as a person, it’s not nice!

The Herbalife founder created the products after his mum died from an overdose on slimming pills and so he decided to change the world the right way. Are us Distributors really the bad guys after knowing that? Our products aren’t sold in shops and we don’t spend millions on advertising, we work on a multi level marketing structure to ensure we are all incentivised to help as many people as possible, we provide coaching support so our clients improve their lifestyles and get results and we fund all our money into research and creating the best products rather than being in all the magazines and advertising on every TV channel just to gain some profit.

For me Herbalife is a way of life, I’m 27 now and I will be taking the products until I’m in my 60’s and beyond just as many people have done before me and continue to do.