The Isagenix diet is a 30-day program that involves eating Isagenix products and low-calorie meals. People also follow a plan of shake days and cleanse days. The aim is to lose weight quickly. Although the Isagenix System can help some people lose weight quickly, there are negative aspects. For example, Meal replacement products are high in sugar. Specifically, they are rich in a simple sugar called fructose that is associated with adverse health outcomes, such as obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance.
Beyond these minuses, the manner in which their pyramid scheme was promoted created problems between families and also brought about division among friends who have been close for decades.
A Reddit reader wrote: “I randomly met a woman who invited me and my husband to a “healthy lifestyle” event. We both are very much into health so we accepted the invite. My husband and I agreed between ourselves to just go see and NOT BUY anything…. boy, was I wrong.
Little did I know it was an Isagenix “sale party” or whatever they call it. I genuinely liked the reps there. The products we sampled tasted good. Basically, we were sold the idea of nutrient-dense protein shakes and effective probiotics.
Of course, my husband signed up for an intro pack. It was priced around $250. We are into supplements but I thought it was a little pricey… but whatever, you gotta try new things… right?
The next day we are getting a phone call from the rep who is about to charge us $550! Apparently, it was a mistake on my part to think we were paying $250. (It was no mistake, I remember exactly what they told us). We ask to take some products out and get it down to $450, still way more than I would ever spend on shakes… but the husband is eager to try…
When we get the products I’m genuinely surprised it’s a weight loss package. It was advertised as “nutrition” not weight loss. My husband and I are both very fit, would never be interested in a weight loss system! Besides the shakes and probiotic, there is a bunch of supplements specifically for weight loss that none of us will ever be taking. After 3 days of shakes, my stomach (and his) has major issues which do not stop until we stop all Isagenix products.
We called the rep explaining that our digestion does not sit well with Isagenix. She told us to give it another try, while also encouraging us to sell it to friends and family. Do these people have no common sense? Why would I want to sell someone a product that is giving me diarrhea???”
Another user also shared his experience thus “My wife wanted me to meet everyone on her team and asked me to be opened minded about the celebration itself. I then asked her to not be so open-minded that her brains fall out, she didn’t think that was very funny, I told her I wasn’t kidding. At this point, she admits to me that she still doesn’t understand my disapproval of Isagenix because she has purchased every Isagenix/MLM self-help and training program and every online seminar they offer. She, also, asked me if she could attend a leadership training meeting for $500, that one of the top sellers was having at his house, What a scam that is. I said that was not in the budget
We show up at the airport to fly to Nashville, of course, meet up with the entire Isagenix team in the terminal. Everyone is wearing their Isa-uniforms, with their Isa-Shakers. I am wearing my typical Hawaiian shirt and shorts, in other words, Nothing Isagenix. So, massive facebook updates by everyone, as I get a coffee, I couldn’t stomach any of that crap. It was a Southwest flight so we could ALL sit together, but I planned ahead and paid more for preferred boarding, the wife thought we were fortunate to get preferred boarding, Damn the luck. So needless to say, we sat alone from the Isa-vampires.
We arrived in Nashville to discover that the Convention was a day longer than she had told me, Saturday to Tuesday. Not till Monday, So I had to beg the hotel for another night. I got us a hotel right next to the Convention center so less driving, Uber, and shuttles. At least we got to spend some time in and around Nashville the day before.
We went to register for the convention and the lines were out the door, Thousands of people. It was mind-boggling. I got my massive Isagenix name badge with our color-coded rank and promptly folded it and shoved it in my pocket. After waiting ALL day in line, we went into the main floor to see the latest Isa-Crap. She had to go to the Isa-apparel booth and buy more shirts, shorts, and other stuff. It was packed with housewives digging thru the endless racks of blue/green and black apparel. As we approached, I asked her, why are ‘we’ buying this stuff and why isn’t Isagenix giving us this stuff? Hell, we are selling the product and the business, why not support us in this with some company logo stuff. For every job I had ever worked at, ‘They’ gave me shirts, pens and other stuff for free to promote the company. She said it was too crowded and that she didn’t need any more shirts right now.
So we HAD to go to the new Essential Oils booth, I hated when she bought Do-terra crap. And I really hate the Isagenix versions. SO $250 later to get the oil starter pack, and of course, this was the only time to get this pack at this price. WHATEVER!
The first day of the convention was the only day of talking and explaining the product. They called it the science talk and it was only till 2 o’clock pm. After lunch, we all had to go to the main Convention in the Bridgestone Arena.
The Arena was way over the top; I could not believe the size and scope of the show, 14000 people. Her Team had to sit together, so I could not get out of this one. Ok, for the next 3 days the convention was at the arena, and it was nothing but a motivational speech after speech. Teaching us how to sell the business, how to be upbeat, be positive, and how to handle negative people. There was one motivational guy trying to sell his book, he told his story, about how at 23 he tried to commit suicide but failed, and that changed his life. Really? My wife asked me what I thought of his story? So I said that I didn’t need some guy who tried to kill himself, to tell me how to live my life. I could go on about how ridiculous this guy’s speech was, but I will spare you. You’re welcome….
During all the endless speeches I had packed my Bluetooth earphones and listened to music and audiobooks most of the time, I think it saved me. The last night was the Award Show Gala. Basically, it was an endless parade of the Winners, and we had to dress up for this. The show was all night and every washed-up 90’s act was performing their washed-up hits, like Vanilla Ice, can you believe it? And Gretchen Wilson and a few more I didn’t know. My wife was having the greatest time of her life, dancing, singing, and hanging around all her ISA-Vamp friends. I had the worst time of my life. Watching the endless parade of the pretty people all showing off the name tags, because it showed their ranking in Isagenix.
The best part was when her team leaders, a 30 something couple with no kids, took us out to dinner. They made it point to sit across from me to have a chat. When the drinks arrived, that’s when they started into me. “Why are you not more involved with your wife’s passion for Isagenix?” (can you believe it) what arrogance. My response was, “Because AMWAY tried to destroy my family when I was a kid, and I then vowed to never let that happen again. Their reaction was priceless “Oh AMWAY, I think I have heard of them”………ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING? I then told them that I could make a million with Isagenix, They were very intrigued; I went on to say “Because you millennials are so gullible, you would buy anything”. Needless to say, we, the rest of dinner was very quiet.
I made an observation after the trip, that I was the oldest person in the group by a good 20 years. This explains a lot….
We have another heated discussion at the end of all of this. How we spent almost $1500 on this trip just to be told how to be motivated and play with her new friends, and we have no money for this stuff and I have become the white noise in the room. I said we need to see a marriage counselor ASAP. We scheduled our very first counseling visit for two weeks from now. She seems to calm down a bit and listens to me and we came to an agreement to calm down and to move slower and more communication. That didn’t last long.
A week later, I am at work and our nightly phone conversation is underway, she tells me about the kids starting school and she has been so busy, then she goes into how she attended a training meeting and was taught how to use Facebook to recruit more people. She went on to tell me how she needs to join groups so she can troll and ghost possible recruits. She then told me she joined a couple of groups and tried her new skills, and get this, two MLM vamps tried to sell her make-up, and this annoyed her. Again, I was struck by the irony. That she was upset, that some were doing to her that she was doing to them. I remained calm and silent and we said good night.
Upset beyond belief, of all the broken promises she has made; I went on to the Isagenix website and read every bit of the rules and regulations for compensation of Isagenix. I then found out why she had bought all the products at the beginning of the year, she had lost a number of recruits and to keep her status she had to maintain a certain product order. So she had to cover that loss. When I got home I found the stash of product in the garage. Now mind you, we are still receiving our auto-ship orders every month, which is to be our monthly intake of products. I added the entire stash up, 35 shake canisters at $40.00 each, 25 other products at around $32.00 each, over $2000.00 of stored up product.
The next morning I got my coffee and lead her into the garage and confronted her on her stash, shocked to my discovery, she tried to explain that it was the special orders she wanted to get before they went away. I asked her, what she was planning to do with it, she said to drink it, But you are still receiving a monthly auto-shipment to drink for every month, when were you going to drink this stuff? She said, during the holidays, a very poor cover-up.
Here are the numbers for 2018:
- YTD Avg income per month $188.00,
- YTD Avg paid to Isagenix per month $335.00,
- 2017 she had spent an Avg $503.00 a month since March of 2017.
I then told her that I was no longer going to subsidize her Isagenix spending and that I had to protect the family. She was to get her own bank account for ALL Isagenix activities. And that I was also thinking that she would have to reimburse the house budget. All of this, a week before our marriage counseling session. Later that night we were sitting on the couch watching a movie, and I had seen it a bunch of times, so I was on my laptop, doing Isagenix scam searches, and was reading some great stuff about people getting hurt by it, and some financial issues. During the movie she would look over and ask me what I was doing, I told her, “reading”, she would say ok. Then she finally said, what are you reading?. So I had put together a word document of the info I was reading, and showed it to her. She read some of it and said “ok”. Later she asked if I could print what I have found for her to read. Elated, I printed out the few pages I had. The info I had collected was from how the founders of Isagenix were the executives of the Failed 1980”s Cambridge Diet, which was later shut down by the Federal Government for false claims and financial corruption. And a Federal Trade Commission report on MLM’s, and a couple of testimonies from Reddit. I slept like a baby that night. Finally a chip in the Isagenix amour.
I know what I am about to tell you is bad, but, see it from my point of view, please. She went to her work and her Facebook was open on her Mac, So, I took a look and found the messenger open to her Isagenix group. She had informed the group of my behavior and how I have been attacking her vision, and my separating her from the house finances. She also said that she needed to sell off her stored-up product to support a new bank account, and told them that her mom was going to give her a loan of $2000 to pay for the Isagenix leader training group. She had told me it was $500.00, not $2000.00. You know, I am fine with that, if her mom wants to go down that rabbit hole, so be it, not me. The team leader said, that I probably had a slight mental issue and that she needed to protect herself against me. Another team member actually said that she needed to appease me, by asking what my proof was so she could review my claims and calm me down. My wife’s response was, that she did and it made me back off. I felt like a knife had been plunged into my back. I have all these people in my house, my daughter babysat their kids, they ate my food, drank my alcohol, swam in my pool. Now I am the unhinged spouse that needs to be dealt with. You know, as I was reading all the comments, I noticed a theme, not one said that any of my points were valid, just that she needed to stick to the plan and protect herself. I guess I should not be shocked by this, but I was disturbed by it. But I said nothing to her about this and kept it to myself.
The first counseling session was difficult but effective. It was just a get to know us session, but we did end up launching right into the Isagenix thing; it was pretty hard not to see the 800lbs gorilla in the room. The counselor did tell her that MLMs were a cause for marital problems, and we had to be able to listen to each other calmly and communicate. Later that night we talked all night about us, sex, money, in-laws, and our insecurities. It was a good talk, I told her, now that the Isagenix thing was separate activity from us, that I would trust her to do the right thing. I would not help her, but I would support her as my wife.
She seemed grateful hearing this, and now she talks to me like nothing happened. Just last night she told me about an Isagenix party she hosted and that she invited several people to attend but nobody showed up except her team. I consoled her and told her how sorry I was for the failed party. Our next counseling session is coming up so let us see where this goes…
Thanks to all of you for reading and your kind and supportive words, I am not a writer, so this is a stream of conciseness. I agree I have much to learn, and I do not do all the right things while under passion.
