 Oh-ha and welcome to At the Crossroads. I'm your host, Keisha King. Well, we just concluded a wonderful, what is it? I was about to say Mother's Day, but it certainly is not Mother's Day, but it was Women's History Month. Now we're moving into the month of April, beginning the second quarter of 2019. And the first thing that crossed my mind as we opened up this month was, wow, it's a good day. I wake up every day feeling really, really good because I feel lucky we live in Hawaii. Well, a lot of my friends back on the East Coast will look and say, Keisha, it looks like you are living your best life. And I thought about it. I am. Every single day I get up. I love what I do. I love my life. I'm living my best life and I want you to live your best life too. Whatever that means for you, I want you to do it. I want you to have your best health, your mental health, your physical health, your emotional health, your financial health, your spiritual health. It all matters. Well, today on our show we have some wonderful guests who are going to share with us one aspect of living your best life that they have found to affect both their physical health and their financial health. We are talking with guests from Arbonne. We have with us in the studios today, we have LaShawn, Ashley, and Matt. I want to say hello guys and welcome to the Crossroads. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having us. It's our pleasure. We didn't practice. Matt is okay. Well, my personal friend is LaShawn. I met you at a women's event doing some networking. We have a mutual friend now. And now I have two new friends because of you. So thank you. Thank you. Aloha. Aloha. So tell me LaShawn about your experience with Arbonne. Arbonne has been amazing. I've actually been with Arbonne for 14 years this year. It's very exciting. And I've basically transitioned my health throughout. I did the 30 days of healthy living twice now. And so this month will be the third time I'm doing it. And it's helped me not only lose weight, which is obviously is a benefit, but also just learning about how to eat well. And to put the right fuels into your body so that you can have better skin, sleep better, have more energy. And so it's just been life-changing for me. So life-changing that we actually have a before and after picture of you. Let's take a look. You'll see it here on this here monitor. Oh, va, va, va, boo. Ow, ow. Look at you. So sassy there. Tell us about this. How long and what were the results and all of that? Yes. So through the 30 days of healthy living program, I actually lost six pounds in 30 days and also lost three inches of my waist and four inches on my hips. Congratulations. Yes. You look amazing before and amazing after. So tell us more about your experience with Arbonne because it sounds like there's a business side and a personal health side. Exactly. So Arbonne is a health and wellness company. And we have pictures, I believe, as the products as well that we'll show right now. And they sell over 200 products. And the special thing about Arbonne or what makes them different is that they're vegan certified and they're all plant-based products. And so you know that you're getting healthy products. In fact, their philosophy is pure, safe, and beneficial. Blow that down. Okay. Pure, safe, and beneficial. And beneficial. Amazing. I love that. Yes. And so there's not only the health benefits part of the business, but also the fact that you could also become a consultant and show others how they can also be healthy and that they can also pay it forward, basically. Wonderful. So there are multiple sides to the business. Your initial experience was with the Getting Fit. We have with us here, Ashley, who is the national vice president. A national vice president. A national vice president. He helped me, but one of... Okay. Okay, wonderful. Now tell me about your role and your experience with Arbonne. Yeah, so I've been with the company for over 14 years. And when I first started, it was more of just to kind of change the products in my house and go from having mainstream products. I mean, I learned a lot. The U.S. actually only bans less than 20 ingredients or chemicals from products, things that we put on our skin, on our body, in our body every day. And so Arbonne bans over 2,000 chemicals. And so that was kind of the first purpose, was just to use healthier products. And then I really learned kind of, as Lashan said, that I could pay it forward, show other people how to do the same thing. And build a virtual business. Because everything's done online. Where I can work from anywhere around the world with a cell phone. In fact, I'm living here for two months. But home is Park City, Utah. Arbonne's allowed me to travel the globe. That's kind of a little bit about my story with it. But as far as the program itself, it's drastically changed my health. I think probably... Do we have a before and after review? Yeah. Oh, sassy mama. Wow. Wow, what was your experience like? Pretty drastic results. I mean, I think like so many Americans, I had more of a diet mentality for so long. You know, kind of that yo-yo, not really focused on long-term health. But just, you know, restrict and then gain the weight back restrict. And I really wanted to get off of that cycle and to do something really good for my body and to change my relationship with my health and with food. And really focus on self-care and living my best life. That's right. With feeling good, sleeping well, having more energy and kind of getting off that emotional roller coaster, too, of, you know, losing weight, gaining it back. And so when I first did the program, I think I lost maybe seven or eight pounds. But the cool thing about this program and you know this and you're learning this fat and you're brand new is it's not a diet. It focuses on long-term sustainable change. And so it helped me to develop new habits that stuck with me way beyond the 30 days. The program itself for 30 days eliminates acidic, allergenic, inflammatory foods and really teaches you how to eat, gives you recipes and shopping lists. So it kind of blends health and convenience, which I know we all need. I've got a toddler. In fact, that after picture was after having a baby. Congratulations. It's been better health than I've ever been. 25 pounds lighter. I know they both work full-time and are getting an MBA. Yeah. So it's basically meant to be something that you can blend with a really busy life. Wonderful. That is amazing that you're able to juggle so many different hats while you're still using the product and helping others find out about it and utilize it in their personal lives. So thank you so much for that and for sharing all of that. And Matt. Hey! No! Matt is Mr. Personality. I mean, just, you all have a bubbling over type personality. But how did you get involved? I understand you're brand new. I am brand new. So I met LaShawn, and LaShawn and I are getting our MBAs at UH. Way to go! I love it! LaShawn turned me on to the Arbonne product and actually I was like, oh, skeptical, like everybody else. But then I tried it and I'm actually still on the 30-day program. I'm finishing my last week this week. But literally actually the first week, you feel a change. You do. You totally feel a lot cleaner. Like your body just feels a lot cleaner and you're able to do more. And the experience itself is just kind of cleansing for the most part. You're getting rid of all these toxins. You're avoiding all the foods that kind of bring in the toxins and stuff. So you're just expunging all of the bad stuff out and just bringing in all the good stuff and again, all the vegan, the plant-based proteins, everything. And you just feel kind of lighter, just in general and cleaner. So it's always been a great experience so far. Ooh! Yeah, and I've lost about ten pounds. Way to go! And in about two and a half, three weeks or so, I'm still finishing. And I lost about two inches off my waist or so. Are those results typical? I can answer that. I think it depends on, you know, you still have the mindset of when you lose weight then you get healthy. And this program is really more about when you get healthy then you lose weight. And so I think some people have weight that their body needs to let go of. Other people don't do it for weight loss at all but just to kind of have a reset. So it kind of depends on each individual person. I like that word to have a reset, right? Because a lot of times people think, oh yeah, as soon as I lose the weight, I'll feel so much better and I'll be healthy. But sometimes skinny people are unhealthy too, right? Exactly. You could be skinny and still have diabetes, still have other health concerns. Correct. So the overall goal is not weight loss for this product. No. You guys are like, no. It's to maintain a healthy weight for your frame and for what your body is used to, what it should be. Weight loss often happens again as a result of getting healthy but it's not the overarching focus, which I think is so great because I think oftentimes when that's the focus and it's not as long lasting, whereas when you're focusing on really doing something great for yourself and nourishing your body, then that forms habits that will stay with you long after, which is really the goal. Yeah. I like that. So you were going to say something. I was going to say something else, which is basically what I like about the program is that it's easy. It actually really is. It's more of just making sure that you avoid certain foods and making sure that you don't eat and it's not super restrictive because you can still have starches and not gluten, but starches like brown rice and sweet potato and stuff like that, which help to fill you up as well, but it's kind of eliminating all the bad foods out of it as opposed to just restricting yourself to just this or just that. Right. Because I'm going to tell you, when we think about a diet, I don't know about you guys, but the first thing I say is, I can't have chocolate. I can't have this. I can't have that. And it's really not about that for you guys. In fact, the cool part is that there's a support system and they'll teach you how to find substitutes for things that you love. So for instance, I had a really hard time about sugar because sugar obviously, like you said, chocolate. But we have recipes of how to make hot chocolate. We have recipes on how to make protein balls that are like lemon flavored or chocolate-favored. And so there's definitely substitutes that you can incorporate. So you can still have the things that you enjoy just in a healthy way. So I can have hot chocolate. That's what you say. I heard it. I wanted to clarify. Because I've considered doing this. And when we come back from our break, we're going to talk about what the process is. And I don't know. Viewers can tell me, do you think this is something that I should get myself into? It's a 30-day program and they're going to give us all the details. I need to know the facts. I'm one of those people. I've got to know. Tell me this. Because health is wealth. Right? And if you don't have your health, what do you have? Exactly. Yeah. So we'll be right back. We're going to take a very quick commercial break and we're going to come back and talk a little bit more with my friends, my new friends, and my familiar friends with Arbonne. And we're going to talk about health and live your best life right after this. You're watching At the Crossroads. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Wendy Lowe. And I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at 2 o'clock. Live from Think Tech. And on our show, we talk about taking your health back. And what does that mean? It means mind, body, and soul. Anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about. Whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means, let's take healthy back. Aloha. Aloha and Mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii. With Think Tech Hawaii, we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, Maraming, Salamat po, Mabuhay, and Aloha. We are At the Crossroads talking about how you can live your best life. I'm talking with my hands today because I don't have my golden pen. My mom is going to be so angry when she sees this. She tells me every week, you talk too much with your hands, but I can't help it when I get excited. I'm like you guys, right? So we're talking about living your best life with my friends from Arbonne, right? Got it, right? Yay! Because you know why? Word association. I'm thinking Bon Bon. That's not it. But we don't have that. We don't have that. You could make something like it. Give me options. Okay? So for the past, I want to say five days, maybe not as long as five days, your girl has been doing a good job on trying to get me involved, right? She's just like, you can do this, you can do that. And I was like, what? Well, I don't know. And I told her the truth. I need more information, right? Absolutely. The reason I need more information is probably much like a lot of viewers. We want to do something different. We want to have something that is life changing, not something that we do that is going to be here today and gone tomorrow. That's right. I could probably name a lot of diets that have a catchy name. I don't want to name them because I don't want to get sued. But they have catchy names and famous people have done them and have had results. But then they're gone and then there's a new one out next week, right? So I know yours is different. I have done some research. So I want you to tell everyone else who's watching what makes yours different and what does it look like? What's a typical day for someone who's following your 30-day program? For sure. So my experience with the products is that they are supplements of what you need for the day. So it's not necessarily the meals itself because you will still cook healthy meals. But what it provides is the protein, the probiotics, detox, teas. Those are the protein shakes there. Also, we have what's called fizz sticks, which takes the place of coffee because a lot of people are hooked on caffeine. So we eliminate that out of the program. So my daily routine would be to have a protein shake in the morning. And so I will put the Digestion Plus, which is the probiotics. I'll put obviously two scoops of protein, also some fiber, because a lot of people don't get enough fiber during the day. That helps things move along, as you know. And then we'll put in almond milk and some fruit. Usually we put in berries because that's antioxidant. Right, berries are so good for you. They're so great. And so we'll put that. I'll even put, because I'm from Hawaii, I'll put in some coconut shavings. Okay. And then we also have a product called Greens Balance. And you put that in and that kind of takes the place of spinach or so it kind of gives you your daily greens in there. And then yeah, I'll just blend it up. And that's my breakfast for the day. And then your lunch and dinner, we provide recipes that are easy and quick. In fact, I make the basil chicken, for instance. And it's a super fast and very healthy recipe. And you can make it in 20 minutes. Okay. Now, that does sound good. I like the sound of that. I do. But mad I'm coming to you. I want to ask you, the meals, are they really that easy to cook? So the meals actually are really easy to cook. If you, well, I should say, if you take the time on a Saturday, you can actually prep meals for the whole week. And that's usually what I do. So what I end up doing is I cook, in fact, I should say, I even made fried chicken. Okay. But the fried chicken is made, it's more about what you put into how you cook it. So like I bake the fried chicken, you still can have eggs, so you can do the egg wash. You can use like almond flour instead of regular flour. And then it's like garlic, onion. You can have all those things. It's not, they're making you avoid more of the, more of the like alcohol and caffeine. And I forget what the other ones are. Gluten, soy, and dairy. Yeah. So those are the main things that you're avoiding. So it's making you more choose the healthier options in your cooking as well. And you're eating, that's really what it is. So it's, again, I prep the meals for the week and then I have a lunch throughout the week and then I can cook at home with dinner. It's really easy. All right. That sounds terrific. Again, doable, doable. Very doable. All right. So tell me more about the program. Are you supposed to eat like this for 30 days only or exactly what happens next? Ashley. No, that's a great question. So it is 30 days that you eliminate things like soy. But even if you love soy sauce, you can get coconut aminos, which are a place met. You can still have sushi. You just, you know, like there's all different kinds of things that you can do with the program. But I always tell people that it's just 30 days that you can do anything for 30 days. And that the second thing is all the stuff that maybe you're letting go of for 30 days is still going to be there when you're done. And if you want to incorporate those things back in, a lot of times people realize how good they feel without maybe certain things that gave them inflammation. I know I have my friend, Carrie, who did the program and she had a lot of joint pain. And after one week, that was greatly reduced because she got rid of a lot of things that were inflaming her body. So basically kind of like what Shon said, the Arvon products help supplement a clean diet. And I think a lot of people maybe know how to eat healthy, but we're just so busy that to take the time to do the research and to find the recipes. And this is kind of like, it gives you the tracks to run on to make it really easy to say I can do this, okay, I need to omit this. Like the fizz sticks that she mentioned have V vitamins, Gen C. What are fizz sticks? I've got one. Yes, you can show us. Show me. I don't need to see it. I don't need to see the house without these things. I love that. So while she's looking for fizz sticks, I'm going to check. I don't know what that is. If you have financial finance, you'll be able to tell us exactly what they are. I'm excited because it sounds like there are things that we can incorporate in our everyday lives that gives us the opportunity to enhance our life. So let's not think about restrictive, like what you can't have. Let's start to change our perspective. Isn't that how your life changes, right? You change your perspective. Your problems don't always go away, right? The world is not a perfect place, right? So I think she found them. Let's take a look. It doesn't look like much, but you pour it into about 10 ounces of liquid and it gives you all of the products. Don't have anything artificial. Does it taste good? It tastes awesome. Prove it. I'm going to taste it right now in the air. You know me. I'm like, you might need a little more water. That's okay. We'll make it work. If it tastes good, you'll read it on my face. And I'm not even going to lie. I'm going to shake this up. I'm going to have Matt to shake it up for us. I'm going to hold on to my straw. I hope you guys are using reusable straws. If you're not, you should, right? We live in our best life in order to do so. We must save our planet as well. All right. So I probably shouldn't advertise this company's water. It's okay. I'm going to do this like this. Since my nails aren't as perfect as that. Okay. So here we go. We're going in the water. It actually, I should swallow before I talk. It actually tastes really good. It's refreshing, right? Yeah. It is refreshing. It's like a spritzer. It's a spritzer. Exactly. It took the words right out of my mouth. So you can talk. Yeah. And I'd like to take that around the afternoon. Because I know that, like, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'd like to take that around the afternoon. Because I know that, like, you know, when you're at work and after you just have lunch, you need that pick me up at about two or three o'clock in the afternoon. I love to have a fistic and it gives me energy. And then I also take them whenever I do a workout. So while I'm drinking my water, I'll have a fistic in there. Okay. So I'm going to put this away. But we're saying this gives us energy. It's like a spritzer. You can have this in addition to your meals. And this kind of takes the place of soda. Coffee or energy drinks. Energy drinks. Exactly. I like it. I actually do like it. I wouldn't lie to you guys. I would tell you if it's like, oh, but it doesn't give you an aftertaste. It doesn't taste bitter. It doesn't taste like vitamins, right? Right. It tastes good. You know, you know you're doing something healthy for your body. Exactly. So that makes me feel good. And it's not green. Not to knock anything green. There are a few green drinks that I like. But you know how it is. You see something you're like, oh, this is going to hurt going down. Because of the way it looks. But this actually looks appealing. All right. So we've got about two minutes to close. You guys out. And then I've got something special I want to share in the last two minutes. So I want to hear you guys tell me, why should we care? I'd like to ask that question. Why should we? Why do we need to know about our body? Anyone? All of you? Someone? Yeah. I think from a health standpoint, you know, so many people want to get healthier because we do. We get one life and we get one body. And we know about all I think all of us are on the same page and probably your viewers who we want to feel our best. Not just the way that we look, but it's how you how empowered you feel your confidence level by all those things. So that's on the health side. And then on our bond as a company, I know for all of us, it is in the process of, or has drastically changed my life to have a business that I can work around my life, around my family. I get to be the boss. I get to control my own hours. And so we're just looking to spread the mission of healthy living, but also to show people that there's a way that they can also create more of their life, have more options, have more freedom, live life on their own terms, and show other people and pay that forward. I love it. Pay it forward. You know, that's what made me say I need to talk to them. I saw a post and I said this in the beginning. I saw a post from LaShawn on Facebook and she was talking about her desire to change lives. Absolutely. Well, and the cool part is that by sharing it with Matt, he shared it with his co-worker. I shared it with my sister who shared it with my aunt. I shared it with another friend in Atlanta and she's talking to her brother. So it becomes this, you know, a ripple effect of helping people. And I just think that's amazing that we can help people become healthy and also it could be a business where we can become financially free. And so I just think that's amazing that it's both things, you know. It's both time, freedom, financial freedom, and then also to help others while doing so. Awesome. I love it. Matt, any last words? I just love that it's easy. I mean, like, it is. It's really easy to kind of just avoid the certain things. And it's making you choose better. That's really what it is. It's making you choose to be better and choose to do better. I love it. So I like about that. I love it. Hey, I guess you guys said it all. The drink spoke for itself. It tastes delicious. Thank you so much for being on at the crossroads with me today. I can't wait to see what results you get from sharing this with others. I guess I can't wait for my own results. I guess we got to do it both. Yes. You should. I don't know if I'm going to be in a bikini showing you all any before after pictures. But you have this whole support. I'm going to be right here for you. All right, I'm going to hold you all to that. Thank you all so much. I'm going to start on the 15th with that group. Is that good? Or should I start now? I mean, you can. If you wanted to start now, it's totally up to you. We just have a session that goes on the first Monday and the third Monday of every month. Okay. All right. Give me more time. You've been watching me and my friends talk about our bond. And did I get it right? Our bond. Got it. All right. And it helps us live healthier lives so that we can totally live our best life. And that's the goal. So I want to close today by wishing you all the opportunity to live your best life. And I want to share something with you. If you noticed I'm dangling or jiggling. I have some beautiful jewelry on that I got that I received from a friend of mine and her business card, a Jala. I don't think you can see it here, but we will flash a picture so that you can see. I want to give a special shout out. There it is right there. Special shout out to a Jala for their beautiful jewelry design. They gave me this where they didn't give it to me. I purchased it because I love to support small businesses. And it's beauty that inspires love. Oh, God. So their website is on the screen. Please take a look at that and purchase their products, support small business and just live your best life. We're doing it. We want you to do the same. That's what it's all about here at the Crossroads, helping you make good choices and live your best life any way that you know how. Okay? This time we're doing it with our bond. Right? All right. You guys have a great day. We'll see you next time live at 5 on Wednesdays where at the Crossroads. Bye-bye. Aloha.