Isagenix

chloereynolds.isagenix.com
chloecreynolds@gmail.com

So this post is a long time coming. I first tried Isagenix in high school when my mom was using the products. But I hadn't really started using the products effectively until a couple months ago. While I was in San Francisco, I was throwing up, bloated, and tired. I came home from a four day trip six pounds heavier! And we had biked and walked all over the city the whole trip. I felt like garbage! I immediately called my mom and said I needed to place an order of isagenix products and get my health in order. During all of this, I was training for a road bike race and eating generally healthy foods (I thought). But the saying, "You cannot out exercise poor nutrition" was coming true for me. I used to say, "I would rather exercise more and eat whatever I want." That thought could not be further from the truth. Quality nutrition fuels quality exercise, weight loss, and a higher quality of life!

While I was waiting for my order to arrive, I did TONS of research. I am a huge skeptic, and I wanted to ensure that what I was about to put in my body was not only safe and good for me, but that it was the BEST thing for me. The results of my research were all positive! Here is what I learned...

The products produced by isagenix are all organic and chemical free. The protein is harvested from cows in New Zealand, and are protected from pesticides and other harmful agents (they also have kosher, dairy and gluten free, options). Olympians have used Isagenix to be leaner, more fit, and an overall elevated level of health, and of course the drug tests have never been a problem with Isagenix. 

The products are also of the highest quality. The protein is grade 7, the highest grade protein available. Other proteins available at costco, grocery stores, etc. are all grade 3-4. This means that your body can only absorb 30-40% of the protein you ingest (that is why "protein poops" are common with those types of lower quality proteins). The protein in Isagenix products is 90-100% absorbable, so you benefit more from the better nutrition. The ionix supreme, cleanse, and all of the products by Isagenix are of the same highest quality. I found more than one source, independent of isagenix, that have done evaluations of the ingredients in the ionix supreme. Take a look at why this product is irreplaceable--you just can't get this comprehensive nutrition from a fruit and yogurt breakfast!

http://www.livestrong.com/article/29766-ionix-supreme-ingredients

In addition to the high quality of the products, the nutrition and wellness plan that is illustrated by isagenix allows for some of your daily caloric intake to be in the form of liquid nutrition. There is plenty of evidence that shows that intermediate fasting or cleansing, in conjunction with liquid nutrition, prevents disease and weight gain. And I will add that it makes you feel amazing! I have loved not feeling like I have a gut full of food! It is good for your body it have consistent nutrition, but not always in the form of solid foods. Isagenix provides a balance of liquid and solid nutrition while never sacrificing the best of macro and micro nutrients.

http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-11-98.pdf

And there is more! All of the products offered by isagenix have a low glycemic index. This means that your blood sugar stays steady all day, allowing your insulin to also remain steady. This is really important! Insulin is a fat burning inhibitor. When your blood sugar spikes, so does your insulin, and insulin prevents fat cells from burning off. Keep your blood sugar steady and your will burn fat with much more ease! In fact, I like to call it fat release, because the fat really does fall off when proper nutrition is in place. 

From Tuesday morning to Friday night, I lost nine pounds! Six of those pound were bloat, toxins, and junk that I had been accumulating. The other 3 pounds were fat that I have kept off, and I am still losing! When I was a freshman in college I was 21% body fat (and I was a collegiate cross country and track athlete). After 30 days using Isagenix, I was 16.5% body fat! I recently ran Ragnar, and the inflammation in my knees was kept at bay. Anti-inflammatory properties is yet another benefit of proper nutrition in Isagenix. Most importantly, I feel amazing. I don't wake up tired, I never feel bloated, my energy is up all day long, and my workouts are going great! I feel strong, I recover faster, and I am not as sore as I used to be after a hard work out. 

I started using isagenix for all of the reasons listed above. But I have since learned that I can get my products paid for, and make money on top of that, by sharing this amazing product with others. Contact me to get samples, learn more, and try this life changing system for yourself. 

Chloecreynolds@gmail.com
chloereynolds.isagenix.com

Independence Day

Independence Day! I just love July. So many fun things to do everyday! And it comes in with a bang! This year, we started our long weekend with a visit to Grandpa Merrill's house. We just sat and talked for two hours. I don't do that enough. I love the man, and he won't be here forever. We talked about school, jobs, family, health, and dogs. He is a rock, completely immovable. That night we watched "Monument Men" which I of course slept through. 

The next morning, Chase and I went on a lovely bike ride with the Fowlers. We had no agenda for the day, and I LOVED IT. I love being involved and busy, but every once in a while, the lack of schedule is so pleasant. We really like the Legacy bike path because there are no cars and we can easily bring Hudson along in the bike trailer. Chase and I continued on to Kaysville to the parade. I am most definitely not a parade person, but it was actually really fun! We got to see Chase's cute cousins in the parade, one playing the drums (eh hem, leading the drums) and the other running the security (eh hem, being scoped by all eligible bachelors). We then went to aunt Tiff's for a celebratory BBQ, only to have her whisked away to the hospital to save a life. We also got a chance to go by a lovely little house in Bountiful that is for sale. Uncle Henry is helping us get started on the hunt, although it might be another year before we find/afford what we want. I am excited to start the process of looking! 

That night we went up to Snowbird with my family. "The Steak Pit" for dinner (note the hilarious Father of the Bride line) was yum, but we can talk more about that later. The next morning we watched Zach KILL his bike race! This kid is crazy. He raced his first Semi-Pro division. As in, he is getting paid to race! In the money! He has worked so so hard to get really fit and it is paying off! The course was awesome because we got to see him go by twice on each of four laps, six miles each. Zach's start was perfect, and from the get go, he was leading the Semi-Pro division and only a few PROFESSIONAL riders were in front of him! I mean the kid has only been riding for like a year! He tore it up. He had one crash that set him back a few seconds, and then he had to stop at the feeding station and get his handle bars straightened. Then a lap later, he got a flat and had to borrow a CO2 cartridge from another rider (bless him) who happens to work with my dad (yes, a grown ace man). THEN he lost his tire again! As he was going by the last time before the finish, he yelled, "I need CO2 to finish the last hill!" At that, Zach kept moving, and dad and I ran to the car, grabbed a cartridge, and I took off booking it running the end of the course backwards trying to catch him before he reached the last up hill. My knee might never forgive me, but it was really fun trying to find  him and help him out. I ran about a mile and a half before I got to him and he used the cartridge and took off again. As he pulled away he said, "Thank you so much! Way to use your running skills!" It's the little moments for 15 seconds on a bike path, covered in sweat, that bring siblings together. I missed the finish, obviously, but he won! And when I finally did get back to him, he said it really was vital that he get a cartridge. In fact, he was going to get off his bike and would have had to carry it for the last up hill mile with a completely flat tire had I gotten to him any later. He is a stud, and I had fun playing pit crew. I can't wait to see where he is next year. Europe world cup maybe??

And so the rest of the weekend, we all got to relax up at Snowbird. It's nearly as much fun in the summer as it is in the winter! Alpine slide, sky coaster, the tram, the pool, and sun! And it isn't too often that the whole crew gets two whole days together. And when we do, there's nothing better. 

Finally, Chase and I got home early Sunday night and watched The Pianist, a movie my dad gave to my for Christmas. He is a real history buff, especially war time stuff. This movie is not for the weak. It made me feel sick and cry. But the reality of WWII is that people suffered. The kind of suffering that is not even real in my world. Nothing will make you appreciate what you have like imagining life without it. So, happy Independence Day. I am so grateful for my freedom to walk, talk and dress how I want. To work and study and live where I want. To worship how I want and not be discriminated against based on my genetics, my beliefs, or my heritage. I am so grateful for my grandfathers, and all those who have fought and worked and sacrificed to create the world I live in. I pray everyday, though, that my husband and my sons never have to go to war. God bless America. 

Vision

On June 30th, I had the most amazing opportunity to get LASIK, a procedure that can fix eyes. Think about that. Broken eyes that don't hardly work at all are made whole. A few weeks prior (well, years really) I had been seriously considering getting lasik. I shopped around for price, facilities, doctors, and referrals. The best price came with the worst reviews (but are we really bargain shopping for new eyes? No.). And the highest price came with a long drive. The best reviews came with a home town doctor that I wanted to give my business to. I decided to go with Dr. Ballif at the Mt. Ogden Eye Center. At my pre-op appointment, my eye exams taught me more about my eyes. I have huge pupils. Normally scan A is taken with the lights off so pupils will dilate. Well, I had to stare at the light before the scan to make my pupils shrink. Also, I have worse vision than I thought I did. The scans (effortless measurements of the geography of the eye as well as prescription) revealed that I had been under correcting my right eye. My contact strength was 3.75 in my left eye and 5.75 in my right eye, but I should have been 6.25 in my right eye all along. In fact, when they asked me to read the smallest letter I could, I just laughed out loud and said "what letters?" My left eye was 20/400 (I see something at 20 feet away as clearly as if it were 400 feet away) and my right eye was off the charts, meaning I could barely see how many fingers the nurse was holding up when she stood 6 feet away. I also have a type of cataract on the backs of both of my lenses. It is shaped like an X because when my eye was forming in utero, it didn't quite finish up and left an X shaped scar on the backs of both of my eyes. It is more severe in my right eye, hence the worse prescription.

When I arrived at the surgical center, I got a little nostalgic taking off my glasses for the last time. I remember when I was in first grade I got glasses for the first time--literally the first time trees had leaves, clouds had texture, signs had words, etc. My teacher had called home and mentioned that my behavior was not good--I didn't pay attention during board work and I bothered my neighbors. When my mom and dad talked about it that night, my dad put some letters on a paper and taped it to the door. "Chloe, what does that paper say?" And my 5 year old self said, "What paper?" Because I couldn't make out the white paper against the white door. I soon after got my first pair of glasses, only to be made fun of at show and tell. For the next several years, I kept my glasses in my desk so I could slip them on to see instructions, or to read, and then remove them. One terrible time, I lost my glasses on the zip line in Park City. How mortifying to not be able to see for days or longer? I distinctly remember hating walking down the halls in sixth grade because if someone I knew was walking past me, I wouldn't be able to tell who they were, so I wouldn't be able to say hi, so I always looked at my feet when I was alone in the hall. In seventh grade, I begged for contacts, and I got them for Christmas. That night I ripped one trying to take it out of my eye, so I started sleeping in them so that I wouldn't rip them and run out. I got used to wearing them until it hurt (usually close to 60 days) and did that for over ten years. I am not complaining, I am reminiscing. Not being able to see properly was a really hard thing for me for a lot of years.

Prior to surgery, they re-examined my eyes and started the anesthetic drops and gave me a valium. In all honesty, I was not nervous at all, likely because I had resisted watching a lasik procedure on youtube. But hey, the valium sure kept me calm anyway. My mom, Connie and Megan came to watch. After I laid down in the chair, it wasn't 10 minutes before I was walking out of the room. First, Dr. Ballif put a plastic ring on my eye (pressure) used a non-burning, blade free laser to cut my cornea into a flap. Then he swiveled my chair and put me under a laser for about 20 seconds. Then he laid the flap down, and the left eye was up. That's it. I laid down in that chair hardly being able to see where I was putting my feet, and stood up looking a nurse in the eyes. I turned around and looked at my mom who was 15 feet away through a window and said, "I can see you." I have to admit, that was really emotional for me. For the next couple hours I slept through the anesthetic wearing off (thank you loratab) and woke up completely fine. For the next week I dealt a little bit with a cloudy haze, some glare, and halos at night. But it has been a full week now, and I haven't had a problem. Some antibiotic drops, steroid drops and artificial tears have helped with the comfort level. I really am amazed at the whole process. It really is a miracle. I am so grateful that I grew up with glasses and contacts so that I could see. And I am now so grateful that modern medicine is so sophisticated that I have perfectly good eyes. I feel like I have left a handicap behind me. My left eye now sees 20/15 and my right eye sees 20/25. My eyes are now a crystal clear window to my soul.