As we reflect on the last 10 years of our Empower story we feel immense pride and gratitude. We remember all that we have learned, all that we endured, all of the milestones and all of the challenges . . . but mostly we remember all of you – Empower staff and clients who have joined us for the journey. What excites us the most is what the next 10 years has in store for us, for Empower. As always we will strive to bring the BEST the health and fitness industry has to offer. ENTER ARBONNE
Why Arbonne, Why Now?
What is Arbonne?
First of all some of you might be asking “What is Arbonne?” Arbonne is a botanically-based health, wellness and skincare company with a 35 year history. All products are formulated without gluten, petrolatum, formaldehyde, chemical dyes and fragrances, artificial sweeteners, colors or flavors, parabens and phthalates. In addition Arbonne’s products contain no animal products or by-products and they never test on animals. Arbonne is a Swiss company that adheres to very strict European standards for health, wellness and beauty products.
Why is this important? Many of our everyday food sources and our skincare products including cosmetics, shampoos and lotions contain harmful chemicals. These chemicals are often known as endocrine-disruptors and researchers have determined that there is a causal connection between these chemicals and serious long-term health issues in both women and men. Such issues include: cancer, infertility and reproductive issues, birth defects, anxiety, depression and mood disorders and allergies. This is such a big issue that congress is even working on legislation to ensure that all products are safe and free of harmful ingredients and to bring the United States’ standards closer to those of the European Union and others that have long banned harmful ingredients. For more information about how toxic chemicals are affecting our overall health visit: The Environmental Working Group – www.ewg.org, The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics – www.safecosmetics.org and The Breast Cancer Fund – www.breastcancerfund.org.
How does Arbonne integrate into Empower’s overall philosophy? Arbonne’s believes in creating health from the inside out and this is much in line with Empower’s philosophy of integrative health and wellness. We believe in a whole-foods, balanced approach to eating with clean sources. This includes using ingredients that are grown without harmful GMOs and other toxic chemicals. In addition, we know that your skin is your largest organ and we believe in using botanically-based skincare and cosmetics to reduce chemical exposure and potential long-term negative health effects.
Why now? We were introduced to Arbonne by one of our allied health providers, a physical therapist. After many years of treating patients with a specific focus on women’s and men’s health issues she started to look to the research to determine if there was a causal effect. What she found was appalling, and she soon discovered that research does indicate that many of the diagnoses she was treating on a daily basis such as breast cancer/post-mastectomy patients, incontinence, pelvic floor issues, allergies and more could be traced back to harmful chemicals in our food sources and our skin care products. She personally used these products for over 2 years and vetted them before she introduced them to us. The results she saw were amazing as she began to improve her own health as well as the health of her family by choosing nutrition supplements with clean ingredients and chemical free skincare products.
We have always considered Empower to be a front-runner in the health, fitness and wellness industry and we are continually attending educational conferences, reviewing research and learning. Recently, much of what we have learned is focused on the impact hormones have on our overall health including: physiological issues such weight loss/weight gain and strength gains and muscle building, fertility and reproductive health for both women and men and psychological factors such as depression, anxiety, stress, and mood. We know that you look to the Empower team as experts and you trust us with your overall health so we feel that it is our responsibility to share this important research with you.
Over the last 10 years we have been approached by many different product lines, but we have always had reservation with introducing them to the Empower community because of all the synthetic, harmful ingredients, artificial colors and sweeteners and other toxic substances. When we learned about Arbonne we were most impressed by the ingredients that the products DO NOT contain, and we believe our company philosophies align nicely and complement one another.
The Elephant in the Room? So you may have heard of Arbonne and you may know that it is a network marketing company. Many of us have a knee-jerk reaction to multi-level marketing companies as we believe they must be a scam or “too go to be true”. We too, had this reaction, but after much research and learning more about the core philosophy of Arbonne we have determined that it is actually great that we can introduce a product line to the Empower community that does not require us to hold inventory or take up our non-existent shelf space. After very thorough research, we discovered that Arbonne is comprised of many allied health professionals including medical doctors, registered dietitians, physical/occupational therapists, and health and fitness professionals like us. Our goal with endorsing Arbonne is to add a product line that complements our Empower business model and helps our Empower community lead stronger, healthier, happier lives.
With love,
Jess and Ronda
