Episode 71: Beachbody: An Empire that Exploits the Latest Fads and Trends
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Episode Description
In this episode of The Up-Beet Dietitians podcast, Emily and Hannah discuss the infamous, Beachbody and Shakeology programs. The girls dive into what Beachbody is and how it’s stuck around for so long. They also break down their most popular programs including Shakeology, Beachbody On Demand, Portion Fix, 2B Mindset, Beachbody Ultimate Reset, 3 Day Refresh, 4 Week Gut Protocol, and Beachbody Performance. Be sure to tune in to learn more about the different programs and if they’re for you if you’re trying to incorporate an anti-diet lifestyle!
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Participant #1:
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Dietitians podcast. Hello, welcome to the podcast. Today we are talking about a highly requested topic. We are going to be reviewing beachbody and all that it entails because it does entail a ton of stuff. We're going to cover a lot more of the nutrition side today. They, of course, have their beach body on demand, like workouts. And we'll go over that a little bit today. But we're mostly going to go over the different nutrition programs, what they are, how they work, and then all the different red flags. And again, spoiler. There's a lot of red flags. So let's start by talking about first, though, like, what beachbody is in general. Yeah, so beachbody has so many different types of programs. It's kind of a little empire giving herbal life vibes. It's kind of a different form. And to kind of gauge a lot of where we're getting these red flags from, definitely check out episode 59 where we talk about how to identify red flags in a diet. We'll link it in the episode description, but the word itself, the name of the program itself, beachbody, kind of implies that you aren't ready for the beach unless you have a specific body type. It's kind of get you beach ready and whatnot. And that's just not true. All bodies are beach body. You don't need a specific body type to go to the beach. You can go to the beach anytime of the year. Probably not in the winter if you're in a cold area, but anytime. We always kind of think summer bod. We think of getting ready for your beach body. Everyone's always, like, stressing out at the gym and shredding and cutting or whatever they do. All you need for a beach body or bikini body is often times we see a little bit more on social media is to put on a swimsuit and to get a towel and get lots of snacks and water for hydrogen and sunscreen. Yes, that's all you need for a successful beach day. You don't need a specific body type. Yeah. Okay. That's our first red flag. The name is a red flag right there. Starting off strong. Yeah. The next one is the website is heavily, heavily focused on before and after photos. Like, they're everywhere. Every program they offer, they have before and after photos. And we'll get to this. But even the gut health one, there's a before and after photo with their body and how much weight they lost. Like, it's not even the point of the program. But as we discussed in The Red Flags of a Diet, episode, a before and after picture does not determine how well the program is. Just because someone lost weight, it does not automatically mean that their health improved. Photos don't show the whole story. They simply show what someone's body looks like. And even if they lost weight, they could be struggling with a lot of other things that make their health maybe not so great. And not to mention that photos can be altered too. So how do we even know if the after photo is actually what the person even looks like? Exactly that we are not before and after photo fans here. And especially that's just implying that weight loss equals you being successful. And that's not always the case. And like, can we get an after photo, like five years later when they probably would regain the weight back from this three day detox they did as well again, get to yeah, probably gained it all right back. Yeah. And kind of going along that frame of what Hannah was talking about with the five year check in, a lot of the emphasis is on quick weight loss. So one of the examples we saw on there, like a testimonial was like, lose £9 in 14 days, and that rate is just not going to always be one fat loss. It's way too fast. So probably it's more like water weight potentially could also be muscle mass if it's that fast. And quick weight loss is not sustainable at all. So another red flag is just promoting that, like, quick changes, which people always want because we are a little bit impatient as individuals and that's fine, but from a weight standpoint, we kind of don't want to be throwing our body through these huge changes all at once. So not only is it not sustainable, but also it's not always healthy to lose weight. You guys know we don't like the word healthy because what does healthy mean? What is it? It's hijacked. Yes, exactly that. But from like a sustainability standpoint, maybe even like a lab value standpoint, mental health standpoint, if we want to go, that level of health not going to be great for that. But yeah, that kind of beach buys a whole. So now we can go into all the different programs. And the first one I think, is the one I hear about the most behind the exercise program. So Shake Ology is the first one. I hear about this all the time with like, supplement, like shakes, meal replacement shakes. Essentially, it's a line of supplements under the beachbody empire. And I haven't really looked into if they are third party tested. Okay. I spent hours looking at all these programs, so I have so much to say. So they've got shakeology, which is like mostly just protein shakes, which they even have a whole blog on if they are to be classified as a protein shake or as a meal replacement, because the shake itself, they promote it as like a lot of different things. It has some protein, about 17 grams, but they also promote how much fiber it has. And it's got omega three and, you know, all these, like, superfoods and stuff that they say. So they recommend not using it as a mere replacement, which is great. They actually say that. They say it's not really enough to be a meal replacement, but what they say instead is that you should use it before you eat a meal to help suppress your appetite so you don't eat as much during your meal. So it's just like eating a snack before. Exactly.
Participant #1:
It's expensive. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. $130 for 30 servings. That's, like, insane. Do you know how much you can buy from the grocery store with that much money? How much more variety that's, like, just shakes. That's not even including the price of your meals that you would eat after. That's my week of groceries for two people, and, like, that one shake a day for 30 days for one person. Oh, my God. Okay. So they also have a lot of other claims. They say the results are backed by science, and they have all these statistics, like reduced desire to eat by 50% more than a calorie match shake, reduced hunger and health participants eat fewer calories, but you'll get all those benefits just by eating anything. Like, the best appetite suppressant is going to be just food in general. It doesn't need to be this expensive shake. No. If you're going to eat anything with that much protein in it and also fiber yeah. Your appetite is going to be suppressed. And yes, you're going to eat less of your meal.
Participant #1:
Right. It doesn't seem like a terrible supplement. I mean, we'll get to this with the next section too, but, like, it is a supplement. And so with that, we have a risk inherently. But it's got protein. It's got fiber. It's hard to taste terrible, but well, that's not fun. But also, it's maybe half the meal. That where it's like, that's what I can't get over. This isn't even for a whole if you live with other individual, maybe have, like, kids. My food for other people, it's like 130 is just for one person for me. Right. And also, it kind of seems like it demonizes appetite a little bit.
Participant #1:
Appetite. Let's honor those hunger cues. Like, your body's hungry for a reason. You don't need to suppress your appetite. That's consistent throughout a lot of their programs. Act like hunger is the worst thing you can ever experience, which I get it. When you're so used to dieting, hunger is a scary thing because you don't know how to honor it. But when you finally become an intuitive eater, it's great. You get to honor it, and you get to eat again in, like, three more hours. So it's exciting to feel hungry. It's amazing. Yes. So we got a few other red flags that we haven't really talked about yet. We said how expensive it is. It's so pricey. Like Emily said, it promotes all that appetite suppression. And that doesn't really need to be a thing because appetite is a good thing and really eating anything will stress your appetite. And there is also a heavy emphasis on weight loss that's also consistent throughout all of these programs, of course, because how are you going to get a beach body without losing weight? But as you guys know, if you're regular listeners, you will get weight loss from a calorie deficit whether you include these shakes in there or not. Yeah. So like if this takes you over your sacred calorie deficit, then no, you won't lose weight. But if it helps you get to your calorie deficit, then yeah, you will lose weight. It depends. Do you know if there's a wean off program for sustainability? Not that I found. Although I will say I wonder if some of the programs, like when you become a member, they have different stages. They probably do. And we just don't have access to that since we are not a member. Because I tried like a lot of them, I tried to look more into it and you had to log in, of course. So they have another supplement line called Beach Potty, basically
Participant #1:
Beachbody Performance brand. It hires other marketing team. We're the realistic marketing team. Yeah, but this Beach Body performance line is geared towards those doing really any workouts. But of course they want you to do their workouts. And so they have things like protein powders, preworkout, they have aptos presents, whatever. And I will say with this one, emily, you mentioned third party certification. I did see it on these on the protein powder. Okay. It's the bare minimum. Bare minimum. There we go. So expensive and advertising terribly like enriched in diet culture. But at least they're third party tested. They got that one pro. There we go. Yeah, those exist. Their prices are pretty astronomical too. Like their preworkout is about $55 for a month supply. And the way protein is $70 for 20 servings. That's crazy. This is expensive. I have my own personal not rule, but kind of like guideline I follow for protein supplements. I try to limit paying more than like $2 a serving. That's kind of my own little budget, I was going to say. Yeah, again, if you can afford more, go for it. If you like different ones. But that's kind of my own general because you can get ripped off very easily in the supplement world. Oh, yeah, there's so many and a lot aren't regulated, but these are. So at least we know the ingredients and quantities are going to be accurate. So take that. We do. But as these are supplements, we still have that inherent risk taking a supplement. And as we talked about in the episode, episode four, use food first, supplements are just there to help you if you're not able to get enough protein. For example, through diet, you could choose theirs if you wanted to. So supplements? Yeah, that's really all supplements. A few of them like intertwined, like some of them will encourage you to use shakeology while doing like the portion fix or whatever. But yeah, let's go through the beach by demand, shall we? Yes. That is, I feel like one of the most well known ones. It's their live and on demand exercise classes and they have a bunch of different plans that kind of offer a variety of nutrition programs and supplements along with them to kind of promote that full package. But we'll go into all the nutrition red flags a lot more in depth when we go into the other programs encouraged or advertised. But one of the biggest things to note from exercise standpoint is the idea that doing these exercises will automatically make you healthy or only doing these are going to make you healthy. And what if the beach body and demand exercises are something you just hate and they're not fun and uncomfortable and you don't really thrive in a live or on demand exercise class. Maybe you like to work out by yourself, maybe you like to go in different studios. It's kind of just pushing that like these are the exercises you need to do to be healthy. And as you guys know, within the intuitive eating realm, we always recommend incorporating joyful movement, movement that makes us happy because not only is that going to be a lot more sustainable but we also shouldn't have to punish herself with exercise to be quote unquote, healthy. So if you don't like the workouts, don't do them. That is the one time I don't even know. This isn't even nutrition related. We say nutrition isn't black and white. This is a black and white case where if you don't like it, don't do it and find some movement you do enjoy. Simple as that. You don't have to pay lots of money to do movement that is promoted as healthy and if you don't like it you're going to probably feel bad that you aren't being quote unquote, healthy. That's what I was going to say. You'll feel guilty for not doing it because you feel like you should be doing it and then the whole cycle repeats itself. Yeah, a vicious cycle. Okay, maybe you do like it, maybe you do. And if you do that's great. I can't speak too much to the workouts themselves because I haven't done them either. I'm not paying for that. I think when it comes to exercise and of course it needs to be very individualized and these aren't you're just hopping on a live or recorded class, which can be great if you're someone who needs that motivation and accountability and guidance. But of course if you have really specific fitness goals it would be best to get someone on one advice if you can, if you have the means to do so. I completely agree. Yeah. Okay, let's break down the nutrition programs because this is where it gets really juicy. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I was like, what is last thoughts? Let's go. Okay, so portion Fix, I think, is the one that we often think of in terms of nutrition for Beachbody. It's the one that has all those different colorful containers that you eat out of. So each color like a food group, you have to eat out of the container that portion size. And of course, the whole goal is to lose weight. So when you join this program, which I believe you can join it separately or in conjunction with the Beachbody on demand. Like a lot of these, you can kind of add on to your plan or whatever. But with your payment, you get the containers, you get a daily log book. You're encouraged to log all your food choices. They have an app as well where you can track I hate this name. The creator of this, which we'll get to her problems in a second. She has a cookbook called Fixate, and she also has cooking videos. And it's like the fixate. That's the brand name of her whole thing. That's terrible. You don't fixate on food. There's more important things than money anywhere near nutrition. Terrible. Terrible. So, yeah, you get all of that. And then I found out today they have a new interminate fasting program to go along with this. So because Beachbody is all about what's hot right now, let's slap a Beachbody trainer on the cover of it and sell it. Because they've all got ABS. They have this new Internet fasting thing and they have specific PDFs or ebooks to go along with how to do intermittent fasting alongside of your color coded portion cups. Yeah, beachbody is such a weird. I don't understand what's going on because like Anna said, a common theme is like, if it's a new fad, they have a program for it. So weird. But their entire main purpose is to get you beach body ready. So it's just kind of like hitting up all these different fads in their own way that will promote their own programs, not problems. They are promoting their problems, but not directly. But this is so odd. If your goal is weight loss and you want to be a weight loss diet, just keep it simple. Yes. Should I do the intermittent one? Should I do the gut health one? Should I do the supplement one? Well, what I'm sure what happens if someone does portion fix, it doesn't work and they go to the club and they go to the detox and they do the supplements. Yeah. I don't even want to know how much the average person who is a consumer of each body spends. There's so many things you can add on. Oh, yeah. So expensive. And I'm just like for what? But I can't get over going back to portion fix overall, how they just have Tupperwares for you to eat out of one. Are you going to carry those? Are you going to bring those to the restaurant? Are you going to bring those to work? Do you only get one set? Do you need to wash them every single night? Do you need to wash them between meals? Oh, my God. Think about that.
Participant #1:
I'm going to say it, and you guys can let me know if I'm being mean, but like, you're going to look like a child with your color coded they look like upperware. Something you would make a child out of. Yeah. It's teaching you not to trust your body. That's my biggest point with this. Yes. It's like, here's what you need to eat. And how individualized are the portion sizes to different people? Is there, like, one for men, one from women? Is there one for a certain range of weight or like, a weight loss goal rate? And these are all great questions that we think of as dietitians, but someone who just sees it and buys it, they don't know to ask these things. They just see. She markets it as so easy and quick, and it's no calorie counting. You'll lose weight so fast and so boom. Like, you're sold. Yeah. You don't think critically about it because why would you no, not how you're breaking why wouldn't you trust them? Why wouldn't you trust this person? You've got ABS, and they seem to want to help you feel better in your body. For the beach. I can't get over that. I'm looking for the beach. It's a terrible name. I'm fixated on that. I'm like, this is all revolving around weight loss and getting beach. Right? It's such good marketing. Yes. I got to give them that. Yeah. I have other red flags. Let's talk about the creator, the woman behind it all. Actually, I don't know if she's the main one. She has a few different programs, so there's like a whole bunch of lead trainers. Yeah, she's the face of this one. There is a dietician which we'll get to, I think, in the next one, right? Yeah. Okay, we'll get to that. Stay tuned. It's so juicy. This is autumn. Autumn is the creator of this one as well as the Gut Health one. She is a personal trainer. She holds various, like, fitness certifications. She does have, in terms of nutrition, a certification in holistic health through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. But that's a bogus certification. It's not equivalent to five to six years of continuing education. Like a dietitian has code of ethics. Code of ethics. Oh, my God. What are those, a practicum? No, she is mainly a personal trainer, also a nutritionist. And this is so outside of her scope. So outside of her scope. It's even worse than the next one with her scope. The Gut Health one like, that one's so bad out of her scope. That's, like, debatable, like, towing the line of some potential M and T. If there's like, she literally says in the golf one, spoiler to cut out foods. And it's like a generic plan. It's not like I'm meeting with Emily one on one. I realize she has a lot of intolerance. I say to cut out dairy. It's like, join this program, marketing as losing weight. Get rid of Bloating, cut out all these foods, and that will do it. As a personal trainer. Ma'am, stay here. Lane, we're not trying to give out a negligent. Well, I'm not. Hannah's a personal trainer. I'm trying hannah can do that because she also shares your same credentials. Me, mine is the holistic one. I'm going to just add that. No, you're not holistic health and Integrative Nutritionist. No, but, like, dietitians like me are not trying to make individualized fitness plants. So why can you, like, not sustain your scope? There's so much of exercise. Yeah, stay in your lane. Stay in your lane. Like, if you're that bored with the fitness part, do better with that. Don't approach on our stuff. Yeah. There's so much you could do, like Emily said in fitness. So figure it out. Do better at fitness. Do better.
Participant #1:
But first and foremost, kind of jumping back to the beginning. Red flags when I think at some point they say they say Porsche fixes, not died. I was looking at where is the car? No. If you are recording the weight in time and measuring foods, it is a diet, and it is recommending, like, portion control. And there are rules about how much you should eat. It is a diet that is a diet that is not a lifestyle. This is why everyone's so confused. Yes. It's like, what is actually a balanced lifestyle, because everyone markets their diet as a balanced lifestyle. Yeah. And someone needs to we need to regulate that term. I don't know. How do I even know the definition? That and healthy academy won't. Not the Academy. They won't help us. Maybe the FDA. I don't know if they would. You would. FDA, maybe. Let's just go to the dietitian one. Oh, you're still on that? Okay. I thought you're trying to get to the next point. No, I'm thinking of different levels of government at this point.
Participant #1:
Mr. Joe, we got a call. Sorry, you probably don't care about dieticians, but if there's one thing you can do for this country, is regulate the term lifestyle. Joe Biden does not even know what an Rd is. I wonder if they have dietitians in the White House. That would be kind of cool. Yeah. How do you get that job? I mean, they definitely have chefs. Yeah, they have an Rd. Managing the menu, making sure that Joe is getting a balanced approach. We have to keep this man safe. We have to keep him alive. He's at a very particular age where nutrition is very important. We cannot let them become malnourished
Participant #1:
in our clinicals. And you go to just be like, a malnutrition assessment, and it's just joe sir, how much of your food would you say, percentage wise, you've been eating? Have you been saying any type of unintentional weight loss? Can I do a physical exam? Let me just palpate between your thumb and your first finger. Let me please touch your temples. I do not miss doing those. They were kind of fun. Of course you liked them. Well, to be fair, we always did exams on each other, so no one was ever really malnourished. So it was kind of nice to get a comparison. That's true. That's true. We actually had a malnourished patient. I'm doing something at work. Yeah. I don't even know how we got on this track. We're talking about regulation. Yeah. If it says healthier lifestyle, it's probably been hijacked by that. That's a red flag right there. I'm like, let's think critically. Yeah. Okay. I would like to talk about the next one because this is where it gets even juicier. This is a wild. It's just stopping wet with juice. I'm sorry. It's moist. Just forget I said anything. Okay, this next one is the to be mindset program. And this one is led by Alana I can't say her last name. Alana fell fine. She's a dietitian. She's pretty big on social media, too. Really?
Participant #1:
Yeah. Who was it? Someone stitched her recently. I think it was Vicara. Really? I feel like she had done it. Yeah, because she's the type of dietitian who goes in the grocery store and she pulls the whole thing of, like, instead of these crackers that have seed oils, get this one that's $2 more and has no seed oils. She's doing that kind of stuff. And she also works for Beach Body, apparently. So they have the TV mindset. Apparently. It means nothing to be a dietitian. We have a code of ethics, but, like, we just do whatever. There's no rules. When we say not all dietitians are equal, we're referring to Alana and one other person that we can't say because she'll sue us. Yes. Maybe one day, when we're more successful in her and we're not afraid of her, we'll go after her. Yeah. Just wait, guys, if you want to know, you better hang out for a while. Stay for a little bit, and give us some listen so we can become successful enough to feel strong enough to go up against this individual. So Alana markets all of this by using her own journey, which red flag, because she lost weight, does not mean that testimonials. Yup. Including a picture from when she was 13. And she was yes. This is Alana aged 13. And here's her now. £100 lighter. Yeah. Terrible. Terrible. Oh, my gosh. And she did not realize it was, like, lost £100. She always uses that as a selling point. And like I said, her social media is very diady. And she's, like, constantly talking about how she lost weight and she can help you do the same thing. She was a child. I don't love attacking her 13 year old self. Yes. And, like, putting it on a very popular platform. There are children on social media. There are a lot of young children on social media. Oh, my. I did not know that. I know she was a dietitian and the whole testimonial thing, but I did not know she was comparing it to her 13 year old self. Yeah. I don't want to talk snack about other dietitians. I try to stay in my own lane, run my own business. We're not all going to agree on everything, but like, come on, come on. No, not good. There's a fine line, and if you cross that line too many times, you will not be protected. Maybe someday Academy will finally do something. This is a call to action listening. Please, please help us. We're drowning. Those of us for dietitians, as I say, those of us who actually follow a code of ethics are drowning. The good guys are not winning. No. Alana is making bank. Yeah. I don't want to discuss our finances on here, but I will say we're not doing as well as Lana. So this whole program is all about your mindset. So they sell mindful eating and things like that. All foods fit and how that can help you lose weight. That's all great and all we obviously love mindful eating and all foods fit, but it's a diet when you bring weight loss into it. Yeah. And you start recommending eat more of these and portion sizes and stuff like that. When people weaponize my pledge and all food fit so much because they know it's popular. That's the theme of beachbody. They know what's popular and they know what they're going on. And they figure out their marketing team is very good at what they do. They're so good. Very good. And then they just kind of make it fit their because at the end of the day, that's what each body is, the weight loss program. And all they're doing is figuring out how to fit all these different rising either fads or trends. Also, mindful eating has very, very good intentions behind that. Yes. And it's not to teach you to shrink your body. Yes, but they're weaponizing it to do and what's so confusing about each body, too, is that they have this where Alan is like, mindful eating. Your mindset around food matters so much. Then they have our next one that's like, literally a cleansing detox. Which one is it? Are we starving ourselves or are we being mindful and allowing all foods? Like, which one is it? I would like a quote from Auto and Alana, please. Auto and Alana. I got to say, they're doing it right, though, in terms of finances. Like. Marketing ethics? No. But yes, other realms. They're doing okay. Even if we wanted to be non ethical, I don't think we could. I couldn't do unethical. I literally have tried at times to be unethical. Not about nutrition, literally about reading and the sense of problematic authors. This is, like, not related, but kind of related. And I can't do it. I've tried to be unethical, and I'm like, they said some, like, borderline racist things in the past. I heard this book is good and I literally can't do it. I'm like, what is it like to not care about ethical things? Right. And I used to do weight loss in my private practice. Like, I used to sell things for weight loss purposes, and I just realized it's not it. No, it's not it. Like, I saw how miserable people were when, like, they weren't losing weight and they hated everything even though they were eating more vegetables and they were exercising more, but, like, everyone was killed and said they were doing things successfully, so they felt terrible. And I was, like, encouraging that. Yeah. You had critical thought. We love critical thought. Operating critical thought. And you are aware of the flaws in the past, and we're both aware of our flaws from undergrad when we were, like, super going to go kirovic, even though that's literally not a thing because BMI was created off of not representative data. Right. But we're learning individuals and humans, and we make mistakes, and that's why it's important when faced with other things that challenge our thoughts, we think about and it's okay to change your opinion. I feel like that's not even nutritionally. It's okay to be wrong. Yeah. I'd like to be okay with that. Yeah. And, like, you guys listening, maybe you have done this to be mindset. It didn't go well. You now have a terrible relationship with food because of it or whatever else you've done in the past, but now you've learned from it. You have more critical thought. You know how to understand what the red fog of a diet is. You get to improve from that. So you get to fail. It's okay. Yeah. So, Alana, if you're listening, you can change. This isn't you. You could do better than this. You're confused the next two. I'm psyched about I'm loving this episode today. I'm having a great time, by the way. I am, too. This is, like, so juicy. We haven't had a juicy one like this in a while. No, this is we've been very, like, so much. Really? Yeah. We kind of calmed it down. No. Now we're back intuitive eating and love your body, which we still, of course, stand by, but we haven't had a good crap about. Yeah. And you guys are involved in our gossip session. Hopefully, you're also enjoying these deeds. So let's talk about the next one because Hannah already gave a little spoiler that it's like a starvation type situation. A starvation situation, but they say it's not starvation cleanse. They quote no starvation cleanse helps to restore your body to its optimal factory setting. So this next one is called Beach Body Ultimate Reset. So just because of that, what do we think it's about exactly? What do we need to reset anyway? Quote from the program. It will help you feel invigorated, lose weight, and get back on track to better health in 21 days. In just three weeks, the Beach Body Ultimate Reset will help gently cleanse your system. This gentle, no starvation cleanse helps restore your body to its optimal, quote unquote, factory settings so you can feel and look healthier. That will work because that's what I want to be compared to. I want to be compared to the default factor machine setting. Yes, I am a machine. There's three phases. Each one is like a certain time period. So you start with phase one, which is reclaim. And this phase, you reclaim your body, accessing your inner chemistry, preparing it for change. The biggest thing on this one is you remove red meat and dairy just because well, they say because those are known to place yeah, they place stress on your digestive system, which no, they don't. Unless you have an actual intolerance. Like if everyone lactose intolerance, right? So everyone cuts it out for no reason, besides, apparently it causes stress. And then phase two is release. You begin to release unwanted compounds that have been holding your system back, and you start the detox process. So now it makes no sense. You cut up meat and dairy and now you go fully vegan. What? It gets better. It gets better. Okay, so phase one, you cut up red meat and dairy. Okay, fine, easy enough, whatever. Phase two, now you're fully vegan all of a sudden. So, like, you just got used to the meat and dairy thing. Now you do a whole new grocery store, no animal products at all. Now you're fully vegan. And then phase three is restore, where you restore your digestive system along with other internal processes. And in this one, you're mostly eating fruits and vegetables. That's the only rule with that one. You go from vegetarian kind of like vegan to like, just fruits and vegetables. Your poor body one like beach potty, am I right? Your body would have a panic attack. Liked, in this it's just so polarizing. It makes no sense. What is? From red meat and dairy to vegan and then, like, fruits and veggies. Fruits and veggies. Like, they're just grasping at straws. They're just desperate to create something for you to buy. Yeah, and let's not forget, with these three phases, you're also taking a whole slew of supplements. Oh, my gosh, these I'm so excited for. Okay, so there's six I have the best time. There are six supplements for this Ultimate Reset. The first one is a green powder, which whatever, we won't go too much into that one. It's mostly just us saying you don't need that. The next one is called Optimize, and it says on the website it's a proprietary enzyme blend and added Camu. Camu to help support nutrient absorption and bioavailability and some digestive enzyme. Exactly. And like the red flag proprietary, which that means that we have no clue what's actually in it. Yeah, vague now. Vague. Okay. Number three is soothe. So this one has, like, aloe vera and tumeric, also supposed to help the digestive system and improve oxidative stress. My note that I wrote I thought was hilarious. The only thing that's going to need sooth is your butt hole after shitting your brains out for 21 days. Okay, moving on. Mineralize. This one is all about pink and salt, which adds natural minerals to the body. It's salt. It's salt, which we as Americans get plenty of. Salt you don't need for the most part. There's some who need more than others, like costs and things like that, but we're doing okay sodium wise. These last two really go out strong. The classic detox one, which is classic, formulated with key ingredients including chia seeds, flax seeds, and tumeric, traditionally used to help support the biased natural detoxification processes and healthy liver function. Please explain to me how chia and flax support healthy liver function, like fiber or whatever, but do they know that?
Participant #1:
Go ahead. If your liver and kidney and lungs are fine, you don't need any docs. Yeah. And even then, your liver, you don't even need all of it. Your liver is, like, very impressive. It's doing good. And if it's not, you should be hospitalized or at least, like, given a more specific diet than just do this beachbody reset. Yeah, and then the last one is Revitalized, the pre and probiotic supplement, but I maybe need to look more into it. But from what I gathered, it looks like on the Facts label that only had one strain of bacteria. And my understanding is most good, high quality probiotic supplements have multiple strains, like five, six, seven strains of bacteria. Typically, yeah. But it said, of course, like, it's a blend, a proprietary blend, which means we have no clue it's actually in. It a mystery. Yeah. So with this one, you basically, like, have these supplements that you do during those three phases, and we basically already covered the red flags, but yeah, I don't even know what into the prices of those. I don't remember. I don't remember. I didn't do the price of all these. I realized. I am realizing now that's, okay, I'm sure it's expensive. All right, this next program kind of goes along very similar lines of the ones we just talked about. It's just a much shorter version of it. It's a three day refresh. And the quote is I love this. Feel cleaner, lighter, and healthier without giving up food. You know what helps me feel cleaner? Showering. That's the best way I feel cleaner without giving up food. Yeah, they give you the meals to make and like the shakes. Yeah. And what blows my mind, we're just already jumping into it. And it talks about a quick start for lifestyle, health eating lifestyle, it says, helps you shed a few pounds in three days. And it shows on the website before and after pictures. Of course, like Thomas lost £8 in these three days. Yeah. They were all like 8910 pounds. Thomas is going to gain all that right back. He only lost that. He gave me back the next three days after he had to do it again. Yeah. Or is he do like the long program or something else? Tommy has been a paying member for a long time because he keeps doing these refreshes and he's not actually learning about his internal hunger and fullness cues. Yeah. And that's like I think we've talked about this on either the Red Flag diet episode or the episode with Kayla where we talk about the issues with dieting. But that's how they make their money is they don't make sustainable programs. They make these programs that you need to take all their supplements and all their shakes and do exactly what they say for initial weight loss. And then what happens when you plateau or you gain it back? You start a different program and you're just going to be a continuous cycling member and consumer. Yeah. Which with us, we kind of hope from Hannah and I perspective, we kind of hope you work with us and then you don't have to work with us again. You're set for life and you're good. You either was the podcast and learn from us. That way you join our course which link in description to wait list for that coming fall winter of this year. And like you do that, you learn and then you're like on your happy way for the rest of your life with full food freedom. Yeah. And you have connections to us via social media, podcasts, but not sustainable. And also this doesn't really teach you anything. There's a lot of common themes here. They're just kind of telling you what to eat. The three a refresh one specifically is like shakes. Here are some easy prepared clean meals, clean eating. They really don't have their bads no mold or anything. Healthy snacks help you break the cycle of bad eating habits, lose a few pounds and support healthy digestion. Improve the way you feel. Everything about that is a red flag. It's so bad. There's like so much guilt and shame in that one. Yeah. And it's not teaching you anything. It's just telling you what to do for those three days. And what happens if you don't lose a few pounds. People are going to feel bad about themselves. Right. Like this is that money. I bet this is probably like, honestly one of the more popular programs because it's short because they're like, let's see how I feel. And then like, three days, they're like, oh my gosh, nothing happened. Or maybe we lost weight. Guess we went we took out a ton of foods, or probably like I don't even know what the portion sizes would be. They're probably going to be so small. And then you rebound and you went back. Exactly. It's all short term. Like, one of the before and after pictures was this chick Sydney, lost £8 in three days right before she went on her cruise. And she got rid of all of her Bloat. It's those kind of people who are wanting this, like, right before your wedding or going to cruise or for a beach trip, they are advertising this for that kind of person. Yeah. And the example we give with this of why it's not going to work is like, if you held your breath for a long period of time, what happens when you finally naturally do your body protecting you, like, have to breathe again. You probably like gas for air. It's the same thing with this. Like, you go on a three day restricted diet, you're going to end up feeling so deprived that you'll end up overeating gain all the weight back, feel really guilty, and then do it again. And the psychopath repeats itself forever and ever until you break it. Yeah. Which you can. You just have to step one is admitting there's a problem. First steps to solving any problem. Okay, we've got one last nutrition program to cover. It's just so on brand, especially where the nutrition world is at right now. Gut Health. They have a four week gut protocol, which another issue with all these right. Getting to the red flags right away is they all put a time limit on it. Yeah, we covered that in the Red Flag episode. Like having a time frame of how it's going to work. It's just not how humans are functioning. Not everyone's going to work at the same time. Not everyone's a machine or part of factory. That this is how long it'll take you. And like, Autumn the creator of this one, who, as we know, is probably problematic, she says in the description for these that all you have to do is commit four weeks to me and I'm going to change your life. But Autumn, I'm a busy working mom, working two jobs, and I have no money. I can't do that right now with you. But Autumn says that you can, so you can do it. It's very much along those like, I hate when not even just like this type of situation when anyone's like, if you just invest in your health and I'm like, let's not get a little bit pretentious about it. That's because people don't have the money or like the time or they can't commit this time. It's only this long. Like, you don't know what people have going on in their lives. People can't just commit this much time into food. They probably have other stressors going on. Whether it's like work related. Everyone's just about work. That is what I've gathered from working for a little over a year now. Everyone is stressed about work. Probably some family life stuff in there. Maybe like personal relationships, maybe mental health. Mental health is so bad. So bad. It's terrible. But all it is is like dedicating four weeks to this person. That's it. No, it's not that simple. And I just hate the whole investments in health. Yes. Because it's normally just them saying, if you spend a lot of money on this, it's going to be good for you. That is what it is translating to. Exactly. I get the part of it we're like, yeah, you should try to take care of yourself and do what's best. But using that as a selling tactic is pretty slimy. Yes, but anyway, this four week gut protocol, again, it's led by Autumn. And what it does is she gives you a cookie cutter list of foods to cut out. That according to Autumn, who is a holistic. Nutritionist are ones that typically cause gastric distress and undermine your health and well being. They undermine it. Just get in there and do your dirty. They're also get you that dairy. I tell you, it does get Emily, but for most of us. Drink your damn milk. We got too much osteoporosis going on. Just drink your milk. I know. This is the one where I was so mad about Autumn. Like, this is so outside of her scope. Oh, yeah. It's irrational. Like how far it's wild and the calorie brackets. This is like me trying to be someone's accountant. It doesn't make any sense. No. And it's just so intense for no reason. Yeah. And it's obviously not individualized. It's not supposed to be. By nature, it's a sign up online program thing. But that's not how gut health works. You can't just cut out the same foods as Shelley next door and get the same results. Yeah. And like you're cutting out I'm guessing dairy is one of them. To use it as an example. Gluten in there. Gluten, dairy, red beef, basically foods all the time. Yeah. Probably the foods that are really getting demonized right now. And a lot of those are things that are easily accessible. They're just like part of our regular diet. So bad. I bet the stress of this program and trying to figure out what to eat is worse than the foods itself. I put my licensure on that. I don't even know if it's going to come after my licensure. Probably not. I don't even know how you would do that, actually. It's not getting ideas. If you're listening and you're trying to attack Emily around Emily, don't, don't cross it. But it's just so out of her scope. It's so bad. This one is so bad. And she is the creator of the portion fix, like we know. And so she encourages you to use the color coded containers. And like Emily was saying, calorie brackets to make sure you're getting the right nutrients so you're not too deprived, cutting out the foods that you are probably eating lots of before for four weeks. And then what are you going to do? Just like, keep doing that afterwards? You're going to reintroduce them like you were before. I bet it's not even a reintroduction, like lead process, like individuals process. Why not? There is a way to do reintroduction. Yes. Those who have gut health issues usually do some sort of like what's it called when you take a food out and then you reintroduce it. But that is what dietitians are for. Yes, that is what we work with. We actually learn how to do that. So annoying. And like I mentioned earlier, to the last point on this one, it shows before and after pictures. They all have before and after pictures. But this is about gut health. Yeah. You can't see, like, the individualized you don't know what bacteria microbial eye going on. Yeah, show me. And just got to go that far. How far does that go into does that go into your intestines or does it only go to your stomach? I don't know. Well, doesn't the colonoscopy only does the large intestine, though, right? Yeah, I don't know. Obviously. Show us the microbiology then. I'll believe you do this for protocol and then Autumn is going to do your colonoscopy because she loves to go outside of her scope of practice. She's qualified. She's a holistic nutritionist. She could a camera up your butt. She has the confidence.
Participant #1:
The budget is low. We have, like people are doing multiple jobs. Even though I bet their budget is not low. They make lots. They have like, billions of users, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Anyway, that's Beachbody or Beachbody have rebranded. Let's talk about what to do instead of Beachbody because we've just talked probably more like an hour. So about why we're not a fan of it. But you're probably like Emily and Hannah, you're just hating on Beachbody. What should we do instead? I am so glad you asked. Number one, emily is thrilled.
Participant #1:
Number one is finding Joyful movement. We talked about this way back one with I don't even know. They're all blending. Is it beachbody on demand? Is that the exercise one? Yeah. There we go. I'm learning beach volume demand. They have those specific exercise programs. Number one we recommend doing is like, finding movement or exercise. You actually enjoy physical activity. This could even be like walking or gardening.
Participant #1:
There are so many different group classes and different types. Join a running club. Go to, like, a new local gym. There are so many different types of gym. Find something you actually enjoy that incorporates both aerobic and weight training, resistance training. We kind of want to incorporate both of those, but that's not something to say. We think aerobic and weights. We think like lifting the bells and going on a run. Now it doesn't have to be that. Aerobic could be walking, aerobic could be swimming. Swimming resistance training could be body weight workouts. It could be like Pilates, stuff like that. It's just kind of finding something you enjoy. Next thing we'll know is eating a balanced diet that is not restricted. This is very vague, I will know, but a balanced diet can look different to a lot of different people and that's incorporating different colors of food, making sure we're eating protein at every meal when possible, eating carbs. So our body is getting that readily available energy. Yes. Eat carbs, please. Also, we're going to go a lot more in depth. It's about like balanced plate building in our course. So definitely go check out our course. Information is coming out this fall, 2022. We'll link it in the bio. I think we're also going to do a blood sugar stability episode so you can check that out as well. Once that comes out, next thing we'll know is what to do instead of each body is supplements are as needed. You don't need supplements. They are exactly that. They are to supplement your diet. They are not there as a replacement for something. You don't need to rely on them. They're there kind of to help out. They're an assist. They get those assist points in the basketball game. I was watching lots of basketball last night, so looking at stats, they would get lots of assist. That's what they're getting. They are not scoring points. They are the points. I like that. I'm going to steal that. That's good. I don't know. I probably had insulted some point cards when I said that they do more assistance than score. But, you know, they're running the court so they got to run the place. Supplements are not running, I was just going to say too far. We're taking them back. They are just assisting. A little bit of a different analogy. JV, who like they get to play on the game where everyone like, you're winning by so much, you're doing so good, you're just like destroying the other team. So they let the person in. JV come and just like help a little bit. If they need a little bit of help, yeah, get some good practice in there. But that didn't make sense either because if you're really good, you wouldn't need a supplement. Whatever. They're assistant. You know what we're talking about. They are not the game. Changers of the field. Maybe that's the field. The court. The court. The tracks are there. The green. If you're golfing the green. Oh, my gosh. Okay. And then the last thing,
Participant #1:
you're new here, maybe you don't know this, but embracing intuitive eating, intuitive eating is amazing for your mental health, your physical health. It actually helps you incorporate all food fit. Not like beachbody says it actually promotes that it promotes weight neutrality. We talk about joyful movement. It's just such a you're going to be happier intuitive eating is to help you from all aspects of health, not just physical health, but also it's kind of looking at nutrition from a different lens that diet culture has brainwashed to think of. So the best way to kind of do so is one listening to our course to learn more about intuitive meaning or listening to our listening to the podcast, or joining the course and kind of learning a little about it more in depth. Once again, check out the bio. Bio. And you're already an expert at listening to the podcast because you made it this far into this episode. So there you go. Now all you got to do is join the course. Exactly. Okay, final thoughts before we get into our bonus question of the day, which should be a tough one, so hopefully it won't be like one of those ones where it's half the episode is a bonus question. I hope it's not half this episode. No, it shouldn't be. And you guys really already know our final thoughts. Like, as we talked about a million times, the name beach body in itself is very problematic. It's all about weight loss and weight loss cells. So they've had a ton of paying customers, so of course they're going to keep doing this. It's not going anywhere. Like with this podcast, we're not going to put Beachbody out of business, but we hope to just raise awareness to people like you who are wondering, should I do this? Three day reset will help me. Hopefully we'll get you to make a choice that will make you feel better about yourself versus worse. Exactly that. Yeah. I don't have anything else to add. Okay, bonus question. I chose this one because shakeology shakes. Okay. Yeah. So bonus question. Do you dip French fries in milkshakes? Like a Wendy's Frosty French fries situation kind of thing? Emily, do you? Okay. I love salty and sweet. Me too. It's so good. This is not really salty, but as we're recording this, tomorrow is when pumpkin cream cold brewers come out. Yes. I'm waking up early to go get some. I'm so excited. I made one this morning and it's good. I make my own and they're really good. I post it all the time on Instagram, so come follow. But you just can't beat it. It's so good. They haven't figured out and they're doing it right. It's going to be crazy tomorrow. I know. Because we're not alone in this love. No, it's like, at this point, the PCCB. Yeah. Don't know why I said the last part. Okay, my thoughts on this. Yes, I do. But I have more to say than just yes. I don't know if I love it. Like, with, like, a big old fat steak fry. That's like, a lot of starchiness, you know, like putting that. I think it's best of like a thin Wendy steak and shake, that kind of thing. Not like a Crowley fry. Honest shake fry. Maybe a waffle. Maybe a waffle. It's similar texture. Yeah, but like definitely would have to be thin if it's too starchy. That like overpowers the shake. What are you doing? Spider. Oh, no. You are reacting way calmer than I would have if I saw spider right on my finger. I have the web. What? I would be having a full blown panic attack. No, hold on. Let me put this guy in the bathroom. No. Kill it. Make him die. He's connected to something. Oh my God. We got him. He got my hand. Okay, hold on. Oh, sorry for that brief interruption. That was terrifying. I would have been having a full blown freak out. No, I'm okay with killing spiders with my hands.
Participant #1:
Spiders do me dirty. They make me so nervous. I know, I know it's irrational because I live in Indiana where there aren't scary spiders. I made Ross promise we got married that he'd kill all of them for me. It's paid off so far. Good. But yeah, I'm glad we agree on that. And that was easy. I figured. I agree. I didn't even think about the type of French frie, but that's true. There are some I wouldn't dip. I feel like the French. Ryan wendy's frosty at Combo is just, like, iconic. Can't not do that. I know people don't agree though. I think it's very polarizing. I don't know why it's so good. They actually have an ice cream flavor that's like crunch by ice cream. It's like that idea, I forget. I got it at a Fresh market, like a bougie grocery store. It was really good actually. It was like that concept, like an ice cream. Do you have chunks of French fries? I think so. I think they were very thin and crispy so it wasn't like soggy ancient French fry. It was pretty good. Oh my gosh, it did it well. Was it Jenny? It might have been a Jenny flavor. Maybe not, I don't remember. Anyway, episode has gone on for hours. Check out all the episodes we're about to link in the episode description of other topics. Check out the course and check out I don't know, you say about to look like it's not already linked in the description. When they're hearing this, you always forget them out lies like they're here with us. We're going to link it. Just hold on. It'll be there a second.
Participant #1:
Yeah, check it all out. They're there. We hope you learned something new about Beachbody. They're their own little crazy empire out there and they're still going. Not going anywhere. Yeah, that's a wrap. We hope you enjoyed this more juicy version of the Epidemicians podcast. We haven't done a review in a while so this is fun. If you got other ones, let us know. We heard a. New one the other day. The Galveston Diet. Have you heard of that one? What is that? It's for menopausal women, really? Targeting the vulnerable. Of course. Yes. I've got it on our podcast idea list to cover. Alright, well, that's right. If you need to get upset about there you go. All right, everyone, it was wonderful chatting with you today. Since you're here live with us, we are so grateful for all of your support and we cannot be more excited to share another episode with you next week. Yes, 71. I know, it's crazy. Almost to 100. That's a lot of episodes. Maybe we'll do something fun for 100. Oh, we totally should. I don't know what? Watch brainstorm. If you have ideas, let us know. Maybe it would be like things we wish we knew before entering the profession. I feel like that would be a juicy one. I have a lot to say. Yeah, or we could do like 100 of something. Like 100.
Participant #1:
We could breathe through them. Okay. I won't even explain them. We'll just say that was a whole episode listing thing. Oh my gosh. Yes. We'll think of something. Or if you guys have ideas, let us know. Yeah, it'll be fun. Cool. Have a wonderful rest of your day and we'll talk to you guys next week. Okay. Bye, guys. Bye.
