Adventures in M - Day 41 - The Blog Overhaul

If you are a subscriber and have just received a tonne of updates or re-posts I totally apologize. Having read the Internet Usage Guidelines for M I realized after my first week of blog posts that I was treading a very fine line with regard to their policies.

So, I've gone through and removed all trademarked and easily identifiable names. The experiences are the same but now I don't have to worry about getting in trouble.

Which is good.

Because I am totally loving being a Preferred Customer and Marketing Executive with M.

I am happier.

And healthier.

And my skin looks "radiant" according to people I haven't seen in a few months.

And I have pretty, pretty cosmetics.

And I totally understand why M would need to protect their online branding - with hundreds of thousands of Marketing Executives, their image could get twisted super-easy. So, I will help and not annoy them.

But if you received a tonne of emails this morning about my blog - I totally apologize for annoying you.

Adventures in M - Day 41

ohmigosh. Y'know. If I commit to keeping a blog, I really ought to actually write in it. I am so looking to my summer sleeping sabbatical that starts in 3 weeks. That way, when I wake up super-early in the morning, as I did this morning, I can come downstairs and write, instead of hurrying of to my 6 a.m. client.

So much has happened in the last month.

Let me just say for starters that the M-vitamins are freakin' amazing. They basically remade my body in less than a week. They eliminated my cravings, balanced my moods a whole lot more than they ever have been AND they changed my monthly cycle back to the way it was a few years ago when I was healthier. I don't know what nutritional deficiency I had but I am delirious that it has been addressed. Yay! for adsorption.

As a result I've lost 4 pounds since June 6th when I dared to step on the scales again. Granted my weight had skyrocketed over the last couple of months (did I mention I eat when I'm stressed) but it has been steadily dropping.

And this is early the morning after a fabulous dinner at The Keg with BYM, where I had a top sirloin, half a loaf of that fabulous bread WITH butter, the veggies and sweet potato fries. AND I'M STILL DOWN HALF A POUND FROM WEDNESDAY. How cool is that? Very.

But the coolest part was that I wasn't able to finish my dinner and I just released the utensils as opposed to filling myself to over-full like I normally would. AND, when the waitress asked us about dessert I confessed that while the Keg's Brownie Sundae is my favourite dessert in the whole, wide world and that I would normally never pass it up - I just didn't have a craving for it like I normally do. So I said No. Wacky.

And then she asked what had happened to the cravings and I explained about the vitamins. Then I gave her my card and directed her to the M website. Because this business is that easy. It'll be interesting to see if she calls. I don't expect her to, I don't need her to, but if I hear from Heather, I'll be tickled pink.

Adventures in M - Day 8 - Cosmetics Ingredients

The final part of my Saturday research blitz was checking out the ingredients in the M Cosmetics Hydrating Facial Cleanser (Normal-to-Dry).

I know that M is not Certified Organic but I wanted to know what they meant, if anything, by 'natural' sources. I mean, when I read the ingredients list of this cleanser, it sounds pretty scary. So I looked up the ingredients that didn't seem familiar to see if they were dangerous.

Adventures in M - Day 7 - Things a Movin'

Two notes about the results we are seeing with our M products:

1. When I use the Age-Defying Serum after the Toner - whoooboy! - does it sting. Better last night than the first night, but still, that is some sharpness. But my skin doesn't seem to reacting adversely, I figure it must be the Vitamin A in the serum. Hmm... maybe I could ask about that as well.

2. My BYM is feeling like crap today. This is his third day on the Vitamin 4-Pack and he's pretty sure that he is not getting sick but rather starting to purge a lot of toxins from his body. I wouldn't be surprised, he hasn't had the healthiest lifestyle. I'm doing what I can for him. Lots of hugs, a clear path to the washroom, and a continual supply of water. He hates it but knows that I am right when it comes to water consumption. It is hard to overdose on water. It is possible, but hard.

As a trainer, I've figured out that, for most people, water consumption works out to about 1 Litre per 100 pounds of bodyweight. So my BYM needs to drink just under 3 Litres of water per day. And that is just for maintenance. When you are trying to lose weight or flush toxins you can probably increase that by half. Most people are lucky if they get half that much.

So I keep handing him the water and hoping that the headache and dizziness will go away.

Adventures in M - Day 7 - Oligofructose Complex

Part of my research yesterday was to figure out what the heck oligofructose complexes are and what they are supposed to do to increase the absorption of vitamins and minerals in our digestive system.

Oligofructose complexes are the 'patent-pending' creation of M scientists and, according to the neat little video graphics they appear to be wrapped around the mineral constituents of their multivitamin and mineral supplements.

I have no idea how they do this. I'll add it to the list of things to ask Customer Service tomorrow.

But I do know what they are - a chemistry background does have some advantages. Oligo means many and usually indicates a starch. Fructose is a fruit sugar. So, oligofructose is a polymerized (long-chained) fruit sugar. Okey-dokey. Now how does that help absorption?

Here are the studies that I found:

1. Franck determined that oligofructose-enriched inulin increased calcium absorption and bone mineralisation, published in a 2006 issue of the Nutrition Bulletin (31(4):341-5).

2. van den Heuvel found that oligofructose consumption increased the absorption of calcium in adolescent men, published in a 1999 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (69(3):544-8). Other studies he conducted found that it did not have the same impact on adults.

3. Rao studied the pre-biotic effects of oligofructose intake, published in Nutrition Research (21(6):841-8).

4. Teitelbaum and Walker reviewed the literature on the pre-biotic effects of oligofructose, published in a 2002 issue of the Annual Review of Nutrition (22:107-38).

It is important to remember that the studies cited here dealt with small numbers of subjects and that far more data would need to be collected to ensure the results. One of the problems with scientific research and the modern media is that each little study can become a source of news but, really, it is only over the course of years and dozens of studies that reliable results can be generated. Given that caveat, here is what I've understood so far:

1. Oligofructose does seem to increase the absorption (or adsorption) of minerals (at least calcium) when taken as a supplement in some studies. I could not find any studies that dealt with binding the oligofructose to the mineral and studying the impact on absorption. But the initial results looked good.

2. A secondary finding, and one that is very important for me is that oligofructose appears to be a reliable pre-biotic. Now, I knew what probiotics are: the 'good' intestinal flora (bacteria) such as Acidophilus and Bifidus. These are really important in digestion and healthy body functions. When someone has been taking antibiotics (notice, the opposite of probiotics) the healthy intestinal flora is often killed off and the intestines can be repopulated by 'bad' bacteria such as E. coli, Staph, and Strep. Taking probiotics can help to recolonize with the 'good' stuff.

But I had never heard of a pre-biotic. Now that I have I am even happier to be taking M products, because my flora need all the help they can get. And that is exactly what a pre-biotic does, it helps to create a healthy environment in the intestines for the probiotics to grow. Cool!

The upshot of all this appears to be that oligofructose complex is probably helping me absorb more vitamins and minerals from my supplemements but it is almost certainly help create a healthier digestive system through the nurturing of my digestive flora.

Excellent.

Adventures in M - Day 6 - Things That Make Us Go hmm...

So, we have a couple more things to ask Customer Service when they open on Monday.

1. Could they please send us 10 DW DVDs to put in our Business Kits. It seems that in the flurry of the new launch we were sent the old Business Kits. Which would be fine except that we are no longer to use these kits but, instead, the new presentation which is way better.

2. Once we get our paperwork in I'll need to figure out how to get my 90-day free trial on the business website now that I have already subscribed.

[3. Are the Cosmetics tested on animals? Why was the Heart Antioxidant tested on dogs? (added on Sunday)]

[4. How is the oligofructose complex formed and are there any studies I can get my hands on? (added Sunday)]

I am sure that neither of these will be a problem. M Customer Service rocks.

Off to bed now. I get to use the Skin Care stuff again. Whee! I love having new toys.

Adventures in M - Day 6 - Animal Testing Continued

I admit it: I'm a nerd. Worse still, I'm a science nerd. I have one degree in Chemical Engineering and another in Biology plus I've been a Personal Trainer for over 8 years.

And I want to know everything. If there is an ingredient I don't know about I want to find out what the heck it is.

And being Green, I want to know if the company I am falling in love with has any issues with animal testing or sourcing of ingredients.

And being a neurotic adult child of an alcoholic (ACOA) I want to know if there are any skeletons in the closet that would allow me to run away quickly. Yes, I do this in relationships as well.

I thought I would ask at the Launch if M products were tested on animals but once we got there, it didn't seem like the right place - all the Senior Directors and above were super-busy. Once we got home, I did some online research to find out if it was stated anywhere.

Here is what I found. M does not have a policy of NO Animal Testing. They have said that they would not conduct animal testing on their personal care and home cleaning products and, as far as I can discover, they have not. They are on the PETA Does Test on Animals List though and I found that there have been mixed reports as to whether they animal test or not. Here are the two exceptions I found to their commitment to not test on animals, these seem to be the reason they are on PETA's list, according to PETA's Ask Carla column:

1. As part of their defense in a lawsuit launched against them by a National Brand, they did laboratory tests to show that drinking the competitor's cleaning products was lethal. As a result, 14 lab rats died nasty deaths from the lethal dosage.

2. When developing their heart health antioxidant product they apparently did lab testing using dogs. According to Carla's column, this testing was not federally mandated, however, if they were hoping to be able to make health claims on the bottle then they may have had to do the testing.

And, a third incident that may or may not be relevant, and is certainly disputed:

3. Finally, M developed and sells Professional Pet Shampoo. Apparently, when they were being interviewed by an 'animal rights organization', Melaleuca asked if testing the shampoo on their own dogs before putting it out to their customers counted as animal testing - they were told that yes it did.

All in all, I'm satisfied that the company does not test its products on animals in the vast majority of cases and that any testing it does do is probably required by law.

Here is a letter from CEO Frank VanderSloot that lays out his company's position that I found while digging around.