What I'm not keen on are the lies they tell to sell it. Today I met my local dealer. We had a good discussion (it was more argumentum ad nauseam) but it made me chuckle. I won't spend ages deconstructing why herbalife isn't the "healthy" option it's made out to be...most of you are clever enough to check the ingredients and understand that it isn't a substitute for food.
Most of the discussion ended up being proof by assertion, Bob (didn't actually find out his real name so I made one up for him) repeatedly restated things regardless of contradiction. At times he mentioned science and then stuck to stories. So, lets have a little look at what he told me.
Bob: "What do you think is bad about our products?"
Me: I don't think we have time for that but lets start with soya...
Bob: The soy is natural and unprocessed.
Me: It's powdered! It's soy protein isolate, do you even know what that means?
"Soy protein isolate is a dry powder food ingredient that has been separated or isolated from the other components of the soybean, making it 90 to 95 percent protein and nearly carbohydrate and fat-free."
Process
Soy protein isolate is made from defatted soybean flakes that have been washed in either alcohol or water to remove the sugars and dietary fibers, although less concentrated soy protein powder tends to retain more of the fiber. Most of the soybean flavor is also removed along with the carbohydrates.
Methods
The most frequent method is alcohol extraction, but this method results in the largest loss of soy isoflavones, which are organic compounds that act as antioxidants and may help fight certain diseases. The water extraction method, on the other hand, results in an ample retention of isoflavones in the final product.
Solubility
Soy protein extracted using alcohol has low solubility, meaning that it does not dissolve particularly well in water. The opposite is true of soy protein that has been extracted using water: it has higher solubility. Some applications naturally require a higher solubility level; soy protein isolate needs to dissolve in water to form a drink.
Bob: It's more nutrient dense. If you didn't drink herbalife you would need to consume 4000 individual calories.
Me: Can you explain what you mean by 4000 INDIVIDUAL calories? And what's wrong with eating 4000?
Bob: I mean that you would need to eat too much food.
Me: Ah so if I consume your drink's I'll be able to under-eat then?
Bob: Yes, it's all about creating a calorie deficit.
Me: Could I not do that without herbalife?
Bob: No, herbalife is safer than eating low calorie
Me: I'm pretty sure herbalife is low calorie
Bob: No, it's about creating a calorie deficit
Me: That is low calorie. I'm not keen on diets.
Bob: We are all on diets (good comeback)
Me: Yes but mine allows me to eat food and not artificial foods. I'll rephrase it for you, I don't like being encouraged to starve.
Bob: Herbalife isn't artificial. [obviously it is starvation though]
Me: The stuff I've seen looks pretty artificial. I mean, it's powder.
Bob: We grind the soy beans into powder.
Me: We've already covered that, it's soy protein isolate, the process is much more than grinding some beans. What about the label I have that mentions artificial vanilla flavor.
Bob: [change of subject] Millions of people use it without any problem.
Me: Ah proof by assertion, I study psychology so this is a very interesting sales techniques but I can guarantee you'll never convince me it's safe. Is that Messi who plays football one of your users?
Bob: Yes my friend knows him well and he uses it.
Me: Oh the old "a friend" routine. You are well connected. Who else uses it then?
Bob: Off the record Rafa Nadal. My friend worked at Wimbldon and saw him drinking it.
Me: Wow, thats impressive. Is it off the record because he'd sue if anyone actually suggested he uses it? Anyway, he did well this year didn't he? Couldn't your friend of spotted someone who played better drinking it.
Bob: [change of subject] It's protein, it's slow release energy which is why they use it.
Me: Perfect for an athlete that doesn't want to get his energy in a hurry then? Proteins are the least favorite food to use as energy, but if the body needs to it will use it. Great for an athlete Bob?
Bob: [change of subject] My metabolism is currently running at 3000
Me: Great, how do you know that?
Bob: My scales told me.
Me: Magic scales, they talk to you? Highly accurate than?
Bob: I know that for my muscle I need 17 cals per pound.
Me: How much muscle have you got then? [Bob is obese by the way, I've not meaured anything but I'd be willing to bet I'm guessing correctly]
Bob: I don't know. You do the math.
Me: I have, it doesn't add up. So the miracle scale tell you that your metabolic rate is 3000 but don't tell you your body fat?
Bob: I'm 19 stone so I know that I need to create a deficit to lose weight.
Me: Wow, one minute we're talking about metabolism, the next we're talking about creating a deficit. So how much do you eat daily then?
Bob: 1500 calories. I know I need to lose weight.
Me: So you say your metaolism is 3000 yet you eat 1500?
Bob: Yes
Me: And you don't think it will decrease your metaboism eating 1500 calories at 19st?
Bob: [change of subject] No. As you may of noticed I have psoriasis. It will help with that.
Me: Good luck with that.
So, Bob is about 120kg. Using my rough formula (120kg x 25 cals), Bob would need 3000 calories at rest. If we x by 1.3 for Bob's activity level we get 3900 calories. So for somebody of Bob's weight he "may" use around 3900 calories per day. Bob eats, or drinks 1500 calories using the herbalife plan which is a drastic drop. He may lose some weight but he will probably lose a lot of muscle, decrease his metabolism drastically and eventually crack under the pressure of starvation.
Felt really sorry for the guy, shows how well marketing works as he's soaked it all up and spouts it to anyone that will listen with an almost religious stance. People are often a terrible advertisement for their own beliefs.
To conclude, herbalife works...as a business as long as you're at the top of the pile. If you're at the bottom of the pile you will be struggling and irritating friends and family trying to make a quick buck. As a diet it also works, via starvation it will help you lose weight. However so will my hacksaw when I chop your leg off. Ignore the healthy claim and see it for what it is, yet another cheaply produced protein shake with a massive marketing budget and a sales pitch that gets the customers selling it for them.
Avoid like the plague and save your cash.