By Leanne Delap Living Columnist, The Toronto StarSitting beside a glamorous creature at a gala recently, I found myself wasting no time in gushing about her skin. It glowed beyond anything that could reasonably be prompted by a jar.
Toronto social queen bee Bhargavi Varma said one word to me: Isagenix. “It is what you put inside that counts,” she whispered.
Turns out Varma, whose career has spanned both promotion in film and PR in the corporate food industry, and her business partner Shruti Owerie, a Rotman’s MBA grad, are the Detox Divas; they do cleanse-coaching for the young and urban fashionables in the city, talking them out of tiramisu temptation by phone and email. The pair is among a group of independent distributors who sell Isagenix products, which is also sold online.
Varma and Owerie have been friends for decades and did their first Isagenix cleanse together. Immediately hooked, they started recommending the U.S.-based program to friends. The two natural networkers found an untapped niche: offering support to others to help them get through the month of mixing of and portioning.
The duo never refer to the program as a diet, but I estimate the cleanse devotees I have spoken to at fashiony cocktail parties have lost between 7 and 9 pounds per cleanse. Yes, Isagenix is that prevalent right now.
Marc Garand, the managing director at Macroblu, a boutique media company, says: “There is a critical mass. Everyone is walking around with the shakes. I see it on the street, on the subway.”
Garand himself credits an extended Isagenix program of six months with the loss of about 49 pounds last year.
The 30-day system is simple. It combines a mix of shake days (each serving contains 240 nutrients and 240 calories; shakes are available in chocolate or vanilla flavours) and a pattern of cleanse days. On shake days, you eat one regular meal. You don’t cleanse for more than two days in a row. There are a whack of accelerator pills and some snacks, including up to six pieces of special chocolate. (Tell me that didn’t suck me in.) And like any cleanse, you are cutting out all alcohol and caffeine, refined sugars, breads and the like.
The line is hypoallergenic and gluten free. A vegan option is coming. Both Varma and Owerie are vegetarians. “We find the shake every day really keeps our B complex up,” says Owerie, glowing herself at seven months pregnant.
She says there are about 50,000 Canadians who have tried or are in a maintenance regime with Isagenix. The program is growing the most in Ontario and California, Owerie says.
When I was on the program, I loved getting emails from the Divas summarizing what I was supposed to ingest each day and how to handle the coffee-free headaches. Boy, did I feel guilty telling Owerie I had blown my cleanse day with an unexpected shower in champagne. She rapped my knuckles and goaded me back on the horse.
Still, about four days into the program, I felt absolutely terrific. There is a dramatic difference in how my jeans fit. My skin is not Diva-level glowing, but I definitely will invest the time and money into the program again — next time without the champagne.
Products are available through independent distributors and online at Isagenix.com; the 30-day cleanse is $269 at yourhealthandwellness.ca
Original publish date Feb 3rd, 2012, The Toronto Star