5 Reasons to Trust Shaklee

Trust is a scarce commodity these days.

I was thinking about it because of a book I finished last night. The overall theme was that we cannot trust our government (I know - big news!).

Then with the banking & mortgage crisis, housing crisis – and remembering the Enron crisis and the ‘you-name-it’ crisis – it seems like there’s not a lot of places to put our trust these days. Especially when it comes to our money.

It’s not surprising that consumers are leery – wondering what companies they can trust, if any.

I’d like to propose that there is at least one company you can trust – Shaklee. I’ve been using Shaklee products for the better part of 30 years (my mom started me young). I didn’t really understand what a great company Shaklee is until I started investigating it as an adult.

Why should you trust Shaklee?

1. Shaklee is committed to quality. They conduct thousands of quality-control tests on their products every year. And they frequently double-check their results with independent laboratory tests.

2. Shaklee walks their talk. For over 50 years, Shaklee’s been committed to environmental stewardship – and not just making products ‘in harmony with nature’ (which they do). Shaklee’s headquarters uses the latest green technologies, and Shaklee is the first company to be certified climate-neutral, a certification it achieved in 2000. You can see Shaklee’s environmental stewardship history here.

3. Shaklee guarantees their products. Not just in word, but in deed. No company is perfect, and not every product fits every person. But you have no need to worry about wasting your money on any Shaklee product. If you don’t like something, Shaklee will give you your money back. With a smile – and without the third-degree.

4. Shaklee’s products work. And not just because a university in Montana (or somewhere else) tested the efficacy of vitamin-C. Shaklee tests their specific vitamin-C product to make sure it’s getting into the bloodstream, where your cells can pick it up and actually use it. Then, they submit those tests to peer-review journals (read: scrutiny by many other scientists, not pay-to-publish). You can find all the references to studies published by Shaklee scientists at the end of Shaklee’s Product Guide.

5. Customers who start on Shaklee stay with Shaklee. Countless people have changed brands to Shaklee, and are still with Shaklee. The average customer has been using Shaklee for between 20 and 30 years. You don’t get that kind of customer loyalty without doing something right… OK, doing a lot of things right.

The beauty of it is that all you need to do is change brands. Most people know Shaklee as a ‘vitamin company’ or the ‘safe cleaner company.’ Shaklee is also a ‘safe weight loss,’ ‘safe skincare,’ ‘safe make-up,’ ‘safe personal care products’ and ‘safe drinking water’ company. Products you buy every day at your local store, you can switch to Shaklee and have high-quality, safe products delivered directly to your door.

Changing brands can change your life. It has changed the lives of thousands of others. I think it’s worth the risk.

Protecting the Gift

Last summer, my sister was reading Gavin de Becker's book The Gift of Fear when we were on vacation. When she finished, I picked it up and read it. I found it helpful, and mentally put his next book Protecting the Gift on my 'to-read' list.

I finally remembered to pick it up from the library and read it. I found it very insightful, and helpful in thinking clearly about my children's safety. De Becker makes this point about making sure your children are safe in the first chapter: "[Y]ou can't be sure. There are, however, things you can be certain about. You can be certain every important decision is made with the best information. You can be certain you've educated yourself, certain you've made the best choice possible with the time and resources available. Above all, you can be certain you will listen to yourself, certain you'll give your hesitations a moment's consideration rather than later regret that you didn't." (pg 9)

De Becker walks his readers through strategies parents tend to use, like worry or overthinking, and encourages them to develop their intuition and act on it. Then he discusses circumstances in which children can be vulnerable.

I particularly appreciate his discussion of talking to strangers - instead of emphasizing "stranger danger," he recommends teaching your child to evaluate people with whom they come in contact. "Children raised to assume all strangers might be dangerous do not develop their own inherent skills of evaluating behavior. ... Fear of people is really the fear that we can't predict their behavior." (pg 83).

De Becker argues that we CAN predict violent behavior, and teaches us how in this book, and in The Gift of Fear.

Valuable points in Protecting the Gift include how to evaluate and interview potential babysitters, nannies, daycare centers, and schools. He also gives parents a letter template to send to the daycare center and/or school outlining expectations on how the parent and the administrators will work together to keep children safe.

De Becker also covers teaching teenage girls - and boys - how to protect themselves. He also encourages parents to step in, be unpopular, and make the right choices for their teenagers... and tells several stories to illustrate his point.

I appreciate the point he makes toward the end of the book about the importance of father's roles in children's lives - especially teenage boys. "[Nonviolence can be taught] and most effectively by fathers. Unfortunately, fathers are undervalued in America-virtually to the point of being an oppressed minority. That poses a problem for everyone, since the absence of a father in a boy's life is one of the predictors of future violence. ... While I've directed much of this book toward mothers, it is fathers who can most favorably influence a boy's behavior." (pg 239)

It was interesting read this book after reading Dr. Walt Larimore's book Bryson City Secrets. The combination taught me a lot about following my intuition and making hard decisions if I'm hesitant about leaving my children somewhere or with someone.

I said at the end of my post on The Bi-Polar Child that everyone who has contact with a child should read that book. I feel the same way about this book. Especially if you are a worrier, or tend to worry, you need to read this book. Worry is unproductive and can be detrimental to a child's safety. However, developing your evaluation skills and acknowledging your intuition not only can prevent you from being a victim, but your child as well.