Episode 63: "Ariel"

Life After MLM

Roberta Blevins

Society & Culture, Education

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2021

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

*This episode is intended for 18+, and contains discussions on disordered eating, compromising situations and mentions toxic ideas on forgiving sexual trauma, in stories as retold by the guest. Please use discretion when listening to this episode if these topics may be triggering to you.* In 2019 "Ariel" joined Optavia as a customer to help her maintain her weight as she weaned herself off cigarettes at 25 years old. Admittedly a bad idea in hindsight, she takes us down a wild ride of what life inside this MLM cult of health and wellness looked like, expensive disordered eating, dangerous caloric deficits, trauma and toxic diet culture. The deeper she got into Optavia, the worse her disordered eating became, counting calories, then binging, punishing herself with extra exercise, and even causing concern to strangers on the internet. "Ariel"'s openness to being so loyal to the cult and "business" lead to finding herself in a scary situation she wasn't sure how to get out of. But it wasn't until the Covid Pandemic and the aftereffects opened her eyes to what she was really involved with. Show Notes Dr. A and The System - https://www.habitsofhealth.com/introducing-the-system/#:~:text=Dr.%20A%20is,at%20Grandview%20Hospital. The Medifast Diet - https://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/medifast-diet Abbey Sharp - https://www.abbeyskitchen.com/ Optavia Fueling Hacks - https://www.pinterest.com/tvs329/optavia-fueling-hacks/ Optavia Snacks - https://answers.optavia.com/help/optimal-weight-5-1-plan-what-snacks-can-i-have Kat Benson RDN - https://www.tiktok.com/@katbensonrdn Matt VanDerLaar - https://www.tiktok.com/@mattlaarfit Sabrina McMullen - https://www.tiktok.com/@beefcake_brina Dr. Steven Hassan's BITE Model - https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/ Ponzinomics by Robert L. FitzPatrick - https://amzn.to/3q16oJb How can you help? Report false income and health claims here: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ Or go to: https://www.truthinadvertising.org You can also report to your state Attorney General's office! https://www.naag.org/find-my-ag/ Not in the U.S.? Go here: https://www.ftc.gov/policy/international/competition-consumer-protection-authorities-worldwide Support the Podcast! Buy me a Taco and leave me a note! 🌮💖 - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/robertablevins Follow me on TikTok for Anti MLM content, education, and humor! - https://www.tiktok.com/@bertalikewhoa & https://www.tiktok.com/@bertalikewhoa2.0 Follow us on Instagram for visual show notes, FAQ, and updates! - https://www.instagram.com/lifeaftermlmpodcast/ Like us on Facebook and join our show fan page to jump in on the conversation! - https://www.facebook.com/lifeaftermlmpodcast Find me on CLUBHOUSE at @therealrobertablevins *Some links may be affiliate links. When you purchase things from these links, I get a small commission that I use to buy us tacos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Roberta Blovins, and this is life after M.L.M.
0:11.2	A podcast where we work to end the stigma of failure in an industry designed for you to fail.
0:17.0	This episode is intended for 18 and up and contains discussions on
0:26.9	disordered eating, compromising situations, and mentions toxic ideas on forgiving sexual trauma in stories as retold by the guest.
0:37.0	Please use discretion when listening to this episode if these topics may be triggering to you. Thank you.
0:46.1	All right, welcome back to another episode of Life After MLM.
0:50.3	I have a fun story today. We're going to talk about a health and wellness company that you guys have probably been mispronouncing wrong the whole time.
1:00.0	So I would like to welcome to the show Ariel. Ariel take it away.
1:05.0	Hi everyone so I'm a huge fan and I was in Optavia not Oct, which a lot of people think that's what it's called. I was in for almost exactly a year and I was a client before then it is a health and wellness company. So I was introduced to my upline at my normal job and started to notice after that she was losing a lot of weight and she looked really happy and she was really happy and she was posting all the time on Facebook, she has adorable kids.
1:46.0	So I kind of reached out and was like, oh, hey, what are you doing?
1:51.2	And it was on a post that you may see a lot.
1:55.6	It's like a heart and it's different colors
1:58.2	for coordinating how much weight you want to lose.
2:01.0	That's an Optovia post. Don't interact with that. I've seen those. You have the Optia posts are super sneaky. There's a whole, well of course everyone who's been in L&M knows this. There's a whole, well of course, everyone who's been an LM knows this.
2:13.8	There's a whole document file that you get sent once you get in as a coach or
2:20.7	whatever your title was in your MLM,
2:23.4	and you copy and paste those to your Facebook for posts.
2:26.9	That is one of the posts, and you will see that quite a bit.
2:31.6	So that was the post I interacted with.
2:33.2	After that she said, oh, we should chat.
2:35.2	Let's set up a time to talk.
2:37.6	And they will only tell you about program.
	...

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