Weight Loss

Update 12/7/22. Actress Kirstie Alley is on TV in her own reality show, Kirstie Alley’s Big Life. She also has a website called Kirstie Alleys Organic Liaison. It’s literally her website (KirstyAlley.com). Reality TV shows are full of marketing, but Kirstie’s reality show appears to be the first instance where a reality show is being used for marketing a specific line of weight loss supplements.  Let’s now review Kirstie Alley’s weight loss program and see if it might help people lose weight. Update. Unfortunately, Kirstie is no longer with us, so these supplements are likely no longer being sold. While I may have differed with Kirstie on supplements, I'm sure we agreed on many other things. I really was a fan, and she will be missed.

Organic Liaison. How Does It Work?

Organic Liaison consists of several dietary supplements that are all said to be organic. These products include :

Rescue Me™

This supplement is supposed to reduce appetite and boost energy. It’s also supposed to “cleanse” the body by removing “toxins” (we are not told what toxins it removes).  Kirstie calls Rescue Me a “weight loss elixir” and says that it will “flood your body with the missing elements that make weight loss and weight management an uphill battle.” One bottle contains 16 servings.

Here is Rescue Me on Amazon.

Release Me™

This is basically a calcium and magnesium supplement.  These supplements are said to “counteract acidity from food and drinks and toxins”.  But you should know that there is no published peer-reviewed proof that altering the acidity (or pH) of the body leads to weight loss.

Other attributes of calcium and magnesium are also mentioned (i.e., supporting muscle contraction, heart function, etc.). These other functions are true, but ANY calcium or magnesium works just as well. Calcium and magnesium are pretty cheap, too – especially when it’s in food.  One bottle contains 30 servings.

Here is Release me on Amazon.

Nightingale™

This is a supplement that’s supposed to help you sleep better. Kirstie’s website says it contains tryptophan, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and folic acid. Tryptophan is often found in sleep aid supplements because it is converted to a chemical called serotonin which calms us down.  Because turkey also contains tryptophan, this is also why people often say they get tired after Thanksgiving dinner.

Lack of sleep might cause people to eat more food (because they are awake more) and it might raise levels of cortisol which some suggest is liked to gaining weight, but the amount of tryptophan in a typical turkey dinner (and likely Nightingale) is probably not going to cause a significant sleep effect.

Kirstie also says tryptophan can help relieve muscle pains. What kind of muscle pains? Muscle pains after exercise? If this is what is suggested, there is no proof of this claim. One bottle contains a 30-day supply.

Here is Nightingale on Amazon.

Relieve Me™

This is a colon–cleansing supplement. The idea here is that if you cleanse your colon, you get more energy. It’s a common claim made by colon cleansing advocates but what none of these “experts” ever tells us is that our colon cleanses itself very well naturally.

Our colons expand and contract regularly (it’s called peristalsis). This helps keep food moving through the digestive system. There is no proof that our colon has several pounds of undigested food / fecal matter that clogs us up, causing fatigue.

Colon cleansing supplements are basically laxatives. Advocates probably use the word “cleanse” instead of laxative because they want to distance themselves from cheaper, over-the-counter products.  People with health issues should be cautious of cleansing supplements. They may alter heart function.

For those who want a really cheap “cleanse” just take a walk. When we move, we help the body push food through the digestive system faster. This is why you often have to go to the bathroom after a workout.

Pagoda™

This is the name given to a blend of green tea.  Kirstie’s website says this product is supposed to help you burn calories. This is because green tea contains caffeine. Caffeine is popular among weight loss supplements and here is the reason why:

• • Caffeine has a mild fat-burning effect. It helps pull fat from fat cells, where it’s used to make energy.

• The more alert you are, in theory, the more physical activity you might do – and, the more weight loss that might occur.

One bottle of Pagoda will last 30 days.

According to Kirstie’s website, the complete Organic Liaison kit will cost you $139 a month.  You also have to pay for your Organic Liaison membership. Currently, this costs either $10 a month ($120 per year) or, if you pay upfront, it's $89 a year. For those who only want to try it for 1 month,

So, let’s do the math. If you were a member of Organic Liaison and assuming you took advantage of the $89/year membership,  you would pay :

$139 per month for 12 months  =  1668 a year

+

$89 yearly membership

Total: $1,757 per year

So, you’re paying $1757 a year for Kirstie’s weight loss products and membership to her website.

You will actually pay more than this because organic food costs more than non-organic foods.

Membership does include perks like getting support from other members, finding supermarkets and restaurants that have organic foods and reading health articles.

Kirstie Alley’s Organic Liaison weight loss supplements are organic.  But does organic mean faster or better weight loss? No, it doesn't.  To me, the word “organic” in Organic Liaison leads me to believe they are trying to link the healthy attributes of organic foods to weight loss.

But, no study has ever shown that eating organic foods would lead to faster or better weight loss than people who ate the same amount of calories in non-organic foods.   Kirstie’s own website says that weight loss is about “calories in and calories out”. So, if this is the truth (and it is) then how would eating organic promote superior weight loss? I can see how organic foods may be healthier, but superior weight loss makes no sense.

Organic Liaison Supplements

The Organic Liaison website does not specify the ingredients of any of the Organic Liaison supplements. For example, in the product “Release Me”, we only are told that it contains calcium and magnesium. What type of calcium does it contain? I'm guessing it's either calcium carbonate or calcium citrate but I don’t know. Also, they say that Release Me contains the “right balance” of calcium and magnesium, but what is that right amount?

Organic Liaison vs. Jenny Craig

Kirstie Alley was a spokesperson for Jenny Craig. When she followed Jenny Craig, she lost weight because she was eating fewer calories. When she stopped eating, according to Jenny Craig, she regained weight because she consumed more calories than she needed. Organic Liaison is a weight loss program too.

When people eat according to the Organic Liaison program, it’s likely that they will lose some weight because they are eating fewer calories than normal.  If people were to stop eating according to Organic Liaison's low-calorie guidelines, they are likely to regain the weight.   This is very true for all weight loss programs.

The supplements are a profit center for Organic Liaison. In other words, it’s a way to make more money. Unlike Jenny Craig, Organic Liaison makes no money from the organic foods you buy at the supermarket. So, they have you buying their brand of supplements.  There is nothing wrong with this. It’s just capitalism.

In April 2014 Kirstie was back with Jenny Craig.  So my question is: If Organic Liaison is so great and works so well, why did she go back to Jenny Craig?

Any questions or comments?