Paul Norlander, owner of Grand Marais Fusion was so inspired by his own success with weight loss and health that he became an Herbalife distributor and started opening his own clubs. They provide information, coaching, and encouragement to many Cook County residents who are achieving health goals while enjoying tasty Herbalife products.
So you want to drop a few pounds, but you have a hard time keeping yourself motivated. Or you’re trying to bulk up or run faster and need to pay more attention to what you’re putting into your body. Or you’re wondering if your junk food diet is sucking your energy and setting you up for health problems down the road. You’re thinking about the long, cold winter ahead and how quiet Cook County gets, and you wish you had a healthy outlet for staying in touch with your fellow community members.
How about a nutrition club? One where you can go and pick up a tasty, healthy tea or a fabulous shake with an exotic name – like French vanilla cappuccino, chocolate caramel cheesecake, raised glazed doughnut, fried ice cream, peanut butter cup, grasshopper, s’mores, pumpkin, banana split, cinnamon rolls, or Elvis (peanut butter and banana) — that gives you the nutrients of a well-balanced meal.
It’s a club where you can join a 10-week weight-loss group that involves a little good-natured competition for those who want it. Where, even if you’re not in a weight-loss group, a wellness coach will track your weight, body fat percentage, lean body mass, and metabolic rate from month to month and recommend how many calories and how much protein to eat each day to reach a healthy fitness level. And even call you up to find out how you’re doing with your program.
What it is? Grand Marais Fusion, located on Highway 61 at the top of the hill on the west end of Grand Marais. It’s run by Paul and Kristin (Bursack) Norlander and Jack Bursack of Duluth and Carl and Beth (Larson) Foster of Grand Marais. Kristin, Jack, and Beth all grew up in Cook County. They are distributors of Herbalife, which offers four lines of products: weight management, energy and fitness, “targeted nutrition” (supplements to address things like heart health, the immune system, stress management, and health issues unique to men, women, and children) and personal care (such as lotions, creams, and hair care).
Consuming enough of the nutrients one’s body needs can help the body work optimally, Paul Norlander said, warding off disease and chronic ailments.
Success stories
Kristin Norlander is a busy teacher and mother — she and Paul have six children. She wanted a healthy breakfast she could grab on the go, Paul said, and she was the first one in the family to use Herbalife products when she started picking up smoothies at a local nutrition club.
Paul started putting on a few pounds every year after he started his own real estate company, Options Realty. The recommended Herbalife weight loss regime calls for having a meal replacement shake for breakfast and lunch combined with healthy snacks and a wellbalanced supper. Paul wasn’t much of a breakfast eater, so starting his day with a healthy shake was a good fit. He lost 50 pounds. This inspired him so much that he wanted to help others out.
A typical American breakfast has a lot of carbohydrates and not much protein, Paul said, but protein in the morning offers energy and keeps hunger at bay. The Herbalife diet is not a lowcarb diet, however – it combines carbohydrates with enough protein to build and maintain muscle mass, and muscle burns more calories than fat and speeds up metabolism. Carl Foster has been known to ask people if they’ve been able to get enough calories into their diet to reach their weight goals.
With other diets, Paul said, “you can cut out a bunch of calories, but are you getting the nutrition you need?”
Weight Loss Challenges last about 10 weeks and cost $35, which goes into a Challenge pot. Participants meet once a week to weigh in, get measured, and receive a wellness profile from a machine that scans how much fat and lean muscle mass they have on their bodies, determines how many calories they are consuming each day, and recommends a goal weight and how many calories they need to consume each day to get there. The groups also discuss a topic such as eating out, the importance of water intake, or healthy recipes. At the end, the three people who lose the highest percentage of body fat split whatever is in the pot – 50% to the first person, 30% to the second, and 20% to the third.
It’s a lot of fun, said Paul. In Duluth, some of the more competitive
Challenge participants threaten to have pizzas delivered to the other participants’ homes to keep them from winning the Challenge.
Paul and Kristin own Grand Marais Fusion as well as a club in Duluth called Core Fusion on Central Entrance between McDonald’s and Verizon. Paul said several people in the Duluth club have lost 60-100 pounds or more through Herbalife. It has changed their lives. “Whoever walks through that door,” Paul said, “we have to figure out what they need and try to meet it. …I know what it’s done for me.”
How people use it
If you show up at Grand Marais Fusion for something good to drink, you will get three things for $6.00: a shot of an aloe drink that cleanses the system and aids absorption and digestion, a healthy hot or cold antioxidant rich herbal tea that energizes and burns calories, and a meal replacement shake with 19 essential vitamins and nutrients and 24 grams of protein packed into about 220 calories. Some shake varieties will also be available hot during the winter months.
If you show up at the club frequently, you will be likely to meet up with regulars coming in for a shake or to weigh in or talk about fitness goals. This has a strong social element, Paul said, and people enjoy it like a coffee shop. “This is a tool we’re trying to bring to the community.”
Quality control
The natural products industry has evolved in the United States over the last few decades. It has suffered a few bumps and bruises along the way, with some ingredients being banned after users have had adverse side effects from using them. Herbalife has taken a proactive approach to quality control, with an inhouse research lab, independent laboratory testing, and close oversight of suppliers.
The company’s senior vice president of global product science, safety, and compliance is Dr. Vasilios Frankos, who previously served as the director of the dietary supplement program division at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. On their nutrition advisory board is Nobel laureate Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.
“Our goal,” Worldwide Corporate Communications Vice- President George Fischer told the Cook County News-Herald, “is to be transparent and to set a standard for the industry.”
Catching on all over
Herbalife started in 1980 and now has about 40,000 clubs in 76 countries. The company is rising on the stock market, Paul said, and “Minnesota is leading the field in nutrition clubs in the nation.”
Herbalife clubs are not staffed by employees – everyone working at a club is a distributor of the product. For a start-up cost of $65, customers can have the product shipped directly to their homes and get a 25% discount. Those who get further into the business can get up to 50% off the regular price of the product. Most of the people who have made Herbalife a business were inspired by their own success with the product, Paul said.
Grand Marais Fusion is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Paul and Kristin, Carl and Beth, and Jack are also available to bring samples to workplaces and other group gatherings to introduce people to the products.
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