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This is the first of our monthly “Face-off” series, in which ydt co-founders Tracy and Lauren will be reviewing different products, venues and philosophies that they don’t see eye to eye on.

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What is Monavie? Monavie is a new health drink/fruit juice based on the benefits of the acai (pronounced a-SAH’ee) berry, which is said to be one of the world’s top superfoods. Many people swear by Monavie (touting that it has cured their knee pain, cholesterol or even cancer), while many others question both the product’s value and the integrity of claims regarding its supposed health benefits. In fact, Monavie was involved with 4 lawsuits between 2007 and 2008. (Wikipedia). So, needless to say, there have been some heated debates about this product. And here it continues…

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LJ: To give a little personal background, my massage therapist first introduced me to Monavie when I was struggling with chronic back pain (funnily enough one thing Tracy and I do have in common is a history of serious back pain). He recommended “Monavie Active” to me to help boost my energy and immunity levels, as well as glucosamine intake for healthy joint function. I liked the way it tasted (fruity, but not artificially sweet) so I bought a bottle and gave it a shot (literally, a 1 oz. shot each AM & PM)

I did notice improvements; I could more easily get through the night without awaking in pain. Granted I was getting weekly massages and seeing a physical therapist, so I definitely can’t call it a direct correlation.

What I can say is that I tend to feel a lot achier when I travel. Yes, this could just be long hours in a car or plane and not sleeping in my own bed, but when I went to Hawaii this summer for 1 week, I brought the bottle of Monavie and I felt the best I’d felt in a long time.

Eventually my whole family got into it and soon my younger brother became a “independent distributor”. He wanted me to share it with my friends, so I gave Tracy a bottle.

TH: I’m always excited to try something new, especially when it’s free. But when a product is introduced as a “wonder drink”, I’m always a bit skeptical.

LJ: I told Tracy to drink 2 oz. per day everyday until the bottle ran out to see if she felt any differences. Then I found out that her boyfriend Alex drank half the bottle.

TH: Let us be clear, Lauren probably drank the other half.

LJ: Ok, that’s probably true, but to make up for it I did give you a second bottle.

TH: So, yes I finally gave it a fair chance. At the time, I was working 14 hour days as a PA so I didn’t really notice any significant energy increase. I was also disturbed to find out the cost – $45/bottle (25.5 oz.). I also discovered that you couldn’t buy Monavie in any old store. You had to buy it through a pyramid-esque/cult-ish rep system, which I am doubly cynical of. [Note: Monavie is a multilevel marketing (MLM) company; similar to Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware, etc.).

LJ: Hah! I guess I’m a bit more open-minded about the pyramid issue… I was an Arbonne consultant after all ☺ (any way to get 35% off, I’m down). But, yes, $45 a bottle is hard to swallow. I probably wouldn’t still be drinking it if I weren’t getting it much cheaper via my brother’s distribution. Maybe I do sound like a cult member?

TH: So, anyway, after a month of trying Monavie, I came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t for me. I feel like the concept of a wonder drink sounds almost as preposterous as the fountain of youth. I was expecting Monavie to really change my day-to-day functioning and I felt no difference.

LJ: How can you expect any one thing to change your entire day-to-day functioning? I think when we look at healthy lifestyles it’s the accumulation of small steps – drink water, sleep well, exercise. No one thing can be a cure all.

TH: Lauren, you really built it up when you were selling the idea to me! You said my energy levels would improve, and Monavie pushes that idea too. Yes, no one thing is a cure all, but a product should live up to what they advertise themselves as and I didn’t find that to be the case for Monavie. I’m going to just stick to eating fresh fruits and veggies, especially blueberries, pomegranates and kale.

LJ: I could not agree more. Who was it that shared her kale smoothie recipe with you anyway? Ehhem. But sometimes I don’t have fresh fruit lying around or just don’t feel like eating kale all the time. Monavie is kinda like my back up. I guess I have just gotten into the habit of waking up each morning excited for my healthy shot of goodness.

TH: Sounds like a cigarette addiction.

LJ: Better than a shot of tequila, no? For the sake of time, here are my final thoughts: I’ve learned two main things from my Monavie experience. One, I like drinking my vitamins rather than taking them in pill form. For example, I’m a proponent of Peter Gillham’s Natural Vitality Liquid Organic Life Vitamins (not cheap at $29/bottle but you can get it for only $16 at vitacost.com). Second, I’m okay with the placebo affect. For example, people say that Airborne is a placebo, but I love it anyway. So there yah go. [Note: After having done more research, I learned that Monavie does not disclose how much acai berry is in each bottle. It could hypothetically be 80% apple and white grape juice with 1% of acai. The fact that they won’t be more upfront does make me skeptical too].

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If you are curious to learn more about the debate over Monavie, and the acai fruit at large, here is a list of resources that might quench your curiosity:

• Fox News Video Clip. Good summary of all the major points. View here.
• Andrew Weil (2/8/2008), “Thumbs Down on MonaVie?”, drweil.com.
• Johnny Bowden (June 11, 2008), “New Rules: No More Claiming Mona Vie Cures Cancer!”, The Huffington Post.

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ydt Giveaway: Tell us what you think about this topic. Have you tried Monavie? If so, how do you feel about it? If not, have you tried another Acai drink? Do you think the whole thing is a scheme? If so, what’s your “secret” to healthy living? Depending on your answer to these questions, our giveaway of one bottle of Monavie ($45 value) may or may not appeal to you. In that case maybe you have a friend who’d like to give it a shot. Cheers to healthy debates!

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Tags: acai, Faceoff, fruit juice, healty food, monavie