After her own health journey, Tallya Polidore of F.L.Y. Fit Nutrition wanted to use her experiences to help others.

Polidore owns F.L.Y. Fit Nutrition in New Iberia, which specializes in meal replacement shakes and teas. She started the business two years ago in Broussard before moving to her New Iberia location on Main Street in Torrido Village.

Polidore said F.L.Y. Fit Nutrition uses meal replacement shakes which use a formula that provides 21 essential nutrients and vitamins that most people may not get in their meals.

The shakes include Vitamin C and proteins, Vitamin A and calcium and extra protein to boost protein levels to help promote weight loss.

The typical American diet, according to Polidore, is high in fat. The ingredients in the meal replacements are sugar free and include puddings that thicken the shake. They are sweetened with Stevia, so they are high in protein and low in fat.

Polidore’s knowledge of proper health and nutrition came in handy some 10 years ago.

In 2010, Polidore wanted to make changes for herself and become healthier, and since then she has achieved that goal.

“It was my personal health journey that brought me into Herbalife,” Polidore said. “Started off very unhealthy as far as eating habits goes and I was looking for something that required me to not give up so much of the things that I liked and taste but still give me the results that I was looking for.”

After walking into a nutrition club in Broussard, Polidore said she fell in love with the product because it gave her energy in more ways than one. Going back to the gym again, Polidore said her confidence in herself also improved.

With a newfound love for herself and her health, Polidore wanted to help the residents of the Teche Area, a place where its people have shown interest in proper health and nutrition.

“Being in the Broussard area at UFit Nutrition on Highway 90, we had a lot of customers who came from the New Iberia area in Broussard,” she said.

Polidore noticed there wasn’t a place that offered her shakes and energizing teas so in December she started to bring pop-up locations in New Iberia once a week every Friday and she said the reaction was better than she expected.

“The pop-ups were amazing,” Polidore said. “We would get hundreds of services per day and the people showed out and showed up. So I felt like we needed a spot people could call home here.”

Polidore said she is big on community, and noticed that residents in a close, tight-knit community like New Iberia wanted to see change in their health and overall lives, which made her job that much easier.

The progress for the residents’ own health journey in New Iberia has been a great success for Polidore and F.L.Y. Fit Nutrition has been satisfying over the last few years.

“I love it,” Polidore said. “There is nothing more gratifying than taking someone who has knee issues and they drop 40 pounds and that person feels so good…. You feel like the savior, the person that introduced them.”

Personally for Polidore, her transformation into having a healthier lifestyle has given her new confidence in everything she does and the way she lives her life.

“And that’s what I want to do for other people,” Polidore said.