Mind-Body-Spirit Works

Digestive enzymes, fiber drinks, grapeseed extract, liver detox and more

stacia — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:42:43 +0000

Nick just returned from Usana’s International Convention and WOW! The team had great training, team building, some networking events, and motivation from people like Robert Allen (“Nothing Down”, “The One-Minute Millionaire”), Tim Sales (“Brilliant Compensation”), Linda Armstrong-Kelly (Lance Armstrong’s mother and hero), and Werner Berger (the oldest North American ever to summit Mt. Everest.)

Some (Many) of you are already Usana customers and champions, and we thank you for putting your trust in us! We wanted to share with you several new products announced at Convention. We’ve completely improved our approach to digestive health by announcing a new Digestive Enzyme product (did you know four billion people worldwide are lactose intolerant?), changing our Fibergy line of shakes, and improving our Hepasil (liver function) product.

We also made changes to our Proflavanol (anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy) product. These changes were made possible through the breakthrough of Hybrid technology. Usana is among the first companies worldwide to leverage this new technological approach, allowing us to modify formulations of our supplements, so they are even more stable, dissolve more easily, and can be more potent. Usana has already been recognized as the best of the best, and this is another step above our competition.

Below is a little more information on the new products. if you have questions, please let us know!

Digestive Enzyme
USANA’s Digestive Enzyme supplement is designed to support digestion and reduce the symptoms of occasional indigestion, including occasional heartburn, gas, and bloating. This powerful supplement encourages more complete digestion and absorption of nutrients.*

Fibergy^® Plus
Cholesterol free and low in sodium, Fibergy Plus can be mixed with juice, water, or even Nutrimeal™ shakes, taking on the flavor of the drink you mix it with and providing 12 grams of fiber per serving. It is gluten, dairy, and soy protein free and promotes good digestive health and healthy bacterial growth.*

Proflavanol^® C¹⁰⁰
Made using our innovative Nutritional Hybrid Technology, Proflavanol C¹⁰⁰ combines USANA’s unique bioflavonoid supplement, Proflavanol, with a powerful dose of the immune system protection of vitamin C.*

Hepasil DTX™
Hepasil DTX is a comprehensive liver support formula to help promote and balance detoxification processes within the body. Newly reformulated implementing USANA’s Nutritional Hybrid Technology, Hepasil DTX now has an increased dosage to further support your liver health.*

All the best,
Nick & Stacia Kelly

Every woman (human) should be writing to Oprah about this….

stacia — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:48:33 +0000

Tom Callos over at the New Way Network shared this beautiful video last week and I felt strongly enough about it to share it with you. The filmmaker, Yuriko, needs money to finish her film on Sensei Fukuda…She found the story about her in Oprah’s magazine. Our community is asking that you join us in writing 1000 letters asking Oprah to please look over the film –and to consider some kind of involvement in it.

Please, pass the message on. This film shares a wonderful, dedicated message that should be share in more than just this short clip.

A sample letter to use:

Send a letter to her at the Oprah Winfrey show:

To Ms. Oprah Winfrey

C/O: The Oprah Winfrey Show

110 North Carpenter Street,

Chicago, Illinois 60607

Dear Ms. Winfrey,

Sensei Keiko Fukuda is now a 9th degree black belt in judo, at age 96, and the first women to ever be awarded that title. She was a student of judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano –and still teaches classes three times a week. A filmmaker, Ms. Yuriko Romer, is making a documentary film about Sensei Fukuda, “Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful,” which may be seen both on youtube and at www.flyingcarp.net.

Remarkably, Ms. Romer first heard about Sensei from your magazine. As time is of the essence, I urge you to seek out Ms. Romer and Sensei Fukuda, as Sensei’s story is compelling and wonderful. She is, quite literally, “living history.”

Thank you for taking the time to consider this request.

Love and respect,

Your Name

I’ll keep you posted!!!

~Stacia

Ms. Georgia – dirt floors & no running water…

stacia — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:53:34 +0000

help build a home

Maybe you can’t travel to join us,…or don’t know how to build things, but you can still support the team in getting a home built for this woman.

Honestly, dirt floor and NO running water? How many of YOU could survive that way?

Nick & I will be there in April helping to build this survivor of a woman a new house.

Pitch in where you can. Either come join us, or donate a few dollars…or more.

We’re doing both.

The Projects List…started

stacia — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:03:22 +0000

So, if you read my previous post, I’ve started working on the UBBT already. If you know me, you know me well enough to know when I find something worth doing, I tend to jump into it with focus and passion. While I need to figure out the whole vlog thing and learn how to not mind being on video…I’ve gone ahead and started my projects list. I’m up to five

Everything Self Defense (ESD) Book Search, Consolidation, Review Writeups, Author Recruitment, and top 10 list.
ESD & the100 press releases and article database – write up everything we can and post it every WHERE we can.
Mindful Breathing video & curriculum for kids
MBS Program for At Risk Youth.
DOJ grants – helping the100 uses gov’t grant money to get martial arts teachings into the schools – anti bully, sound mind, sound body, etc.

I’m sure these will adapt and change over time. But this is my start I keep adding/changing the list as I go. Change is good, and modifications mean we’re learning and growing.

My new goal: the Ultimate Black Belt Challenge

stacia — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:20:01 +0000

I’ve been wanting to do this for a few years now.

ubbt 8

Tom Callos , founder of Everything Self Defense and countless other programs, created the Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT), which is a business development program for the most serious, career martial arts teachers.

The premise of the project is that the teacher embarks on a journey –a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual quest for self-improvement; however, the goals of the project involve more than “self” –in that each participant engages people in his/her sphere of influence. The “ultimate test” isn’t just a test of personal ability, it engages and affects the tester’s community.

Now, I don’t currently TEACH. But I want to. I just need to get my sea legs and figure out how I want to teach. Well, and where and to who….

What does the UBBT entail?

Nick helped me break it all down for the year:

200 sit-ups a day/5x a week
200 pushups a day/5x a week
20 miles a week (walk, run, bike or swim)
60 minutes of sparring a week
20+ random acts of kindness a week
20 repetitions of form/week
weekly blog/vlog
1 environmental cleanup project for the year (we’re good, we do several on our own for CatKlaw)
DAILY meditation
2 short films a week on self defense/enrichment topic
20 total projects for a project portfolio for “Out of the Dojo and into the World”(I think I need to build a classroom and students…ACK.)

Those are just some of the requirements. I love it. I think Black Belts should teach, but should also be the blended showcase of all that a student could and should be.

Most of these are completely doable and with ease…but there are quite a few that will be a stretch for me. I’ll have to enlist my dojo for the sparring. I’ll have to make sure I’m AT the gym 5 days a week, at least.

And, most importantly, I have to figure out a way to TRACK IT ALL!

All Natural Cleaners

stacia — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:17:48 +0000

In an effort to be more Green and kind to Mother Earth, I’m always searching for great all natural cleaners. Our house is on well and septic, so since moving here, we’ve renewed our efforts on efficiency and helping the environment.

This weekend, I set about cleaning an old mug I’d rescued from my mother’s basement this summer. It’s hard to tell whether it’s silver, pewter or brass, but based on it’s ick factor and polishing needs, I finally settled on it having to be brass. Thus began my search for a non toxic polish to see what’s under all that grime.

Update: Nope, it’s COPPER! With a United Arab Republic stamp, now to figure who made it. It looks hand crafted, not machine made. It doesn’t have that same finished look to it.

Here are some great recommendations, some I’ve found online, some come from magazine tidbits over the years (Natural Home has GREAT recommendations), and some, well, some I don’t remember where I got. Here they are:

Laundry Detergent – Baking soda & Distilled White Vinegar (I never measure, just use the….oh, that looks about right)
Dry Cleaning Spray – large spray bottle 1 part vodka, 2 parts water, 3 drops lemon essential oil
Window Cleaner - Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 quart warm water.
Floor Cleaner – Mix 1 cup vinegar with 2 gallons water.
Glass Coffee Pot Cleaner – Place crushed ice, salt and sliced lemons in pot and swirl till clean.
Furniture polish – Mix 1/4 cup vinegar with 3/4 cup oil (olive, vegetable, lemon).
Brass, Copper, and Pewter Cleaner – Mix equal parts salt and vinegar, then thicken with flour.
General Cleaner – Mix 4 tablespoons baking soda in 1 quart warm water, or use plain baking soda with a wet sponge.
Disinfecting/Deodorizing Cleaner – Mix 1/2 cup Borax in 1 gallon hot water.

What are some of your favorites?

Surprise – and then there were two!

stacia — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:46:26 +0000

Mother Nature's Creativity

Nick asked me to shoot a few videos of him for the upcoming USANA convention and another one of our sites. While I was waiting for him to get ready, I wandered over to our Butterfly bush and tried to capture Mother Nature’s artwork. I love having this right outside my office window. When the bush is about 6 feet high, the butterflies go crazy with it.

I am not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination, sometimes I just happen to get a great picture.

I’m shooting away, trying to capture a good shot of the butterfly there to the left, and Nick motions for me to follow him around the side of the house. I follow, wondering why on earth we’re heading to the back yard.

Behind our shed? Well, the guys had been throwing the clippings back there every fall when they cut the bush down. Now? HUGE butterfly bush and so many colorful butterflies flitting about. Who knew?

What a beautiful surprise! We’d thought we lost the one out front due to the snow storms, but now I have TWO! Lesson, be open to your surroundings and unexpected surprises.

PS – If you’re a writer and missing the Romance Writer’s of America Conference in Orlando, then head over to Savvy Authors! There’s a summer symposium and I’m running the Muse Workshop from now thru Sunday.

Meditation for Martial Artists

stacia — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:22:06 +0000

I’m behind in my reading.

It might be because I have so many book laying around the house and office that I forget which ones I’d been so focused on at the store. If you read my blog over on www.sybir.com you know I have a problem with bookstores, I just can’t get out of one for under $80. Pricey if I get too near Borders once a week.

I’ve been focused on my freelance work lately, and have neglected my writing focus for MBS Works. Writing focus for here? Yes, that includes:

This blog
Researching Self Defense authors and books for Everything Self Defense
Co-writing a book with the experts over at ACSS Transitions
and a score of other things that I try to keep up with….

You should see my to do list.

Black Belt - Sept 2010

In reading an article, “The Inverse Pearl” in Black Belt magazine today, I was reminded about why and how I use meditation in my life. It reminded me that on the days I keep meditation in my schedule, I get far more done in less time. I’m more focused in the dojo or the gym. This is true for me in life and training.

While training for my black belt, I used my hypnosis training and recorded several hypnosis sessions to listen to nightly. I needed to increase my focus and my speed during sparring sessions. I’m little, so I had to use every training advantage I could so I could land my hits on larger and stronger opponents.

Did it work?

YES. My awareness is actually heightened as well. I’ve been known to grab a fork from mid-air when pup’s accidentally flipped it out of his ice cream dish. Shocked silence greeted the table one night at a local restaurant. Nick, my husband, glossed over it with a comment about “mommy’s got mad ninja skills”.

I’ve been meditating since around the age of 12. It’s been one of the best skill my mother taught me (although she’s taught me a lot).

Meditation helps to increase awareness and focus. It can help power through a workout and manage pain. Athletes use visualization techniques all the time to help improve their natural abilities. Meditation, or no mind, helps you to achieve a balance in body and mind. As Stephen Blazac points out in his article, “Zen Buddhists describe it as a mind of no hesitation, no interruption, no mediacy.”

Can you imagine what a skill this is to have in any martial arts encounter? Can you imagine being able to teach that skill to your students or even your children?

My favorite ‘diet’ recommendations….

stacia — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 04:28:25 +0000

I’m not really into dieting per se, but more of lifestyle changes. (I did the ‘diet’ thing in 2005-06 for bodybuilding and dropped way too low.)

Now, the lifestyle changes!

It’s been a slow process. And, since I’m doing the bodybuilding route again, this time, we’re doing it healthy and energetic the whole way.

Vegan style.

Now, I may not be 100% totally vegan yet, but I’m getting there. It’s not a lifestyle change for everyone, but I think more people could incorporate a few more vegetarian/vegan meals into their days *wink*

This morning, while I was making my smoothie I thought “hmm, what are my favorite recommendations for making lifestyle (diet) changes?” Here are my top recommendations:

Drink more water. Drop a lemon in it or a lime if you need to add some flavor. Alternate your water consumption with green tea or Crystal Lite until you can consume only water all day long. It takes a while. You have to wean yourself off of milk, sodas and flavor. I promise, you WILL start craving water whether it be warm, luke warm or ice cold. Yes, there are a ton of studies out there on just what temperature your water should be for optimal body response. I don’t care. Just drink more of the stuff.
Make one meal a day vegan/vegetarian. Not have meat with a meal or a snack? Yes, I’m crazy, but try it! See if you feel more energetic/lighter. You might be surprised.
Pay attention to how you feel after a meal. Did you just have a pasta dinner? Feeling tired? Feel like your stomach is over extended? Or do you feel energetic and ready to take on the world and all your tasks? Keep a journal if you need to. I learned that chocolate coats my tongue and makes it feel icky (yes, that’s the actual word I used.) Pasta makes me sleep, so do most breads. Green smoothies keep me full IF I’ve used an avocado in them. Crystal Lite can give me a migraine if I drink too much of it. And, I start craving healthy food the more I eat healthy food.
Don’t read food magazines late at night. They make you hungry. I’m not kidding. Try it and see.
Turn off the lights in the kitchen after dinner. AND, along with that, only keep fresh fruits/snacks out to be seen so if you do wander back into the kitchen, you gravitate to healthy snacks, not salty or sugary ones.
No grains after 2pm. I’ve noticed that my body slows way down in the afternoon hours. I need my grains to jump start my brain in the am, but I’ve learned to really limit them later in the evening, especially if I’m trying to lean down. If I do have some at night, it’s about a 1/2 of brown rice or something similar. Nothing too outrageous like second helpings of pasta. (Once I start that trend, it’s like an addiction…I keep going back to get MORE.)

These are my big Six. What other recommendations do you have to add? I’m sure there are others…….

Paving a new path in fitness and bodybuilding…

stacia — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 04:06:01 +0000

I’ve been trained to focus on a high protein, low carb diet for bodybuilding and weight loss/fitness training. I’m not saying it was wrong. I lost a ton of weight, added a ton of muscle and loved my overall physique. But, I’ve been reading…..

I hated the carb crashing and moodiness around 5pm because I was starving for energy.

Soooo, now, we’re going to try something new.

I’m not sure how it’s going to work out. But, you can follow me on my journey. I’m going to keep up to date via video, podcasts and regular posts. And for the record…I hate being on film or photos unless I am completely lean and makeup and hair done just so. Fault the years I spent as student model for my mother’s photography classes. I try to avoid the camera. Professional shots are WELL planned.

I’m going to place myself in front of it. Mostly, just to see if what I think can be done, can, in fact, be done.

What are we doing?

Ohhh, so glad you asked. We’re going VEGAN! And, we’re going to be bodybuilding and doing martial arts.

Yes, I’m crazy. But, I’m also determined. I needed a new goal, and this is it. It feels right. I love bodybuilding and martial arts. This from the person who never competed in sports growing up or had any inclination to do anything other than roller skate and ride her bike. I was not an athlete.

I am now.

After the Lean Down

My new mantra….I am a bodybuilder. Not as dedicated as others I know, but I’ve dipped my toes in and kinda like it. *winks* Actually, I love the goal setting and putting the work in.

I am a marital artist. Again, not as dedicated as many I know, but I do love it and think everyone should learn the basics. And, I love the goal setting and putting the work in.

Do we sense a theme here? I might have lost my way for awhile. I’m back now.

But, there are challenges.

My Challenges.

I ‘ve gained weight. OMG, my mother is in heaven over that. I’ve always been a lightweight, ignored foods, etc. But something switched in my body over the last few years (we’ll blame AGE) and now, I’m going to have to work my tail off, literally, to get and stay in good shape. I’m “about” 15lbs too heavy, but considering I was way too light when Bodybuilding the first time….this time, I have a better platform to work with. If I lean down the right way? Oh hell….my overall muscle tone will just shine.

I’m turning 37 in a few weeks. OMG, I’m inching into my late 30′s. ACK. Insert meltdown here. Yeah, ah no. Sorry. Age is a number. Did you know the human body is actually designed to live HUNDREDS of years? We just are so bad about taking care of it, it fails on us. Bad humans. LOL.

Seriously, why now? Well, I need to do something. I’m not happy with myself. So, it’s a good time to focus and make those changes. Time to get the energy levels up!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading. Always a sure sign I’m about to make a change.

Here’s the change.

Cameron Shaye

I’ve slowly been working more raw food meals and vegetarian meals into my overall day. Now, we’re going mainstream…it still may be a slower process than others have done, but my goal is vegan. Not just vegetarian, but pure vegan (good bye my beloved cheeses….sighs). And a bodybuilder/martial artist to boot. I’ve seen some great articles recently. Cameron Shayne the creator of Budokon is Vegan. You go check out his site….look at him, and tell me you can’t be healthy and ripped as a Vegan. Go on….see picture….really….do it.

I’ll be chronicling my progress, or lack there of, here. If you’re not interested, just click through. I promise, I’ll still be adding in all the holistic information as well. I just notice on the days I eat more raw foods/vegan meals, I feel far more energetic. I’d like to see how that impacts my training and cardio. Plus…I’d like to skip the whole cancer/disease route. I love my vitamins, but think my foods could do a lot better.

And we could all do with less processed foods.

Tomorrow, mapping out a meal plan.

Namaste all.