USANA Wishes You A Happy Chinese New Year!

February 3rd is an important day for all USANA Chinese Associates, as it is Chinese New Year; a time of gratitude and family connection, a time to complete the old year and welcome a new healthier and wealthier year.

This sounds so much like the spirit of the USANA business, doesn’t it? USANA is just like a big family and we care about the health and happiness of EVERY member of this family-we have that in common with you!

If you take a look at the USANA Australia business centre this week, you will find it has been decorated with lanterns, couplets, red papers with themes of happiness, wealth and longevity (NIAN HUA).




Also, listen to our voice below:

If you are having trouble viewing the video, please go to our Youtube Channel.

USANA Australia Congratulates Our New 1 STAR Diamond Directors!

A successful USANA business means A LOT OF hard work...... and celebrations to reflect that. On Tuesday January 25 the USANA family celebrated the success of Chun-Ming Chang & Aileen Zhou. After years of cultivating their USANA business Chun-Ming & Aileen rank advanced to 1 STAR Diamond Director.

USANA staff members were quietly waiting in the lobby, preparing to surprise the man of the moment, when Chun-Ming walked in. He was welcomed with loud applause and big smiles. Flowers, hugs and firm handshakes followed. And then another surprise! USANA President, Fred Cooper, of Salt Lake City in US appeared and proudly placed the shiny new 1 STAR Diamond pin on his lapel.

USANA Staff and visiting Diamonds applaud as Chun Ming enters the lobby


Close up of the shiny new 1 STAR Diamond pin

Unfortunately Aileen Zhou, his wife, was not able to attend but Chun-Ming will take the pin, photos, flowers and memories home to share with his wife.

Chun-Ming with Fred Cooper, ANZ management and Diamond Associates

In the Diamond afternoon tea that followed, Chun-Ming shared his happiness and appreciation with staff members, and had relaxing conversations with the 3 STAR Diamond Leaders, Amy Shen and Bin Yang.

If you want to see more photos of a great afternoon with Chun Ming, Amy, Bin and Fred, go to our Facebook page.

We hope they continue to make advancements as their USANA journey progresses.

Sun, Fun and Liezel Huber

What would make up an ideal day for a kid? Would sport, being outdoors and getting to hit a ball around with LIEZEL HUBER, ranked #3 in Doubles worldwide do the trick?


The USANA Tennis Clinic held on 12 January provided a chance for USANA Associates and staff children to get outdoors and meet Liezel Huber for a private coaching session. What did our kids have to say about their experiences when interviewed? Rebecca Mulham, aged 11, exclaimed, ‘Getting to hit the ball with world champion Liezel Huber was the highlight of my day! She was awesome!’ Nine-year-old Sienna Mulham piped in with ‘I loved getting autographs from Liezel and the tennis coaches! My favourite bit was when we played with her!’. And for Nana Asamoah, aged seven, it was just too short: ‘The tennis day was fun, exciting, enjoyable and interesting. I didn’t want to leave!’




They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Check out the looks on those faces. It’s hard to say who was having more fun on the day – Liezel or the kids.


This is what Liezel had to say about her experience when we caught up with her on the day: “I had a great time meeting and playing a few games with the children and staff of USANA. It was fantastic to see so much enthusiasm!”. Liezel also offered some advice and helpful tips to her rapt audience through her coaching session, and stayed on after the tennis session to sign autographs and t-shirts. What a champion! We are proud to have Liezel as one of our USANA WTA Ambassadors.

Liezel Huber with USANA Associates and staff

Congratulations to the USANA Staff on Conquering the “Devils”

Big congratulations to the USANA staff who just completed the challenging experiment – To avoid the affectionately named 5 “White Devils” for a week! Some people have loved the changes of their bodies so much that they have decided to continue albeit at a less stringent pace. Others are over the moon that it’s finished!

Let’s summarize some of the lessons we’ve learned on this fantastic experiment:

Patience, persistence and commitment
Reading the labels in the supermarket is time-consuming. Patience is one of the vital elements for attaining the “devil free” lifestyle. You have to be organised and carry your own food when you are out and about.

There were ups and downs during the journey. After the first couple of days where most of us felt pretty average we generally started to feel completely energised. However, it took persistence to keep doing what needed to be done and therefore to get the results. But, it was so worth it.

Commitment ignites action. To commit is to be persistent with a purpose. There are two phases of commitment. The first is having a sound set of beliefs, e.g. the belief that a healthy lifestyle is going to help with the rest of your life and your family. The second is faithful adherence to those beliefs with your behaviour, e.g. to foster the healthy lifestyle by quitting the “white devils”.

Does it sound so much like building up your USANA business? Exactly, these three elements are also the fundamental conditions of a successful USANA business.

Cook your own food
We learned that to avoid the white devils, everything needs to be homemade, even salad dressings! Otherwise it’s just too easy to break the “rules”. Here is an example: Brenda had a great week by eating homemade foods during the experiment, but found that as soon as she ate out, she was no longer able to avoid the white devils, “The hardest thing to avoid is the salt” she says. White salt seems to be in everything!


Collect some “devil free” recipes
Some people tried living on coffee and fruit all week rather than have to deal with finding or cooking “devils-free” food! But, they learned that eventually their bodies ran out of energy. We also learned we had to be well organised, we had to prepare basic foods like stock, dressings and sauces, we needed the internet for recipes and best of all, we had the joy of learning from each other. We did this experiment as a team and we were able to support each other in so many different ways; sharing recipes, sourcing products at the health food stores, sharing our stories. It really brought us together and made it all easier.


Recipes
We have a good recipe for you to try:

Tasty and Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup flaxseed oil (or another of your favourite oils)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ tablespoon sesame oil (per taste)

Preparation:
Combine the above ingredients and serve over salad

Serving Size:
2 tablespoons per serve

And Brenda’s tip is to add sea salt or tamari and a bit of honey to make the recipe even nicer!

The Need for Vitamin Supplements
“Ultimately we learned that it’s impossible to live in our modern world and avoid all of the “white devils” all of the time. You just can’t do it. You could never eat out, you could never buy that wonderful treat occasionally. So, it reinforced to all of us the need for daily supplementation. “If I’m getting my calories from sugar and white flour, ingredients that contain very little nutrition, then I have to get them from somewhere else. I could eat more or I could take a supplement. In the end most of us decided to eat less of the white devils, more of the homemade nutritious foods and take our daily supplements!” says Brenda.

Some of the USANA staff used the following supplements during the week:

• Essentials or the Health Pak at full dose
• Hepaplus as directed
• Fibergy as directed (work up to full dose if you need to)
• Probiotic one sachet every second day
• BiOmega is a basic one for all the time, as is Proflavonol

Hope these tips are helpful to you too on your journey to better health.

It’s never too late to do it if you are interested in this experiment, but it would be much easier for you to commit if there are some friends around to do it with you. All you need to do is to set up a start date and follow the instructions mentioned in our first blog. You can always drop an email to Brenda Rogers on Brenda.rogers@au.usana.com if you have any questions.

USANA’s Thoughts Are With You

The state of Queensland in Australia has started its long journey on the road to recovery since suffering from the worst flooding in over a century. At the peak of the flooding ¾ of the state was inundated with water with 70 towns and more than 200,000 people affected. Whilst the immediate threat of flood has subsided for Queensland, parts of New South Wales and Victoria are still under threat.

USANA’s thoughts are with flood victims and their families of this devastating natural disaster and the community who are only starting to realise the emotional and financial cost of it.

USANA Australia employees recently held a fundraising morning tea with corporate matching dollar-dollar the contribution of its staff. Funds raised will go straight to the Queensland floods Disaster Relief Fund. Gill Stapleton, General Manager says ‘Our thoughts are with everyone affected and we hope our contribution will make a difference’.

Pictured above items for sale

Paper donation from USANA Australia employees

Below are the common health concerns to keep in mind:

Food Safety
Food that has come into contact with floodwaters should be thrown away. Food that has been in a fridge for more than 24 hours during power cuts should also be thrown out. For remote areas, water tanks that may have been contaminated with flood water should be sterilised by boiling first before drinking

Flood Waters
Flood waters carry mud and the potential presence of human and animal waste, pathogens including bacteria and viruses, moulds, oils and pesticides, even heavy metals and industrial waste. Therefore, try to stay out of flood waters, or wear long boots and waders. Also, make sure to wear appropriate protective clothing to protect you from scratches and injuries during the cleanup work.



Mosquitoes
With pools of stagnant water in warm conditions, there’s the great possibility of mosquito borne diseases, such as Ross River fever. Try to get rid of stagnant water around your home. If you have a water tank that has had floodwater in it the tank should be emptied and cleaned. Empty any containers, tarps and even the dog’s bowl as they might hold water and become a breeding ground for mossies.

Mental Health
The emotional toll of those affected by the floods can manifest in many ways. Take care of each other and don’t be afraid to seek help. Your local GP is a good place to start.

The support shown from Australians and around the world has been truly heart warming. Donations can still be made online and through many local suppliers.

If you have advice or photos that you would like to share with us, please leave your comments and photos on our Facebook.

How to Make a Donation

Donations of $2 and over are tax deductable.

Donate online
Make a donation to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal using a secure payment form.

Donate by phone
1800 219 028 (7 days, 6am to 11pm)

Donate by internet banking
The account details for donations are:

Account Name: Premiers Disaster Relief Appeal
BSB: 064 013
Account number: 1000 6800
SWIFT code for international donations: CTBAAU2S

Once your transaction is complete, you should record the receipt number for your transaction. If you do not receive a receipt number, contact your financial institution.

Donations of $2 and over are tax deductable. If you would like a receipt for tax purposes, please forward a request, with proof of donation to:

Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal
C/O Department of the Premier and Cabinet
PO Box 15185
City East QLD 4002

International donations
The account details for international for donations are:

Account Name: Premiers Disaster Relief Appeal
BSB: 064 013
Account number: 1000 6800
SWIFT code: CTBAAU2S

Donate by mail
You can post a cheque donation – please do not send cash.

Cheques should be made payable to:

The Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal
ABN: 69 689 161 916

Cheques should be posted to:

Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal
C/O Department of the Premier and Cabinet
PO Box 15185
City East QLD 4002

Donate in person
Donations can be made at:

• Commonwealth Bank
• NAB
• Westpac
• ANZ
• BOQ
• Suncorp
• St.George Bank
• Bank SA (Bank of South Australia)
• Australian Central Credit Union
• Savings & Loans Credit Union
• Bank West
• Australia Post
• Coles supermarkets.

Gill’s Thoughts…..

I spent a few days at the Australian Open this week watching elite athletes perform making it look so easy. You would think I would be struck by their amazing athletic ability, the years that they must have put in to reach such great heights in their chosen sport. Maybe the knowledge of the sacrifices along the way would touch my heart and inspire me to set new goals and reach new heights in 2011 with the same determination and grit.


But no… it was a small possibly insignificant incident that reminded me of my passion for the direct selling industry. I was thrilled to be sitting in the players’ café, soaking up the atmosphere off court, watching some of the elite players relaxing. One of our USANA Ambassadors, Kim Clijsters was sitting nearby enjoying some time with her daughter. Playing at her elite level it struck me that she has combined more than a successful career in tennis; ranking currently at # 3 with being a great mum.

WHY did this strike me so passionately? USANA allows YOU the freedom to do the same - to combine a successful career with the full time job of having a family.

How can you use this? Talk to working Mums and Dads who would rather be at home with their kids. Show them the way through the USANA opportunity to have a fantastic work –life balance.


As I watched USANA Ambassador Sam Stosur (currently ranked #6 )play, I am honoured to be taking the same nutritional supplements as this amazing athlete. As Sam competes over the next two weeks; and being in the media constantly, this is an opportunity for you to ask the question below.

Would you like to be on the same nutritional supplements as Sam Stosur and Kim Clijsters?

Top athletes trust their health to USANA, to enable them to compete at the highest level… why wouldn’t you?

Talk to someone today!

Is USANA Staff Surviving with the “5 White Devils”?

Brenda’s experiment has been running for nearly a week now. We received hundreds of emails giving us updates on people’s progress. How are they coping with it?

Nikki Stockton, our new Customer Service Manager of USANA Australia and New Zealand misses carbs desperately. She hasn’t slept properly in 3 nights and has lost 2 kg so far! Leeanne McWhinnie, our Assistant Accounts Manager, a crazy chocolate lover, has lost 1kg as well. Kaushali De Silva, our Returns Co-ordinator, also a self-confessed chocoholic, has lost 2.5kg. “I sleep well, feel good. No hunger pains, but constantly wondering what will be my next meal…” She says. For Kashmira Sachania, our Senior Product Manager, the week has been a breeze, as she has been trying to avoid food instead of the devils. She told us that her body suddenly seemed depleted of all the salt reserves on Day 5 and she can’t wait for the experiment to be over!

Lots of people just have steamed vegetables and meat without seasoning, and have fresh fruit as snacks instead of bars, cake and ice-cream. Headaches, bad-sleep and mood changes are what we heard most from the feedback.



Challenges

One of the biggest challenges is to avoid salt. “I’m finding absolutely everything from the supermarket has salt in it. I wanted to make spinach & ricotta lasagne, using wholemeal lasagne sheets the other day, however the ricotta contains salt. Also with snack foods; I was looking at the contents of crackers in the health food isle, and although I could find ones that did not contain white flour and sugar, all contained salt!” Leeanne says.


Some people found it hard to avoid temptation. “The movies were a challenge! Never realized you could be surrounded by so much sweet stuff, but not one piece past my lips!” Commented Gill Stapleton, General Manager of USANA Australia and New Zealand. “I woke up very hungry this morning which seemed to put my brain into neutral. I was running late but managed to cook scrambled eggs and eat a banana on the run. It would have been the ideal time to cheat but I hung in there.” Shona Martin, our New Zealand Service Representative shares her story with us.

It’s also hard for people to change their eating habits. One of the participants is our International Co-ordinator from the USANA home office, Maki Lerwill. She is initially from Japan and she found it’s extremely hard to avoid rice for a week. However, she finally made her way through with vegetables and chicken.

We wish them good luck as there’s only 2 more days to go. It’s the commitment as a team player that keeps people going, and we appreciate that.

Stay tuned and keep an eye on the coming blog, where we will give you tips, recipes ideas for avoiding processed foods and let you know how our participants feel now that they are finished. If you are in the experiment as well, please leave your comments below.

USANA at the Medibank International Sydney

Weekends are normally exciting for most people but for USANA the weekend also had a touch of star power to it! Not only did we have Alan Bergstrom, Vice President of Customer Service come in for USANA’s product distribution to athletes, all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah, Liezel Huber, World No 3. Doubles and one of USANA’s Ambassadors also stopped by for a chat and to pick up her USANA products. Our final visitor of the day, Samantha Stosur, another USANA Ambassador, added her own sparkle by posing for photos and signing the Essentials packaging.

*Pictured above Alan and Liezel Huber

*Pictured above Sam's signature on our Essentials packaging

USANA’s extended relationship with the WTA was announced at a press conference at 3pm AEST by Sam Stosur, World #6. USANA is the Official Health Supplement Supplier to the WTA through to 2013 and Essentials has been named the Official Multivitamin of the WTA Tour.

Check out What's Up, USANA - A Perfect Match: WTA and USANA Expand Partnership for more information about the official announcement.

On Sunday 9 January, the USANA booth was busy with kids and adults lined up to test their skills on the Nintendo Wii. Staff and Associates handed out Health Essentials to visitors and got everyone to test their luck on the Wii. USANA is also giving away a Nintendo Wii Sports Pack and USANA products worth $1500 during the Medibank International week. So if you are at the tennis this week, stop by the booth to say hello and enter the fantastic draw! Our youngest visitor was aged just less than 1 year!

*USANA's booth at the Tennis Centre

Visit USANA’s Facebook page to view more photos.

USANA Staff Is Ready to Battle with “5 White Devils”, and You?

Even for the health conscious, eating natural foods can be a challenge. It’s easy to become ambivalent and unaware of how easy it is to consume at least one or two varieties of the “5 White Devils” in every meal – white sugar, white flour, white salt, “white” oil (oil with the nutrients stripped out) and white rice. These ingredients have been through the industrial refining process, broken down from its natural colour and bleached, and thus they are considered “nutritional silent poisons” by some nutritionists and doctors. They are the first hurdle in your weight-loss program, or in achieving a healthy lifestyle.

In order to raise awareness of the white devils and additionally, to show the importance of nutritional supplements to our health, Brenda Rogers, Network Development Manager for USANA Australia and New Zealand, has initiated an interesting but challenging food experiment for USANA Australia and New Zealand staff – To avoid the white devils for an entire week. Some of our USANA staff has already put their hands up for this challenge!

We would like to invite you to join us, make this an unforgettable experience as part of your New Year Health Resolution.

So what will you need to do each day during this week?

• Set up a start date and let the experiment run for a week
• Write down what you eat and drink, don’t worry about recording the quantity.
• Write down any insights, challenges, detox symptoms, insights, negative comments from friends, etc, ..
• Write down questions you have, if any
• Write down any interesting recipes that you’d like to share
• Don’t give up if you happen to break the above rules. Just write it down and then keep going
• Send them to Brenda at Brenda.rogers@au.usana.com each day so that she can review and answer your questions

We suggest the tips below for completing this experiment successfully:

• Hint: You will need to prepare beforehand so there are items available in your pantry. We can guarantee you that you will be cooking more of your own food this week! Explore the health section of the supermarket, the health food shop and the best fruit and veggie shop in your district. Have some recipe books handy, know how to substitute whole foods for refined foods and get Google ready for searching! Above all, learn to read the labels and/or if dining out, don't be shy to ask the waiters what the key ingredients in your dish are..
• Avoid white flour, i.e. white bread and blends, white pasta, pastry, cakes, biscuits, white sauces made with white flour, couscous, etc. There may be other things containing white flour so be sure to check the ingredients label. You can have wholemeal wheat flour and other grains such as corn and rye.
• Avoid white sugar, i.e., caster sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar, icing sugar, juices containing sugar, cakes, biscuits, soft drinks (soda), candies, ice-cream, alcohol, chocolate, sweetened anything. Be careful, it’s hidden in so many things. Read the label always. What you can have is honey, syrups such as rice or malt, rapadura and other whole sugar cane products.
• Avoid white salt, i.e. pretty much everything processed contains salt unless it says unsalted, e.g. butter, nuts, cheese, chips, etc. Use instead Himalayan salt, rock salt, sea salt, especially the greyish salts which contains all the original minerals , tamari or avoid altogether and use herbs and spices for flavouring. You’ll find many of these things in the health food store.
• Avoid “white” oil, i.e. margarine and the pale yellow types of oils sold in supermarkets. Use extra virgin olive oil instead (the greener the better) and other quality oils in the supermarket – butter, cream, ghee, coconut cream, avocado, nut butters or cream cheese.
• Avoid white rice and associated products, i.e. white basmati, jasmine, rice noodles, vermicelli. You can have brown rice or other grains. Try barley or quinoa.
• What you can have (as long as it doesn’t contain any of the above): vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, meat, fish, seafood, dairy (though we don’t think we’ve ever seen a cheese that doesn't contain salt. If you find one let us know!), legumes e.g. chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils; and all things made with these e.g. dips, soups, salads, stir-fries, nut butters, whole grain breads, pumpernickel, stews, BBQs, slices and cakes made with whole foods, coffee, tea, water, freshly squeezed juices and eggs.

We will keep you posted on the progress of this experiment in our coming blogs. You are more than welcome to share your experience with us as well!

About Brenda Rogers ND, MBA, PCC – She is USANA’s Network Development Manager and is a qualified naturopath trainer and coach. She is also one of the contributors for the USANA Health Essentials mini magazine. The testimonials she will collect from the experiment are going to be included in the upcoming Health Essentials issue.

USANA reminder – Relax, Relax and Relax

Talking about ‘health’, the first impression that people will come up with is usually only about food-intake and physical exercise. While this is right, ‘health’ covers more than just food and exercise. “Am I emotionally well and relaxed?” - This is the question that we should constantly ask ourselves.


In today’s world, most of us live in a “go-go-go” environment where there is always something to do and never enough hours in the day. Living an emotionally healthy lifestyle becomes a real challenge for us. Stress is a just one of the common outcomes of such a busy lifestyle.

What is stress? Stress is the emotional and physical strain caused by our response to pressure from the outside world. Some stress is normal and even useful – it can stimulate us to work hard or react quickly; but if stress exceeds the limit that your body can cope with, then it becomes harmful to your body. Common physical symptoms from stress include sleeping disorders, muscle tension, headache, gastrointestinal disturbances and fatigue.

There are several ways that we can try to lead a life balancing stress and relaxation.

Attitudinal ways include:


Set realistic goals or break down a big goal into easily achievable tasks. The more detailed tasks we break down from a goal, the more confidence we get to achieve them. And always plan ahead and give some room for unexpected changes.

Identify what’s important and what’s urgent. Not all urgent projects are important. Our first priority will always be the most important and the most urgent project. It is vital for us to distinguish between ‘Important’ and ‘Urgent’. Put things into perspective and try not to get upset about insignificant or relatively unimportant matters.

Maintain a positive attitude. Thirty seconds is enough time to shift your heart’s rhythm from a state of stress to relaxation. Creating a positive emotional attitude by conjuring up a positive thought, can also calm and steady your heart rhythm, contributing to feelings of relaxation and peace.

Physical ways include:

The easiest way is to breathe deeply. Feeling stressed evokes tense, shallow breathing, while calm is associated with relaxed breathing. So turn tension into relaxation by changing the way you breathe.

Also, as we all know, participation in regular physical exercise is going to help. Taking up a favourite sport or regular everyday exercise will go a long way in helping you relax.

Social Interaction. Social interaction induces relaxation. Experts say social interaction helps your brain think better, encouraging you to see new solutions to situations that once seemed impossible. Studies on social interaction have shown that simple gestures such as cuddling your child, petting your dog or cat, may actually help lower blood pressure and decrease stress hormones.

Snack on Healthy Foods. The idea of relaxation for most people is sitting on a cozy couch in front of the television with a bowl of deep-fried hot chips! This is definitely not a healthy way to relax. Pick an outdoor spot where you can get fresh air, and choose a healthy snack that has calming properties, such as a bowl of wholegrain cereal, a fruit rich in Vitamin C, and a quarter of a cup of almonds or pistachios! USANA offers cool healthy snacks: Nutrimeal Shakes and Nutrition Bars. To check out further information, please go to the USANA Foods centre.
As Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” So make up your mind to indulge in healthy relaxation and enjoy the results. Here’s wishing you all a healthy start in 2011!