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  • News | Blog

Sugar’s Hidden Names

July 14, 2016 by Clara E Minor Leave a Comment

Sugar's Hidden NameSugar comes with many names

These are not the only names, btw...

Here is a list of the many names that are used for 'sugars' in packaged foods. Read your labels carefully. It hides in a lot of ways. If you are wanting to get healthier, this is one huge big first step. Just begin reading your labels and educate yourself about the hidden sugars in foods. You don't know what you don't know. Get educated. Take your own lead. Make your own changes. On your own time.

Here is a list of most of the names of sugars:

All natural evaporated cane juice
Barley malt
Beet molasses
Beet sugar
Beet syrup
Brown sugar
Buttered syrup
Cane crystals
Cane juice
Cane juice crystals
Cane juice powder
Cane sugar
Caramel
Confectioner’s sugar
Corn sugar (HFCS)
Corn syrup (HFCS)
Corn syrup solids (HFCS)
Corn sweetener (HFCS)
Crystal dextrose
Crystalline fructose
Crystallized organic cane juice
Dark brown sugar
Dehydrated sugar cane juice
Dextrin
Dextran
Dextrose
D-fructose
Diastatic malt
Diatase
Disaccharide
Dried evaporated cane juice
Evaporated organic cane juice
Fructose (HFCS)
Fructose crystals (HFCS)
Fructose sweetener (HFCS)
Fruit juice concentrate
Glucose
Golden sugar
Granulated fructose
Granulated sugar
Granulated sugar cane juice
Inulin (HFCS)
Invert sugar
Invert syrup
Lactose
Light brown sugar
Malt
Malted corn and barley syrup
Maltitol
Maltitol syrup
Maltodextrin
Malt syrup
Mannitol
Organic sugar
Organic Cane Juice
Organic Cane Juice Crystals
Organic Cane Syrup
Organic Cane Juice Concentrate
Powdered sugar
Pure cane syrup
Raw Sugar
Rice maltodextrin
Rock sugar
Saccharose
Simple syrup
Sorbitol
Sorbitol syrup
Sucrose
Sugar
Sugar beet syrup
Sugar beet crystals
Sugar cane juice
Sugar cane natural
Sweet sorghum syrup
Table sugar
Trisaccharides
Turbinado sugar
Unrefined sugar
White crystal sugar
White sugar
Xylose

If you want to eliminate sugar from your daily foods (or at least lessen how much you eat), be sure you read your labels. If you'd like some options on how to cook/bake with different sweeteners, contact me.

Sincerely,

Clara E Minor
Master Trainer-Instructor
Minorsan Self-Defense & Fitness
831-458-0900

Filed Under: Fitness & Health, News Tagged With: #badasscourage, be kind, bootcamp, courage, doubt, empowerment, exercise, fat loss, fear, fight for life, fighting, fitness classes, habits, high intensity workouts, kickboxing, life success, martial arts classes, negotiating, Santa Cruz California, self -esteem, self worth, self-care, self-confidence, self-love, success, Tabata, Tabata Bootcamp, take action, weight loss

Firearms Safety Class

May 31, 2016 by Clara E Minor Leave a Comment

Firearms Safety Class for Everyone

In this Firearms Safety Class you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about them. Types of bullets, different firearms, most common used, learn about calibers, what the numbers mean, which have magazines (and what are magazines?), how much time it takes to fire each one, what are revolvers, semi-automatics, automatics, etc.

Held June 17, 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Tickets may be purchased here.

Taught by an Expert Marksman with extensive Firearms Training, is a Defensive Tactics Instructor, Taser Instructor, has extensive training in Use of Force (Decision-Making), and has a lifelong Martial Arts Background.

Rio Minor Firearms Safety Class Instructor

Rio Minor – Firearms Safety Class Instructor

I know this is a hard subject for some to even talk about, and is controversial in the larger picture. This Firearms Safety Class is for educational purposes only. You can ask all the questions you’d like. You can even hold the firearms if you choose to do so. Remember, this is about safety. This class will help demystify firearms for you so that you will be more educated.

To sign up for this class, you can purchase tickets here.  There is early bird pricing.

You can always contact me for further information.

Sincerely,

Clara E Minor
Master Instructor-Trainer
Minorsan Self-Defense & Fitness

Filed Under: Fitness & Health, Martial Arts/Self-Defense, News Tagged With: bullets, courage, education, empowerment, family safety, firearms safety, guns, home safety, safety, santa cruz, Santa Cruz California, self-care, self-confidence, self-defense, street safety

Self-Care-Self-Love

February 1, 2016 by Clara E Minor Leave a Comment

Self Care Self LoveCaring and Loving Self

We’ve all head this over and over. Love yourself. Self-care-self-love...that could mean a lot of things, as everyone is so different, yet we are the same. I truly believe that everyone wants and needs love. It starts with our ‘self.’

Our families and our friends can bring us great joy. They can also drain us if we allow it. We have the power and the control to shape our lives. Grab the reins and guide yourself in a new direction if you know this will help you. Stay focused. Stay determined. Be courageous.

You are in the driver’s seat and you always have been, even though you sometimes let others navigate your life for you. It's ok if you don't know where you are going to have a navigator. When you know where you are going, take control. Do something for you. Here are some ideas to spark your own creativity:

1. sitting quietly

2. meditation

3. going for a walk (with friends, or alone)

4. reading

5. enjoying a glass of wine

6. massage

7. exercise (w/group or alone)

8. get a facial/pampering at spa

9. mani-pedi

10. breathe deep in a quiet place (or even in your car!)

11. go to the ocean and walk the beach

12. sit among the redwoods

13. bike ride along the cliffs, thru the trees

14. go for a jog

15. clear a space just for you in your home/yard

16. sit and watch a fun movie

17. go out with a friend (lunch, movie, walk, tea)

18. meet just to talk

19. do something to make you laugh (movie, show, audio)

20. take a full day to be alone and do what pleases you

21. say ‘no’ when you feel over-extended

22. take a class/course (anything) to help your inner game

23. choose to eat better (even do it for one day)

24. start a new project that you totally enjoy

25. call someone you haven’t talked to in a long time

26. take a long soothing bath

27. light some scented candles

28. sleep during the day

29. ask someone to be with your kids for a few hours/a day

30. start painting, or drawing, or photography

31. start a journal (this becomes your autobiography. yes, your life matters)

32. put on gentle music and let it waft thru you

33. put on loud music and dance your heart out

34. say 'no' to more requests of your time

35. go to the library and discover a new old book

36. show someone love in a small way (you will reap the rewards)

37. take a yoga class

38. do something wild

39. go to bed earlier

40. drink a healthy, nourishing liquid

41. get needed bodywork (chiro, acupuncture, etc)

42. use organic scents (diffuser w/essential oils) to change your mood

43. learn a new handiwork (build something, make something you have never made before)

44. no electronics for a day

45. schedule a counseling session (or therapy) and go!

46. get more social (go to an event, especially if you always avoid them)

47. think about something good...and smile

48. write down everything that you would love to do, then pick one and start right away

49. find new ways of doing the same thing (w/food, new route to work, new path on your walk/jog/ride, reading outside if you always read inside)

50. bake/cook something with a friend

51. go to a place of worship (find what resonates for you)

52. dream about what could be; then take action

Use your creativity to come up with other ideas (did I forget shopping?!)

For many of us, the best self-care is to truly stop, do nothing and sit in silence—breathing deep.

This allows the body to decompress. If you are constantly running around crazy, this is the best medicine. Might be time to stand up for your needs. Ask someone to support and help you. Take care of what really matters. Let the rest go.

See you in town, at an event, or in class!

To your Health and Well-Being, have a Happy Love Month!

Clara

Clara E Minor, Master Instructor/Trainer, is owner of MINORSAN Self-Defense & Fitness. You may contact her here. She will help you find your #badasscourage if you are ready.

Filed Under: Fitness & Health, Martial Arts/Self-Defense, Uncategorized Tagged With: martial arts, martial arts classes, self -esteem, self worth, self-care, self-confidence, self-defense, self-love

What is #BadassCourage?

January 18, 2016 by Clara E Minor Leave a Comment

.

 

 

Single arm takedown Every move re-educates the muscles.

Ahhhh...Courage—

It evokes pictures of some courageous and strong people we all know, or have seen in movies—I think of Braveheart, Wonder Woman, and other SuperHeroes.

The Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr., airline pilots (who have successfully landed an ailing aircraft full of people), and others we hear about in the news, are the ‘big’ people.

They are ones who have an impact on many. They are all ‘BadassCourageous.’ There is even a local SuperHero who saved another woman from a continued sexual attack. Here she is. And she is 15 years old.

local hero girl

When I think of people I know, besides our Local SuperHero mentioned above, those who come to mind are the ones who:

• decided to quit their job and go back to school

• broke off a toxic relationship

• decided to move to the other side of the World

• have opened a business solo

• went overseas alone (knowing only the English language)

• decided to get up on a stage for the first time

• presented an idea to ‘experts’

• published their first book

• decided to confront someone in power

• told her/his employer why they deserved the raise

• confronted the bully in their office (or at a school)

• moved out of a house that no longer served her/his needs

• left a relationship that was toxic

• and so many more

We have all accomplished courageous things in our lives...and not always recognized them as being courageous. Just walking into a fitness facility or a martial arts studio takes courage for so many.

What about you?

What courageous acts have you created so far in your life? Absolutely no need to be a SuperHero to have Courage. We all do courageous things all the time. Most often we see them as ‘life challenges.’ And life challenges absolutely cultivate our courage. Everyone has a story. What are your stories?

The one fear I hear the most in my line of work is the fear of going out alone. What is the true fear here? It is the fear of getting hurt by an attack, and not knowing what to do, or having the resources to be safe. It is so much easier to stay home. So we limit ourselves. We limit our life experiences. We limit our freedom. We settle for limited lives.

The fear of embarrassment and rejection, often go hand in hand. For this reason we don’t introduce ourselves at an event where we might not know very many people. Some of us won’t even go to a party alone. If we do go, we might sit in ‘our spot’ the entire night.

Or we fear getting up in front of a group of people and speaking our minds. How many times have you seen an empty dance floor…only to begin filling up after one brave soul went out there to dance (that would be me…lol. And I usually don’t wait long. When a danceable song I like comes on, I’m there).

There are so many instances whereby we allow our fears to stop us from living a full, free, and happy life. It’s easier to be mediocre, normal, let others have their way, and we settle for where we are because it is in our comfort zone.

‘Confrontation is just too hard'

We can only develop courage when we charge ahead through our fears. This is the only (and I emphasize only) way to build courage.

woman punching focus mitts

Learning to 'follow-through' ensures you will hit with all ya got


So now think of how you would respond if your life was in danger. Is it scary just thinking about it? Our brains all ‘think’ of what we would do. You can think it over and over, and you will end up reacting with what is in your body at the moment. You will truly never know until it happens. Being prepared is absolutely one of life's 'best practices.'

From my experience in teaching self-defense and martial arts programs  these past 36 years, our bodies are the ones who will respond. Not our minds.

Courage is not in our heads. Courage is in our bodies, as are all emotions. Think of sadness. Have you ever lost a loved one? Lost a love? Lost anyone in your life whom you valued? Where do you feel the pain? In your head? I don’t think so. The pain resides in our hearts. The pain is real.

If we could do it, most of us would just pull out the pain with our hands. However, because it is energy we cannot ‘pull’ it out. Most of us simply cannot physically ‘grasp’ energy. We cannot ‘will’ it away either. (If you can, show me how please…(I want to ‘lol’ here, as I don’t think anyone will come thru with the ‘how-to’ on this one.) And what is the most common method to release that pain? Tears. Tears allow healing, as they allow the emotion to release. This is not news. We all know this.

How will courage work In confrontations?

We have three choices: Fight - Flight - Freeze. Which one will work for you? In any situation—even in a conversation with a relative, or the bully at work, or school, or someone in power, which response will your body elicit?

Gonna talk about ‘freeze’ for a sec here. When we ‘freeze’ as in paralyzing fear, or someone says something to us that makes us clam-up (and we truly didn’t want to clam-up!), how do we get out of that frozen state?

Maybe the person walked away before we could say what we really wanted to say. Then we’re left depleted, discouraged, dis-enheartened, belittled, feel like we ‘lost,’ etc. And it can easily bring tears.

What could you do to get out of the ‘freeze response?’

What in your body allows you to move this frozen energy? If you guessed ‘take a deep breath’ you are correct. Is that a thought in your brain? It could start as a ‘reminder’…”oh yeah, breathe.” However, the breathing itself is a body-response. Your deep breath clears your mind, as it allows fresh blood to flow into it with the renewed oxygen flow, thus unfreezing your body. This is another gift we were given as humans. This deep breath allows you to also relax which is the cornerstone for stress-reduction.

So now let’s look at someone physically coming at you in a threatening manner. Time and again I have asked people new to ‘quick-reaction-body-knowledge’ to show me what they would do.

I even let them know what I am going to do (how I will ‘attack’ them). Now bear in mind, I make sure that everyone is safe in this exercise—no one is getting punched out or knocked to the floor).

Time and time again, they freeze, or move in a way that would allow me to continue to overpower them or re-attack (if I was a ‘bad’ person). Even though in their heads they may have thought of what they will do, their response is quite short of what they were thinking.

Sometimes I tell them exactly how they will be confronted, then show them exactly what to do, and they still do something different. Why is this? Because that is what is in the body. That is the memory of the body—the knowledge and intelligence of the body. The body’s brilliance.

The muscles can only move with the knowledge the body contains.

Our entire lifetimes we are inputting information (emotion) into our bodies. When therapists can elicit something that was ‘deeply buried’ inside of someone, where was it buried? Our brains are only thoughts. The energy of that past experience is buried in our bodies. It comes out most readily with our tears.

So then, how do we change the response of the muscles to move in the most efficient way to be safe?

two women demonstrating self-defense

It starts with the input the nervous system receives. When physical confrontations happens, the messages are sent through the eyes into the brain’s nervous system and then into the body. In order to change how the muscles react, we must re-educate them.

This does not happen in one hour or even one day or one week. It takes hours and hours of time, depending on the severity of the response (or non-response) to re-educate the muscles.

When the muscles have this new knowledge in them, it creates a response in the brain that gives us the confidence needed to move through fear and challenges with courage. When our bodies know that we can knock out a perpetrator, the confidence rises, we become more relaxed, and we have now created what I call #BadassCourage:

• the ability to stand your ground

• centered and balanced

• speak your truth, regardless of what other people think or say about you, and regardless of the possible consequences

• find your own freedom

You fight to defend yourself, and come out on top (it may all be verbal). You are not fighting for mediocrity. Who wants to 'kind of-sort of' feel good? You are fighting within to ‘win the battle.’ You might end up with a few ‘battle scars.’ And those are good, because you fought the fight. You did it. You defended yourself. I see these as ‘Badges of Badass.’

You will find your voice when you develop your #BadassCourage. Start by collecting your own Badges of Badass.

Finding your voice allows you to make the choices that work for you (and those you love). It allows you to stand up for yourself. It allows you to speak up. Be bold. Be creative. Achieve your own freedom. And that is where you will find your happy place. It will allow you to live the life you want.

Contact me if you are interested in finding out more about your own BadassCourage (complimentary consultation), and how your life can totally change in a positive, powerful way.

Sincerely,

Clara E Minor
Master Instructor/Trainer
MINORSAN Self-Defense & Fitness

#badasscourage
#fight4YOURlife
#badgesofbadass
#selfdefense
#martialarts
#womenspower
#womensmartial arts

Filed Under: Fitness & Health, Martial Arts/Self-Defense, News Tagged With: #badasscourage, beliefs, courage, doubt, fear, martial arts, self -esteem, self worth, self-care, self-confidence, self-defense, self-love, speak up, strength, take action

Self-Care Self-Love Day!

January 18, 2016 by Clara E Minor Leave a Comment

OK...this is predominantly a Ladies event! Heidi Moakler of Ruby Ribbon will be showcasing her "BraFreeForever" line of clothing that will change the way you choose your clothes! February 5, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm we are having a Special Event that will highlight Ruby Ribbon, doTerra essential oils by Katherine Hughes, and GoosesGoodies Toffee by Marci Prolo!

This is a great way to celebrate your love for you! See how wonderful you too can feel in this clothing that is phenomenal and so kind to our bodies. Feel the smoothness and silkiness of the material and how it makes you feel wearing it. After trying one on, you will probably want to purchase several. Different styles-different colors-you choose what works for you.

cami_rubyribbon

Essential oils help us get through so many different 'states' in our bodies, minds and souls. Find out what would benefit you immediately. And you can purchase the wonderful little handmade cloth bags made by Katherine, to store your oils. These also make great gifts for family and friends (and, of course, you!).

Marci has been running GoosesGoodies for several years. Her toffee is a family favorite that she has built into a business. Come taste the goodies and purchase a bag or two.

We'll provide something to drink. And someone will win a Gift Basket filled with all types of goodies.

It takes courage to make a change. This one should be easy. Help to activate your #badasscourage by taking one small step to make a difference for yourself (or your special person). What a great way to celebrate First Friday too and our Love Month!

See you there.

Sincerely,

Clara E Minor

Helping you cultivate your #badasscourage ...

Filed Under: Fitness & Health, News Tagged With: courage, first friday, fitness classes, priorities, self -esteem, self worth, self-care, self-confidence, self-love

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