Monthly Archives: May 2008

Celski family has its eye on the prize

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February 12-28, 2010.
The dates are always there for short track speed skater J.R. Celski. That’s the way it is when you have been training for more than 12 years to realize your dream of competing in the 21st Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC.

J.R. has been an AIM-sponsored athlete for six years. He trains for several hours a day six days a week consisting of beach running, weight training, and skating. The bulk of his training comes late afternoon-early evening because he is also a high school senior who has classes five days a week. He has six classes in Advanced Placement and Honors courses. He carries a 3.8 grade point average and will most likely attend the University of California-Irvine to major in business and continue with his Olympic training.

Each AIM product he takes plays a role in his Olympic dream:

• AIM BarleyLife®: Immune system protection to ward off illness, provide energy, mineral replacement, and ridding the body of lactic acid buildup.
• AIM Proancynol® 2000: Strong antioxidant properties to offset accumulation of free radicals.
• AIMega®: Provides the body with essential fatty acids to maintain cell membrane fluidity so oxygen and nutrients can enter the cells easier and to remove toxins, restore energy, and aid in digestion.
• AIM CellSparc 360®: Helps convert meals into energy, necessary because at some meets J.R. skates for 10 hours and must consume a number of small meals.
• AIM Peak Endurance®: Great source of ATP, benningelectrolytes, calcium, and other essential nutrients.
• AIM Herbal Fiberblend®: Detoxes the body of waste products. The less weight carried during a race, the better.

To qualify for the Olympics, J.R. must finish in the top six at the U.S. trials in December of 2009. “My goal is to be the United States’ top competitor when entering these Olympics,” says J.R. If the past is prelude to the future, all those years of training are paying off. A back injury and a bout with burnout after more than a decade of training sidelined J.R. for 18 months. He came back with a vengeance in late 2007-08 despite only training for six months. He dominated the U.S. Juniors and finished fifth at the Worlds competition out of 69 skaters. He also competed at the U.S. Seniors to measure where he stacks up against that level of competition. He says he is ready to do what it takes to qualify for the Olympics “then winning gold medals at the competition. My heart tells me that I can and will do this.”

The Celski family calls J.R.’s dream “Our Family Project.” The dream has taken J.R. twice to California to live year-round and once back to Washington state. He lived with his brother during his first California stay, now his father, Bob, has moved to Long Beach to live with him. His mother, Sue, remains in Washington at her job so there is some income and medical benefits for the family. Sometime this year the family plan is for Sue to move to California to be with her husband and son. Bob admits the family has had some tough times balancing a family with J.R’s dream but “we are enduring this knowing it will come to a close” when Sue relocates from Washington. Bob says being away from Sue this year has made him appreciate all the more his 29 years of marriage to her. “She has never complained,” he marvels. 

Three big mountains down, four more to go

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Martin BenningThree down. Denali (20,320 feet, 6,192 meters) in North America. Kilimanjaro (19,340 feet, 5,845 meters) in Africa. Aconcagua (22,841 feet, 6,962 meters) in South America.

Four to go. Elbrus (18,510 feet, 5,642 meters) in Europe. Carstensz (16,023 feet, 4,884 meters) in Australia. Vinson (16,050 feet, 4,650 meters) in Antarctica. Everest (29,028 feet, 8,848 meters) in Asia.

Martin Benning is an AIM-sponsored athlete whose goal is to climb the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. He is a three-time cancer survivor. Martin, from Seattle, climbs to raise awareness and money for patients battling cancer. The effort is called the 7 Summits Cancer Climb.

The goal is to have all seven climbed by 2015. If that seems a ways away, it is necessary, says Martin. “Vinson in Antarctica and Everest in Asia will be very challenging so we’ll need some time for those two peaks.” Up next is Elbrus, either in August of this year or July of 2009. Then comes Carstensz in Australia followed by the big two, Vinson and Everest.

Martin’s latest climb came earlier this year, Aconcagua. Martin describes the experience as “intense. The Andes are huge and diverse. Lower down we would hike in shorts and a t-shirt, on the day of reaching the summit we had down coats, overboots, and mittens just to stay warm. With the wind in the shade it would be 15-20 degrees F below zero. It was the most technical climb I have done.”

Three mountains, three different climbs. “Denali was cold, snowy, and an ice-covered giant,” Martin says. “That mountain takes lives every year.” Kilimanjaro was a relative picnic compared to the other two climbs. Martin said it felt like a “vacation. The law there requires you to have a guide and porters so we spent days climbing and enjoying the view.” Aconcagua, to this point, is his standard for challenging climbs. “It was the hardest, most challenging, sometimes horrifying, exciting thing I have ever done and I would do it all over again if I could. I live for challenges like this.”

As if the challenge of climbing the mountain was not enough, Martin lost part of his luggage on the flight there, once on the mountain one of the mules fell down a hillside resulting in some damaged gear, another mule bumped a rock causing a fuel canister to leak onto some of the team’s gear, and Martin had boot problems at 16,000-feet that had to be repaired to continue the climb.

The AIM Peak Endurance® canister is really a tribute to Martin; he has earned the right to be pictured on it through his battles with cancer and his belief in the AIM products. He uses a number of AIM products in his training, keeps records of how they impact him, and shares those results with AIM so the company can evaluate the performance of our products. Martin, in fact, was involved from the very beginning in the testing and formulation of AIM Peak Endurance®. He uses it for energy due to the combination of ATP, B vitamins, and electrolytes found in the product. He also takes two scoops a day of a combination of AIM BarleyLife® and AIM BarleyLife® Xtra for nutrition on and off the mountain. AIM GinkgoSense®, he feels, aids his circulation, ability to concentrate, and to avoid acute mountain sickness. AIM CellSparc 360® is another favorite product of Martin’s because of his belief in its health benefits for the heart and cardiovascular system.

Fitness can be as simple as counting

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When you are young, among the first things you learn is how to count to 10. It was not so hard as you first imagined, once you got into a rhythm. “1, 2, 3 …”

Move ahead a few years, well maybe several years, to wellness and fitness. People are becoming increasingly aware of the value of preventing a physical problem before one occurs. A little bit of fitness can go a long way. Whether it is a daily walk or busting it out at the gym, a couple of clichés come to mind: A stitch in time saves nine, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The point is that some fitness now will serve you very well both in the present, and in the future when a base level of fitness might really be needed.

AIM products – one, two, three of them – can be that stitch, that ounce … that aid fitness.

AIM products are created for people of all ages, all lifestyles. You can find AIM products on basketball court benches, in ice rinks, on the sidelines of football fields, and atop the highest peaks in the world. The AIM products work synergistically with a healthy, active lifestyle and have helped many athletes, professional and amateur, achieve their fitness goals.

one
AIM BarleyLife®: Most athletes would agree that physical fitness starts with two things; one is training and the other is nutrition. Just as a car needs adequate fuel to run properly, the human body needs vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to replenish and meet the demands of an active lifestyle.barleylife

That’s where AIM BarleyLife® comes in, at the starting line. Made from the leaves of young barley plants and packed with essential nutrients, AIM BarleyLife® is the fuel for healthy cells. The green juice is rich in enzymes, amino acids, and antioxidants to keep a body running smoothly and maintain whole body health. AIM BarleyLife® also comes in convenient Nutrition-on-the-Go single-serving packets that are ideal for refueling on the run.
To be fit, you have to feel well enough to involve yourself in a fitness regimen. It is hard to worry about fitness, for example, when you have a painful dental problem. Anna Ireland, a Royal Emerald Director from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, took matters into her own hands.Anna Ireland

“I had a very sore tooth. It was so badly abscessed that the dentist said he would have to do a root canal. It was going to cost me $1,400. I decided to pack my tooth with AIM BarleyLife®. I used two pieces of cotton batten, soaked it in AIM Prills™ water, and then rolled it in dry AIM BarleyLife®. I did that for three nights changing it about every 2-3 hours. It smelled horrible as the infection was being pulled out of my gums. Within three days, my abscessed tooth was completely healed. The dentist said he had never seen anything like it. I have since had another tooth that became abscessed and I did the same thing and it cleared up. Since then my sister has done the same thing with the same results.”

twoCalciAIM™: Following nutritional maintenance, support is essential to the active human body. Healthy physical fitness cannot be achieved without a strong set of bones and joints. That’s where CalciAIM™ enters the race. Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body and is stored primarily in the bones and teeth as the chief supportive element. CalciAIM™ combines three types of calcium for a total of 38 percent of the daily recommended value in each serving to reinforce a solid frame for physical activity. This naturally-flavored citrus drink mix also provides vitamins A, C, and D, magnesium for calcium metabolism, and zinc and copper for bone formation. Adequate calcium intake is essential at all stages of life and CalciAIM™ helps active people of every age support their frames and their fitness goals.

caliaimPrior to the introduction of CalciAIM™ in March, a number of AIM staff members gave the product a try to judge for themselves the value of the product. One was Joyce Janzen in the Nampa corporate office.Joyce Janzen

“I’ve been taking CalciAIM™ for several months now and love the fruity flavor. I don’t mind mixing it with water and drinking it instead of previously taking calcium tablets because it is a highly soluble and absorbable calcium compared to tablets. I’m excited that CalciAIM™ also includes other vital vitamins/minerals that my body needs for healthy living. CalciAIM™ gives me peace of mind that I’m doing the right thing for my calcium needs.”three

AIM Peak Endurance®: After fueling up, a spark is needed to ignite the body’s cells. Many active individuals depend on caffeine or sugar to get a kick throughout the day, but those stimulants can become addicting and progressively less effective. AIM has an alternative for a natural spark, AIM Peak Endurance®. Formulated with adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the unit of energy for cellular activity, and all five major electrolytes, AIM Peak Endurance® provides a consistent boost without raising the heart rate or promoting dependency. Heightened levels of ATP are beneficial for not only fitness, but for everyday life. AIM Peak Endurance® plays a role before, during, and after physical activity by stimulating blood flow, speeding up muscle recovery, and boosting mental acuity and memory. AIM Peak Endurance® is also available in single-serving packets for energy at the gym, the workplace, or anywhere on the go.Peak Endurance

Jill Schneider is a Preferred Member from Pomfret Center, Connecticut. Already a believer in AIM BarleyLife® to aid in her fitness, once she added AIM Peak Endurance® to her life, good things really started to happen.Jill Schneider

“I have always exercised in the morning to get my day going. In October of 2005, I changed my cardio exercise to running three to four times per week. I run about 3.3 miles. Before I run, I take a tablespoon of AIM BarleyLife® and a tablespoon of AIM Just Carrots® in about three ounces of water. Before AIM Peak Endurance®, on the days that I ran, instead of feeling invigorated afterward I would actually feel more tired and sore. When AIM Peak Endurance® was introduced, I immediately purchased a canister and started taking it after my morning run. What a difference! Right after I run, I take a full scoop in about 12-16 ounces of water. After taking AIM Peak Endurance® three or four times, I noticed I was no longer ‘dragging’ on the days that I ran. I have energy and feel great after I exercise and throughout the whole day. It balances the pH of my body’s system and restores the electrolytes I lose while running. It is definitely more fun to exercise knowing I will feel great when I am done!”

Physical fitness is a year-round commitment that you pursue outside the gym and far beyond May – Physical Fitness Month. That’s why AIM provides products to help people live active lifestyles in healthier ways. Whether you find yourself on the court, at home, or at the top of a mountain, the trio of AIM BarleyLife®, CalciAIM™, and AIM Peak Endurance® will help you achieve your fitness goals.

Loving family not willing to say goodbye

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RE GoinesDoctors sent R.E. Goines home to die. They said he had only a few weeks to live. Time for the family to contact hospice and do the best they could under the circumstances. The ravages of what was described as inoperable throat cancer plus the chemotherapy, radiation, and morphine had taken their toll – he couldn’t eat, couldn’t talk, could barely walk or see. “I got to where I didn’t even recognize all of my children,” says R.E. “I was out of it every day.”

For his family of nine children, grandfather to 35, and great-grandfather to 20, it was devastating news. He had been
the center of their lives for as long as they could remember. His daughter, Dr. Sennie Smith, an AIM Member, was one of the family members gathered in Danville, Illinois, deciding how best to deal with the last days of their father’s life. Let me take him to Houston, Texas, she requested of her brothers and sisters. She knew of an herbalist there who might help and she said she would give him AIM products. Sennie’s own son had recovered from a kidney transplant with assistance from natural herbs and supplements. Against the advice of his doctors, the family flew R.E. to Houston for Sennie’s natural treatment option. “We had nothing to lose,” recalls daughter Jeanette Osler, a school teacher in Atlanta, Georgia. But, she admits, she thought she had seen him alive for the last time.

The challenge was daunting. In addition to everything else, R.E. says his “fingers had turned black and burned, my hands and feet were numb and they had swelling all the time, my skin was cracked and bleeding, doctors put a tracheotomy in my neck and it was so open it looked like I had been hung. I had burns on my neck, feet, and legs and my skin looked like black leather. I lost all sense of taste and smell. My mouth was constantly dry and I couldn’t take water or food by mouth.”re goines

For several months Sennie nursed her father and, slowly, he began to regain his health. She would e-mail her siblings with milestones – Dad sat up today, he took a drink of water on his own, he ate a solid meal, the tumor in his throat is smaller, his sores have healed. The crowning moment came with a visit to a Houston hospital for tests.
re goines

The cancer was gone.
R.E. packed his bags and flew home to the Midwest.
The core products of R.E.’s AIM regimen include AIM BarleyLife®, AIM Just Carrots®, and AIM Bear Paw Garlic®. “I took the AIM products religiously and I didn’t try to substitute any other cheaper, look-alike products. My daughter, Sennie, insisted on me using only the best. People need to try to stay well. Put the right things in your body – the right food, the right supplements. Everything we need to stay well, God has provided in nature. We don’t need a lot of chemicals and traditional medicine. Doctors are just practicing medicine; don’t let them practice on you. You know your own body better than you think.”

For his body, R.E. eats lots of fruits and vegetables, he drinks 100 percent natural juices, and lots of water. He believes the sun and walking have wellness powers and he sleeps often because “I know my body needs rest in order to revive itself.”
AIM products, he believes, “helped save my life. I have only good to say about them. I am living proof that they work. Get on an AIM regimen and stick to it. It is not always a quick fix, but you will see change and it gets better and better every day.”
Now 83, R.E. says when he was young, “I always wanted a bunch of kids. Well, I have a bunch and they are my life. Right now, they are my reason for wanting to keep on. My family has always been the biggest part of my life,” adding, “I was at the brink of death and came back. If you are sick with anything, don’t give up. Take care of the one body God gave you.”

R.E. lost his wife, LeeAnnie, in 1998. They began life together in 1944 in Hollandale, Mississippi. He was a meat-cutter and left for the Army two days after they were married. He spent 30 months in the military, the majority of it in the Philippines. Following World War II, they moved to Champaign, Illinois, where the remarkable saga of the family begins.

Most of the time, R.E. worked two jobs to support his growing family, “whatever it took,” he says. He was a mechanic, a cook, delivery man, janitor, painter, gardener, and he and his wife managed a restaurant. Goines may like to sleep today because there were times when he did not get a lot back then. “Sometimes I didn’t get none.” Daughter Jeanette notes: “By any standard, we would have been considered extremely poor. But we never felt that way.” Mom and Dad worked, and did what they could for the kids.

Fridays, for example, were treat days for the Goines family. R.E. would bring home ice cream, watermelon, popcorn, or hotdogs for a cookout. Sometimes the family would be packed into the trusty station wagon and head to a local drive-in theater where they would drape blankets on the car and munch on homemade popcorn. “Our childhood was rich and cheap,” says daughter Dorothy Goines, Urbana, Illinois.

R.E., whose formal education stopped in the eighth grade, instilled a strong work ethic and the value of education in his family. “I always pushed my kids to do well in school so they wouldn’t have to depend on anybody else taking care of them. I raised them to buy, not rent, to own their own, so people couldn’t control them.”

The kids’ occupations include teacher, mental health counselor, nurse, college professor, school maintenance expert, and minister. Four of his daughters have advanced degrees. One of them, Beulah, has a doctorate in education. She received it from the University of Illinois, her parents participated in the ceremony, and Beulah says she couldn’t help but think that for years and years her father worked as a laborer at the university where she now was receiving her doctorate. “I cried,” remembers R.E. Then he emphasizes the value of education: “When you get it up here (pointing to his head), others can’t take it from you.”

R.E. would like to live to be 120 but he knows that decision is in God’s hands. He has depended on God and himself for most of his life. “Study, watch, look, and listen. Learn as much as you can and always be able to do for yourself. Be willing to help others if you can.” And, he adds, “Every day I live, I try to learn something, teach myself something, and do something worthwhile.”

R.E. acknowledges he really is fortunate to be alive today. “I know a lot of people don’t beat cancer,” he says. Jeanette says her father “has always been kind of a hero to all of us. Every day that he lives is just an extra blessing for us.”
(Note: Some of the information in this story was taken from an article in the News-Gazette, Champaign, Illinois).