Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 28, 2014

12

HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 28, 2014 


THE JOY OF YOGA

ENERGY LEALS


AGING DOESN’T MEAN PAIN

One of the things that yoga teaches you how to do is monitor your 
energy. The teachings of Tantra are very clear: prana follows thought. 
If you are low on energy it may be a good idea to look at what you have 
been thinking about. 

Giving energy to the things that we want more of in our lives and 
less energy to the things that drain us is key to maintaining prana or 
energy. We do not want to be leaky buckets. We do not want others 
draining our vital stores. We need to find more activities that increase 
our energy supply on a daily basis and eliminate some things that leave 
us feeling depleted. What would your life be like if you did at least one 
thing everyday, actually put it on your calendar, that gives you energy back? What if you were able 
to eliminate something that drains you?

Well, first you have to know which is which, a drain or a booster.

Getting on your mat each day can balance your prana. It’s a great start. It can also help you become 
more aware of the practices that fill you up or tire you out. Sometimes the body can be a bit tired 
yet the mind is left energized and creative. This is great for focus. Gather up the prana you need for 
a project and direct it all there. Sometimes your practice can leave the body energized and bouncy, 
yet the mind scattered. If we do too much of the practices that are only sensational – we can get even 
spacier. Make sure you balance with centered and grounded.

So get to know who is stealing your prana. Who supports you? Hang around with like-minded, 
uplifting people. Practice grounded yoga and only give away from the overflow.

See you in class. Namasté, René

Are you dealing with nagging pains and discomfort? Perhaps a little 
indigestion, gas and bloating? Are you nearing 40 or 50 and not feeling 
as energized, put on a little weight, get ill more often or have become 
a little absent-minded? How about being on prescription medicines? 
Think it's normal for so many to be medicated for hypertension or high 
cholesterol? It's all part of life and aging, right? NO - it's all part of a poor 
diet! Aging is an accumulation of bad diet choices, low physical activity, 
and toxins in our food and environment. We could most likely handle 
most of these toxins if we would just quit eating sugar and processed 
foods. Diabetes, obesity, heart disease and joint inflammation are all 
part of metabolic dysregulation and it all begins with diet.

That cereal or multi-grain bagel you consume for breakfast, the 
sandwich and Doritos you have for lunch and the pizza and pasta for 
supper, plus any snacking of yogurt, chocolate, soft drinks, high sugar 
"healthy protein" bars and so on, creates an insulin spike in your body. 
The hormone insulin flowing through your body after eating the above 
does a couple of things. What surprises most people is during the 
insulin spike, you don’t burn stored fat. In fact, it actually stores the 
food and helps make fat. The various other things it does is it creates a 
physical craving for sweets and carbs so you end up eating more of the bad foods. 

Now, back to all the pain and dis-ease. There’s a vicious circle when you take in a low fat, high in 
sugar and grains or other starchy carbohydrates (potatoes) diet:. 

1. High refined carb meals bring about insulin spikes (all carbohydrates convert to sugar in your body).

2. Muscle cells end up being insulin resistant because of bad diet choices and lack of physical activity.

3. Sugar deposits as fat in fat cells.

4. The moment fat cells become insulin resistant (tired of sugar and insulin), you’re on the road to 
Diabetic issues.

5. High insulin induces sodium retention, which could cause high blood pressure.

6. Fat cells can secrete inflammatory substances which create capillary damage, oral plaque buildup, 
all those aches and pains, sadness, illness and increased oxidative stress bringing about a cognitive decline. 

So when you have these little (or not so little) aches and pains that we credit to "aging", you truly 
have signs of metabolic dysregulation or too many carbs on your plate. And it's not age. If all these 
problems were merely age, why do I have so many clients between 10 and 30 years old with pains, 
depression, reoccurring illnesses, hypertension, high cholesterol, over weight and pre-diabetes? 
Every one of these issues are symptoms of insulin resistance.

You wouldn't imagine how fantastic 
you will feel consuming a diet 
without processed foods and sugar 
but rather healthy and balanced fats 
with lots of fresh veggies! Aches and 
pains vanish, and you have good 
side effects like weight loss, and 
cholesterol and blood pressure levels 
go back to normal. But most of all 
you know you aren’t eating yourself 
to an early grave but rather living 
longer with a high quality of life.

Dr. Tina is a traditional 
naturopath and nutritionist 
at Vibrant Living 
Wellness Center


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WHY I WRITE MY BOOKS

Guide To Wild Foods and Useful Plants

By Christoper Nyerges

[Nyerges’ “Guide to Wild Foods” book, originally published in 1978, has 
been released in the spring of 2014 in full color. The book is available at 
bookstores, Amazon, and at www.ChristopherNyerges.com. It has even 
been adopted for use as a college textbook in one college.]


My earliest interest 
in wild food began 
around 1967 or 
so as I began my 
awareness that 
Native Americans who lived in Los Angeles 
County in the pre-Spanish era gathered and 
hunted all their food. I wanted to do that too, 
because I thought I would be a good survival 
skill, and mostly because I thought it was one of 
the most essential things a person could do.

 I studied all I could from the local library, and 
by enrolling in botany classes in high school 
and then college. I made the effort to study with 
whomever I could, when the opportunities arose: 
Native Americans, Amish, gardeners, botanists, 
bums -- whoever knew about plants and was 
willing to share their knowledge with me.

 By 1974, I was asked to lead Wild Food Outings 
with the Los Angeles-based non-profit, WTI, 
whose focus was to educate in all aspects of 
survival. I fit in well, and not only led the walks 
(and continued to this day) but started work on 
a book about local wild foods. It took the next 
four years of typing and researching and asking 
questions and compiling notes, but finally my 
stacks of seemingly-random notes were taking 
shape into a book.

 My notes consisted of various piles of paperwork 
that I stacked around my bedroom, and which I 
finally began to order when I started a typesetting 
job at the Altadena Chronicle. The editor, Sue 
Redman, allowed me to write a column each week 
which I called “The Emergency Plant 
Survival Guide,” which was eventually 
assembled into a photocopied 8 ½ x 11 
format. In many ways, since I have 
always used my own book for looking 
things up, I wrote the book to assemble 
my own diverse notes and experiences 
about using plants for food, and other 
uses.

 And by then, I’d met and began 
studying with botanist Dr. Leonid 
Enari, who really opened my eyes to 
the vast botanical world “out there.” 
Dr.Enari, as well as my mentor at WTI, 
were instrumental in shaping that very 
crude first edition of what we called “A 
Southern California’s Guide to Wild 
Foods.”

 The second edition, completely revised, 
came out within another two years 
or so, and then soon another revised 
edition with more plants being added 
each time.

 At the time, there was no other book 
like this one which appealed to the 
common useful plants in the Southern California 
area. There were a few academic books, though 
they didn’t appeal to the person who wanted 
to actually try these plants. And there was no 
internet then, so all my research was done in 
libraries or with first-person interviews, or 
spending all day to get somewhere just so I could 
learn one new plant.

 The fourth edition was released in 1995, and in 
many ways this was my favorite version since 
all the plants drawings were painstakingly done 
in my own hand. After two printings of this 
version, the book came out with photos, though 
they were all black-and-white. Though this book 
always sold well, the photos were the weak area 
since they were not clear or large enough. 

 And finally, in the spring of 2014, the book has 
been released in full color, which is perhaps 
the ultimate format we’d dreamed about in 
the mid-1970s when the idea for this book was 
formulated. But back then, the technology didn’t 
exist for relatively inexpensive color books, and 
we couldn’t afford it anyway.

 It’s great to be able to make a meal from plants 
growing in the mountains or in your backyard. 
And it’s incredible to make sweet desserts and 
juices from cacti and wild fruits, following in the 
footsteps of our ancestors. I wrote the book to 
share with others that these things – and more 
-- are possible. 

 I hope that you enjoy the book, and that it 
benefits you in many ways. If you have questions 
about the uses and identity of wild plants, please 
feel free to contact me.


We’d like to hear from you! 

What’s on YOUR Mind?

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