Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 4, 2014

9

HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 4, 2014


THE JOY OF YOGA

GETTING STARTED


Beginning or 
returning to your 
yoga practice can 
be a challenge. 
Life is in session 
and we have a 
million reasons 
why we haven’t begun. It’s a funny thing, it 
becomes all or nothing--either we are “on” and 
committed or we put it off and procrastinate. We 
know yoga is so good for us, or we’ve seen the 
magic of the practice work for others. Perhaps 
friends or doctors have recommended yoga in 
response to a particular problem we’ve had. 
So, how do we get started?! Your practice can 
begin with just one class, the very effort of making 
it there has power. Just one class can change our 
energy, relieve pain, and enliven the body. The 
experience can serve as our own personal wake up 
call. If the teacher not our favorite, we try others 
and find the one who we can connect with. Again, 
the effort of just making it to class is sufficient. 
We can learn the ins and outs of the practice for 
years to come. Alignment, breath, flexibility, even 
knowing the impact of the practices will come in 
time. There is always opportunity for more. Yoga is 
a lifetime practice. It supports the student in every 
stage of life and meets you exactly where you are. 
Cheers to getting started! See you in class.
Namaste,

Keely Totten

Teacher at Yoga Madre

Should You Eat Canned or 

Home Cooked Beans? 


Beans should be an 
essential part of any 
healthy diet. They are 
excellent sources of 
fiber, folate, protein, 
plant iron, vitamin 
B1, and minerals 
such as magnesium, 
phosphorus, 
potassium, and copper. 
Eating beans regularly 
may decrease the risk of 
diabetes, heart disease, 
colorectal cancer, and 
helps with weight 
management. Beans 
are low on the glycemic 
index so they don’t 
cause a quick rise in your blood sugar. With beans, 
we have the best of both worlds since they count as 
both a protein and a vegetable. The government 
recommendation for beans, or legumes, is a 
minimum of ½ cup per dayEven though beans are 
a healthy food, most Americans don’t eat beans! 
Most Americans don’t even come close to eating 
the minimum recommended intake of beans, 
chickpeas, split peas or lentils. 

 So here is a question I get often, does it matter if 
we eat canned beans or do we need to make them 
from scratch? Canned beans are convenient but 
are they as nutritious as home cooked? If we do 
use canned, should we drain them or not? A recent 
study published in Food and Nutrition Sciences 
gave us the answer.

 Nutrition-wise, cooked and canned are about the 
same, but the sodium content of canned beans can 
be 100 times more than home cooked. Draining 
and rinsing the canned beans can get rid of about 
half the sodium, but you’re also draining and 
rinsing away some of the nutrition. I recommend, 
when buying canned beans, get the no-salt added 
varieties, and to keep and use the bean juice 
whenever possible. For example, if you are making 
soup, the bean juice is great to use in the stock. The 
researchers also determined that beans are not just 
healthy but they are cheap. They did some bean 
counting, and a serving of beans costs between 10 
cents and 40 cents. Canned beans do cost three 
times as much as dried beans but the drawback to 
dried beans is that they can take 2 hours to cook 
and they usually need to soak first. I splurge and 
buy the pre-cooked beans. But the beans I buy are 
organic and come in a paper carton from Whole 
Foods. So I’m not getting any BPA’s from the lining 
of the can. 

 The bottom line is that beans, regardless of 
type or form, are a nutrient rich food. They are 
hearty, helping you feel full so you will tend to eat 
less. So, beans canned or home cooked should be 
encouraged as part of an overall healthy diet. 

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


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