Ghee contains a balance of easy to digest essential fatty acids essential for healthy skin, nerves & cells.

Extolling the wondrous benefits of ghee fats may appear contradictory. We know that poor quality fats (i.e. non organic, heat treated, solvent extracted, trans fat, hydrogenated) can cause the production of free radicals that cause oxidative damage to cells. This means that poor quality fats damage our health.

Ayurvedic Potluck on November 23.

After attending a workshop at Jivaka Ayurveda, Mitch McMaster, a dedicated student and client of mine, decided he wanted to connect with like minded people who were interested in living an Ayurvedic lifestyle. He thought a lot about how to get involved and create an Ayurvedic community in Orange County . After some research, he came up with the idea of an online community, based on Facebook.

Facebook is a web based community site that allows people to communicate with each other, but also allows the creation of groups that users can join and communicate with people that have similar interests. Within a group one can have discussions, post events, comments, pictures, etc. that can be viewed and commented on by other group members.

After searching the current groups, he found many Ayurvedic based groups, but none specific for the Orange County region. He created a new group called "Ayurvedic Community of Orange County ". It's a private group, which means each person that wants to join needs to request access. This will keep it to people in the Orange County area and will make people feel more at ease communicating with each other.

The downside to this web based community is that people need to have a computer, internet access and need to sign up for a Facebook account. Everything is free, including the Facebook account, but often many people are scared of this type of website. Vata goes high. Take a breath. Signup is easy and you can control the about information you share with others.

This could potentially become a community where we support each other as we work towards living an Ayurvedic lifestyle. He would really love to see this get to a point were someone can say "I'm going to a new Vegetarian restaurant on Thursday, does anyone want to join me?" To start things off he has planned an Ayurvedic potluck (lacto vegetarian) on Sunday Nov 23 starting at 5pm at his home in Aliso Viejo. He envisions this as a monthly event that is hosted by a different person each time. Maybe next month we'll have a movie night. What ideas do you have?

Please support Mitch's dream of connecting with an Ayurvedic Sangha.

Contact :Mitchell McMaster 949-716-5144
mailto: psurphr@yahoo.co m
Website: www.facebook.com
Group Name: "Ayurvedic Community of Orange County "
Mission : Create a social network of people who live in Orange County , CA that can support each other on our journey to live an Ayurvedic lifestyle.

To stay mentally sharp as you age, strengthen your muscles and surf the net. No kidding.

A Canadian study found that strength training helps prevent falls and also benefits the brain. Participants were age 70 and up who had fallen at least once. The prescription: walking twice a week plus exercises to strengthen hips, knees, ankles and to improve balance. After a year, 43 percent of the participants had a repeat fall (compared to 67 percent of non-participants). Participants also improved their thinking skills, showing a 13 percent overall increase in "executive function" (ability to switch between multiple tasks and distinguish between relevant and non-relevant incoming information). Over the same year, non- participants' cognitive skills showed a 10 percent decline. The study was published in the October 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Another study, from UCLA, showed greater brain activity among volunteers aged 55 to 76 who were experienced searching the Internet compared to those with no Internet skills. The differences were detected via functional magnetic resonance imaging scans while the Internet searches were being performed. Researchers suggested that addressing the complexities of searching the net might help keep the brain healthy and active.