SIMRAN GILL THE VOICE, WEDNESDAY, NOV, 30 , 2016 5 Tight holiday budgets Students are finding it difficult saving money to purchase gifts for their loved ones Vancouver yogis doing the exalted warrior pose during a class at Hot Box Yoga Vancouver near UBC. Giving the gift of relaxation Yoga memberships are becoming a popular gift this holiday season By BALA YOGESH it difficult to purchase gifts during the holidays. For students on a tight budget money is something they have to consider when buying gifts for friends and family. Pablo Lopez, a student at Vancouver Film School said that he isn’t planning to buy gifts this year. “Maybe just writing a letter to family members and _ loved ones. I guess[money is) a factor. If I have mon- ey, | would spend it. But because I don’t have it, I don’t re- ally b..g Da things.” Pi: secondary students are finding PHOTO COURTESY OF Hot Box Yoga Francis a student of UBC said that he is planning to buy By TANNER BOKOR ome might be opening gifts like new cellphones, chocolate or even socks on Christmas morn- ing, but this holiday season, gift certificates for yoga memberships might be something new to see under the tree. Of the 16 Vancouverites polled Tues- day morning at the corner of Hornby and Robson, 11 said that they planned to purchase health-related gifts this holiday season. Of those 11, eight said they intended to gift a membership to a yoga studio. “Life can be hectic, so I thought, why not give something that can make it a little easier a try instead of just giving a gift card,” said Donna Bliecher, 46, who planned to gift a yoga membership to her daughter this Christmas. “What's a better gift than less stress?” Yoga became more mainstream in the western world in the early 20th cen- tury, when the first yoga studio opened in Hollywood in 1947. According to Sta- tistics Canada, yoga has grown in popu- larity, with nine per cent of the popula- tion using yoga as a form of exercise * and therapy. Chris Bedford of Hot Box Yoga in Vancouver says that yoga is a longer- term commitment than what you'd ex- pect compared to a casual health club membership. “Yoga is a lifestyle choice,” said Bed- ford. “It’s not like a gym membership, it’s not like CrossFit, and it’s different than that,” he said. “It’s about sound mind, body ethic, and one of the bene- fits of yoga is a healthy mind and body, and it can help relieve stress.” However, for Bedford and Hot Box Yoga, Christmas isn’t the largest bump. “What does typically happen is that News Years’ resolution seasons comes at the beginning of January, and people are feeling fat, that’s when we see the big uptick,” said Bedford. “It goes cra- zy, all three of our locations will see a huge surge in attendance in mid-Janu- ary.” 66 gifts for his family and girl- just not now. friend but What’s a “I have some money in a way from ° presents. I'm looking for a job right better gift now, but I had a job previously, so I than less have some money left in savings,” de 9 Boda said. stress: Marie-Mai Lachapelle, a student at ponna | Langara said that Christmas is her fa- BLIECHER vourite time of the year, and she is working hard to buy lots of gifts for her YOGA MEMBER & | fami] MOTHER | ul: “I still don’t know what I’m going to get and I'm starting to get panic. I have a lot of gifts to buy, I have a big family. I'm working to buy those gifts,” Marie- Mai said. Sustainable food for mind, body and sou WHAT'S involved 1 Cooking food that is in season is a key way that a restaurant can be sustamable 2 Grow as much food yourself as you can. For example Carrots and beets. 3 Buying local food in large quantities is also helpful 4 Being sustainable goes beyond just food, think about the waste you are throwing out 5 Visit farms as much as possible Vancouver restaurants are becoming more con- cious of the food they are serving to customers By SEAN HITREC tuous Pie general manager Thom- as Davidson-Park said that his piz- zas_ will show you there is an alternative. Virtuous Pie, located on Main and Keefer Street, opened up two months ago and regularly sees full tables, ac- cording to patrons. The philosophy is tasty, low cost, vegan pizzas that everyone can enjoy. The restaurant is part of a growing group of health and sustainability con- scious restaurants popping up around town. Due to the restaurant’s success, Vir- tuous Pie is already opening up anoth- er location in Portland Oregon, For Davidson-Park, the pizzeria is unique because of the quality and price. “We didn’t want people to sacrifice quality to eat plant-based. We wanted them to have the same experience that they would get in their traditional piz- zeria,” Davidson-Park said. “We don't Piss: about meat and cheese, Vir- want people to feel like they have to pay more for a plant-based alterna- tive.” Joe Knight works nearby and fre- quents the restaurant and describes himself as an “almost vegetarian” who is “vegan curious.” “1 love it,” Knight said. “It's made me realize that there are cheese alterna- tives that are delicious.” Grayan Chong, the chair of the health sciences department at Langa- ra, said that a purely vegan diet is dif- ficult to balance. “You can get 20 amino acids from dif- ferent vegetables, but some are heavier on certain amino acids than others,” Chong said. “If you eat meat you don’t have to worry about that.” While restaurants like Virtuous Pie add a healthy alternative to eating meat, Chong said that the best ap- proach is a little bit of balance. “Take things in moderation, like you don’t have to completely go onto a veg- etable diet. If you even move towards 90 per cent of your diet as a vegetarian and even have ten per cent as meat, that would be fine.” Sustainable food not only impacts peoples health in a postive way but it is a masterful way to save the planet one step at a time, according to Simran Sethi, an award winning journalist and author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The SEAN HITREC photo A vegan pizza offered at Virtuous Pie called “curry mile” consists of sustainable, fresh, healthy ingredients.