Take A Hint From the Hunzas: Diet Is Key to Health, Vitality

Forwarded message from Fidyl <fidyl@yahoo.com>

[ Subject: Take A Hint From the Hunzas: Diet Is Key to Health, Vitality
[ From: Fidyl <fidyl@yahoo.com>
[ Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005

[Caveat: Not Vegan - Fidyl]

http://www.byregion.net/articles-healers/Hunza_Diet.html

Take A Hint From the Hunzas:

Diet Is Key to Health, Vitality

By Dr. Lynn Hardy, N.D.
Director or the Global Institute For Alternative Medicine

Americans are sicker than ever! This is not my personal
opinion but an undisputable fact. After examining the
latest statistics and health forecasts, I am horrified
about the future that lies before us. Even though most
are preoccupied, and rightfully so, with the threat of
terrorist attacks and other potential dangers, the
phenomenon I'll be discussing also demands our immediate
attention. Ending the atrocities of the world will not be
enough to ensure a positive future for mankind. We must
work just as hard to put a stop to the total
deterioration of our food, water, and environment.

Based on scientific literature and the latest research, I
will try to shine a light on the rapidly deteriorating
state of health in America in contrast to a nation that
has unwittingly discovered the secrets of supreme health
and longevity.

The land of the sick

The United States, and on a smaller scale Europe, is
being propelled towards total disaster through the
deliberate poisoning of our most essential basic need -
our food. Within the last hundred years food
manufacturers, through their clever and aggressive
marketing, have completely changed the way we look at
food. In fact, they've been so successful in their
campaign that people actually believe they're getting a
healthy nutritious meal when they devour a McDonald's or
Burger King hamburger. They don't realize that what
they're actually eating is almost completely deficient of
any nutrients and full of harmful ingredients. These junk
foods don't nourish the body in any way -- as food should
- they just barely keep the person from starving. (I mean
this in a nutritional sense because the obese humans
these foods produce look far from starved!) The situation
has become so critical that the majority of people simply
dismiss those of us fighting for clean food, water, and
air as blind fanatics. Paradoxically, supermarkets are
actually starting to devote a tiny little section to so
called "Health Food". But then what exactly are they
selling in the remaining 99% of the store, "Sick Food"?
My answer is "yes" and I will go on to prove my point and
risk being called a fanatic or an idealist.

But am I, in fact, being fanatic when the latest
statistics show that every second American is chronically
ill? How could we have let things get so out of hand?

Partnership for Solutions, a new initiative of Johns
Hopkins University and The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, collects health statistics and calculates
future projections. (See http://www.chronicnet.org.) They
define "chronic illness" the following way:

"A chronic condition lasts a year or longer, limits what
one can do and may require ongoing care. More than 125
million Americans have at least one chronic condition and
60 million have more than one condition. Examples of
chronic conditions are diabetes, cancer, glaucoma and
heart disease.

"The number of people with chronic conditions is growing
at an alarming rate. In 2000, 20 million more people had
one or more chronic conditions than the number originally
estimated in 1996. By the year 2020, 25% of the American
population will be living with multiple chronic
conditions, and costs for managing these conditions will
reach $1.07 trillion… The number of people with chronic
conditions is projected to increase from 125 million in
2000 to 171 million in the year 2030."1

These statistics are not only frightening but rather
shocking as well! And even though data about the
prevalence of chronic illness is available in many health
publications, most people are simply not aware of it.

What's even more disturbing is that the average age of
the "chronically ill" is on a constant decline. Nearly
half are under the age of 45 and a staggering 15 percent
of those are children. Millions of little ones are
suffering from diabetes, asthma, developmental
disabilities, cancer and other disorders. Unfortunately,
this is just the beginning.

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood,
affecting an estimated 5 million children. Among the
population, children now have the highest rate of asthma,
and the numbers have increased 92% over the past decade.
A growing number of children are also developing Type II
(adult-onset) diabetes, which was primarily found only in
adults. Millions of young ones are being medicated for
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) for their inability to
concentrate. Cancer is still the leading cause of
disease-related deaths in children under 15.

Along with countless others, all of the above-mentioned
chronic conditions can be blamed on our polluted air and
water, and the nutritionally deprived, chemically
poisoned food we eat. Simply stated, if we were to
eliminate these toxins from our lives we would not
develop asthma, diabetes, ADD, cancer, etc. Thus, does
this mother who works so hard to fight for clean air,
water and food for her child still seem like a fanatic?
Or to phrase it in a different way: What can we say about
the ignorance of the person who disregards the above
statistics and continues to poison herself and her
children on a daily basis?

Unfortunately, our modern health care system (or "sick
care system" as my husband calls it) does not really
believe in the health-preserving power nutrition plays in
our lives. Instead, conventional medicine often blames
heredity for diseases, which actually serves two
purposes: It frees the industry from any liability and
deems the patient helpless and not responsible for his
own health (or lack thereof). After all, anyone can
change the way they eat, but we can't do anything about
our genes! This is a very convenient and profitable
standpoint. But as luck would have it, I have concrete
evidence of what happens to a nation if it doesn't eat,
drink and breathe garbage. I will now present this "other
side of the coin" to the reader, so that the truth can be
seen once and for all!

The land of vitality -- the Hunza Valley

In India during the 1920s, British researcher Sir Robert
McCarrison conducted one of the most eye-opening
experiments relative to the correlation between diet and
health. Dr. McCarrison spent many years in the Himalayan
Mountains including the picturesque Hunza Valley. This
magical fairytale-like place is found between the borders
of China, India, Pakistan and Russia at nearly 8000 ft.
The natives of this valley, the Hunzakuts, captured Dr.
McCarrison's attention because of the their excellent
health and extremely long lifespan.

"In these Himalayan Mountains is Hunza; a country
slightly more than a hundred miles long and perhaps just
as wide, containing approximately thirty thousand
inhabitants," writes Dr. Jay F. Hoffman, the author of
the book Hunza -- Secrets Of The World's Healthiest And
Oldest Living People, published in 1960. Dr. Hoffman was
sent to Hunza under the auspices of the National
Geriatrics Society.

"Here the people lived to be 100, 110, 120, and
occasionally as much as 140 years of age. Here lies the
real Fountain of Youth -- probably the only one in the
world… Hunza land is truly a Utopia if ever there was
one. Just think of this! Here is a land where people do
not have our common diseases, such as heart ailments,
cancer, arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes,
tuberculosis, hay fever, asthma, liver trouble, gall
bladder trouble, constipation or many other ailments the
plague the rest of the world. Moreover, there are no
hospitals, no insane asylums, no drug stores, no saloons,
no tobacco stores, no police, no jails, no crimes, no
murders, and no beggars."2

Any westerner who stepped foot on the tiny land of this
friendly nation couldn't stop raving about their good
nature, outstanding hospitality, not to mention the
physical strength and stamina of their men. " My own
experience provides an example of a race unsurpassed in
perfection of physique and in freedom from disease in
general." Wrote Dr. McCarrison about the Hunzkuts.
"Amongst these people the span of life is extraordinarily
long… During the period of my association with these
people I never saw a case of asthenic dyspepsia, of
gastric or duodenal ulcer, of appendicitis, of mucous
colitis, of cancer."3

Not only are the Hunza people immune to serious diseases
they are also spared the discomfort of commonplace
conditions such as the cold or the flu. Dr. McCarrison,
who specialized in nutritional diseases, was determined
to learn their secret. The opportunity arose in 1927 when
he was appointed the Director of Nutrition Research in
India. Along with his designation he also received a
well-equipped laboratory and qualified assistants.

The Doctor designed a whole series of experiments to
determine how big of a role the Hunzakuts' diet plays in
their supreme health and longevity. In the first
experiment 1189 albino rats were fed the Hunza diet right
from birth. This consisted of whole meal flatbread with a
pat of fresh butter, sprouted legumes, fresh raw carrots
and cabbage, unboiled whole milk, and once a week a tiny
portion of meat and bones. Plenty of water was provided
for drinking and bathing. The only thing the rats did not
receive was fruit, which the Hunza people ate a great
deal of.

No diseases, no death

The rats were fed this diet for 27 months, which would be
the equivalent of approximately 45 human years. The rats
were killed, and thoroughly examined at all stages
leading up to 27 months. Remarkably, no trace of any
disease could be found in their bodies! This astonishing
consequence could best be explained through Dr.
McCarrison's words as he described his findings during a
lecture at the College of Surgeons in 1931:

"During the past two and a quarter years there has been
no case of illness in this 'universe' of albino rats, no
death from natural causes in the adult stock, and, but
for a few accidental deaths, no infantile mortality. Both
clinically and at post-mortem examination this stock has
been shown to be remarkably free from disease. It may be
that some of them have cryptic disease of one kind or
another, but, if so, I have failed to find either
clinical or macroscopical evidence of it."

These results were truly staggering. But sadly, they did
not have any real impact on the physicians present, whom,
much like the doctors of today, have a greater
understanding of disease than the lack thereof. There
wasn't a sudden surge of articles and books propagating
the Hunza diet and the avoidance of white rice, white
flour, sugar and for the most part, meat. Their meals
don't consist of pre-cooked, over-processed, and
nutritionally devoid industrial chemicals -- like the
average American's. Instead, they enjoy locally grown
organic fruit, vegetables, unprocessed fresh milk
products, and green or whole grains.

As a follow up to his earlier experiment, Dr. McCarrison
duplicated in his laboratory the low quality diet of a
poor rural region of India. During this larger-scale
experiment, 2243 rats were fed a diet deficient of
vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients. The
animal results matched the physical condition of the
millions of people living in this region: Both groups
developed diseases in every organ they possessed.

Diet and behavior

The most disturbing discovery of Dr. McCarrison was to
come. In a later experiment, he set out to learn how the
rats would react to the diet of the poorer class of
England. This consisted of white bread, margarine,
sweetened tea, boiled vegetables, and cheap canned meats
and jams. On this diet, not only did the rats not thrive
physically, but they actually developed nervous disorders
before things went from bad to worse: "They were
nervous," writes the doctor, "and opt to bite their
attendants; they lived unhappily together, and by the
16th day of the experiment they began to kill and eat the
weaker ones amongst them."

Shockingly, this diet of the lower-class English in the
1930s actually had a much greater nutrient value than the
"food" the majority of well-to-do Americans stuff
themselves with today.

The Hunza people did not become a household name, even
though they unintentionally came to possess the mental
and practical skills needed to live long, joyous and
disease-free lives. Of course, most of us are not able to
move to the mountains and grow our own food but we can
still learn a lot from this noble, peaceful and healthy
nation. We can definitely start restoring our health by
modifying our food selections and by drinking pure
filtered water. Staying away from dead processed foods
and turning towards natural, fresh, organically grown
fruit and vegetables as much as possible is a good rule
of thumb for everyone, regardless of his state of health.
If enough people started demanding quality foods the food
industry would have no choice but to alter its
manufacturing processes and start supplying us with truly
nutritious options instead of the falsely labeled junk
we're subjected to. But since I can't foresee that day
anytime in the near future, we all need to take
responsibility for our own health and educate ourselves
the best we can about the importance of nutrition.

References:

1 Partnership for Solutions: Projection of Chronic
Illness Prevalence and Cost Inflation. A project of John
Hopkins University and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

2 Dr. Jay M. Hoffman: Hunza, Secrets Of The World's
Healthiest And Oldest Living People. New Win Publishing.

3 J.I. Rodale: The Healthy Hunza. Rodale Press

Dr. Hardy is a board certified Naturopathic Doctor and a
Certified Nutritional Consultant. She studied nutrition
at the Packard School of Nutrition in Sudbury, ON and
began her N.D. education at Seneca College in Toronto,
Canada. She continued her education and obtained her N.D.
diploma in the United States. She is an active member of
the American Naturopathic Medical Association, the
American Association for Nutritional Consultants, the
American Association of Drugless Practitioners, and the
American Holistic Health Association. Her health articles
have appeared in dozens of publications in nine different
languages. Her expertise and experience includes
designing custom dietary formulas, researching and
evaluating new health products, and educating employees
in the natural health industry. For contact or other
information, visit Global Institute for Alternative
Medicine   http://www.gifam.org/

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