A lost paradise with an idyllic lifestyle and everlasting youth!
This lost paradise is the Hunza—a beautiful valley high up on the Silk Route amidst the mountains of north-east Pakistan where the great Karakorums meet the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas. Glacial peaks and precipitous rocky cliffs surround the lush green Hunza valley. These Hunzakuts are famed for their extraordinary longevity and freedom from illness.
We learn from Sally Beare in her book—The livelonger diet—that they follow many of the same principles in their lives and diet as the Okinawans, Symiots and Campodemeliani.
Sir Robert McCarrison, the well-known physician, was posted to Hunza in the 1920s and he described the Hunzakuts as ‘Long lived, vigorous in youth and age, capable of great endurance and enjoying a remarkable freedom from disease in general’.
Villagers of all ages rapidly walk the 100 kilometres to the next village and octogenarians play energetic games of polo with men of 50; whilst 90 year olds were reported to be fathering children. Their health has been studied by Western doctors trying to determine the secrets of this lifestyle. In the 1960s it was reported that no hospitals, no asylums, no drug stores, no police, no jails, no crime and presumably no litter were in existence.
The Hunza diet is full of fruit, wholemeal chapattis, sprouted pulses, fresh raw vegetables, unpasteurised raw milk, and meat once a week, plenty of water, a little red wine, sun and exercise. This all adds up to a cheerful alert disposition with plenty of harmony. This traditional way of life was health-giving until the Karakorum highway was built in the 1980s. Traditionally they eat home-grown natural food without additives, sugar or processing and without traffic pollution. The natural glacial water is used for washing and oil from apricot kernels is used for a moisturiser. The new road brought white flour, refined sugar and cheap cooking oils and these are beginning to infiltrate the Hunza lifestyle. Grey hair, heart disease and hypertension are appearing as increased levels of stress come with a changing way of life.
The Happy Land of Just Enough well describes their eating habits. They eat a highly nutritional, low calorie diet, which gives them the right amount of nourishment to keep their systems running well. They work two or three hours in the fields early in the day, which seems far more sensible than racing to the nearest gym to pump machinery. Their rich compost, which is heaving with life-giving vitamins and minerals, is from scraps of organic plant and animal waste. Their land produces healthy plants full of essential micronutrients, which add to flavour and health.
The Hunza is famous for its own variety of apricots that provide a kernel that is high in vitamin B17, which is believed to be an anti-cancer agent. These kernels are ground up with other nuts to make a nut spread or curry paste and the special oil that is extracted is full of Essential Fatty Acids. The oil tastes similar to marzipan and is used in dressings, drunk or spread on chapattis. They use this oil extensively for cooking.
Hunzakuts are not innocent natives living in a state of ignorant bliss—they live in the present— digging, cooking, playing and praying. They live in harmony with nature, not fighting her and trying to change her. They tend to live their lives like tortoises rather than hares steering clear of stresses, traffic, speed and financial worries believing more in a culture which teaches respect for those with ‘rich years’. In their own words they live ‘a wonderful life’.
Hunzakuts are close to nature both in their lifestyle and their eating habits. They will frequently pick carrots, clean the soil away and consume them raw—perhaps the original ‘crudite’. They make chapattis from mixed whole grain flours including rye, millet or buckwheat.
The Live-longer Diet by Sally Beare ISBN: 0-7499-2456-X
Lizee McGraw, Nutritional Therapist, Dunblane. Nutritional Therapy Council Registered Practitioner www.BANT.org.uk
Bookmark and share this page.