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Vilcabamba is a small village tucked away in the
Valley of Andes Mountains in the southern region of
Ecuador. Like the Abkhasians, the Vilcabambans
are very active. There is always physical work for
them to do in their daily life. More outstandingly,
they have to traverse the hilly terrain daily. This
activity sustains a high degree of cardiovascular
fitness, and even the oldest Vilcabambans have
extremely healthy bones. For the vast majority of
their lives, the old Vilcanambans are vegetarian and
eat what they grow. Vegetables and fruits are eaten
the same day, often on the spot. Their protein comes
from vegetables, whole grains, and a variety of
beans. (The author especially admired their ability
to be joyful with very few possessions.)
commonly grown in the West today. On certain rare
feast days they eat goat or sheep meat, and on other
days they consume a fermented milk product made
from goat or sheep milk. The Hunzans have learned
to waste nothing and to find a use for everything. It is
not that their lives are perfect, but they have found
ways to use their obstacles and challenges to become
stronger as a people.
Okinawa
Hunza
Hunza lies at the northern tip of Pakistan, where
Pakistan meets Russia and China. The setting is awe
-inspiring in its majesty, for here no fewer than six
mountain ranges converge. The people of Hunza live
in an extraordinarily fertile valley that was totally
inaccessible for over two thousand years until
recently. When the Western researchers arrived in
this valley, they found that the elderly people were
extraordinarily vigorous who hiked up and down the
steep hillsides with amazing ease and agility. They
grow a wide variety of fruit, and apricot orchards
are everywhere. The Hunzans have developed more
than twenty varieties of apricots whose flavor and
nutrient value are worlds beyond the types
Okinawa, the southernmost Japanese state, lies
between the main Japanese islands and Taiwan. A
research team studies more than six hundred
centenarians and thousands of other elders in their
eighties and nineties and published their research
results in 2001. The report found that it is an
everyday occurrence in Okinawa to find ―energetic
great-grandparents living in their own homes,
tending their own gardens, and on weekends being
visited by grandchildren who, in the West, would
qualify for senior citizen pensions.‖The elder
Okinawans say that they stop eating when they are
80 percent full. They say they ―eat less in order to
live longer.‖
In all four regions, according to the book and my
own firsthand observations, the reasons for such
longevity may be lack of pollution, certain medicinal
qualities in the plant life and water, and active daily
life with exercise. Nonetheless, the most striking
September, 2011 Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) 45