The Hunzas live on the roof of the world, in the mountain peaks of the Himalayas in a remote area in the North of Pakistan. This is not considered a Blue Zone which is generally referred to as places where people tend to live longer and have a higher concentration of centenarians.
So what are the Hunzas and what is so enlightening about this region?
For starters, Hunzas consume their own food, do not eat processed food or meat and have a diet high in vitamin B17, specifically coming from apricots. The Hunza people are said to not suffer from cancer and other chronic diseases. This has been proven as researchers have visited the region and after testing a large number of the population, their findings of diseases and illnesses where zero to none.
So let us find out who these people are..
There are a few mysteries about the Hunzas. Their language is called Burushaski, which is totally unrelated to the language which surrounds them. Anthropologists connected the language to the Basque region of Spain. In the history books it has been recorded that indigenous people of Basque remained isolated from other cultures for centuries.
Anthropologists who visited and studied the Hunzas explained in their reports that the people from this region consume glacial living water from glacial streams in the high Himalayas, have physically strenuous jobs, breath clean fresh air and consume a high complex carbohydrate diet which is also low in calories. The records also show that women in Hunza are able to bear children even at an old age which is an uncommon feat in the western civilization.
Of all their organic-grown food, perhaps their favorite, and one of their dietary mainstays, is the apricot. Apricot orchards are seen everywhere in Hunza, and a family’s economic stability is measured by the number of trees they have under cultivation. They eat their apricots fresh in season, and dry a great deal more in the sun for eating throughout the long cold winter. They puree the dried apricots and mix them with snow to make ice cream. Like their apricot jam, this ice cream needs no sugar because the apricots are so sweet naturally. Sounds delicious if you ask me.
Sir Robert Mc.Carrison visited the Hunzas in 1921. He carried out experiments over a period of 2 and a half years. The results of his experiments where deemed revolutionary.
He experimented on albino rats by dividing his experiment in 3. The first group of rats where put on a Hunza diet and resulted with no cases of illness. The second group of rats where put on an Indian diet of deep fried vegetables, sugar and white rice, resulted in various diseases and illnesses. While the third group of rats where placed on a diet of white bread, margarine, sweetened tea, boiled milk, cabbage, potatoes, tinned meats and jams, resulted also in various diseases and found that within 60 days the rats started killing each other.
And what about physical fitness?
Another great Hunza health secret concerns the considerable amount of time each day devoted to physical exercise. Most exercise is done outdoors in order to take advantage of the pure mountain air, which in itself has a beneficial effect on health. Although a large part of their day is spent outdoors, working the fields, the Hunzakut do a lot more than that. For one thing, they take regular walks and a 15 or 20 kilometer hike is considered quite normal. Of course they don’t walk that distance every day, but doing so does not require any special effort.
Researchers have recorded that modern stresses are unheard of in the Hunza region. Statistics show that we, in the western civilization are living longer but are spending longer times in hospital costing the economy trillions of euros in expenses.
Strange as it may sound, virtually everything the Hunzukat eat is readily available around us - at least if your shopping horizons do not begin and end in a supermarket!
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