Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Twisted Bowel Treatment

recipe for eternal youth: In the Valley of the Immortals
















Actually, discovered the secret of itself one could even say that she was suddenly on the table, the solution to our puzzle. Just had the old Yawar Beg, looking, sitting on the wooden porch of his house and in the evening sun, tells of his time with the Indian Army. Back when no road into the valley and led to the next town three days' journey on foot was. When his majesty, "Mir of Hunza, still lived in the wooden fort and from there ruled his tiny principality. When was that? "So sixty, seventy years, the well is here," said Yawar. Then he jumps up, goes to the kitchen. His gait is springy, but he is already 93 years old. With a white porcelain bowl, he comes back. To the edge of it is filled with dried apricots, Walnuts, almonds. "Help yourself, help yourself. This is good for the health, keeps you young!"

this was the third day at a time, as we have said, as we have not quite being with us. It was the thin mountain air, let us cheat? Thousands of feet above the sea, somewhere in the Himalayas, the mountains so high and mighty that their giant shadows swallow all the light in the afternoon. Was it the breathtaking beauty of the spring landscape? The bright green fields with fruit trees, surrounded by steep, bare rock walls of the snow-capped mountains. Even the sky is endless blue here. "An oasis in a horizontal vertical desert" a traveler had once described the Hunza Valley.

Maybe you have the history of Hunza, a tiny, hidden kingdom in the Himalayas, as telling a fairy tale. It is about an ancient human dream, the longing for eternal life. After a life without machines and bustle, in harmony with nature. 1878 was the first time a European, the Englishman John Biddulph, came into the hidden valley in what is now northern Pakistan. Later, explorers and adventurers encircled the laborious journey to the high peaks of 7000 meters high valley up. And they found a place where people were obviously old as the hills. Without trained doctors, no medicine seemed far beyond the Hunza hundred years old to be. As the "Valley of the Ancients" Hunza became famous. And now she stands before us, the solution, and makes us laugh out quietly: a bowl of cereal.

But we begin at the beginning. And that is a mystery. To date, no one knows who descended from the people of Hunza. Her skin is lighter than that of the Pakistanis, many have blond hair and blue eyes. Once upon a time to the army of Alexander the Great to be drawn through the area. The remaining soldiers are the ancestors of Hunza, stories have been told. It is clear that the valley was closed for centuries by the outside world. Through a complicated irrigation system Hunza had made the barren mountain slopes fruitful. In daring heights they had - but with the horns of the ibex as a tool - channels carved into the rock walls through which to this day, the glacier water gushing into the fields. A small, self-sufficient state emerged. Life was simple. All of them had more or less the same: corn, vegetables, dried fruits for the peasants. A little more butter and milk for the family of the prince. No one had to go hungry, no one got rich.

left the people of Hunza almost never their valley, they stopped in front of strangers is even hidden. In 1892, a raiding party captured the fort of the British army after five years attracted the British But again. Hunza was a fairytale that hardly anyone had seen from the West with their own eyes. "Your skin is so thin," the discoverer of God Frey Vigne wrote about the people of Hunza. "If they drink, one can see the water flowing in their veins."

invasion of obesity

It took until 1958 until Hunza was torn out of its isolation - the first Jeep trail in the closest major city, Gilgit, they say, has been shoveled. Shortly before the first time was a helicopter in Karimabad, the largest village in the Hunza Valley, landed. "The women had been hiding in fear in the houses," recalls the old Yawar. Then everything happened very quickly. In 1978, the first part of the Karakoram Highway - the first mountain pass between Pakistan and China - completed. A masterpiece of engineering. 15 000 Pakistanis and 20 000 Chinese had toiled for more than ten years at the 1,200-kilometer route across the Kunjerab Pass. Suddenly, Hunza was a paved road connected to the modern era. The mid-eighties was the first time a bus in Karimabad, the strange, obese Europeans increased. "They had cameras around his neck and thick woolen hats on their heads," said Yawar. Hunza has been a tourist attraction.

sale today on the left and right of the main street village residents from large cabinets Soft drinks and chocolate bars, which are carted by truck from the plane. The largest and most luxurious hotel at the site, the "Darbar" is performed by Prince himself. Since he had to make 1974 his final power and Hunza, an administrative district of Pakistan has been pressed, the former ruler's son as a businessman. Tourism has helped the once impoverished valley to modest prosperity. On cloudless days, today a two-engine aircraft flying from the Pakistani capital Islamabad between snow-capped mountain peaks along the Indus valley to Gilgit. From there it's about three hours by minibus to Hunza. The last few hundred feet, the climb from the river after Karimabad is there on foot.

soft overcomes the narrow path through the orchards, which are crossed by well-maintained irrigation canals. A landscape in the Bavarian Alps - Central Asia. The wooden houses, low and with colorful flowers in front. Left and right boundaries picket fences from the fields. Poplar and birch trees along the terraces. No dust and dirt, as he had done before in neighboring Gilgit breathing difficulty. How easy it must have been advised in this European-style mountain into raptures for the early explorers? "Food and pastures are plentiful," wrote researcher Emily Lorimer 1938. "Every face you see looks relaxed and confident, always ready to break into a wide smile. Serious crimes are unknown, and even theft and scams are small non-existent, although in this country neither prisons nor does a police. "

We begin the search at the top, the fort a few years ago it was renovated and a museum rebuilt. "The secret of long life? Therefore, they all come, "says Ejaz Ullah Baig and looks somewhat ironically from the terrace over the winding streets of Karimabad. Baig is the curator of the museum, and because he had studied earlier in Karachi, it is for many here as something of a village scholar . With his twirled mustache and a long robe, he looks like an Indian magician from a black and white movie. It was true already, Baig says that especially many centenarians living in Hunza. A neighbor who was Bigim old, proud 111 years old. His father, a former minister in the Principality, was 99, his grandfather over 100 In other families, it was similar. "Yes, it is a truth in this story of long life." The long isolation, he tried to explain the mystery of eternal youth to, viruses, epidemics and other diseases had never come to Hunza. Also, there was practically no medicine, so many Hunza died as an infant. "Only the strongest survived, and their genes were then so well that they were ancient." When he had betrayed too much, he quickly adds: "This is just a way to prove this is not."

boredom keeps you young

few years ago, Ejaz Baig has begun to write the history of the Hunza. He visited the old people in their homes, they could tell. "People lived here in the past with virtually no stress," says Baig. The fields were more or less the same, there were few conflicts over distribution. Without the influence of the outside world remained manageable and monotonous life - the ideal condition for old age. And then of course there was the food. "Many believe that the glacier water us so one goes, "says Baig. There have even once been a scientific study." But the researchers then nothing found out. "Even meat was scarce in ancient Hunza. Only when the men killed in the mountains a Capricorn or even a goat to be slaughtered had, there was a change in the monotonous diet of dried fruits, cereal soup, nuts and goat milk. "From today's perspective, this was an ideal diet." But, says Baig, these are all just theories. "The secret of the people of Hunza have to self-discovery. "

We were sent to Shanawar Kahn. At 67 he is still in Hunza to the young. But he is the Klanchef Diramiting the clan, to the approximately 200 families in the valley are, and the Hunza Klanchef is always the first port of call. "The people here are healthier and stronger than outside," says Kahn. As a young man in 1950, he went to the Pakistani army, and because he was so big and athletic, he was immediately placed in the football team. He had been around a lot back then, he says. "But I have never found a place where life is as peaceful as this." Seven sons - two of them now work as guides for extreme expeditions on Mount Everest - five daughters and many grandchildren as part of his family. His youngest son, now 18, brings a bowl with snacks - nuts and dried apricots.

bone from apricot oil

inherited the post of Klanchefs Kahn from his father. If there is contention in the clan, people come to him. "You know, if the wife does not get along with your mother," Khan says with a smile. Sometimes there was also trouble between neighbors over water and land rights. The police would call in nobody Hunza. Khan settles under the old rules: A house should only be built so high that "the shadow does not fall on the fields of the neighbors." In marital disputes, he tries to convey. "You know what the difference is to their country?" Asks Kahn. In Hunza someone win with the age of respect. When families in the evening vor der Feuerstelle zusammen essen, bekommen die Alten die größte Portion. "Je älter man wird, desto mehr Verantwortung bekommt man." Das sei alles, das halte jung. Mit seiner von der Bergsonne gebräunten Haut und den markanten Gesichtszügen unter den grauen Haaren könnte Kahn tatsächlich auch als 40-Jähriger durchgehen. Also gibt es kein Geheimnis für seine Jugend. Khan grinst: "Letztes Jahr habe ich mir neue Zähne machen lassen."

Habib Ullah ist alt - steinalt. In eine Wolldecke gehüllt liegt er neben der Feuerstelle auf dem Boden. Es riecht nach Urin. Hundert Jahre soll er alt sein, genau weiß das niemand. Ein Geburtenregister gab es damals nicht. Habibs Augen sind wässrig, sein Haut ist ledrig und von unsichtbaren Fäden überzogen. Als er zu reden versucht, kommt nur Unverständliches über seine Lippen: "Mmmmpff, Mmmmpff." Einst war Habib der Leibwächter des Fürsten. "Er war ein ganzer Kerl, er konnte einen Steinbock mit der bloßen Hand erlegen", erzählt seine Frau Nani und versteckt ihren zahnlosen Mund hinter einem Tuch. Heute liege Habib die meiste Zeit nur noch in der Ecke neben dem Herd. Manchmal, an guten Tagen, lasse er sich von seiner Tochter abstützen und schafft die paar Meter auf die Terrasse vor dem Haus. Hat er Krankheiten? "Er sieht fast nichts mehr, aber sonst ist er gesund", sagt seine Frau. Plötzlich wird Habib unruhig. Unendlich langsam erhebt der Greis seinen Oberkörper and beckons visitors with a trembling hand to him. His breathing is heavy and smells of mildew, as he begins to speak. The voice is only a breath. "I was like a bird, only without wings," he whispers. The next moment he seems to have fallen asleep. Then he spoke again: "Our bones," he begins, and takes a deep breath: "Our bones are made of apricot oil."

day, we meet the old Yawar Beg He jumps up from his garden, when he sees us and moves effortlessly along a couple of heavy wooden chairs. We probably would have believed him all the young old, who still works every day on his fruit trees, every minute of his life in Gedächtnis zu haben scheint. Als Jawar Beg die Schüssel auf den Tisch stellt, ist plötzlich alles klar: getrocknete Aprikosen, Walnüsse, Mandeln und Hafer. Das Geheimnis der Hunza - ein einfaches Müsli, wie es jeden Morgen auf Millionen Frühstückstischen steht. Für die Menschen in dem Hochtal sei das schon immer die Hauptnahrung gewesen, erzählt Jawar. Statt mit Milch werde die trockene Speise meist mit Wasser aufgeschüttet. Drei Dutzend verschiedene Aprikosensorten gebe es im Hochtal von Hunza, erzählte uns Jawar Beg. Besonders gesund sei auch das Öl, das bis heute aus den Aprikosenkernen gepresst wird. Zum Abendessen werde Brot in das Öl reingetunkt. "Ein reineres Lebensmittel gibt es nicht auf der ganzen Welt."

War es die dünne Höhenluft, die uns den Kopf schwindeln ließ? Tausende Meter über dem Meer, irgendwo im Himalaya. Die atemraubende Schönheit der Frühlingslandschaft? Die leuchtend grünen Felder mit den Obstbäumen, das unendliche Blau des Himmels? Spätestens zu dem Zeitpunkt war klar, dass Hunza auch uns in seinen Bann gezogen hatte. Wie schon so viele vor uns.

Im Januar des Jahres 1900 hielt ein junger Arzt im Zunfthaus zur Saffran einen Vortrag vor der Züricher Ärzteschaft, um seine revolutionäre Ernährungstherapie zu verkünden. "Sonnenlichtnahrung" nannte dieser Dr. Maximilian Bircher-Benner seine neue Rohkostnahrung. The first, known as the apple diet food health court has been called "muesli" to an international success. The cereal was the "most famous contribution of Switzerland to the international cuisine," as emphasized in Zurich you. This fall also Maximilian Bircher-Benner was only the legend of the happy Hunza. The Scottish physician Sir Robert McCarrison had first studied the phenomenon of longevity of the Hunza scientifically and published: "Uncooked food is a main part of the daily diet of meat and wine are consumed on rare occasions, the food is on the whole, just.." Bircher, who was never in the Hunza Valley of thought to the end of this dream. "What is es, jenes Volk, das keine Krankheiten kennt?", soll er im Jahr 1939, auf seinem Totenbett, gesagt haben. Drei Jahre später veröffentlichte sein Sohn, Ralph Bircher, das Geheimnis des Müsli-Erfinders in einem Buch. Der Titel: "Hunza - Das Volk, das keine Krankheiten kennt".

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/zeitung/Die-Dritte-Seite;art705,1887887


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