'Quinoa, mushrooms and coca kept me alive for 123 years'

[Alice]

'Quinoa, mushrooms and coca kept me alive for 123 years'

THE oldest person in the world says a diet of quinoa, mushrooms and coca have kept him alive for 123 years.

Bolivian indigenous farmer Carmelo Flores, who turned 123 a month ago, attributes his longevity to the traditional Andean diet.Mr Flores told Reuters he has lived so long by eating quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms and constantly chewing coca leaves.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/quinoa-mushrooms-and-coca-kept-me-alive-for-123-years8217/story-fneuz9ev-1226700281395#ixzz2cSiuzEEb

[Auxin]

Its a shame when little villages or monasteries who really have their shit together get talked about in the developed regions.

The places are invariably destroyed.

All places that got published as being hotspots of longevity in the andes now have tourism and roads, coca-cola and cheeseburgers.

Same in asia.

Remote thai temples with advanced meditation masters got a paved road.. followed by so many visitors and tourists that all the meditation masters left.

Little stone age bands of naked people living happily in the jungle get missionaries, herpes, TB, and a pathological desire to be american.

Places where people are healthy and happy should be protected, their location being secret like is done with new endangered cactus species.

If you ever find a village where everyone is happy, when you get home tell folks those people were rude and gave you a nasty case of diarrhea.

Gonorrhea is always good, too.

[gtarman]

^^ As I recall there are a few uncontacted peoples who continue to remain that way despite some media attention, but overall a sad state of affairs indeed.

EDIT: wow...he sure as hell looks like the oldest person in the world

Edited August 22, 2013 by gtarman

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

I agree Auxin.

Not to mention that story said the same thing, 4 different ways, over 5 very short sentances. Almost deliberately pounding it in, it's no wonder westerners flock there when its advertised in the flight centre catalogue.

[SunChaser]

Its a shame when little villages or monasteries who really have their shit together get talked about in the developed regions.

The places are invariably destroyed.

All places that got published as being hotspots of longevity in the andes now have tourism and roads, coca-cola and cheeseburgers.

Same in asia.

Remote thai temples with advanced meditation masters got a paved road.. followed by so many visitors and tourists that all the meditation masters left.

Little stone age bands of naked people living happily in the jungle get missionaries, herpes, TB, and a pathological desire to be american.

Places where people are healthy and happy should be protected, their location being secret like is done with new endangered cactus species.

If you ever find a village where everyone is happy, when you get home tell folks those people were rude and gave you a nasty case of diarrhea.

Gonorrhea is always good, too.

Well, I do agree that when a region gets opened up to the west, the indigenous people do tend to suffer a lot of the negative effects of western culture. But I also think people tend to be a bit naïve in thinking that without the ability to manipulate our environment on a large scale, that us humans all lived a perfect existence in some heavenly utopia.

Reality is though, nature by definition is far from perfect and is in fact extremely brutal and unforgiving. To be bound by the laws of nature makes for a very hard existence. You just have to watch a nature documentary to see evidence of this. Mothers forming extremely strong bonds with there offspring to only have to watch some predator tearing it apart alive for a bite size snack, or slow painful deaths due to hunger or easily treatable infections and injuries, the list just goes on.

The money from tourism has allowed people in isolated regions to have access to clean water, electricity, modern medicine, education and more efficient sources of nutrition, which has in turn allowed them to [overall] have a far more productive, hygienic and significant quality of life.

Obviously there should probably be more effective guidelines & regulations to avoid indigenous peoples within developing regions being exploited or whatever. But overall, the modern way of life will have far more beneficial effect on all humans than negative effects, imo.

I’ve lived outbush for many months without the benefits of hot showers, modern sewage or abundant electricity and all though it is a awesome novelty and fun at first, I can assure you that in the long run it just ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

[Auxin]

I never said life without connection to industrialization was all puppy dogs and sunshine.

I said when a village or group has an awesome thing going it should not be overwhelmed by corporations raping the world in the name of globalization or hedonistic and self destructive tourists porking their way around the world looking for thrills.

And in practice situations are rarely at one extreme or the other, like your example of tourist dollars paying for 'access to clean water, electricity, modern medicine, education and more efficient sources of nutrition'. I wouldnt say no to that in a cholera epidemic that overwhelmed the local medical system. I wouldnt say no to that when the crops fail and my family has kwashiokor from trying to live on just manioc or yams. But conversely, supply those foreign funds for very long and cultures forget how to do without those artificially imposed luxuries. Then you just have permanently dependent impoverished workers and one more opportunity for a foreign company to exploit them making shoe laces or something.

Cultures are collapsing left and right, people are forgetting all the old ways that kept their ancestors alive, all based on a brief orgy of oil and debt.

In the flesh I know very few people who can cook, fewer still who can even identify an edible plant not in a supermarket, and no one who can prepare even the most basic medicine from natural materials. Its a very unstable, but apparently very addictive system.

Technology, travel, and foreign philanthropy certainly have their place, but they should be the exception rather than the rule.

[gtarman]

I think we're missing the point, both as an ethnobotanical community and a society. The point being eat more coca leaves

[Auxin]