來自擁有世界上最健康心臟的土著部落的生活經(jīng)驗

來自擁有世界上最健康心臟的土著部落的生活經(jīng)驗

A few years ago, I read reports of an indigenous tribe living deep in the Amazon rainforest whose members had hardly any evidence of heart disease. In fact, the researchers concluded after a year-long study that the Tsimane, as they are called, had the healthiest hearts in the world, a title previously held by Japanese women.

幾年前，我讀到一些報道，一個土著部落生活在亞馬遜熱帶雨林深處，他們的成員幾乎沒有任何心臟病的證據(jù)。事實上，經(jīng)過長達(dá)一年的研究，研究人員得出的結(jié)論是，他們所謂的齊曼人(Tsimane)擁有世界上最健康的心臟，這個稱號以前由日本女性擁有。

Preventing heart disease is a topic I think about all the time, given my own significant family history of heart disease. Like many people, I worried that it was inevitable for me. So last summer, I decided to travel to Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in South America, to learn what they could teach me and the rest of the world about preventing heart disease.

鑒于我自己的重要家族心臟病史，預(yù)防心臟病是我一直在思考的一個話題。像許多人一樣，我擔(dān)心這對我來說是不可避免的。所以去年夏天，我決定去玻利維亞-南美洲最貧窮的國家之一-學(xué)習(xí)他們可以教給我和世界上其他地方關(guān)于預(yù)防心臟病的知識。

Getting to the Tsimane wasn't easy. After flying into La Paz, the highest capital city in the world at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, we took a small prop plane to Rurrenabaque, a small town in the lowlands of northern Bolivia, along the Beni River and at the edge of the Amazon rainforest. We drove 4x4 trucks as far as we could into the forest and then jumped into dug-out canoes and made our way down the rivers and streams of the Amazon.We knew the Tsimane lived in small extended family clusters of 60 or so people along the banks of the river. We finally found one of the villages just as the sun was starting to set. Having traveled to more than 100 countries around the world, it is particularly exhilarating for me to find places that are still so different than any I have seen, as was the case deep in the Amazon.

去齊馬內(nèi)不是件容易的事。在飛往世界上海拔近12，000英尺的最高首都拉巴斯后，我們乘坐一架小型道具飛機前往玻利維亞北部低地的小鎮(zhèn)Rurrenabaque，沿著貝尼河(Beni River)和亞馬遜熱帶雨林的邊緣。我們盡可能地駕駛4x4卡車進(jìn)入森林，然后跳上挖出來的獨木舟，沿著亞馬遜河的河流和小溪前進(jìn)。我們知道齊瑪尼人生活在河岸邊60人左右的小型大家庭中。就在太陽開始下山的時候，我們終于找到了其中的一個村莊。我已經(jīng)去過世界上100多個國家，尤其令我興奮的是，我發(fā)現(xiàn)一些地方仍然與我見過的任何地方都大不相同，就像亞馬遜深處的情況一樣。

That night, we set up our tents in the middle of the village and began our life as Tsimane. Thatched huts surrounded us, with no electricity or modern conveniences. One day, I pulled out my iPad, tapping and swiping through the screen, and the Tsimane were slack-jawed and wide-eyed, looking at me like I was a sorcerer.

那天晚上，我們在村子中間搭起帳篷，開始了我們作為齊瑪內(nèi)的生活。茅草屋環(huán)繞著我們，沒有電，也沒有現(xiàn)代化的便利設(shè)施。有一天，我拿出我的iPad，在屏幕上不停地敲擊和滑動，齊曼一家人下巴松弛，眼睛睜得大大的，看著我，好像我是一個巫師。

I went foraging with the women, hunting and fishing with the men, and played soccer with the kids. My goal was to learn the secrets of those with the healthiest hearts in the world, and I approached it by focusing on the big three: diet, activity and rest.

我和女人一起去覓食，和男人一起打獵和釣魚，和孩子們踢足球。我的目標(biāo)是了解那些擁有世界上最健康心臟的人的秘密，我通過關(guān)注三大要素來實現(xiàn)這個目標(biāo)：飲食，活動和休息。

As far as diet goes, my expectation was that theirs would be a sort of "paleo" diet, with up to 65% of their calories from animal meat. Instead, I found nearly the opposite: The Tsimane get most of their calories from carbs. Foods such as plantains, cassava, rice and corn make up nearly 70% of their diet. This type of diet is born out of necessity in the Amazon, because farmed food is more certain, especially during a poor hunting season.

至于飲食，我的預(yù)期是，他們的將是一種“古”飲食，他們高達(dá)65%的卡路里來自動物肉。相反，我發(fā)現(xiàn)幾乎相反：齊瑪尼人從碳水化合物中獲得大部分卡路里。大蕉、木薯、大米和玉米等食物占他們飲食的近70%。這種飲食方式在亞馬遜地區(qū)是必要的，因為種植的食物更有把握，特別是在狩獵季節(jié)。

As you might also imagine, the food there is not processed or refined, lacking any added sugars or salts. All-natural carbs are the mainstay of the healthy-hearted Tsimane, along with around 15% fat and 15% protein. Additionally, the diet provides twice as much fiber as the standard American diet, according to an article in the Lancet medical journal. Their diet has lots of micronutrients, such as selenium, potassium and magnesium, coming from their farmed food. Spending time with the Tsimane, I also learned from talking to them and from my own observations that intermittent fasting was part of the culture, not because it is fashionable but because of food scarcity.

你也可以想象，那里的食物沒有經(jīng)過加工或精制，沒有添加任何糖或鹽。全天然碳水化合物是心臟健康的Tsimane的主要成分，還有大約15%的脂肪和15%的蛋白質(zhì)。此外，根據(jù)《柳葉刀》醫(yī)學(xué)雜志上的一篇文章，這種飲食提供的纖維是標(biāo)準(zhǔn)美國飲食的兩倍。他們的飲食中有很多微量營養(yǎng)素，如硒，鉀和鎂，來自他們的農(nóng)業(yè)食品。與提斯曼人在一起，我也從與他們的交談和我自己的觀察中了解到，間歇性禁食是文化的一部分，不是因為它是一種時尚，而是因為食物匱乏。