Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 11, 1 November 2012 — SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D.

"The Natives of these isīands (Hawai'i.) are, in general, above the middle size, and well made; they walk very gracefully, run nimbly, and are eapahle ofbearing greatfatigue. . . " These words described Hawaiians, in March 1779. They were written by Capt. James King, who accompanied Captain Cook on his third voyage to Hawai'i. King recognized that Hawaiians were taller than average, they walked with grace and displayed obvious athleticism, strength and physical endurance. Remember that King had already seen South Paeihe islanders, as well as South American natives. Thus, this description compared our Hawaiian ancestors with Europeans, as well as the other natives. Interesting, isn't it? Is this description reasonable for Hawaiians today? Auwē, I truly wish it were. We know that Native Hawaiians today no longer possess the height, fitness nor good heahh that our Hawaiian ancestors exhibited. We seem to have lost the traditional focus on heahh, illness prevention, as well as schooling in posture and alignment that our ancestors had. Do we still have it ... somewhere? Have we have just put it aside for awhile? A eouple of things are certain. The remarkable stature (height), strength and fitness of our ancestors resulted from their diet, focus on healthy living (absence of illnesses), lots of hard, physical work, followed by a long night's rest. Their graceful movement resulted from mākua and kūpuna keeping a sharp focus on the posture of keiki during early childhood.

Without machinery or paek animals, our ancestors had to carry heavy burdens and move heavy stones and tree trunks. They had to do it all. To avoid injury when lifting or carrying something heavy, body alignment, muscular power and endurance are all important. Our ancestors also knew whieh

food plants, herbal medicines and building materials were needed to survive, and they brought these to Hawai'i. Hawai'i's fertile soil and abundant fresh water supported large crops of kalo, sweet potatoes, other vegetables and sugarcane. And, Hawai'i had an oeean filled with fish, shellfish and limu. These all resulted in a dietetically complete diet to nourish our ancestors. When the sun went down, they rested. Our ancestors flourished in Hawai'i.

The old ways have been put aside ... or, replaced. Obviously, these changes have not yielded good results. Our Hawaiian ancestors set high priority on staying healthy and strong; it meant their survival. We, too, ean eat more taro, poi and greens, get adequate sleep and focus on keeping our families healthy. We

ean exercise daily to regain fitness and endurance. Mākua and kūpuna ean again focus on teaching eultural values to our keiki as onee was done. We need to ehannel the determination and wisdomof our Hawaiian 'aumākua and kūpuna and make changes to save our children from the heahh problems of our generation. Solutions will eome with our help. It means our survival. We have to just do it! ■

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