My Models of Health

by Michelle
(Dumaguete, Philippines)

My paternal grandparents were Pangasinense. As I was growing up, I was keenly aware that my grandparents were most unusual. They cannot speak Cebuano, only Pangasinense. Laking and Baeng (Pangsinense words for grandpa and grandma) wore Filipiniana attire daily, Baeng in perpetual kimono and patadyong.
Laking and Baeng were so primitive, they were innocent. Laking would never take a bath indoors. He would take a bath outdoors, where there was a well, and did so in his birthday suit! And Baeng would do the same topless. They were nonchalant and perfectly casual about it.
All their lives they lived on fresh, home-grown organic food. I still remember the vegetable garden Laking made for us when they lived with us for one summer. The garden looked like a flower farm from afar but as you go nearer, you will find that the violets are really eggplants, the yellows were Imelda kangkong and the reds were tomatoes. It was so well-tended and well-sculpted it was art.
There was also this pond with a balsa anchored at the side. Both were made by Laking. I spent many afternoons gazing at this waterlily-dotted pond teeming with tilapia. I always thought it was a lake.
Laking had a kind, wrinkly face and always whistled as he worked. He could not speak Cebuano and I could not speak Pangasinense but we managed to communicate anyway. He taught me songs I could not understand. I sang them anyway. He always made me feel like I was his favorite grandchild.
Laking worked literally from dawn to dusk. Daddy said he has never known a man as industrious as his father. He was always planting, weeding, cultivating, fishing or weaving fishnets. And the charm of it all was that he was as happy and as vibrant as his garden.
When he could no longer see (read: sunset), he would call it a day. With a basket full of vegetables slung on one shoulder, another basket with tilapia or crayfish slung on the other shoulder and another basket containing eggs from his poultry, he would whistle his way home.
In no time at all, Baeng would cook up grilled tilapia and the kind of vegetable stew you could find nowhere else.
All that they need for survival was there. Carbohydrates came from harvested grains and rootcrops. Proteins came from fish and crayfish from the pond, chicken, ducks and their eggs from the poultry and even milk from goats. Vitamins and minerals came from fresh fruits and vegetables. Exercise came from farmwork and all the chores now long unheard of – winnowing rice, grinding rice with a lusong (giant mortar and pestle) and all household chores sans appliances.
Relaxation was no problem, as that healthy, hearty hard work is the best sleep-inducer.
Laking lived to what they estimate to be 104 years old and Baeng to 92. They never had cancer, arthritis, diabetes or hypertension. They lived full, energetic lives.
They are my models for health and wellness.
(See more articles on http://letsbehealthyandwell.blogspot.com)