Archive for Wednesday 8th May 2002 - How wild is your health?

Probably not nearly enough.

According to, leading animal behaviourist, Cindy Engel, a walk on the wild side might just improve the way we live. In her quest to understand why animals in their natural habitats are so good at staying healthy, she has come to the conclusion that we might have a lot to learn from them. In her book Wild Health, she explains: “Animals use not only plants, but also soils, rocks, mineral-rich waters, sunlight, toxic insects, bark and charcoal in ways that can only be described as medicinal.”

Chimpanzees swallow carefully folded leaves to flush intestinal worms out of their systems.

Woolly caterpillars ward off attacks by lethal parasites by switching to a diet of toxic hemlock.

Garden warblers change their diets from insects to figs to store fat better for their long migrating flights

The tragedy is that the amount of land left to observe creatures prescribing their own preventative medicine is ever declining.

Whilst domesticated animals show similar abilities if they are left to their own devices, their untamed counterparts are not immune to an easy life – and quickly develop couch potato habits. Both bears and baboons become obese, sluggish and ill when they gorge on the easy-pickings left behind by tourists in game reserves.

Engel believes that we can tune into what our bodies need and develop ‘nutritional wisdom’.

“We need to listen more carefully to our body’s cravings and take an intentional role in maintaining our health before disease sets in. “Our observation of wild health all points in the same direction – that we should eat more fruits and vegetables, not only for nutrients and energy but for essential health-enhancing non-nutrients.”

Order Wild Health by Cindy Engel for £18.99 (post and packing is FREE).
Offer open to United Kingdom only.
Call: 0870 0703 200 or send a cheque/PO payable to “Mirror Direct”, PO Box 60 Helston Cornwall TR13 OTP.

Mark Winter