E Life and Food of My Ancestors

Home , Bannock (food), Popara

About the author ey said: Inspired by feelings of gratitude to his home ground, Rajko Latinovic ventures into sincere knowledge sharing on reasons of long and idyllic life of his ancestors, emphasizing how their simple everyday habits and necessities, and also the way of nutrition, signi cantly contributed to their healthy and long life. The book THE LIFE AND FOOD OF MY ANCESTORS is an attempt of synthesis of simple and understandable discourse on the one hand and scienti c con rmations of statements on the other. Working professionally in the eld of nutritionism as a doctor of veterinary medicine, the author has expanded his knowledge and observations to human nutrition, o ering, bravely, simple and logical comparisons, Today morale is in decline, because market adding originality and uniqueness to the text. His vast experience obtained in prestigious companies, institutions and on study A wonderful book, which is a written memory of our tradition and terror has created a religion of money. visits to many developed countries the author has applied in his professional life as a customs, not only in terms of nutrition. Emir Kusturica, moviemaker founder, manager and technologist of the rst company in Bosnia and Herzegovina With a ection and patience, the author tells the story, mixing the past producing vitamin and mineral supplements to animal feed. Believing that health of and the present (not accidentally at all), but, while reading, you realize he " animals, as an important source of food for humans, has decisive in uence on human is skillfully leading you to self-assessment and useful contemplation. health, the author, bravely and with simpli ed arguments, states the advantages of After reading the book, everyone will have their own conclusions, but all will surely feel better and ful lled, because this book exudes positive natural nutrition over commercial and industrial o er of “fast” food, whose value is Whoever is the father of disease, bad nutrition is its mother. often dubious. The author uses his biomedical knowledge in brave statements and energy, which the author draws from his and our ancestors. recommendations of “what is good and what is bad” for human nutrition. Therefore, I am happy to recommend this book to everyone, especially Chinese proverb After his rst book “Petrovac basa and sirac”, as a desire to continue the to young people from the author’s home region. They should read it, promotion of traditional ways of food preparation and nutrition habits from his proud of their ancestors, striving to be worthy of their legacy. birthplace, Rajko Latinovic o ers “The life and food of my ancestors”. " Rajko Latinovic was born on May 19th, 1948, in the village of Kolunic, near Rajko Latinovic Bosanski Petrovac, where he also completed primary school and gymnasium. He Prim. Dr med. Gordana Grubor How did man come to be, I do not know. completed studies of veterinary medicine at the University of Sarajevo in 1973, INTERNIST – ENDOCRINOLOGIST But, I do believe that humankind itself will cause where he also obtained the degree of a doctor of veterinary medicine in 1987. its disappearance from the face of the Earth. I accepted the o er to provide a brief introduction about the author and the The author book with special pleasure. "

e life and food ancestors of my Rajko Latinovic Dr. Rodoljub Trkulja e life and food of my ancestors

Rajko Latinovic About the author ey said: Inspired by feelings of gratitude to his home ground, Rajko Latinovic ventures into sincere knowledge sharing on reasons of long and idyllic life of his ancestors, emphasizing how their simple everyday habits and necessities, and also the way of nutrition, signi cantly contributed to their healthy and long life. The book THE LIFE AND FOOD OF MY ANCESTORS is an attempt of synthesis of simple and understandable discourse on the one hand and scienti c con rmations of statements on the other. Working professionally in the eld of nutritionism as a doctor of veterinary medicine, the author has expanded his knowledge and observations to human nutrition, o ering, bravely, simple and logical comparisons, Today morale is in decline, because market adding originality and uniqueness to the text. His vast experience obtained in prestigious companies, institutions and on study A wonderful book, which is a written memory of our tradition and terror has created a religion of money. visits to many developed countries the author has applied in his professional life as a customs, not only in terms of nutrition. Emir Kusturica, moviemaker founder, manager and technologist of the rst company in Bosnia and Herzegovina With a ection and patience, the author tells the story, mixing the past producing vitamin and mineral supplements to animal feed. Believing that health of and the present (not accidentally at all), but, while reading, you realize he " animals, as an important source of food for humans, has decisive in uence on human is skillfully leading you to self-assessment and useful contemplation. health, the author, bravely and with simpli ed arguments, states the advantages of After reading the book, everyone will have their own conclusions, but all will surely feel better and ful lled, because this book exudes positive natural nutrition over commercial and industrial o er of “fast” food, whose value is Whoever is the father of disease, bad nutrition is its mother. often dubious. The author uses his biomedical knowledge in brave statements and energy, which the author draws from his and our ancestors. recommendations of “what is good and what is bad” for human nutrition. Therefore, I am happy to recommend this book to everyone, especially Chinese proverb After his rst book “Petrovac basa and sirac”, as a desire to continue the to young people from the author’s home region. They should read it, promotion of traditional ways of food preparation and nutrition habits from his proud of their ancestors, striving to be worthy of their legacy. birthplace, Rajko Latinovic o ers “The life and food of my ancestors”. " Rajko Latinovic was born on May 19th, 1948, in the village of Kolunic, near Rajko Latinovic Bosanski Petrovac, where he also completed primary school and gymnasium. He Prim. Dr med. Gordana Grubor How did man come to be, I do not know. completed studies of veterinary medicine at the University of Sarajevo in 1973, INTERNIST – ENDOCRINOLOGIST But, I do believe that humankind itself will cause where he also obtained the degree of a doctor of veterinary medicine in 1987. its disappearance from the face of the Earth. I accepted the o er to provide a brief introduction about the author and the The author book with special pleasure. "

e life and food ancestors of my Rajko Latinovic Dr. Rodoljub Trkulja e life and food of my ancestors

Rajko Latinovic Dr Rajko Latinovic THE LIFE AND FOOD OF MY ANCESTORS Dr Rajko Latinovic THE LIFE AND FOOD OF MY ANCESTORS

Editor: Nenad Novakovic

Review: Prim. Dr. Gordana Grubor INTERNIST-ENDOCRINOLOGIST Prim. dr Milenko Krneta INTERNIST-CARDIOLOGIST

Proofreading - Serbian version: Igor Simanovic

English translation: Nikola Galic

Front-page: Rada Latinovic Srdjan Ivankovic

Photography: Nikolina Toljaga

Banja Luka, 2016.

Content 1. INTRODUCTION 10 2. WHERE AND HOW THEY LIVED 14 3. WHO WILL FIND THE COIN IN THE CHRISTMAS BREAD 24 4. FOOD AS NECESSITY AND PLEASURE 34 Dessert 39 5. WITH NATURE TO HEALTH 44 Natural medicines 55 Common nettle 59 Juniper 61 Hawthorn 61 Plums and rakia 62 Raspberry 65 6. FIVE BASIC BODILY FUNCTIONS 66 7. MENU FROM 1895 72 8. BIORHYTHM AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE BODY 76 9. CONTEMPORARY MEDICINE AND NUTRITIONISM 80 10. EXPERT DECEIT OR WHO IS LYING TO WHOM 84 Stress 90 11. VAMPIRES IN OUR BODY 92 Cholesterol 93 Homocysteine 98 EPG 100 What are the E-numbers? 103 12. GMO – man’s salvation or destruction107 13. OUR DAILY BREAD 116 Millet 122 Barley 123 Oat 125 Corn 127 Rye 129 Buckwheat 130 What to eat 132 14. WHAT HAS THE GARDEN YIELDED 134 Potato 135 Beans 139 Garlic 140 Red onion 144 Wild garlic 146 15. TO THE BARN FOR MILK, TO THE STORY FOR MARGARINE 148 Sour milk 151 Fresh sour milk - zamuza 154 Whey 155 Basa cheese 156 Deceit without lie – margarine 160 16. MEAT, MEAT, AS IF WE’VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT 164 Eggs 169 17. FAST FOOD 170 18. MENU OF A NUN 176 19. COMBINING FOODS 178 20. FOOD INTOLERANCE 182 21. INFLUENCE OF FOOD ON HEALTH 188 22. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE END 192 23. APPENDIX 196 24. REFERENCES 220 Dedication

Latinovic Jovo - Vovo (1901 – 2011) Latinovic Smilja neighbor Cup Mara (1909 – 2009) (1895 – 1995) my mother my wife’s grandmother

The need for writing this book came from my love and respect for these persons and a wish to warn today’s generations about their bad eating habits.

Preface I will be grateful if you say I have not discovered anything with this book. What has once existed and still exists cannot be rediscovered. With this book I stand for preserving highly valuable forgotten and not forgotten foods and dishes that should be used as defense against the aggressive onrush of harmful foods and eating habits from the West. If we could return to traditional nutrition, honoring the principles of organic production, we might just save humankind. If, while reading this book, you recognize my anger towards contemporary medicine – you’re right. Today’s medicine is losing grounds in the fight against mean diseases. Common people have the right to be afraid after learning that by 2020 1 in 2 individuals will suffer from some kind of cancer, according to predictions by world experts. Today no-one can claim they would be wrong. Medical workers have succumbed to the market, forgetting the Hippocratic Oath, which they have taken loudly and clearly. Paul Ehrlich from Stanford University has some grim prediction as well. He claims that only up to 2 billion people of the today’s 7 billion can live optimally. 1,3 billion people are living below the absolute poverty line. It appears that the fight can take place only in the field of nutrition. Such optimistic message was sent by the European Commission as well, which estimated that, by changing only nutrition, each year a quarter million of lives could be saved in the EU alone. I also wanted to emphasize that we have to affirm the original and traditional principles of nutrition that we can use to fight for the preservation of our health and the vitality of our body. I am against diets as a means, because they are only short-termed, and often harmful, especially the “strict” ones and those without doctor’s supervision. My strength comes from my youth memories and stories told by persons much older than I am, some of whom lived 100 years. Scientific evidence from all over the world, the modern West and the traditional East, has confirmed many of those stories. You will find some of my statements and estimates supported by the quotations of many prominent figures in the field of nutritionism. Even all the reminiscences and emotional stories by my ancestors and vast available literature would not be enough to write these lines without sup- port of my friends and colleagues. I use this opportunity to express my gratitude to doctors Gordana Grubor, Gordana Ljoljic Dulic and Milenko Krneta, who helped me perform a survey among over a hundred persons in their forties and older, aimed at determining the influence of food on their health. I also thank my associates Nada, Nikolina, Milan and Boris for their technical assistance.

Thank you 9 Intro

10 fter many years in the field of livestock nutrition I have seen the link and many si- Amilarities with the human. Before reaching us, every medicine goes through many tests on animals. If it wasn’t for them, we would not know the benefits and side effects of drugs or we would be experiments ourselves. Still, sometimes we are experiments. How else could we explain that in one developed country people were eating genetically modified products for two years without knowing it?

In the veterinary medicine and the present in the systematic approach to human alike, two directions of action the treatment of humans, which is not exist. Some fight for the highest possi- enough at the moment. ble use of conventional medicines and I realized this during my stays at hos- industrial supplements in the form of pitals as a patient and in contacts with growth stimulators, aromas, sweeten- doctors of humane medicine. Lejla ers, even hormone products, while oth- Kazinic Kreho also confirms my conclu- ers advocate for the introduction of nat- sion: “When I was still a young doctor, I ural products as well as growth stimu- came across a research on the impact lators. It is worth knowing that farmers of nutrition on heart diseases. I read it holding livestock, in greater and small- almost in one breath and this matter er numbers alike, increasingly use vari- that I knew so little about left me fas- ous probiotics like apple vinegar, oreg- cinated. I wondered why we were not ano, onions, common nettle and other taught more about the impact of what ingredients for growth stimulation and we eat during our medical studies.” the preservation of health. After per- This book is not about plants non- ceiving the usefulness of natural treat- indigenous to our region: lemon, ba- ment as an addition to contemporary nana, orange, mandarin, manioc, pi- medicine, I decided to dedicate to hu- tahaya, passionflower, Korean evo- man nutritionism. dia, mangosteen, tamarind, carambola, I wanted to make at least a small guava, pepino, etc. It is not about kiwi, contribution to make nutritionism more peanuts, almonds, avocado, papaya or 11 12 date palm. Even though these plants feel embarrassed to say that their chil- have very useful fruits, they do not dren ate bread mash (“popara”) yester- grow in our region and were not con- day and eggs and basa cheese dip this sumed by our ancestors. morning, because it is considered poor Is there the food of the poor? Today people’s food, i.e. to be consumed on- that term is frequently used and some ly by those who have almost nothing. dishes are called the food of the poor. On the other hand, they will boast that 80 to 100 years ago this might have their child gladly eats hot dogs and been true because people were poor, sweet cream as dessert, combined with but at least the food did not contain industrial milk. such poisons it does today. There is no I was lucky to talk to three long-lived rational answer to the question whether people. I heard stories of their child- chips, flips, hamburger and similar prod- hood. They used the expression “scar- ucts are the food of the rich or the poor. city”, and it was all about the amounts. Life in harmony with nature in distant Most of them had little, some of them past made all food items useful and rich had enough, while some had in excess, with everything the body needed. If this just like today. was not true, then to what humankind Today the diversity and making-up should thank for its survival and devel- of all kinds of delicacies separate the opment over several thousand years? rich from the poor only when it comes Those who like to call themselves to the amounts, and not in terms of the “the city people” often detest the nutrition value. Both categories eat junk thought of having sour cabbage for food, because of such offer. The rich are lunch or drinking brine. They are per- jeopardized because they take excessive plexed by notions of common nettle, empty energy from, seemingly, nutrient- greens or auricula soup, while a sug- rich foods. The poor are in jeopardy be- gestion that it would be good to pick cause they have little, and what they can a few leaves of young dandelion for sal- buy is cheap and unhealthy, like cheap ad they find ridiculous. Some moms sausages as the best example. 13 Where and how they lived

14 hen the first of the Latinovic family name settled in the Petrovac plateau is Wunknown for certain. Some data suggest that it occurred before the 18th century. According to some accounts of older members of the Latinovic family, it was my seventh grandfather Savo Latinovic (the beginning of the 18th century), who left many descendants. One of the most important was his grandson, my fifth grandfather, Obrad .

He was probably known for something, because a spring above my house is still called the “Obradovica Spring”, while his line of Latinovics is nicknamed Obradovics. Whether this was their family name or something else, I am not sure, because it is possible that they, like many other tribes traveling a long way from the sea shore over Lika, changed their family name. It is one of the four oldest fami- Author’s birth house ly names in the village of Kolunic. fifty stecaks (gravestones). Only one of There are accounts describing my these stecak mounments has inscrip- village as the nature’s gift of special tion on it, written in the Glagolithic al- beauty. Ivan Lovrenovic, a travel writ- phabet or Glagolitsa. er, writes that it is a topos unparalleled Location of the church and ne- on the map of cultural and historical cropolis with fifty stecak monuments heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. called Crkvina in Kolunic was de- Lovrenovic supports his claim by stat- clared a national monument in 2007. ing historical treasures such as the ruin There are different opinions on when of the Church of St. George from the the Church of St. Panadjur was built. 14thcentury, surrounded by around Some authors claim that it was built 15 in the 14th century, while others, like I. Nikolajevic and N. Miletic, claim it derives from the 12th century. Building churches around the stecak monuments was very common in the past. It is clear that this church is younger than the stecak monuments and they cannot help determine its age. Some church sources state that the Church Panadjur was built in the 12th century. Near the ruin there is a spring called Klisina Svetinja, while not far from there is hill Gradina, en- circled with several meters wide and flat “wreath”. This is probably a remnant of an old flat road, suggesting traces of Ruin of the Panadjur Church Japodes, one of big Illyrian tribes, described in more details by Dusan many monuments of unknown age. Kovacevic in his book “Petrovac”. Therefore, all this points to the exis- The oldest orthodox church in the tence of an old civilization in this area. Petrovac region that has been ren- Aside from the fact that Kolunic is an ovated is located in Kolunic. When it old place that has preserved its origi- was originally built is unknown, but, nal name deriving from the 12th cen- according to church sources, it was re- tury according to our sources, it also built for the first time in 1879, after the has accounts of the first occurrence previous wooden one burnt down in of literacy, which also suggested in a 1876 during the “Bosnian uprising”. text from the “Gazette of the National Beside the church graveyard lies with Museum” from 1889 by a teacher 16 Petar Mirkovic, a member of once fa- possible because houses were always mous Mirkovic family from Kolunic. lined in a row. People slept on wood- However, Todor Sudcevic, a en beds with straw-filled mattress- Serbian teacher that resided in Bihac es. Besides straw, mattresses used to from 1865 to 1875, wrote a text on be filled with corn silk. People would the Order of sultan Mahmud I (1730- handpick it, divide it and then fill the 1754), which suggests that Kolunic hemp mattress with it. This filling was might have been called differently considered more clean and easier to once. The sultan’s Order was issued maintain. upon complaints by clergymen of Pillows were made of sheep wool. the Serbian district of the “St. Nicolas” On a sunny May day, all of this would Church which stated: „In the special be carried outside in the yard for a financial register, the finance control- whole day of sunbathing. This was ef- ler states the following: Clergymen of fective natural disinfection and dis- the St. Nicolas Church district can sell insection. Rooms would be white- the goods from their estates, grass- washed and everything was cleaned lands and mill to visitors to that area, and smelled nicely, ready for re-use. while villages of Kosinj (now Kolunic) and Hmoljnica (now Smoljana) and others must pay spahia Hasan, owner of the lands, the amount of 9190 aspra coins.” The village once had only houses made of stone or wood, with coated or barren walls. Some houses did not have any kind of inner decoration, but all of them had two doors. The smaller ones were always directed towards the woods – the savior. This was made Soon, barley will be put in the granary 17 This was in harmony with eastern tra- I remembered my good old long ditions and opinion that flat and hard woolen bed cover, which kept me bed is crucial for health in general, es- warm during long harsh Petrovac pecially the health of the spine, mus- winters. In the Petrovac region win- cles and capillary system. ters sometimes lasted for more than Several years ago I attended a five months, but people were well big January fair in Berlin, where one prepared with their woolen clothing booth caught my attention. Curiosity from head to toes. The most impor- prevailed and I approached it. People tant piece of clothing was “kozun”. It were looking, touching and reading was long or short leather jacket made leaflets on bed mattresses made of of sheep fur, with clipped or longer straw. It was emphasized as a healthy, wool. natural material that does not hold Some kozuns had sheep wool on bacteria or mites or cause allergies. the inside and others on the outside. Straw protects you against soil ra- The attic held smoked meat, while a diation, an inscription said. If these barrel full of sour cabbage and brine people only knew who was standing was kept in the barn. A mound of soil among them! If they only knew the contained potatoes, hayloft would be man spent his childhood on a straw filled with hay for cows and other live- bed and woolen pillows! I walked a stock. Pantry held at least two barrels bit further and once more there was of basa cheese, a case of beans and some crowd again. People were at- plenty of corn waiting to be ground in tending a presentation of woolen order to make polenta (“pura”). Winters bed covers. Once again, the empha- were sometimes so harsh and merci- sis is on natural materials and anti-al- less that snow level could reach the lergic effect. This cover does not have roofs of small wooden houses over a mites. All of that was once in my par- single night. Besides woolen clothing, ents’ house, and a lot more in their warm covers that we used in rooms parents’ one. with freezing temperatures, another 18 thing was needed to battle diseases. dog, which was barking in equal inter- It was immunity. That folk had its “im- vals, like a broken record. Hens would munity batteries” charged to the max- stop producing eggs in winter times, imum, which guarded it from flu, cold so they seemed disinterested in food. and other diseases during wintertime We would work for several hours non- life and labor. They achieved it, above stop before getting in the house for all, by consuming foods like: sour cab- breakfast., but no one previously left bage, brine, dried plums, green ap- the house without having a glass of ples, walnuts, hazelnuts, garlic and red homemade brandy (“rakia”). onions with bacon, rose hip and juni- Imagine, brandy on an emp- per tea. There were many yard works ty stomach, defying all principles of during winter too. You had to clean modern science which recommends the barn every day, which always was drinking a glass of mildly warm water a job for two persons, because dung right after getting up. was carried out to the dung storage Speaking of water, but not cooled area, which was usually far from the water from the refrigerator, here barn. are some facts. Drinking water half You also had to bring hay from an hour before meals helps digest the hayloft using branch muckfork, the food and decreases appetite, which tended to be too heavy, so it strengthens immunity and helps re- often threw me off balance in curves lease poisons out of the system. of the narrow pathway and into the It energizes the body, because snow. If the food was late, because even a small percentage of dehydra- we first had to make a pathway in tion lowers energy. It helps one fo- snow that shined so much that we cus, because the brain “does not like could not look at it, you would hear to be left without water”. It preserves the persistent calling of animals, pri- the skin, especially facial complexion. marily cows. Pigs weren’t silent either, Lucky for them, they did not have the and the most annoying one was the refrigerator, so they were not able to 19 drink cooled water, which damag- pire cartoon and Spiderman, images es the stomach. I can only imagine of murders and monstrous creatures. the reaction of a typical goodman if Cartoon is only briefly interrupted by someone was to propose a glass of an aggressive commercial break offer- warm water on a winter morning. He ing sausages and hot dogs or the nu- would probably say: “…so that both merous creams packed with additives, of us freeze along with the water. and many other salty or sweet prod- You can’t beat snow with water, but ucts. with rakia. Let’s drink some and get All of that happens in a closed to work!” And so, winter days went room that cannot be opened due to by in struggle with nature for survival, smog. I wonder: what does childhood but everything would stop as soon as of children in the city I live in look like? night falls, because then was the time What was accessible to children at for witty local tale tellers and singers, the beginning of the previous centu- with their new jests and games that ry and what is accessible to children often lasted until dawn. Those were of today, if only they did not have some of the winter events. Winter the many things they have, you can is then followed by spring, the most read in the appendix named “Possible beautiful time of the year, when I used Causes of Cancer”, revealed by Cherie to wake up with the song of birds en- Calbom, John Calbom and Michael tering through an open window. I al- Mahaffey in a book “The Complete ways tried to see which bird was sing- Cancer Cleanse“. They claim that ge- ing and I would often see a blackbird. netic predispositions have little in- Sometimes this would be followed fluence on the occurrence of cancer, by running over grass with dew, while the factors previously stated which was the beginning of daily life were recognized by them as impor- in harmony with nature. Today chil- tant. dren wake up with the aggressive pic- What is the day’s event that a child ture and sound from TVs, with a vam- will look forward to and that it is not 20 related to television? What event will ing cats and hens in the backyard. it anticipate? Is it Christmas, Eastern Then it was followed by playing with or some other holiday from other reli- the rag ball and games like hide and gions? Everything is enveloped in ad- seek. I believe that Jovan Bijelic (1884), vertisement and marketing tricks. a famous painter, and my grandfa- I am trying to find out how come ther David (1882) used to play these our grandparents were so healthy old games while they were keeping and joyful and why did they sing sheep or goats on Gradina hill that while they worked. Nowadays the on- separates their two houses. That hill ly ones who sing are singers of turbo- was the rivalry stage for residents of folk music and tent-wedding goers. Kolunic and the nearby Revenik in var- Every two years, insanely loud music ious contests, whether it was sports can be heard coming from pre-elec- or any other form of entertainment. tion gatherings in those same tents. Is I felt that as a child also. My grandfa- it normal to ask why common people ther surely was not aware back then cannot make a sound? Are they inse- that the boy besides him was to be- cure in their musical talent or is it become a world-renowned painter who cause of the misery of stressed life- would produce 1734 pieces of art, out style? Anyway, there is just too little of which 981 oil paintings (at least). laughter and singing. Back then nutrition was not di- Forced shows for laughing are verse, but food did not cause in- nowadays probably organized for creased cholesterol and other types good reason, because they are use- of fat in the body nor obesity. People ful for stress release. Personally, I do often had insufficient food, so there not believe in their success. There is was nothing left to be reheated after no useful laughter without spontane- lunch. ous one. In the past, children’s morning physical activity started by chas- 21 To remain healthy, do used to drink in the woods while they not eat reheated boiled food. were keeping cows, picking raspber- Katsuzō Nishi ries or cutting logs. They would of- " ten eat a good deal of bacon with They did not poison themselves wild garlic (ramsons), followed by ra- with white bread and refi ned white kia and basa cheese. Then they would sugar, coff ee, pills such as sedatives clench their thirst with rain water from and other. Animal fat was always a fi rst hollow tree stump. In forest they scarce, because they only used pre- had wild garlic, at home they had gar- servative-free pig fat, which they lic and red onions, potato, polenta, could never get enough of. cabbage, sour milk and whey, which Contrary to the “defi ciency” in their all are considered natural statins. So, nutrition, they had plenty of fresh air even if they had plenty of “fatty” food, and water. they did not have to fear it. Now that I mentioned water, I remembered what kind of water they

22 23 Who will find the coin in the Christmas bread

24 xcept looking forward to every morning, because it brought another day for Eplay, running, catching butterflies and other flying beetles, children had a lot more to look forward to. Grown-ups wondered how could a child be outside of house for so long. They said: “What is it with this child, you just can’t get it inside.” Today this is baffling: “why was it that they were so eager for each new day, when they were not getting any presents? Children could not watch TV or play with little battery-powered cars. They did not get a new piece of clothing every week. They did not go to play- rooms in shopping malls to play while their mothers smoked cigarettes one after another and drank coffee. Those children did not have many other things as well, but they did have red cheeks as the sign of good health and energy.

Children looked forward to entirely: “Christmas has always been Christmas, Eastern, the family slava a holiday of love and peace. Today, (celebration). Christmas was anticipat- under the attack of various commer- ed because it brought play with their cials and marketing tricks coming parents that did not include choco- from all sides persuading us to buy late, but walnuts and hazelnuts to be more, it’s like that spirit of love has found in hay spread upon the floor. vanished from our hearts. It appears Who found the most was the winner, that Christmas has become a holiday meaning they would be happy and of shopping and not a holiday of love content throughout the year, espe- and peace, a family holiday. We are so cially the one who happened to find preoccupied by shopping and pres- a coin in the Christmas bread (“cesni- ents that instead of: “Merry Christmas” ca”). “Poor” them, they were not lucky we could say: “Happy Shopping”. get a package full of candies, cookies In my village, the slava was some- and expired chocolates. thing special for the kids. Godfathers I recently read an article in a local and relatives are arriving from far newspaper that outlines the strength away, and they have not visited since of market and sad reality. I quote it the last slava. What will they bring? 25 Godfather Todor’s pockets would be full with big red apples that smelled nicely. He would give apples to everyone and the biggest and the most beautiful one would go to my mother: “Here you go, my beautiful godmoth- er, this one’s for you”. The slava would Ostrelj with electric street lights from last for two days and in that time I the Austro-Hungarian era liked to be inside the house, because Franz’s rule. After centuries of Turkish it was during winter, so a warm home oppression there probably were rea- and tales by older family members ful- sons for praising Franz. According to filled my soul. written accounts, after the abolish- ment of serfdom in 1850, residents of Even though many say the “Military Frontier” (“Vojna Krajina”) food is the most important, if we through “frontier farmers coopera- were to single out food as the tives” gained the right to receive free "only life necessity, not paying firewood and construction wood, hay attention to the mind and physical and acorns, collections of acorns, pur- activity, we would fall into crisis ple betony, chestnuts and bracken. So, eventually. Why? Because food is they had everything they needed for functional only if combined with building a “wooden” or “stone” house good spirit, i.e. functional life. by their own hands. “Poor” them, they Stanisa Stojiljkovic I only had to buy nails. Back then (during the rule of I absorbed every word they said. Austro-Hungarians), on peak Ostrelj Stories went from the times of Turkish just above my village electricity was occupation and Austro-Hungarian introduced for the first time, along emperor Franz Joseph I to Tito. I re- with the first railway and train. member well their praise of emperor 26 Nowadays farmer, living in the 21st Not a single instance did I hear century democracy, would celebrate someone interrupt someone else or such decision by their authorities. But, worse, say “shut up when I’m speak- I do not wish to talk about our “bel- ing”, typical for the dialogue of today, lowed people’s” government. if today’s mumbling can be called di- The slava was venue for telling alogue. about all kinds of events. Fairs were Today the slava brings a lot of fuss, not left out either. They talked about because you have to prepare various how many people had turned up or delicacies for fifty or a hundred peo- whose horses had been the fastest ple, out of whom only few will actual- and many other. Listening those sto- ly eat a whole meal and many will take ries was more beautiful than reading just a bite or two. No wonder, consid- any novel. There was so much digni- ering the fact that some have to get ty in telling those tales! So much tol- to even five feasts a day. They owe erance and respect for the speaker, es- so much they cannot skip it. Doesn’t pecially for older people. They talked even matter anymore that this hasn’t silently and slowly, paying attention to any charm in it, because they will stick each word. They knew how to speak around for only an hour or two. and listen. True beauty of the slava, feeling of Where did they learn that? It was warmth of the family home and chil- the life school of their ancestors, dren’s joy is no more. where the culture of living was carried Another event much different from generation to generation. from what it used to be is wedding, which has turned into true business. Man is born without Hosts invite hundreds of guests pro- teeth, hair and illusions – viding them with plenty of drinks and one dies the same way. loud music, because the bigger the " Alexandre Dumas party, the more money will guests leave in envelopes for the newlyweds. 27 Some make money at weddings, be- guests could be their next boyfriend cause in this century everything is or girlfriend. measured by profi t - the host, musi- It is possible that we do not know cians, the photographer and all those whether today’s children are unhap- who have something to sell. Guests py. Pleasure is served to them. They will fi ll their bellies with greasy pork do not live in nature where they can and beer and a big chunk of cake at seek enjoyment on their own. the end. Pleasure never ends. However, we do know that Back in the day, wedding was a today’s adults are not con- village feast. Newlyweds, their par- tent. I read somewhere ents, godparents and almost the en- that only 3% of the pop- tire village enjoyed it. The anticipation ulation consider their used to give it even more signifi cance. Village youngsters encouraged each other with the question “Are we goin’ to the feast?” Young people came even from other villages. These events gathered big crowds of people, and also a lot of cu- rious children, who would peak through fences teas- ing each o t h e r about w h o of the 28 Nature at hand lives successful and are happy for liv- When introducing some per- ing it. sons to me, my hosts would empha- Notions of being rich or poor size how rich they were, while they have changed. It is not as it used to did not even seem to care about the be. One who was full was rich and poor. Emptiness of soul is felt today in- one who was hungry was poor. Even creasingly. Should the aggression of though life has been improving since the market be held accountable for the time of stone and arrow, the de- that, you be the judge, as Kusturica sire for another kind of richness has once said. been growing as well. That kind of Despite cities of today can have richness means - to have. Today ba- millions of residents, they still become sic measuring unit for wealth is mainly alienated from each other and major- money. It appears that only those who ity of the population feels like their have dozens of millions of dollars be- days go by in solitude. Unhealthy di- come role models, while others crave et is surely a contributing factor, be- for that and see themselves as poor. cause people slowly poison them- At least that is what global statistics selves, feeling fatigue without phys- speak of the wealthiest peo- ical eff ort. How else can one explain ple’s list. the next sentence: “When I woke up, I realized this I had to drink some coff ee and rest to fact in the recuperate.” Recuperate from what? eighties, From a late heavy dinner full of white while I was fl our, fat, candies and late bedtime. living in Can we conclude that man lived the USA. a better life a hundred years ago? According to my mother, the only concern was how to provide enough food for the family and livestock. Besides that there was children’s play 29 and farm labor of adults that could Still, I managed to find out some- not go without singing. Nothing was thing, because, as a little boy, I liked lis- done without singing. Villagers joined tening to what older men were talking hands and helped each others during about at small communal work bees farm works of greater size (“moba”), (“prelo”) that usually took place in the i.e. on large fields that required more evening or, even better, while mak- people than the owner’s household ing rakia. Through jokes and in mild had. It was enjoyed the company of embarrassment, they would gossip each other, smiling and singing along. their friends. Mostly, they talked about Only minor everyday works were do- who went to visit which widow, etc. ne individually. Mobas occurred es- In the company of men, sex-re- pecially during plowing of corn and lated themes were initiated easily and mowing grasslands. would last until someone who was Many novels describe youth love teased the most would start to get from fifty, a hundred or more years angry. There were many nicknames ago. I am not sure we can describe the related to someone’s sexual activities life of married couples back then from or personality description. this point in time. Another reason for my belief that they had fulfilled sexual life is the fact To humans, a good night’s that in the past married couples had sleep is as needed as breathing. many children, most often more than While sleeping our body recuperates five. "and gathers strength for the next Saying that sex is the only joy of day. Sleep before midnight is the the poor is only partially true. They most valuable. If we go to bed early, had much to look forward to. we will need less hours of sleeping I believe that, besides the natural and we can get up earlier easily. lifestyle, food also greatly influenced Marija Treben all this. They used aphrodisiacs, but only those from the nature, not pills. 30 Fresh sour cabbage takes the first These products are mainly win- place, according to many researches. ter-time food and they are rich in Lejla Kazinic Kreho confirms this state- zinc. Zinc improves the level of tes- ment adding that it is the aphrodisiac tosterone, a hormone which manag- number one. es male reproductive organs. Whole- Another aphrodisiac that was avail- grain bread, nuts, seeds and beans able was garlic. This fact reminds me provided the bodies of these people of a Spanish movie called “Ham, ham”, with zinc throughout winter. It is one in which a girl demands that her part- more reason why they had so power- ner has garlic breath in order to make ful immunity, which is the first barri- love. Even though the movie does er against various diseases during cold not belong to this sphere of science, winters. Zinc is also called “the boss its creators used some knowledge of of metabolism”, because several en- garlic. It contains allicin, a bioactive zymes depend on this mineral. matter that increases blood flow in re- Zinc participates in the produc- productive organs, increasing the libi- tion of genetic material in all cells. If do. Walnuts posses similar characteris- we add to this some rakia and good tics and they were served during win- stories in long winter nights around a ter communal work bees. They were fire, altogether making a relaxing at- accompanied by pumpkin seeds, as mosphere, we get a perfect setting snacks. for love to flourish.

Amount of zinc in some Who’d say that sour foods ( in100 g ) cabbage is sexy! But, according Shells 27 mg to all researches, sour cabbage is Beans 4 mg "the aphrodisiac number one. Walnuts 2,7 mg Lejla Kazinic Kreho Whole-grain bread 2 mg White flour 0,5 mg

31 On the other hand, women found ty. In moments of relaxation our body relaxation during communal work blocks adrenaline. It has been shown bees on long winter nights. They per- that knitting causes the same effect formed a kind of yoga that helped thanks to constant repetitive move- them relax and beat insomnia. They ments which cause the body to en- would knit for a whole evening, some- ter the state of peace and relaxation, times even more than five hours. thereby interrupting the stream of Today it is called the “new yoga”. thoughts that make us stressed.” Lejla Kazinic states the follow- While examining dates of birth of ing about knitting as the new yoga: some much older people than me, “Repeating tasks are very are very ef- I found out that many of them were fective in relaxation and can be ex- born during autumn months. So, win- cellent for treating stress-related ter-time pleasures and autumn enjoy- conditions, such as feelings distress ment really did take place in lives of or insomnia, while it helps in treat- people much older than us. ing alcohol abuse and even infertili-

32 33 Food as necessity and pleasure

34 ummer-time snack was usually between 5 and 6 p.m. and was different for Sadults and youngsters. Adults mostly skipped that small meal and satisfied themselves with some coffee and rakia. In our region coffee was once made of roast barley, later supplemented with chicory and finally with real coffee. It was a true treat, a greeting drink or a conversation drink as they used to call it. A true pleasure and ad- diction ensued with the first sip of real coffee. My mother drank it her entire life. In her old age, she would drink two cups a day, while in her youth, as she said, there had not been enough coffee for drinking it every day.

Today we can hear that coffee that some claim it is bad, while others negatively affects facial complex- consider that consuming it in limited ion, which, apparently, was not the amounts is beneficial for the body. I case with my mother because she do not want to argue, because maybe was thin, her face without wrinkles both sides are right. The three people and age spots until her deep old age. this book is recommended to prove When asked about her such gentle fa- the contrary. Smilja and Mara drank cial features her answer was simple. two cups of coffee until their death every morning she would wash her at 100. I leave it up to you to decide face with cold water and avoid expo- whether Jovo, who lived to turn 110, sure to strong sunlight. She never put was more right than them. a gram of cream on her face. I remember when my grandfather Sugar is not the only once said to my mother, when real cof- factor negatively affecting glucose fee was in use:”Dear, please roast some concentration in blood. Stimuli act barley and mix it in. I like it better mixed "similarly, while caffeine, as one of than coffee alone.” This means that the strongest, can cause significant they did enjoy coffee made of barley. imbalance of blood sugar. I will not write about coffee of Patrik Holford the day, simply because you can find 35 Aside from this, I think that food hard working female digger. Whether had important role in my mother’s polenta was sweet or not depended good health. Its slow and moderate on corn yield, which meant it depend- consummation is the key to healthy ed on God, who controlled the weath- nutrition, because slower eating ener. Conversations like these cannot be ables the body to determine when it made a man from the city “cage sys- is enough. That is the victory of qual- tem” of life According to how the youth ity over quantity. That is the victory anxiously waits in lines, it seems that a of pleasure over greed. Such way of hamburger is the ideal of a nowadays eating enables the body to feel the meal. According to Michael Pollan, a whole value of food, because all sens- hamburger is perfectly designed to es are included, not only the tongue offer the juicy and tasty first bite. It and the palate. Thereby, food is re- would be impossible to enjoy this bite spected sincerely and deeply. This is, if one could exactly imagine the cattle it seems, especially present among vil- breeding area, slaughterhouse and its lage people, such as my mother her- workers or know anything about the self, because they deeply respect their “artificial” barbeque taste that actually work, their products, unconsciously makes that first bite so persuasive. maintaining connection with nature. A light story around a certain food The best natural skin tonic brings back thoughts about that prod- is water. You’re your face with uct. Conversation around polenta was your hands for ten times. Such a about corn and working on it. Was "morning face wash will arouse the soil hard to plow due to abundant you and encourage circulation. rain or its dryness? Was it hard to dig, Lejla Kazinic - Kreho once again due to unfavorable conditions – too much moisture or dryness. Some cuisines are labeled “healthy” Everything was done by hand. A mo- and useful for human health, such as ment would be dedicated to the most the French, Mediterranean or Eastern. 36 Primarily, this relates to the food com- How to describe the life and nutri- position, way of preparation and pace tion of my mother, who lived 100 years? of consummation. Almost all organs in In general, she lived slowly. She walked the body obey commands from the slowly, ate, drank, and she also talked brain, where “the decision is made” on slowly. I think she enjoyed everything. when we have become full. Even though she was a housewife to a Time required for the brain to re- big family, I never heard her complain. ceive information that the stomach When asked about how it was back is full is 20 minutes. This period does then she would answer somehow not change, regardless of whether we calmly: “It was very difficult, we didn’t have filled our stomach within 5 or 10 have much. The biggest problem was minutes. Because of this physiological that you had to prepare something trait, one often stops eating because for the children every day. But, we al- they feel they cannot eat anymore, ways managed somehow. Even dur- but they do not have the feeling of ing the four war years there was some being full. Therefore, we feel that we food. I remember, only one day we are full only when “the brain says so”. If didn’t have any ingredients to make a a soft hamburger is eaten in 2-3 min- loaf of bread.” She ate very slowly, al- utes, how many of them can we eat most insensibly. While she was eating, in 20 minutes to obtain the feeling of there was almost no sound to it. Not a being full? Unfortunately, it is too late sound of hitting the plate with uten- then. Brian Warsink has given interest- sils or munching, as can be heard with ing remarks on answers provided by those who eat voraciously. She would the French, who eat longer and slow- eat what was on the offer, but moder- ly, and the Americans, who eat quick- ately. She liked foods high in fat, even ly, to the question: ”When do you stop though these foods were very scarce. eating?” The French say: “When we I watched her eat lamb toothless. It sense we are full”, while the Americans was a true ceremony filled with pa- say: “When we empty the plate”. tience and pleasure. She would take 37 a wooden kitchen plate and chop up go to the knees, but drinking large meat in small pieces, but she would amounts has no use. It is even harmful pick only those that had a lot of suet. if water is too cold. Quick drinking of a It was like meat was her food and suet greater amount of water can be use- a treat. This occurred in her older age ful for the kidneys, because it runs fast, of course, because in her youth meat which the kidneys “like”. However, our was rarely on the table. She drank ra- cells, which also need water, get little kia moderately but constantly. She ad- from that way of drinking. So, the right hered to the rule of drinking a glass of thing to do is to sit and slowly have a rakia before every lunch. few sips of water several times a day, She used to do that until her sev- reaching the two liters a day as recom- eral last years, when she said it no lon- mended. There are diff erent opinions ger felt good. Rakia and its usefulness on this matter also. Not everyone is so and its graces will be described in later rigid when it comes to daily intake of chapters of this book. She drank water water. Many think we should take into also, slowly, in small sips, mostly while the account all other foods rich in wa- being seated and never during lunch. ter that we eat or drink during a day - a Did my father teach my mother plate of soup, a cup of tea, lots of fruit, that water is drank in the sitting posi- tomato and pickles salad. With tion or vice versa I do not know, but I all this, two liters of plain water is remember father’s words warning me: not necessary. “Why are you drinking it so quickly for God’s sake? It will all go to your knees.”! Today I realize how much that warning was useful, even though my father could not explain why. Water will not 38 Dessert

Can you imagine any kind of celebration, wedding, birthday, birth of a child, New Year, slava, graduation celebration or any other feast at home or in a restaurant without a cake and many other cookies? There is a true competi- tion in this field. Which cake is the best? Is it the one with several levels or the one with more topping? It is the same. Cake is cake. It is a complex product for poi- Look! A cake! soning the body, like narcotics, cigarettes or alcohol. Pleasure and pleasure ing their appetite and animals eat more alone, until self-destruction. It is made and advance faster, especially those of white flour, white sugar and white that are fattened. The same goes for fat with the addition of other adjuncts humans. (cream, aroma, color, edible decora- The intake of big amounts of sim- tions or those not for eating). ple sugars disables proper control of Cookies, as well as other candies, the metabolism by the pancreas and most often contain strong aromas and the liver. This way, the excess of sug- synthetic colors. Aromas are the fastest ar remains in digestive organs, affect- travelers through the body and they ing the change of microflora in the are the first ones to reach our nerves way that is most beneficial for Candida. where, by affecting osmotic process- Sweet creams like Nutella are a clear ex- es, they increase hunger. This has been ample the harmful merge of plant (re- proven in the case of animals, where fined) oils with sugar and preservatives. aromas are added to their food increas- Artificial colors, aromas and other fla- 39 vor enhancers additionally increase in order to keep the blood clean, so it the harmfulness of these products. I re- can transfer oxygen, which is crucial for member that these creams were fi rst breathing and life. It has its own emulsi- sold in small glasses, and later in plastic fi ers (bile acids), whose task is to trans- buckets, which means they have be- form all fats entering the body into a come a food and not a treat. form that can be diluted in water (urine, The liver is dubbed central laborato- sweat and breathing byproducts).If ry and we could also add “the central there is excess of fats that cannot be fi lter” for all waste maters. It performs processed by bile salts, some minerals the selection of products of digestion like calcium will bind with them, which causes its artifi cial defi ciency, and consequences are far-reaching, especially for women.

40 I remember when someone id is the basic weapon against homo- brought the magical preservative - “the cysteine, which is detailed later in the guardian of wine” - to my village. It book, and which is the main cause of was said that it could preserve every- heart attacks, children deformities and thing from decay for longer period of premature childbirth. time. The arrival of the guardian of wine In the seventies (1977) I was in marked the beginning of preparing the France for the first time, when I familiar- famous tursija (pickled vegetables). It ized myself with their cuisine and nutri- was praised widely because people fi- tion in general. All until then I believed nally managed to preserve vegetables that dessert and sweet are synonyms. over the entire winter. Even green to- After lunch, which lasted as twice as in matoes found their place in tursija, de- Italy or here, several sorts of goat cheese spite being harmful in that form. Let’s were brought to the table, along with look at the other side of the coin. What some cognac in a large glass. No-one is the guardian of wine? It is potassium mentioned cookies or anything sweet, metabisulphite, a name meaning noth- and let alone offered them. So, it was ing to most, but whose consequences then when I learned that dessert does have been felt by many. This product not need to be sweet. I remember my destroys folic acid (one of important vi- grandparents, who used to end every tamins in the body). Experts in study- lunch with sour milk. ing the role of vitamins say that there Did our ancestors have dessert on is no luck without folates. It is the most their menu? Sure they did. Every day. It unstable vitamin and many substances was sour milk. Regardless of the main can destroy it. Food contains only small course (main and only one), sour milk concentrations of it. It participates in was at the end. Often it was just a cup the production of transmitters of sero- of plain sour milk, but there used to be tonin, noradrenalin and dopamine. The also many combinations which I still so-called psychovitamins B1, B6, B12 remember. Two most common were: and folic acid cooperate well. Folic ac- sour milk with polenta or boiled pota- 41 toes. Warm potatoes mashed in a plate quickly than any candy. Bread crust that is covered with sour milk and there you has been chewed longer and slowly re- have a dish called “tyotyka”. moves hypoglycemia (sugar deficiency I do not believe you could offer any- in blood) and daily fatigue. thing tastier and healthier as dessert. It The benefits of sour milk have been is a product regulating digestion with known since early times, at least accord- its acidophilic bacteria, which are very ing to a legend. This is a story by my important for our stomach. mother: “St. Peter went once across a When antibiotics destroy useful field with his disciples and they passed bacteria of the stomach, because an- by some reapers during their lunch tibiotics do not choose, we must seek break. These were eating fatty white rescue in sour milk or turn to the phar- bacon. “Oh”, said St. Peter to his disci- maceutics. Unfortunately. Is all food go- ples, “I feel sorry for these men for eating to be put in pills or capsules some- ing bacon in this heat, they will get ill.” day? Are we ever going to be freed of While he was looking at them, one of the boring chewing? Not actually. the reapers reached for some sour milk The usefulness of various physiolog- and drank it. St. Peter just waved his ical operations during eating is becom- hand and said: “It’s good. Fear not for ing a growingly popular topic. Maybe these men, for nothing will strike them!” this book will also help someone realize As an unwritten rule, for dessert how much useful chewing is. Chewing youngsters used to take a big slice of does not only chop up food, which fa- black (barley) bread with some plum cilitates digestion, but it also saturates jam or pig fat sprinkled with sugar. Later it with enzymes from the saliva. Well- it was replaced by white bread and mar- chewed bite with over 50 squeezes by malade, which we as kids gladly accept- the teeth during which saliva enzymes ed. Both these new treats came from in- saturate the bite is a half of the work. dustry. This was when industry grabbed Sugar from a bite of bread that has been with its claws children in our region for chewed longer arrives to blood more the first time. That was my time. The 42 glorious fi fties. Today it is probably even rather distant to them. Of course, this worse, because chips, fl ips and other was possible because they did not snacks are taking their toll. have cakes and juices full with sugar. Nutrition disorder of adolescents Small amounts of sugar they took aged 15 to 18 was the subject of a re- with their coff ee could not cause any search by Ljiljana Stanivuk in her mas- problems. ter’s thesis. The research was performed on a sample of 3.301 pupils in Human body produces 12 secondary schools in the Banja Luka about a liter and a half of saliva region. She determined that 27% of every day. That enables the fl ow of this population has suff ered from nu- "up to even six liters of blood through trition disorder. An average human of salivary glands during chewing. today knows about much more med- Gennadiy Petrovich Malahov ical terms and conditions than before. Some diseases are talked and read about almost everywhere. In the past, one was unable to increase their knowledge due to illiteracy and the in- existence of media information. I think it would be suitable to mention basic symptoms of overconsump- tion of sugar that are familiar to us all: obesity, sluggishness after waking up, apathy, inability to focus. Our prede- cessors had none of these. They were not fat and they were motivated to work from sunrise to sundown. Their cheerfulness and singing while working meant that apathy was something 43 With nature to health

44 ne of the best definitions of health was given by the famous Katsuzo Nishi: “In Oits true sense, health means perfection, an ideal organization, i.e. life hope, freedom, harmonized functions, energy and release from all tensions and burden. Health is based on the principle of mutual action and dependence of organs. Health depends on the harmony or balance between opposing forces of the body: movement and peace, the contrast of action, acidity and alkalinity, warmth and cold, absorbing and producing.”

The battle for health of today is usu- time and space are endless. So is there ally fought using many drugs, primari- hope? Surely not in radical rejection of ly antibiotics. The discovery of the first antibiotics, but in parallel inclusion of antibiotic (penicillin) in 1928 in the lab- natural factors and aids. Calling nature oratory of A. Fleming was proclaimed for help is inevitable, because we are a a revolution. Correct. Many lives were part of it. Some call that returning to na- saved by penicillin and other antibi- ture. Call it as they please, without na- otics later. The world admired and ture we have no future. thanked them. Bacterial diseases were It is a true miracle how human beat in a matter of days. Not long af- body fights all problems created by ter science began recognizing side-ef- our own hand. Every day we consume fects as well. a half a kilo of white bread, plenty of As time went by, the number of industrially refined fats and white sug- side-effects increased. Some antibiotics ar. Every other day we eat frozen or re- were banned, such as chloramphenicol, heated food, we drink too much black because it was determined it was harm- coffee, various industrial drinks and ful. Many other were removed from the many other unhealthy products in ex- list. Bacteria become more and more cess. Smokers are a special story, but resistant, so the solution lies in the dis- let them be for now. covery of new generations. Is it ever With this kind of nutrition we can- going to end? Maybe yes. I guess only not expect to live healthy. Our ances- 45 tors did not eat this way. Even despite Health depends on poverty they ate healthier than we four primary elements: skin, who can afford anything. There is wide diet, organs and psych. offer of foods, but most of them are " Katsuzo Nishi (1884 – 1959) low quality or even harmful. My father died at the age of 80. In I was very interested in how meals my mother’s opinion, who lived to see looked like and what was eaten during 100, he went “too early”. Explanation for breakfast, lunch and supper. For break- his shorter lifespan, besides genetics, I fast it was always dairy products, be- find in his way of life. As a young man cause they were abundant in rural ar- he went to war and endured four years eas. These were boiled milk (“varenika”) in almost impossible conditions. After with barley “bread”. Basa cheese was that hard work in the field, barn and for- the main energy booster, and some- est followed him almost until his death. times there was bacon. In all those conditions nature gave Every day they used to eat hot him clean air, nutrition primarily based boiled milk with pieces of bread in it, on vegetables, dry climate and a simple according to my father. The smell of but natural way of life with a lot of phys- boiled milk was attractive and sug- ical activity. He could choose almost gested it might boil over. Grandfather nothing. He ate either too little or too was tasked to watch it not to boil over, much. During the war he surely ate too as he had nothing else to do, while little and later in times of peace, while mother did the housework. The milk working, his diet was very monotonous was left at the corner of the stove for and often he ate too much, because some time in order to boil a little more, he did not have several meals a day, so because it made it even more tasty. it had to be supplemented. Opposite A larger cup of hot boiled milk to him, grandfather, mother and oth- would be put on the table and with la- er family members ate the usual three dle it was poured into plates. You put meals a day, calmly and on schedule. some barley bread in it and enjoy. 46 I asked how had it been before that for two days in a row, because there time. Everything had been the same, were never leftovers for tomorrow. except that utensils had been wood- As night fell, there came supper. en. And lunch? There had always been Once again, most often there was something. They had not prepared sev- boiled milk (“varenika”). There were al- eral dishes as today when you are not so salty treats, primarily potatoes split sure what to begin with, as my father in half, salted on the inside and baked used to say. One dish and when you’re in the stove. Combined with basa finished, get back to work. Most often cheese, especially if it was a bit older it had been some spiced polenta fol- (more mature), that was true pleasure. lowed by some polenta with sour milk. My grandfather also told me that how for many years for dinner, as ev- My mate, when I’ve erything settled down, he liked hot eaten some hot boiled milk and boiled milk the most. polenta, I could climb to the top In winter, during long nights, peo- "of Osjecenica Mountain and tie a ple would sit and talk through the bale of hay with no gloves on. evening to make night seem shorter. Mile Latinovic - Druskan (Buddy) Before bedtime, my grandfather would wind his alarm clock and eat one “chu- As a rule, during a week every day pa” apple (somewhat softer apple we would have a different dish for from our own orchard). The act of eat- lunch spiced polenta, pie, beans, sour ing an apple without a single tooth cabbage, clove soup, baked potatoes was a challenge on its own. He would cut in half with a few pieces of ba- take his peeling knife and start peel- con. On a day of slaughtering a chick- ing. He would do it the same way hor- en there would be some good stew nets do. The soft inside to the mouth and cooked meat. And there you go - and peel to the stove. He would re- seven dishes for seven days. Seemingly peat it every evening. At the time I did monotonous food, but never identical not know anything about nutrition- 47 ism, because I would have advised him did not have a “developed market” as it that peel contained much more use- is called today. ful maters that the inner part of an ap- Today everything begins and ends ple. That, it seems, was not important. with thinking about market. At work, at Apple felt good to him. Who taught school, at cafe, at home, in front of a him of that? I do not know. However, TV, in church. he never had stomach aches, even Are we going to be able to create though by his old days he had lost all market for bread without yeast (“pres- his teeth. Did that apple (never more ki” bread)? Surely not if we do not ad- than one) or hot milk help him sleep just its appearance and flavor, which is well? Maybe a glass of rakia before ev- impossible without additives. Without ery lunch or only one dish per lunch those four additives: for color, flavor, helped too? There were many things. preservation of freshness and crust red- Common nettle soup in spring, spiced ness. If we added all that, it would not polenta and brine packed with vitamin be the “preski” bread. It would not be C and sour cabbage for salad in winter. the bread from the Biblical story told In summer cereals were the basic food, by Rica Zarai, when God sent Moses which is in line with all recommenda- to free the Jews from Egypt. The story tions of modern nutritionism. goes: “One night people gathered all After all these questions on what their herds and took children on their was so useful for these people who backs; women took some clothes, vari- worked all days and were strong, slept ous tools and dough for making bread well and did not have digestion prob- the next day. Because of the rush lems, the answer came on its own. It dough could not rise. Tomorrow, in was the right combination of foods the desert, sons of Israel ate round flat that derived from the harmony be- bread, bread that did not have time to tween nature and man. Their lifestyle rise. It was how “matza”, the first bread did not allow them such immense test- without yeast, was made, light and lax. ing with dishes as today. It seems they Since that day, Jewish people around 48 the globe celebrate their liberation by yeast in flour products activate growth eating “matza” for the Passover festi- of various sorts of tumors, while inte- val.” gral bread without it can serve as a sol- I also remember the “preski” bread id prevention, even as part of the treat- my mother used to make. It seems to ment for cancer related diseases. me that quick preparation was the ba- Torture by the market did not ex- sic reason why it was made so often, ist back then as today can be seen in because you did not have to wait for magazines, books, TV information on yeast. It tasted well only when it was various successful diets, supported by warm. I liked “preski” bannocks with Photoshopped images, false advocates basa cheese. During the Holy Fast on- talking about the success of this or that ly my mother and grandfather fasted. diet. People deceive themselves with In the morning, for breakfast, she weight loss diets and it never man- used to prepare some chopped red aged to permanently resolve the prob- onions in oil with some salt. It would lem of obesity. Diet is useful only at stay for a while until the bannocks clinics as part of life-saving procedures. were done. They would give me a por- Heart-healthy diets are known, as well tion of it as salad, because I did not fast, as diets prescribed for bad kidneys, liv- to go along with some smoked red er and many other that become per- pork meat if there was any left in the manent. That is actually a change in attic. Can we dub such breakfast body nutrition because of health and not cleansing? Of course. because of losing weight. These diets True fasting is a real gift for the lov- are prescribed by experts nutritionists er and blood vessels. The liver, the big- in cooperation with other specialists. gest filter in our body, should be giv- In good old days, man could main- en some time off to recuperate some- tain their body very easily. They safe- times. Research by Russian scientists A. guarded 6 vital organs. Katchugin and A. Bodaryev prove that

49 • They supplied their They would not let anything attack lungs with clean air. these six organs that defended the whole body. • They gave their heart There are hundreds of books in- walking that expanded blood tended to teach us how to live a vessels and melted fat. healthy life. Among them there are both concise and confusing ones, • They gave their liver natural food good and bad. Most of them suggest without fats, processed maters, various recipes to healthy life, especial- additives, white sugar, white flour. ly through diets. The numerous diet and weight • They did not burden their kidneys loss recommendations undoubtedly with toxic ingredients, salt, say obesity is a major threat to human sulfonamides, antibiotics and kind. As if diets are going to resolve ev- all other poisonous additives. erything. On the contrary, they will resolve nothing, while some will cause • Besides oxygen, they fed their new diseases to those applying them. brain with pleasure, songs, play and good sleep. All weight loss diets have one drawback: They do not meet • They did not put on synthetics, individual needs for food. plastics and other clothes colored " Anita Hebman - Kosaris with poisonous colors. They did not wash their skin with liquid Let me remind you of one diet: the soaps or put antiperspirants, protein diet, i.e. the “meat diet”. Except and they also did not expose for meat, it does not allow intake of it to excessive sunlight. other nutrients. This diet has excess of proteins, which cause the production of excess urinal acid in blood, which 50 is crystallized and deposited in joints. sides...” And can we determine the And that is how you can get gout. number of paths a modern man has in This diet, which does decrease the terms of nutrition? level of fat in the body, but also it of- It may be hard to give a precise an- ten decreases the level of own proteins swer, but I begin to believe that there needed for creating energy. The pro- are four possible paths: tein diet is also called ketogenic, be- 1. Path of the rich. They can afford cause it causes the creation of harm- to choose “organic food” and ful ketogenic products. It burdens prepare it as recommended the kidneys and the body takes great- to preserve health. er amounts of calcium in order to de- 2. Second path is the one taken grade proteins, thus creating precondi- by those who are not rich, tions for osteoporosis. but do know something, are Technology advances, while our hardworking, so they produce knowledge lags behind. Market orga- some food by themselves or invest nization is ever improving and it offers a little more effort and buy most more and more products, while we of the groceries in the countryside. know very little about what has been packaged, decorated and smells nicely 3. The third ones are those who from a far, so we cannot resist it. Those are just lazy and without who are awakening and starting to knowledge, so cheap industrial think about their health are beginning food it their best choice. to be afraid. What to eat? And especial- 4. Unfortunately, the last group of ly, what about those who do not know people is those who have nothing much about food? They will eat what- to eat. These are hungry people ever the market has to offer, while they all over the world, and there is only have to worry about the quantity. a lot of them, who live by the There is a beautiful saying: “From system - give take what is given. the source, two paths lead to two 51 pastor from Philadelphia, Are there any solutions in situation Sylvester Graham, known for when not all people can be educat- recommending the use of whole- ed and follow the galloping advance wheat flour, just the way it was of technology that leaves dire conse- used in our region until the fifties quences? Certainly there are, other- of the last century. In the West, wise humankind would be extinct. Graham biscuits are known as a These recommendations might be memory to Sylvester Graham. useful: • Reject industrial products or use • Make your own sausages them in the least possible amount without nitrites and nitrates. (pâté, spam, sausages, creams, • Sour your milk by yeast derived dressings, various candies, cakes from useful probiotic bacteria with butter and white sugar, “acidophilus” and “bifidus”. industrial spices, white sugar, • Whole-wheat flour and and the brown one, too, and green apple pie with many other. You may wonder is honey is a useful treat. there anything left then? There is even too much for the modern • Buy potatoes from villagers from man with no physical activity. plateaus, such as the Petrovac, Grahovo and Glamoc plateaus. • It would be useful to bake bread at home from whole-wheat flour, • Buy cheese and basa cheese but not the industrial one filled from areas where these products with additives for color, flavor and are made only of milk and salt. preservation. This way you will get • Go to market in autumn and a kind of Graham bread. Where buy all wild fruits, because they did the name “Graham” come are offered in abundance. from? This kind of bread was named after a young Presbyterian • Sour cabbage on your own and drink brine. 52 Once you have established this sys- fect in something at least. Here’s a story tem and started to believe there is by a hunter below Ostrelj peak: something in these words, I dare utter „We planted two small corn fields. my grim prophecy of human future: still We planted our indigenous seeds on this civilization will end, because food is one field and some hybrids on the oth- not all. It will be destroyed by the devel- er next to it. Wild boars came and first opment of technology and pollution. ate all the indigenous corn and then Seemingly, man works for the good of moved to the field with hybrids. They humankind, but it is the opposite. Man ate it as well, but it took them twice the is the only excess on this planet and it time in which they ate the indigenous did not start that way, because all oth- one“.. er beings live in harmony with nature. Which sense commanded the pigs Saying that we are perfect beings to to make the choice, because the “per- me is unacceptable. Man is less perfect fect” man would have, using its “sharp” than many animals. Above all, let us re- eyes, surely picked the other corn for its mind of perfect communities, such as long, attractive hybrid cobs? Have the bee and ant communities that we know pigs been fighting against GMO (genet- very little of. Why does man not know ically modified organisms) we will nev- to pick a suitable plant and resolve di- er know. I have an example of my own gestive problems when they occur? The from my veterinary practice. My friend dog, as an imperfect species, can solve and I were called up to visit a broiler this problem effectively with the aid of farm. We were told that chickens were nature. It will just bite a few leaves of squeaking very loudly and that they the grass it considers useful, swallows would not eat. The sight was very unit, throws up the content of the stom- appealing. Ruffled chickens only ten ach and continues living without diges- days old refused food with strange tive problems. The wild boar, that “ugly” “screams”. We suspected it was a certain animal, which often serves for boosting disease, but we could not provide lab someone’s self-perception, is more per- evidence. In a matter of days microtoxin 53 T2 was discovered. Once again, which Another evil of today has been mechanisms alarmed the chicks not to made by man. It is a disease that poses eat that food, because it was toxic? a great threat to humankind and which When the owner made changes to is called the “Mad Cow Disease,”. food supplies, they started eating vo- From the moment when man, in raciously. The toxin was derived from its imperfection, began feeding cows, corn. There is not special corn for chick- goats and sheep with fl our made of ens and special corn for children, so we meat and bones, it all started to go can claim that they eat the same corn. sideways. For the umpteenth time, un- Since there is almost no control over authorized, man has disrupted nature the levels of microtoxins here, we have for the “good” of humankind, not think- the right to be worried what our chil- ing that nature is a perfect harmony in dren eat in “homemade polenta”. There which cows never ate meat. People still are many more examples confi rming die from this mean disease (BSE). the imperfection of man. In its imperfection man is perfect only in the de- If man has improper struction of its own species. Not a sin- nutrition, not even mountain gle other animal would destroy another climate can save one from disease. one of the same species without rea- " Gennady Petrovich Malahov son.

This is not natural

Oregano, the best natural antibiotic 54 Natural medicines

It would take a while if we were to ceutics calls it “rose hip extract”. Aleksej list all the medicinal plants from the Sinyakov recommends the next recipe Petrovac region. Dragan Gacesa did that for the extract: in a book “The greatest natural treasure” 200 g of dried fruits (daily dose is (Najveće blago prirode“). 10g) is washed in cold water. Then you It is almost impossible to list every- pour 0.5 l of boiling water, cover it with thing nature has provided to man. It ap- a lid and boil for 10 minutes, after which pears that the most valuable things are it is left for 4-6 hours in warm area and those at our hand’s reach. The most ob- then drained. It can be sweetened, if de- vious example is the wild rose hip. sired, (best with honey). It can be drank I remember how I also used to three times a day, a half of a cup each eat mellow rose hips as I was growing time. The extract is stored in cool area, up in the countryside. We would pick not longer than 2 days. Even 50 years hips choosing the red ones, the big- ago, my mother used to prepare this gest ones that had softened, out of tea in a similar way. Namely, she boiled which we would suck the contents. At them a bit longer on the stove and it the time we did not know that the rose would let it be until it is cold. After drain- hip has over twenty times more of vita- ing the fluid, rose hips would be pre- min C than lemon. It sounds unbeliev- served for the next round of tea, which able, but one small fruit of hip or 2-3 of means they were not drained of their them have an equal amount of vitamin contents completely. C as one whole lemon. I also remember Speaking of vitamin C, here are some that when we would eat too much of more interesting details. If I were to list it, it would give us diarrhea. Tea made everything that has been written about of dried plums and dried rose hips, to- it and much of what has been proved, gether with juniper berries, was pre- you would realize why it is called the vi- pared often. Today traditional pharma- tamin number one. Whenever the topic 55 of health comes up, you hear about vi- at its “hand’s” reach. Why is it that man tamin C. Metabolism is a very complex and the ape were punished by nature’s action in the human body during which changing of their genetic formula will around 15000 processes are somehow remain unknown for many more years. related to vitamin C. We will leave this to geneticists. As Some unprocessed foods for vitamin C, we have to add that, as the rich in vitamin C: number one vitamin, it safeguards oth- Food item per 100g er vitamins, because it is a strong antiox- Acerola cherry 1600 mg idant and a great fighter against free rad- Rose hip 1000 mg icals. It “advises” hormones how to act, Sea buckthorn 450 mg while it is almost of crucial importance Paprika 138 mg for iron, because the body accepts very Broccoli 115 mg little , if any, iron if there is not enough vi- Brussels sprouts 105 mg tamin C. On the one hand it helps the Kiwi 71 mg body absorb iron, while on the other Strawberry 64 mg it attaches itself to some heavy metals Orange 49 mg (led), thus helping detoxification. A tear is Lemon 41 mg sour because it contains fifty times more Source: The Vitamin Bible by Ulrich vitamin C than the blood. It is the eye’s Strunz, Andreas Jopp. first defense for the clarity of the lens. The process of maintaining good im- Smokers should erect a statue to it, on mune system (immunity) is among the condition that they take it at least three most important ones. In one element, times more than non-smokers. Namely, vitamin C proves the great resemblance to neutralize nitrates and heavy met- of man and the ape, because neither of als (led) from smoke, the body needs a them produces it, except for some ra- lot of vitamin C that binds these matters re species. It appears that the ape is in and lowers their concentration. It is simi- advantage, because plants, having the lar with consumers of big amounts of in- biggest concentrations of vitamin C, are dustrial sausages to which nitrates are 56 added that, when transformed into ni- pears that we have learned this from trosamines, become cancerous. monitoring animals in times of some sort It is vitamin C that prevents nitrates of infection, when their body produces to turn into nitrosamines. four times more vitamin C than usual. According to newest research, it Still, the amount of this vitamin in- seems that vitamin C is a true savior of take can never be considered without today’s human, which is under the at- control, at least for two reasons. First, vi- tack of elements it cannot influence on tamin C does not belong to the cate- (various types of pollution, electromag- gory of vitamins that are deposited as netism, stress) and those it can, such as liposoluble vitamins A, D, E and K. The smoking, use of industrial products full body discharges excess of this vitamin, of poisons and cancerous elements. at least when it comes to the pure form Therefore, many recommend the use of ascorbic acid, which at first glance of vitamin C several times greater than would mean that should not bother, before. This is primarily related to smok- because we cannot increase the con- ers and others in times of flu or influenza centration in the body, which is wrong. seasons or in the event of the fall of im- Namely, the difference is in the use of munity as a chronic disease. this substance from natural sources and synthetic materials. Vitamin C also ex- Natural defense has three ists in another form where ascorbic ac- frontlines. The first one is avoiding id is attached to mineral such as sodium infections. The second one is the ascorbate or other compounds. These "skin and mucosa, and the third forms stay longer and are easier to bear one is the immunity system. in the body. Another important aspect Alojz Ihan is thermal processing of foods that are supposed to provide us with this vita- Previously, recommendations for vitamin. Vitamin C is the most unstable vi- min C intake were in milligrams and to- tamin and processing on high temper- day they are expressed in grams. It ap- atures can destroy up to fifty percent of 57 it. Excessive use of all kinds of food or (a big bowl of cabbage, carrot or pars- drinks will cause problems. ley salad abundant in vitamin C cannot Who drinks excessive water and ox- cause anything like this). That is why fans ygen in the body will face problems as of vitamin pills frequently suffer from well. gastritis with elevated acid level, as well as from a stomach or duodenal ulcer. JEat everything on condition By increasing the amount of urine, it is natural, in moderate amounts, is Vitamin C accelerates the formation of a permanent motto of living healthy. scale in the kidneys and bladder from " Author the salts of oxalic and urine acid. Patients receiving B12 shots are The same goes for vitamin C. warned by doctors not to take synthetic Excessive amounts of this vitamin can vitamin C, because it can neutralize vita- contribute to the creation of kidney min B12. Those suffering from diabetes stones as well as to excessive absorption should know that great amounts of vita- of iron, which we surely do not want. min C decrease the production of insu- Once again, here nature steps in calling lin in the pancreas and increase the level us to get back to her and use raw foods, of sugar in the blood and urine. since they offer so much. G. P. Malahov Recently it has been discovered that also confirms that vitamin C should be strong doses of vitamin C slow down sought in natural foods: the transfer neuro-muscular impulses, „The most dangerous consequence causing increased muscle fatigue, and of maximum dose of vitamin C is in- the coordination of sight and move- creased blood coagulation, which re- ment reactions is also disturbed. sults in a thrombus“. Therefore, it can be concluded that By irritating mucosa of organs of the for good health and its preservation it digestive system, excessive doses of vi- is recommended to use only natural vitamin C cause pains under the chin, tamins. heartburn, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea 58 Common nettle

Common nettle belongs to weed, which, due to insufficient knowledge, many consider dangerous and do not want it anywhere near. To some extent they are right, because common nettle causes burning sensation when touched, while it also causes autumn allergies, together with ambrosia. However, this is just a small aspect of it in relation to the other, useful one that helps preserve our health, since it is one of the first plants that can do so in spring. The body can make a quick recovery in spring thanks to common nettle and auricula, as if they wanted to hurry to give themselves to man to make recuperate from long winter, during which nutrition tends to be pretty insufficient in vitamins. It is picked as soon as it appears, because the young Common nettle – a magic formula ones are the most tasty and useful. It iron, whose concentration in the body can be prepared in several ways: as decreases over winter due to fatty and soup, which is most common in my vil- often monotonous food. lage, or as mash addition to meat and Common nettle was used as early other dishes or in pie. as the first century, when Galen discov- The reason why it should be picked ered that its leaf is a diuretic and laxa- in early spring is its high content of tive. Common nettle has many positive 59 impacts. It improves digestion, beats lice and other. I witnessed this proce- inflammations, improves the produc- dure myself on the example of cultivation of milk, protects blood vessels tion of tomatoes at my cousin’s. One and lowers blood pressure. It is good should not consume common nettle to diabetics, because its leaves contain in excess, because large amounts can glycokinin. It improves immunity, while have negative consequences. If tak- it is also used as an aid in curing arthri- en in large quantities, common nettle tis, rheumatism, prostatitis. Common lowers blood pressure and slows down nettle contains lecithin, using which heart rate, so persons with these prob- it destroys viruses attacking upper lems must be careful. Since it is diuret- breathing channels. Some authors ic, it is not recommended to persons state that people who drink a lot of who use medicines for the release of common nettle tea or eat it often have fluids, because it increases that effect. shinier and thicker hair, cleaner and The effect is realized thanks to the po- healthier skin. Maybe this experience tassium and sodium ratio of 60:1 in fa- could be applied in the case of today’s vor of potassium. Even though com- youth. What is it that causes the burn- mon nettle causes allergies with some ing sensation? It is a mixture of sever- persons allergic to ambrosia or pollen, al substances, above all ant acid aided other people use it as a means to miti- by histamine and acetylcholine. Except gate allergies, because of the presence as food, common nettle is used also in of quercetin. Common nettle has been gardening both as fertilizer and as pro- used as food and medicine for animals. tection tool. A certain amount of com- Grandmothers were especially devot- mon nettle is picked (whole plants) ed to this and would boil it and give and left in the sun for more than ten it to chickens. They added some garlic days. The fluid is then poured on veg- and whey, too. I have spent my whole etables and flowers. It plays a double career working on poultry nutrition role, because its leaves feed the plant, and I admit this was a positive experi- but also destroy pests, such as plant ence for me. 60 Juniper

Juniper is a plant found on forest pastures. It has blue berries used for making tea, but having other uses as well. It has many useful ingredients making it primarily an antiseptic. It strengthens and to some extent substitutes antibiotic therapy and penetrates deep into the body, which makes it effective. Juniper berries are usually put in rakia (locally called “Klekovaca” or juniper brandy), which is good for making compress for rheumatism and colds. Juniper heals. Hawthorn

Children rarely spoke about haw- ter defecating, could be seen in feces, thorn, because they were afraid of it. and that scared children. So, stomach They said that if you eat too much worms could be healed with nature. of it, you would get stomach worms. Haw, garlic and pumpkin seeds were That, it appears, did not apply for an effective tool for deposing stom- adults. There is some truth to it, be- ach worms. It is recommended that cause children stomach worms were these ingredients are taken on empty in question. It was, of course, wrong. stomach, for better effect. Today we Mature haw is an effective tool for de- have antiparasitics, pharmaceutical posing stomach worms, which, af- tools that both heal and poison. 61 Plums and rakia

As a small boy, when I began keep- dered then, how could that be breaking cows in the field all others were fast. Now I admire that simplicity and bigger and older than me. I liked sleep- healthy nutrition, even though it can ing, so I was always late, in terms of vil- be labeled as the food of the poor. lage time. Since I couldn’t eat break- Nature probable could not make fast, I would be forced to take some- a better combination than of these thing before getting out to eat it later. two. I strongly believe that the blend My mother would usually prepare of barley bread and plums existed for me two larger slices of bread smeared centuries before. Which plum prod- with basa cheese, something like a uct should I praise more? Fresh dried sandwich in today’s terms. Most oth- plums processed into jam, with a very er, older, friends of mine would sim- small amount of sugar, or prepared as ply put a piece of barley bread and a compote? Rakia has its place also - in dozen of plums in their bags. I won- the middle of the table. All plum prod-

62 ucts can be praised, except for sweet plums, because it that case white sugar destroys everything that is useful. Why put sugar in something that is already sweet?! Mature plums are full of useful sugar for the body. It gives us vitamins C, E, B1, B2, B6. Contains beta carotene, organic acids. It has a lot of potassium. Plum is full of phenolic phytonutrients - antioxidants protecting nerve cells. Zink and copper pro- Flask full of slivovitz tect the body in the way that they However, it is still a secret what plums strengthen immunity, while copper contain that acts so positively. lifts the spirit. Matters from the plum Plum is food and medicine to our cleanse blood vessels and prevent the body. One should not consume it in deposition of cholesterol. excess, because it contains plenty Dried plums are also desirable for of oxalates, which can be harmful in the body. It is a proven, simple and very greater amounts. When barley bread effective remedy given to all those suf- is added as a first-class prebiotic, our fering from constipation since earliest body benefits in several ways. times. A dozen of dried plums should Since the earliest times, alcohol be immersed in water over night and has been made, rakia, too, probably. eaten in the morning as the first meal. There are some drawings by ancient This recommendation has been veri- Egyptians and Greeks. There are al- fied by many scientists in the area of so the Chinese from the 7th century nutritionism, together with the ben- and the Indians from the 9th centu- efit for bone thickness and lowering ry. Ancient Slavs made mead as early the harmful form of LDL cholesterol. as the 5th century, and they brought their technology of making it to the 63 Balkan peninsula sometimes in the 7th for both inner and outer disinfec- century. It is a pleasure to state that tion. There is a common joke: “Take a even today some fine mead is pro- spoonful of honey to attract bacteria duced under the Petrovac skies. in group, then drink some black coffee When me mention rakia today, we to bring them darkness and then drink usually think of plum rakia (shlivovitz), a good glass of rakia to kill them.” whose roots are unknown. It is men- It was the main aperitif, main tool tioned in the Dusan’s Code. During the for beating fear, main cure to tooth Ottoman rule, its production became ache, and stomach pains. I was used popular, so special tax was paid per for making cold compress for lower- each batch. ing high body temperature. People es- In almost every house in my village pecially appreciated alcoholic potions there would be a bottle of rakia on the with plants. I will mention only one, table, from which you would pour a which can be considered the repre- glass before lunch. Except for young sentative and that is the wormwood in children, everyone drank it. During rakia, which my mother used to make hard labor, it was a true stimulation, me to improve my appetite. especially during plowing, digging, Therefore, there were times when mowing grass and threshing. It could rakia was the only beverage in my vil- be found everywhere. In the field, at a lage. At weddings, funerals, slavas and construction site, in the forest and all on communal work bees. Everything other places wherever some work was began and ended with rakia, In every performed. Whether it was the rakia or sense of this statement. psychological satisfaction (no stress), song was always sang on the way No other medicine is home, by diggers and reapers alike. as effective in the prevention Rakia was thought to have ma- of heart attack as moderate ny healing powers. Many are accept- "consuming of alcohol. ed even today. It was said it was good Serj Reno, a French researcher 64 Raspberry

This kind of wild fruit, which is, un- a temporary dish for holding raspberries, doubtedly, a source of vitamins and because households did not have many minerals, was also one of the sources dishes as today. Dishes like pots and forks of revenue, because excessive amounts were especially scarce, so they could not were sold. Just after the World War II, be carried to the woods. Therefore, cow- the state established farmers’ coopera- herds would make themselves the “ku- tives, which, among other, included sta- zov”, which had the volume of a half of tions for buying many farming prod- liter. They would make them by peel- ucts, including wild raspberries. ing bark of young pine trees (young pine Annual picking season for raspber- tree trunk is as thick as a man’s hand), ries did not last long, so people tried carving it very carefully to get fl at edges to pick as much as they could, other- to adhere better when joined together. wise the black bear would do it instead. They would fold it in such a way that in- It was a true challenge mixed with fear, ner side of the bark is also on the inside of because sometimes you could hear the container. They used thorns or spiked the sound of growling and cracking of branch tips to join peeled pieces of bark branches from shrubbery with raspber- together. It was very fi rm and could hold ries nearby as a warning that you were plenty of raspberries. The same dish was on the bear’s territory. made for holding forest strawberries and People often had encounters with blackberries. Older people used to say bears while picking raspberries, but I nev- that raspberries from the “kuzov” tended er heard that anyone got injured by the to be more aromatic and sweeter some- beast. It seems some kind of mute agree- how. This was probably due to the smell ment existed between them. For daily of resin from the moist inside of the dish. needs during keeping cows in the forest, cowherds had to bring raspberries somehow with themselves. They would make 65

filled with medicines depicts the quali- ging and the reaping of grass. We can ty of life of people over 50 years of age calculate these activities in the number today. of footsteps or shovel blows per day. If five basic bodily functions or ne- • A plowman can plow about cessities were fulfilled in a normal way, 3000 square meters and make we would not need supplements, just up to 30000 footsteps per day. like my mother, grandma Mara, grand- • A digger can cultivate about 1500 ma Sara and Vova (they all live 100 to square meters of cornfield and 110 years). Five basic bodily functions or make up to 30000 shovel blows. necessities are: • Breathing • A reaper can reap about 3000 square meters of meadow • Intake of liquid and make up to 15000 • Intake of food swings with their hands.

• Sleeping and In order to perform these works, • Physical activity one usually had to walk to the field, thus It is very easy to see the difference crossing another five or six kilometers in the way people realized these func- by foot. So, in cultivating cornfield by tions a hundred years ago and how plow, one can lose around 5000 calo- they do it today. Those from the past: ries per day. If these tasks are expressed had clean air, drank clean water, ate in spent calories, it would be easy to natural food, slept during the night and understand why people lose weight not during the day (as many young- while performing them. The reason is sters do today) and performed physical very simple. They lose two times more labor all day long. calories than they take per day. In terms of physical labor in the Today we are far away from the countryside, I think the following mentioned principles for living in har- should be emphasized: plowing, dig- mony with nature. It only matters that 69 industry and market provide us with take the bottles with frozen water out sufficient quantities. We have plenty we will see that the ice is murky in the of air, water and food, which would be middle, with various nuances of white, great if food was correct and water was yellow and grey colors, while it is trans- clean. parent around it. That central part holds We have switched the roles of the the excess of salts, a large portion of day and the night, depriving us of toxic compounds, heavy metals… The those few hours of best quality sleep outer layer, right next to the inner brim before midnight. Physical activity is not of the bottle, holds deuterium - heavy even worth of mentioning. water, very useful for making the atom- ic bomb, but not for the functioning of The oil of wild our body. In small amount it has a dev- oregano (vranilovka) is the astating effect on our body and can best natural antibiotic. cause death. " Author’s positive experience After we have removed the bottle from the freezer, we then pour it with Beside food, water is becoming hot water for a minute or two. Then an equally important issue. City wa- we carefully open the bottle and let ter utilities do not provide correct wa- the pressurized water with deuteri- ter, which is, every now and then, con- um come out. After that, we close the firmed by many printed and electron- bottle and put it in a larger vessel filled ic media. Georgiy Nazarov reveals an with warm water, around 40 degrees interesting method how to recognize Celsius. Water in the bottle will melt and filter water that is good for drink- quickly, leaving sediment at the bot- ing: “We leave some water in a dish tom. Then we filter the water through without a lid or an open bottle and several layers of gauze and we will get leave it for 12-24 hours to let chlorine high quality and refined water that you out. Then we pour it in plastic bottles can use to prepare all beverages and and put them in the freezer. Once we foods requiring water.” 70 My village, my dear homeland.

71 Menu according to Jovan Bijelic and my grandfather David (1895) Menu SOUPS AND STEWS PIES AND OTHER PASTAS

CHICKEN SOUP PIE WITH GUTS (chicken meat with some PIE WITH BASA CHEESE vegetables) AMPREGSOUP PIE WITH AURICULA (previously fried flour PIE WITH GREENS boiled in water until liquid PIE WITH POTATOES state with some spices) PUMPKIN PIE BUNJGUR PIE WITH SOUR CABBAGE (crushed wheat grains boiled PIE WITH CURDS in water with spices) (milk obtained by milking CLOVE STEW the cow one and two days (potato, carrot, onion) after it has calved) GREENS STEW LJEVACHA (greens, potato, onion) (corn flour with basa cheese COMMON NETTLE STEW spread across the plate. Sour (common nettle, potato, onion) milk as an addition) KLJUKUSHA POTATO STEW WITH (sharp flour, fat, dressing SMOKED MEAT of basa cheese and garlic) (potato, carrot, onion, TITKUS FROM GLAMOC smoked meat) (sharp flour, potato cubes, BEANS STEW fat, dressing of basa (crushed beans with cheese and garlic) noodles) VARICA OMAC (boiled corn kernels with beans) (noodles shaped like large macaroni boiled with basa cheese) 72 MEAT DISHES DAIRY PRODUCTS

ROAST LAMB YOUNG SIRAC CHEESE ROAST PIG (young cheese up to 3 DZIGERNJACA days old - skripavac) (boiled livers, lungs, heart, MATURE SIRAC CHEESE cvarci and some vegetables) (mature cheese several CHICKEN MEAT WITH POTATOES months old) (after boiling in soup,chicken SKORUP- SKIM drumstick and thigh are baked (skorup - young or mature on potatoes in the oven) kaymak) MIXED BASA CHEESE SMOKED PORK MEAT FASTING BASA SOUR MILK SMOKED BACON BOILED MILK

SPECIAL DISHES QUICK HOT MEALS

POTATOES IN CASSEROLE BASA CHEESE DIP (baked potato slices with (melted basa cheese in onions and bacon) which bread is dipped) POTATO HALVES - POLICE EGGS DIP (baked unpeeled potatoes (melted basa cheese with eggs) sliced in half with mature POPARA basa cheese as addition) (basa cheese melted in boiling USTIPCI - DOUGHNUTS water in which one spoon of fat (salty doughnuts covered and crushed old bread are added) with melted basa cheese) STARCH BANNOCK OF PRESKI BREAD (flour and spices mixed (served during the fast and boiled in water until with bits of onion on oil) becoming starchy in form) 73 CORN DISHES

CORN BREAD (bread made of corn flour) SPICED POLENTA DESSERTS AND TREATS (corn flour boiled for long period of time (hard), and which USTIPCI (DOUGHNUTS) is covered with basa cheese COVERED WITH SUGAR spice right before serving) BAKED PUMPKIN CICVARA SOUR MILK WITH POLENTA (boiled corn flour (soft) with SOUR MILK WITH POTATOES a lot of fat and basa cheese) DILUTED PLUM JAM SALENA POLENTA WITH POTATOES (polenta covered with hot fat and APPLE PIE some meat).Served only during SWEET PUMPKIN PIE the month of slaughtering pigs. OSEP (plum compote)

COOKED DISHES WITH VEGETABLES BEANS (alone with some vegetables or with smoked meat) BOILED SOUR CABBAGE (boiled with smked bacon, smoked ribs or smoked guts) GREEN BEANS (green beans, potato and spices)

74 75 Biorhythm and its influence on the body

76 uman body is a very complex composition both in terms of its physique and its Hsystem of functioning. Numerous processes take place within it during entire life- time. The popular saying that a life lasts from the first to the last breath is very true. Even though man inhales and exhales over eight hundred million times over eighty years of life, only two of these determine man’s fate. Processes are happening in the body even without our awareness, mostly under the influence of nature. It is maybe more appropriate to say that everything within and around us is happening under the influence of nature. There are several theories on the origin of the animal world. I am not sure if only one theory on the origin of species will ever be accepted by all. One thing that scientists agree upon is the knowledge on differences between species, their lifestyles and traits.

New details and discoveries emerge change between days and nights, lu- every day, a lot more than several de- nation, phenomena on the Sun, atmo- cades ago. Still, many questions re- spheric pressure and even by different main unanswered. One of these ques- times of the day – morning, noon and tions is why man feeds according to evening, moisture, north and south the schedule of three meals a day, i.e. winds… In terms of nutrition, the an- breakfast, lunch and supper? Why car- cient eastern theory tells us that ev- nivores eat once a day, mostly in the ery organ of our body has its favor- evening, or why are there snakes that able and unfavorable time of the day, feed only two or three times a year? i.e. time for rest and time for work, re- People in the East have an inter- charging and performing. By attribut- esting explanation, which is very old ing everything to the influence of na- and which is about the human body ture, they explained why the strongest having certain energy. In fact, energy urge fir emptying the bladder is be- is what keeps it going. It has its flow, tween 5 and 7 a.m. According to them, which is under greater influence of the stomach is most active between natural phenomena than of ourselves. 7 and 9 a.m., which is the best peri- The basic influences are exerted by od for taking the first meal of the day. 77 Weather changes over night, moisture, fore the end of a work day. It was ob- change of winds and other exert influ- viously a stimulation to complete dif- ence on the change of processes in the ficult physical tasks more successfully. body as well. Short-term success was realized, but a Greater accumulation of ener- hundred years ago our ancestors did gy and work ability of the body ceas- not know they were losing plenty of es at 6 .pm. and processes are starting quality energy in the long run. to slow down until 10 p.m. when the We know this today. Their relax- body “asks” for sleep. Deviations from ation methods resemble modern this rhythm affect the body and it gets meditation exercises. Did they medi- confused. Going to bed after midnight tate? Yes, but they were not aware of can cause the sensation of hunger by 2 it. Today numerous books have been a.m. already. In those occasions bioen- written on meditation, on its bene- ergy of the body is disturbed, followed fits, on thinking positively, cleansing by improper food intake, insomnia and of our spirit and body by creating pos- general obstacles for normal function- itive and discharging negative ener- ing of the body, and if this lasts for lon- gy. Imagine a man keeping sheep with ger periods it can lead to slow but cer- only a stick by his side. He lays in the tain weakness of the body. Why do shade of hawthorn and observes the we enjoy coffee with sugar when we skies above with a hundred questions feel tired? “It really feels good” – can in his mind. How high is it and what is it be heard often. This represents bogus up there? What clouds are made of and and short-term energy uplift using caf- how they travel? Is lightning out of a feine and sugar. For a moment we feel blue sky possible as the traditional po- better and energized and motivated to em says? He could not look for answers work. Maybe this is an explanation to in books, newspapers, on the radio or the habit among people in the coun- TV, especially not on the Internet. He tryside of drinking coffee and rakia 2 would give himself a reply. I am sure it to 3 hours after lunch or 2 hours be- was: “Only dear God would know.” 78 The man would go on like this for results are prone to spirituality and/or hours, letting his thoughts drift away that they feel firmly connected to na- taking negative energy with them. ture and feel fulfilled, with a clear sense He gathered positive energy by pray- for the meaning of life.” Obviously the ing, listening to the sounds of sheep shepherd from our story is firmly con- bells and enjoying the smell of grass, nected to nature. Traditional songs and which often made him sing along old tales have described the song of quietly. In his book “The 10 Secrets of shepherds, youth love and not massive 100% Healthy People”, after perform- suicidal tendencies of youth, which is a ing a survey, Patrick Holford concludes problem of today. that “…the majority of those with best

Pretty gals posing

79 Contempo- rary medicine and nutritionism

80 s far as my knowledge of humane medicine goes, and I think it goes far enough, AI think that true nutritionism is barely present alongside other branches of medicine. The reason is probably little knowledge about nutritionism that some doctors have

A survey among patients after their re- later. There is a growing number of peo- lease from the ambulance confirms this. ple suffering from asthma, multiple scle- The question was: “What did the doc- rosis, chronic fatigue, HIV and many oth- tor say to you?” If we were to single out er difficult states. Conventional biomedi- a common response , that would be: cine, which is extraordinary successful in “They say I am not well and that I have to curing serious infections and urgent life- take these medicines and come back lat- threatening conditions, cannot cope with er. They think it will be better, but that I these serious diseases.“ pay too little attention to my health.“ They In general, in all its branches, especial- said that doctors had said nothing else. ly in nutritionism, science has become a James Gordon, a psychiatrist and clini- slave to the market. cal professor at the Faculty of Medicine Experts are deprived of a tool called at the Georgetown University says: “One knowledge. Modern surgery may be the of the reasons why people turn to alter- most successful medical branch that may native medicine is the fact that our offi- have saved many lives from total hope- cial medical system struggles with de- lessness. But surgeons also place artificial feats. The fact is that we are in amidst materials in the body, both for health rea- of an epidemic of inadequately treated sons and for the sake of aesthetics, some- chronic diseases. Sixty million Americans times without even knowing what they have high blood pressure, forty million are placing in the patient, because the suffer from arthritis and twenty three mil- market deceives them about something lion suffer from migraine. Every year one they eventually find out about later. We million of Americans are diagnosed with can always remember Kusturica’s saying: cancer, while almost 40% of them will suf- “Morals were destroyed by the market.” fer from this terrifying disease sooner or 81 Let’s get back to nutritionism, that im- able to use scientific findings, because portant branch of science which has been they could not read. chained by the food industry. Quasi nutri- The food industry has become relent- tionism has involved in lives of people set- less, because profit is its only goal, while ting them rules of nutrition according to chemistry is its tool. Today man is the con- alleged scientific grounds. After 1960, the sumer and the industry with its powerful world (meaning USA) initiated an entire machines is the producer, including less campaign against animal fats based on and less human labor. Once man used “scientific research”. These fats were rat- to produce for their own needs, while to- ed as not only harmful, but deadly Since day their purpose is to spend and turn on that moment our mothers and grand- some machine to earn to buy some gro- mothers began “nutritionist” schooling ceries. against their will. Previous knowledge and The notion of “food” is disappear- skills that had been carried from genera- ing, while the notion of “the production tion to generation and proved in practice of useful provisions” is increasingly talk- were then replaced with statements by us ed about and argued scientifically. Useful educated descendants through various provisions change under the watchful eye articles in daily, weekly or other newspa- of nutritionists thus resulting in prepared pers filled with advice on the usefulness foods. Baby food is among the first pre- of some and harmfulness of other prod- pared complete meals. It was considered ucts. Weight loss diets started to emerge a great discovery. It was pioneered by a as the salvation for the obese. Literally, you German scientist who was considered to only needed to read newspapers in order be the inventor of organic chemistry, who, to find out what and how much to eat, according to Michael Pollan, “kicked food what to mix with what, when to eat and to the corner and made it give away its in which schedule. Many mothers knew place to his chemical secrets.” Despite be- that a hundred years before, because they ing a world renown scientist, often raised more than five children with he tricked himself thinking he had dis- the “blessing of nature”. They were not covered it all, because the first baby food 82 did not contain at least three important Is it intended for consumers whose element - vitamins, as well as some im- ancestors were raised on these grains, but portant fats and amino acids. Regardless, who should buy more, or for the expert science advanced. Products were cor- public with an accent on higher level of rected just to some extent, new ones information about the grains today? were discovered. Through medicine, the The next big thing in “a major news- food industry succeeded in telling moth- paper” is titled: “The return to rewrapping ers they could raise their babies without infants”. The text below the title is about breastfeeding or doing that for a very emphasizing traditional values in taking short period of time, in order to preserve care of babies, while the related campaign their breasts and rush to become celebri- was implemented in Great Britain. In that ties. Today, under the guise of new discov- country, over the past year, the consump- eries, medicine has put out a new slogan - tion of cotton diapers and fabric for re- breastfeed your babies as long as you can, wrapping increased by 61%. because nothing can replace breast milk. Media present us new discoveries every day. I do not intend to deal with them, If the doctor of today does not but I would like to mention one more become the nutritionist of tomorrow, thing. It is about anatomic footwear in- then the nutritionist of today will soles for small children, which were con- "become the doctor of tomorrow. sidered obligatory until recently. My cous- Thomas Edison in told me how she was not able to find these insoles a baby. To her inquiry about As I read a newspaper, I am astonished the insoles, she was told that “the West by the title: “Buckwheat, barley and oats does not manufacture these anymore, – grains rediscovered.” How can some- because new studies have shown that thing be rediscovered, when it has exist- children should wear soft footwear in or- ed for thousands of years? Who is mock- der to enable the feet to move naturally.” ing whom? What is next?

83 Expert deceit or who is lying to whom

84 hile preparing what you are now reading, I referred to over 60 books, out of which Wsome had just been published, and many other scientific articles, press releases and I talked to people older than me, from my village, who told me their memories on the past life and nutrition.

If we are to try to explain the contra- • Does fatty food significantly dictions of modern science on the ex- increase cholesterol ample of cholesterol, I would like to ask level in the blood? several questions first before any deep- er analysis: Answers to these questions must be • Is the recommended cholesterol confusing. I think they are also confusing level, which has been significantly for doctors making the decision on who decreased in the last several years, will have to take statins and how much, the result of new scientific evidence because they too are bombarded with or the victory of pharmaceutical marketing and recommendations by industry that makes enormous the pharmaceutical industry. profit on the drug? If we accept the opinion of Patrick Holford, then we will change our atti- • Which type of cholesterol can tude towards cholesterol. Here is what announce cardiac arrest or stroke? he says: The high one or the lowest one? • If we take cholesterol, its level • Do statins (drugs for lowering in the blood will not rise. cholesterol level in the blood) • If we eat fatty food, decrease the risk for men who cholesterol does not rise. have suffered a heart attack? • Cholesterol and fat do not increase • Is anti-inflammatory action the risk of heart diseases. of statins more useful than its action of lowering cholesterol?

85 • High cholesterol is not a sign of be treated with statins is up to you to neither cardiac arrest nor stroke. discuss it with your specialist. Actually, too low cholesterol can My grandfather and those before better predict the risk of stroke. him could not feel confused as I do, hav- • Too low cholesterol (under ing read all these titles listed in the ref- 4 mmol/l) is as equally erence list. They did not know anything dangerous as too high about the matter and they did not have cholesterol (above 6 mmol/l). the opportunity to read about it, let • Recommendations that a alone watch on a TV screen all those ex- person with cholesterol above pert characters lying about the useful- 5 should take statins to lower ness of some supplements every day. it are more closely related The latest example, at least for me, is to money than science. the recommendation by one doctor (a woman) that children should also take • Last year, statins were sold in the Germanium 132 as prevention. An old value of 20 billion dollars (2008). saying from the East came to my mind: • Statins do not decrease mortality “Lord, forgive her because her ears prob- rate if given to healthy people. ably cannot hear what hear mouth is saying”. As for the notion of prevention, • They decrease the risk for men I have an opinion about it. Namely, the who have had a heart attack. expression has lost its original meaning. • They do not decrease the risk Today everyone uses it, even those who, in a more significant measure probably, know little about it. Everyone for women who have not advises you should eat garlic as preven- had any cardiac incidents. tion and plenty of vitamins and minerals, a glass of red wine a day, brine, ap- Whether these people are right or ples, numerous teas, and a lot more sim- those who recommend that everyone ilar ingredients found in everyday food with a cholesterol level above 5 should items for prevention. If it already is in 86 certain foods and we should take them favorable action on the strength of the with those foods, then that is not pre- heart muscle. vention. Those are useful groceries that There are many dilemmas when it should be consumed every day, becomes to medicines, especially in the cause our body benefits from it. field of synthetic vitamins or those 150 listed supplements that are regarded In 2008 statins – drugs as our “salvation”. Scientists argue a lot lowering cholesterol – were sold about the use of vitamin C in terms of in the value of 20 billion dollars. the source and daily intake. There are so " Patrick Holford much different opinions that they cause confusion, because daily intake recom- Diverse food is a benefit for the mendations vary from 100 mg to 6000 body, not prevention. As prevention, I mg. While Wale recommends 2000 to acknowledge only the vaccine. It is not 3000 mg in some cases of weakened im- harmless for the body, but it does safe- munity or cancer risk and claims that he guard humankind. has never witnessed any kind of poison- At communal work bees, where ing by vitamin C, except for the prob- many games took place, no one talk- lems of stomach intolerance in the form ed about cholesterol, as we do every- of nausea and diarrhea, others, however, where we go. It seems like some day we claim that a daily dose of 500 mg is per- will greet each other with “Hello, what’s fectly enough. your fat level?” instead of “Hello, how are A snippet from a 2008 press release you?”. to the American public by Geoffrey Should increased use of statins be Smith on what scientists reported to followed by increased sales of Q10, the Senate Board proves we are right for which is destroyed by statins? Probably having doubts about modern pharma- yes, but you don’t hear about it often. To ceutical industry: “ remind you, Q10 is an antioxidant with Manufacturers of medicines exert too much influence upon the process 87 of approving medications. Scientists of- The branch determined to save hu- ten feel their careers are jeopardized if mankind is lagging behind. That is the they decide to ban a drug they consid- reason for the present situation. That is er unsafe”. why hundreds of books about wrong By the end of the 19th century, sci- nutrition and endangerment of man ence was advancing quickly. Patents were written in the past ten years. The and scientific discoveries came one after question is will there be a miracle or rev- another. There were some revolutionary olution, as some may call it, in the field discoveries that humankind owes grat- of nutrition? Is man going to wake up itude to. Many diseases were stopped, and realize where the current nutrition while some have been eliminated. habits are leading us? I stand with the Remember the revolutionary discovery latter movement and wish to contribute of penicillin and many other antibiotics, to revealing and understanding the fatal vaccines for prevention of some diseas- nutrition habits of today. es, etc. Somehow a monster called the Some of you will probably say I am market got involved and has remained too pessimistic regarding the future of lurking over our lives. It always has its humankind. It is correct. There are sev- demand – profit. eral reasons. One of them is that sev- One scientific area is controlled by en billion people are living on the plan- the market, i.e. money, and it is aimed et. Food is less and less available to the at making chemicals that bring profit by poor, while the rich throw it in the gar- indulging to human pleasure. The other bage more and more. Grim predictions scientific area involves people who have that in 50 years humankind will not worked on discovering ways for the have enough food have already been protection against harmful chemicals. publicized. On the other hand, diseases Which ones are faster? Who will win? I and deaths caused by food poisoning have already said that the branch con- are on the rise. Milka Sibalic quotes one trolled by the ruthless market is winning, scientist: “It does not matter whether which will destroy humankind. 88 we are going to die by hunger or food You can find more intimidating in- poisoning!” formation in a book by John Virapen called “Side effects: Death”, in which When the doctor walks he expresses remorse for participat- behind the coffin of their patient, ing in medication frauds. He says: then it is a situation when we can say “Pharmaceutical companies wish peo- "the cause follows the consequence. ple to remain sick. Voltaire „Did you know that: • pharmaceutical companies Also, they want to persuade every- invest more than 35.000 EUR one they are sick. And all that for one per physician each year to get and only one reason: MONEY! How do them prescribe their products? I know that? I was a part of it myself.” • more than 75% of leading scientists He goes on with other information ask- in the field of medicine are “paid for” ing us: by the pharmaceutical industry? Drago Plecko, a practitioner of alternative medicine, answered the question • corruption prevailed in the of why some proved natural medicines of approval and marketing are not widely recognized and pres- of drugs in some cases? ent today by blaming the pharmaceuti- • Illnesses are made up by the cal industry. He said that it was because pharmaceutical industry and “these medicines have been praised on- specifically marketed to enhance ly on TV and in magazines, and they sales and market shares for have not been proved according to cri- the companies in question? teria set by science, which refuses to test it, because that would legitimize it and • pharmaceutical companies jeopardize the pharmaceutical industry, increasingly target children? which funds science. It is a closed circle ruled by money and interests.” A disaster, I would say! 89 Stress

An esteemed pathologist, professor gle out certain ingredients and use them as Culjak, once said something like this: food. This will remain for the future gen- „What stress is – I am not sure , but I erations, unless we destroy ourselves by know all too well that I see its consequenc- then. Medical science advances quickly. It es every day.“ Now I realize what Culjak is apparent especially in the domain of di- wanted to say. agnostics using contemporary tools, which It goes so far that all professional mag- is of great importance, but food quality de- azines say that stress is a “trigger” to mod- ters. A cardiologist was not able to peak in- ern diseases of the cardiovascular system, to my grandfather’s heart and measure the diabetes, various forms of cancer, etc. I say size of its left atrium, heart wall thickness, that improper nutrition and lack of physi- blood flow capacity, etc. But, every day you cal activity are far more important causes to could hear that some diseases are caused many diseases, primarily these mentioned by stress. If we accept stress as a special ex- above. Explanation for such claim I find in pression denoting something or replacing research of bees. How can it be that bees a number of other expressions, then we can that came from the same egg cell can be- do nothing but accept the stress definition come two different organisms, the queen by modern medicine, according to which bee and the worker bee, just because of stress is an inadequate reaction of the body having had different nutrition. Amazing roy- to various physical and psychological “trau- al jelly that turns one organism into anoth- mas” manifested in various ways, which beer is still partially a mystery to science. Is it re- comes a problem when it lasts for a long ally enough to only know that in the event time, because then we have an extended of losing the queen worker bees single out stimulation by the adrenals, which results in one of them, feed it separately and it turns the increase of all lipids and sugars. Those into a new queen just like that? Today there with inadequate physical activity and im- are opinions that human lifespan could be proper nutrition exponentially increase the extended by several times if we could sin- risk of diabetes and hypertension. 90 I remember one event from my child- Another story by a man who had close hood. It was a warm summer day. I went to encounter with a bear goes like this: “When find sheep, which usually get in the shade I saw it, my steps became three meters long in that time of day. I wore only shorts and and my heart beat like a drum.” It seems like peasant shoes on bare feet. I liked jumping such stories vividly describe what we can around when going downhill, sometimes explain today. Extremely quick reactions from stone to stone. I did that on that day occur in our body. These are immediate too, but with a different outcome. Namely, reactions to disturbance (fear) when quick jumping around I did not notice a snake chemical processes take place. These fast curled in the sun. I jumped over it and sud- signals stimulate the adrenal to produce denly realized what I had done. I turned and adrenalin that, in a matter of second or two, saw a large snake. It sensed me too, lifted causes heart rate increase (beating like a its head and hissed. It was only then when drum), breathing rhythm change, pupils I started feeling fear. I turned forward and become dilated and muscles “get ready”. had to jump over a juniper bush without Glucose quickly transfers from the liver and turning back. I cannot remember where muscles into the blood. That is when we did courage come from, but my heart want- are ready to take a “three meter leap” or to ed to jump out. I felt very strong and want- jump over that juniper of mine. The recov- ed to continue running further and further. ery from this lasts longer than the event. It The next day I came there with a stick in my is when many glands and organs are turn hand and wearing better clothes to face on to correct the “incident”. Every irregular the snake. It was nowhere near, but juniper situation can be considered an incident in was still there. It was huge and I wondered the body. In order to address the incident, was it possible that I jumped over it the day which is the large amount of sugar in the before. I could not believe myself, let alone body, the pituitary gland, adrenal, liver and someone else if they told me a similar story. pancreas must undertake great effort. In or- I remembered how people used to say that der to succeed, they must be healthy. If on- fear made one’s sight sharper and steps ly one of these organs is ill, the entire body longer. feels the consequences. 91 Vampires in our body

92 Cholesterol

For man, this is an important matter occurrence of blood clots, i.e. clogging without which life would not be pos- of blood vessels. sible. In youth it contributes to the de- Counterweight to LDL is HDL (high- velopment of the body and remains density lipoprotein), which binds itself in cell walls and membranes through- to LDL particles and returns them to the out the entire life. Sex hormones would liver, which discharges it from the body not be able to develop, if it did not ex- in a neutral state. It is therefore said that ist. It participates in the production of who has high HDL level does not be vitamin D and bile acid that helps fats afraid of other cholesterols. metabolism. Cholesterol is an impor- It is not only HDLandLDL that mat- tant type of fat (lipid). It is produced by ter. There are also VLDL (very low- the liver from saturated fatty acids (sat- density lipoprotein) and triglycerides. urated fat). These two make a large “fatty” group. Because of its increasing presence Steinberg and associates have drawn a in the body and threatening cardiovas- new theory on how to control choles- cular problems, the pharmaceutical in- terol by food. It is actually a new theory dustry has developed several types of clogged arteries and it goes like this: of drugs that lower cholesterol level “Special forms of oxygen called free through the mechanism of stopping its radicals crash with fat molecules of LDL production in the liver. cholesterol and oxidize them. Then LDL In the past only total cholesterol was begins to spoil, just like butter left out monitored, so it was determined it was of the fridge. Cells called macrophages not enough, because some cholester- devour it in this new form. Full of fatty ols are more dangerous individually. globules, macrophages grow into terri- The main enemy is LDL (low-density li- ble “foam cells”, which enter artery walls poprotein) and it contributes to 75% of damaging them. If you can prevent this total cholesterol. It is responsible for the 93 harmful disorder, your LDL cholesterol might remain relatively harmless. So, problems do not derive only from the level of cholesterol in the blood, but from the level of the “bad oxidized LDL” that can clog the arteries.” Steinberg and many others believe that LDL cholesterol is not that dangerous for arteries, until free oxygen molecules in our blood turn it into the harmful form. Nutrition can be a powerful weap- We hear about antioxidants every on against it. There is more and more day. Recommendations come from all evidence that toxic transformation of sides: take this or that because it has LDL can be stopped. It can be achieved a lot of antioxidants. Are antioxidants by consuming food rich in antioxi- good for the body? Yes. Can the body dants. This means that you can infl u- produce them without special supple- ence the occurrence of arteriosclero- ments? It can on condition that it is sup- sis in every period of your life, by stop- plied with adequate amounts of vita- ping the chain of events in arteries that mins and other important nutrients lead to their clogging, i.e. heart attack from food. and stroke. Why are they important? Because they neutralize free radicals. And what Our body produces three are free radicals? To explain this, we times more cholesterol than must go back to the time when we most of us take through food. learned about cells, molecules and at- " David L. Kac, Debra L. Gordon oms. So, atoms are made of elements out of which electrons are in our focus right now. Under certain (mostly unor- 94 dinary) conditions chemical bounds are Treatment of elevated cholester- broken, resulting in unpaired electrons. ol is not as simple as it seems. Namely, When a molecule or atom is left treatment with statins (drugs that low- with one unpaired electron, it becomes er cholesterol in the blood) is increas- a free radical, which is very reactive and ingly dubious, according to many stud- “searches” for a new bind. It is then fol- ies, but little is revealed to general pub- lowed by a process of oxidation, which lic. Information that drugs for lowering damages body cells. Even DNA can be cholesterol, taken by the majority of damaged, leading to the development people suff ering from cardiovascular of cancer cells. What helps the creation diseases today, turn vitamin E, as an im- of free radicals? Primarily various poi- portant antioxidant, into a potentially sons, industrial gasses, pesticides, her- harmful oxidant sounds worrying, espe- bicides, tobacco smoke, meat and oth- cially for those who use synthetic vita- er food fried at high temperatures in mins without control. This mechanism burned oil (barbecue, etc.). is explained through connection with Antioxidants are the valuable mat- coenzyme Q10, upon which vitamin E ters that “grab” that free electron, thus depends. So, coenzyme Q10 helps vita- neutralizing the free radical as a whole. min E act as antioxidant only in condi- So, a constant battle unfolds in the tions when there are no statins, which body between free radicals and antioxi- block all that. dants. The best antioxidants are, among other, vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium, We all know that zinc, carotenoids (from carrot, etc.) and cholesterol is not what is killing fl avonoids. These fi ndings are encour- us. It is the blood clot formed on aging for alternative fi ght against the "the top of fi rm deposits on the harmful action of cholesterol, primarily arterial wall, which can be fatal. LDL as one of the most dangerous ene- David Kritchevsky, mies in our body, which is a product of Institute of Philadelphia wrong oxidation. 95 This and many other expert conclu- has been proved by scientific research sions suggest that proper combining of that reveal that DNA formula is vulner- drugs and supplements is of great im- able after all. portance. It is similar with beta-caro- We can only conclude that lifestyle tene. When smokers take this supple- and nutrition are of crucial importance ment they slowly increase the risk of since early youth, and there are many cancer, unlike beta-carotene from natu- reasons to believe so. ral sources (carrot, which decreases that Children in the countryside spend risk even for smokers. This effect can be plenty of time outdoors, especially in achieved by taking only one medium- summer. Games on meadows would sized carrot a day. last for whole days. Sometimes even during rain. They included dirt, mud, grass and often a stone over which someone would always trip and fall right on the nose. Remember the saying that cleanliness is next to godliness. Well, all is not about cleanliness, but also about being dirty. It is dust, mud and grass where sources of immunity await. This means inclusion in nature and living with it. Did generations from a hundred Katcuzo Nishi says: “Nature has giv- years ago suffer from high cholesterol it en everything to man to live with her is difficult to say, because there was no in harmony. She has given them wise measuring. They probably did not have body, with healing powers within that it due to their nutrition and lifestyle. We begin to act if we believe them and do cannot exclude genetics as a factor, not disturb them. We begin disturbing maybe even the most important one, them when we use drugs to fight ill- but that can change over time, which ness.” 96 These words by the great Japanese with cold water without soap and they should lead us to the conclusion that washed their hair with small amounts of the most important carriers of quality ashes from the stove with warm water, and long life are primarily physical ac- which was always beneficial because tivity, proper nutrition and good mood. of its mild mineral content. Some liked The life of today is very much dif- to color their grey hair a little bit, which ferent from the life 100 years ago, es- they did using water boiled with wal- pecially in daily activities and health- nut leaves and green shells of its imma- care. In the past people did not have ture fruits. today’s technical and technological achievements and aids. They surely did Most people can lower their not brush their teeth with toothpastes cholesterol by eating two thirds of a or cleaned their ears with cotton sticks. cup of oat bran or one cup of beans. They did not bathe with shower gels " James Anderson, Kentucky and put antiperspirants on their arm- pits. They did not have hair shampoos In spring people would plow while or artificial dyes. They did not have day strong winds blew relentlessly over creams, night creams, special creams for their faces and hands. Chapped hands hands or elbows or face. They did not would be treated with sour cream that have many more products, but they the wife would make by skimming fat did have nature that, as Nishi said, gave from fresh milk in the evening, so it them everything, that is, natural de- would be ready for use the next day. fense. Eyes are washed by tears, ears de- Man’s rough hands would be rubbed fend with cerumen and nose with mu- with it abundantly before bedtime. This cus and sneezing when a foreign body was a natural hand cream. So, the skin enters it. and the mucosa have effective defens- The skin has its own defensive es, but on condition the body is healthy. mechanisms within sebaceous and When plenty of chemicals come in- sweat glands. They washed their faces to contact with the body once, there is 97 no way back, because the skin is dam- in the skin longer. Unlike alkaline prod- aged permanently due to the tem- ucts, acidic products bring life back to porary beneficial effect of chemicals. the skin, its glow and redness, i.e. the Today’s problem with these aggressive skin receives more blood and remains products can be somewhat mitigated younger naturally. Instead of soap and by using children’s soap, shampoo and all that foam during bathing we can cream. This comes from my personal see in movies showing rich people en- experience and I recommend it to my joy their wealth, nature offers its prod- dear readers. ucts. A big fan and expert on the effect It is important to the skin wheth- of apple vinegar, D. C. Jarvis, advises us er it takes acidic or alkaline products. to pour a quarter of liter of apple vine- Alkaline products, such as soaps, are gar to our bath instead of soap and to not good for our skin, because after lie in it for fifteen minutes. Thereby, we long use our skin will always remain will leave the tub completely freshened pale, i.e. with insufficient blood, which and the skin will recover strength, in- is, of course, not healthy. Liquid soaps stead of chronic fatigue. Vinegar water are even more dangerous because they should be washed out only with pure are harder to wash out, so they remain water, according to Jarvis.

Homocysteine

Homocysteine as a newly discov- greatest medical achievement of the ered cause to some diseases is an ob- century. vious example of how medicine re- Proof that clogged blood vessels, veals us something on daily basis, ac- heart attack and stroke also happen knowledging that we still have a lot to with people having normal cholester- learn. The discovery that homocyste- ol levels was found with people who ine causes cardiovascular problems had elevated homocysteine level. He nutritionist Patrick Holford finds the reveals, based on a sample of over 98 130000 patients hospitalized due to disturbances in the cells, homocyste- heart attack, that 75% of heart disease in amount increases and that creates patients had completely normal val- a problem in veins, similar to the in- ues of cholesterol. Homocysteine was fluence of cholesterol. Latest research at the center of developments. has shown it is useful to measure ho- Homocysteine check is increasing- mocystein level in testing for can- ly becoming a routine examination, cer. Namely, it has been discovered like with cholesterol. So, what about that the level of homocystein is a reli- our region? While millions of people able indicator of cancer presence and are tested in Germany, and in South chances of its Africa it is done in mobile labs, our According to my own research, I medical practice is far from that. As have concluded that there is a high consolation, not all European coun- percentage of those with probably tries have introduced laboratory ex- elevated homocystein level, which amination of homocysteine in the should be confirmed by laboratorial blood either. examination. The test has shown that Homocysteine is an amino acid probably around 70% of participants that is a part of our body. It occurs in probably have elevated homocyste- small amounts, in cells as a product of in. Symptoms of weak methylation, i.e. demethylation of methionine, which elevated homocystein, are: quick loss is also an amino acid that belongs to of patience, weakness, depression, the group of essential amino acids (ac- poor concentration, poor memory, ids that mainly derive from food). frequent feeling of being overloaded. With the aid of folic acid vitamins, These people are jeopardized a phe- homocysteine metabolism functions, nomenon that our medicine of our re- thus maintaining its low level. gion does not test. If there is insufficient folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12 or there are other

99 EPG(end products of glycolysis)

The skin and outer appearance of- and they are the most responsible for ten express the internal state of the all processes within it. Aging causes body. Naturalists from the far East proteins to degrade faster than they can reveal some diseases based on are produced, which is a physiological skin appearance, i.e. facial wrinkles. process that can be sped up improper Common belief here is that having lifestyle and nutrition. Products such deep and numerous facial wrinkles as sugar and aldehydes are the big- are the sign of hard life, old age or gest contributors to the harmful ac- high exposure to the sun. We all know tion, because of being highly reactive. about the grey, wrinkled face of smok- Alcohol, tobacco, automobile and in- ers - smoker face. Genetics also plays dustrial gasses, as well as fungal dis- an important role. It is common to say eases are considered most frequent that his/her grandmother or grandfa- aids to the creation of aldehydes. ther had face like that as well. Nicholas Perricone accepts all this but states that all wrinkles are a sign of glycolysis as a partial by-product of digestion. He defines glycolysis like this: „Glycolysis occurs when a molecule of glucose attaches to apro- tein molecule without the influence of protein enzymes which facilitate chemical reaction. This binding of sugar and proteins is called EPG - end Can we ask ourselves, prior to their products of glycolysis.” end, will humans suffer the most from Our body has higher concentra- nerve diseases? Some scientists ask tion of proteins than other matters themselves this question and state 100 the study by C. P. Ferry called “Global functions? We will mention five most Increase of Dementia” which says that important ones: 24 million people around the globe • they breathed clean air, suffer from the Alzheimer’s disease or • they drank clean water, some other type of dementia. The occurrence of this disease is in- • they slept for whole night, creasing in developing countries due • they worked all day to abrupt and uncontrolled accepta- tion of the western nutrition habits • they ate what they produced, and lifestyle in general. It is estimat- far from industry. ed that the number of patients diag- Today we have almost none of the nosed with dementia could increase above. We drink water of uncertain by 100% and even by 300% in India quality, we sleep more during the day and China by 2040. than night, physically we do almost Several elderly persons from my nothing and we breathe polluted air. village who lived 90 and even 110 Having in mind that in addition to all years preserved their wisdom with- that we mostly eat industrial food, we out a single sign of dementia. They can rightfully believe that hyperactivi- remembered everything, especially ty among children will grow, as well as war sufferings and hardships they sur- dementia among the elderly. vived. It is still unclear why they had Here is the Perricone’s list of the such long, active lives and joyful spirit, most frequent sources of EPG in food: with plenty of optimism in every con- • all kinds of food prepared versation. Even when they would find on high temperatures, themselves in a hopeless situation, • food prepared on medium they would say: “God is merciful, it will temperature, but for an be alright”. And it was always alright. extensive period of time Can we seek for the answer by ana- without the addition of liquid lyzing the realization of basic bodily 101 • burned meat, After analyzing the Perricone’s list, • roast meat, I concluded that people from a hun- • roast chicken (roast dred years ago did not even have a chicken or turkey skin is a possibility to take EPG, because they major source of EPG), did not eat such food and they did not prepare it this way. They did not • fried food, have a grill set, deep fryer and toast- • fried walnuts, almonds and seeds, er. They did not have microwave ovens or Teflon pans. They did not have • packaged bagels, whose many products of technology we ad- brown color points to the mire today and which poisons us at addition of sugar or caramel, the same time. Boiled food used to which are sources of EPG, be dominant, while the term “cook” • processed foods like probably originates from the original chips, pretzels, etc. way of preparing meals by cooking. • Fast food (most fast food stores offer meals full of trans fats, roast meat, fried food and sodas),

• Coffee (besides lifting the level of cortisol – stress hormone – coffee grains are roasted and that process creates EPG),

• all kinds of sodas are bad for more than one reason, including Shall we fill ourselves with EPG? the content of sugar, with highly fructuous syrup as the worst.

102 What are the E-numbers?

Additives are matters that are add- at least in terms of food, because gro- ed to food to enhance certain charac- cery stores are going to become the teristics. Primarily, those are duration, only place selling food, while the “re- flavor, preservation, freshness, smell al” food will quickly disappear from and color. There are natural and syn- the shelves to be replaced with high- thetic additives. Once there used to be ly processed products, which will on- only natural additives. Honey, for ex- ly appear as food. Since synthetic ad- ample, is a natural additive for tea, but ditives can cause certain side-effects, it is also a useful food in terms of nutri- we will deal with them now. tion, so it cannot be categorized as ad- For the purpose of easier label- ditive. Lactic and lemon acids are al- ing and international recognition, ad- so natural additives from the group of ditives are labeled with capital E let- antioxidants. Some vitamins are also ter followed by a number (e.g. E 300 – antioxidants, but there are many syn- ascorbic acid or vitamin C). European thetic ones as well. Director of an in- nomenclature of E-numbers contains dependent food agency Tim Lobstein around 300 names sorted in eight said, as reported by L. K. Kreho, that groups (color, preservatives, acids, an- additives represent the biggest prob- tioxidants, additives for clotting and lem we are facing in nutrition and that gelatinization, emulsifiers, sweeteners they are used only to make us eat bad and other additives). Many consum- food, because if we were to remove ers could not believe the variety of artificial colors and flavor enhancers foods that contained additives when most refined foods would lose their E-numbers were first introduced. It is recognizable taste and appearance, completely wrong to think that ev- thereby making healthy food a much erything that contains E-numbers is better option, so we would turn to it harmful. To make this book useful in immediately. Our future is pretty grim, 103 • Red – avoid shopping for groceries, here is a list of E-numbers. • Yellow – suspicious After visiting our grocery stores, • Blue - harmless my associates made an “overview” of products with E-numbers displayed This categorization is accepted below. We present them in three col- by experts in this area, but not all of ors, according to their influence on them agree completely. I am sure you the body. will notice that E-numbers marked as “avoid” are most present in meat products.

E-number (supplies from our stores)

Chocolate with rice: Е- 322 Milk chocolate: Е-966, Е-1200, Е-322, Е-951 Cookie1: Е-503, Е- 500 Syrup: Е- 160е, Е-414 Fish pâté: Е-621, Е-627, Е-631 Chilli powder: Е-551 Chicken soup: Е-621, Е-635 Chicken soup with noodles: Е-150д Cookie2: Е-503, Е-500 Beans with bacon (instant): Е-250 Chicken spam: Е- 450, Е-451, Е-575, Е- 316, Е-621, Е-250 Spam: Е- 412, Е- 450, Е- 451, Е-452, Е-250 Liver pâté: Е-300, Е-450, Е-451, Е-452, Е-250 Green olives: Е-330, Е-270, Е-202, Е-300 Black olives: Е-579, Е-202 104 Mild ketchup: Е-415, Е-412, Е-202 Hot ketchup: Е-415, Е-412, Е-211 Tortillas: Е-422, Е-466, Е-412, Е-500, Е-450, Е-471, Е-282 One type of pastry: Е-500, Е-450, Е- 575 Dark chocolate: Е-476 Rose hip marmalade: Е-330, Е-440, Е-220 Strawberry compote: Е-129 Plum jam: Е-220 Instant coffee: Е-340, Е-331, Е-452 Cookie3: Е-492, Е-476, Е-322 Cookie4: Е-322, Е-476, Е-503 Wafer: Е-500, Е-322 Chocolate1: Е-322 Cookie5: Е-503, Е-500, Е-341 Ladyfinger biscuit: Е-503 Milk chocolate: Е-476 Chocolate with biscuit crumbs: Е-500, Е-503 Chocolate with hazelnuts: Е-476 Strudel: Е-500, Е-503 Honey heart: Е-501, Е-476, Е-492 Chocolate 2: Е-442 Chocolate 3: Е-442, Е-500 Candy1: Е-150d Candy2: Е- 153 Coca Cola flavored candy: Е- 150d Choco-bananas: Е-100 Chocolate 4: Е-442 Gummy candy: Е-330, Е-901, Е-903 Dried apricot: Е-220 105 Dried plum: Е-202 Mortadella: Е-450, Е-452, Е-316, Е-250 Cajna sausage: Е-300, Е-250 Frankfurter sausage: Е-450, Е-451, Е-316, Е-250 Chicken sausage 1: Е-450, Е-621, Е-300, Е-120, Е-250 Chicken sausage 2: Е-450, Е-301, Е-250 Paris sausage: Е-450, Е-451, Е-621, Е- 300, Е-250 Beef prosciutto: Е-250 Sausage 1: Е-407, Е-450, Е-451, Е-452, Е-316, Е-250 Ham: Е-407, Е-450, Е-451, Е-621, Е-316, Е-250, Е-120 Bacon: Е-250 Kulen sausage: Е-621, Е-627, Е- 631, Е-301, Е-250 Mayonnaise: Е-200, Е-385 Butter: Е-471, Е- 202, Е-200 Cheese 1: Е.450, Е-452, Е-339 Cheese 2: Е-452, Е-450, Е-202 Toast cheese : Е-452, Е-450, Е-407, Е-202, Е-160а, Е-160ц Whipped cream: Е-471, Е-472б, Е-472е, Е-460, Е-466, Е-401, Е-340, Е-331 Milk for coffee: Е-471, Е-472е, Е- 407, Е-412, Е-339 Chocolate pudding: Е- 407, Е-412, Е-472б, Е-472ц, Е-481 Milk dessert: Е- 407, Е-410 Cooking cream: Е-415, Е-472е, Е-339, Ice cream (various): Е-422, Е-471, Е-412, Е-410, Е-461, Е-440, Е-415, Е-466, Е-330, Е-160а, Е-162, Е-472б Chips: Е-621, Е-635, Е-471, Е-150ц

avoid suspicious harmless 106 GMO– man’s salvation or destruction

Due to lack of information among to my question in any of these pag- general population and experts alike, es? No, certainly not! What we could here in the Balkans we live with- find there was who had fallen in love out fear for future. For a few years and when, who had divorced, what Americans also lived this way, eat- was the underwear color of a celeb- ing genetically modified potato, corn, rity, etc. Then I thought of this char- soya and tomato. In 1998 when the acter Ekrem, a man from the Balkans American Senate considered window who went to America to experience dressed reports on the results of re- the “American dream”, which inspired search on GMO presence, more than him to make a song that goes: ”From 58 million Englishmen, according to home to work, from work to home. Jeffrey Smith, had been unaware of What do I know? I know nothing!” eating GM tomato, soya and corn. He is right when he says he does not What is even more interesting is that know anything. Which expert could some American scientists in this field claim to know what we are eating? I were also unaware. They thought this do not know the answer, just like ex- was still in the experimentation stage perts in my surroundings. We know and that, according to standard pro- only what is written somewhere. We cedure, they would reveal the findings are not even aware of what remains of their research in an official press re- hidden within laboratories. lease. After reading a book by Jeffrey Last summer my neighbor told Smith called “Seeds of Destruction”, I me how she forgot about a toma- asked myself: “Is this really possible?” to in her pantry. After a month or so Thinking about it, I was walking by a the tomato seemed fresh as if it had newsstand, when I suddenly stopped. been bought a day before. She asked There were numerous daily and week- what was that about. Now I know the ly newspapers. Was there an answer answer. It was probably a genetically 107 Biotechnology Association of Minnesota. The tomato was identical to the former.

• This tomato was picked 120 days ago.

modifi ed tomato. It was injected with • This tomato was picked 150 a gene enabling longer duration. That days ago – he said and put all just may have been the tomato that six tomatoes by each other. was the topic of an unpublished study All of them were fresh, red and about the so-called “Flavr Savr” toma- mature. All of them had new to. Research revealed that rats which genes in their DNAs to appear had eaten the tomato got stomach le- fresh. The presenter paused to sions. Further research was stopped. allow everyone admire these A report from one of the promotions immortal specimens of tomatoes. explains the tomato. Here is the original quote by Jeff rey Smith from that After a while a man in his sixties promotion: “The presenter started spoke from approximately twentieth presenting the new tomato like this: row. Everyone turned to him to lis- • This tomato was picked ten, because he broke the long sci- seven days ago. ence saying: “As a biochemist, I have a problem. If the tomato did not deteri- • The man took a shiny red orate or rot in 150 days, what did you tomato 6 cm in diameter and do with its nutritive value?” showed it to the audience: That was Bill Lashmet. He spent • This tomato was picked most of his life studying agriculture thirty days ago. It attracted and ways of advancing the productiv- the attention of almost ity, nutritionism and 500 participants of the ecology of soil. A meeting organized by the 150-day old to- 108 mato did not fi t his defi nition of im- mato are covered up. A new scan- proving. dal involving tryptophan emerged. Here’s some more fun with toma- Tryptophan is an amino acid impor- toes. Molecular technology has en- tant to humans and animals. Except abled a gene stopping the produc- for methionine and lysine, it is syn- tion of proteins of maturation be put thetically produced and added to hu- in tomato – tomato is picked green, man and animal food. When the pro- facilitating its transport. But also that duction of tryptophan using modi- same tomato has to be processed fi ed bacteria began, something went with ethylene gas in order to initiate wrong. Poisonous substances of used maturation. bacteria appeared and it had fatal One of major global scandals consequences. Within two years of happened with the production of use, 37 people died, 1500 became corn products called “Star Link”. permanently disabled, while 5000 had Anaphylactic reactions of massive in- tryptophan syndrome – according to tensity began to occur. Hundreds of Veladzic and associates. people complained about stomach Due to quick advance of GMO aches, vomiting, skin rashes, and even in the market, the eff ect on human breathing diffi culties. To make thing diseases was especially notable in worse, standardized allergy tests re- America from 1994 to 1999. The in- vealed nothing. All scientists got increase of diseases by two to ten times volved to fi nd an adequate test. This coincided with the emergence of GM reminds us of today’s allergies, espe- food in the market, even though true cially among children, that remain un- causes were not determined. discovered. It is often said: “He ap- Human genes were not spared ei- pears to have reacted to some- ther, because they were manipulat- thing – to what, God knows!” ed with, too. A group of scientists in Not only GMO problems Japan built a human gene in carrot, with corn, soya, rice and to- which enabled carrot produce sub- 109 stance making it resistant to a fun- Boundary was crossed when so- gal infection. A short overview of ge- ciety stopped developing for gener- netically modified food was given by al wellbeing. If general wellbeing is an Jeffrey Smith in 2008 (found in the ap- image of a stadium where, in such a pendix). small area, 80 thousand people have We will not bring up the story of at least one cell phone, while all of GM potatoes, because it is pretty the them can be functioning at once, same. Changed structure, increased without us knowing the consequenc- level of carbohydrates and conse- es for man, than that level of develop- quences on the health of mice used in ment is huge on one hand, but proba- the experiment. The end of twentieth bly harmful for man on the other. century brought verbal wars between Our ancestors used the expression American corporations and adminis- “bread and circuses”. Not only them, tration on one side and EU experts on but ancient Greeks and Romans as the other, because the EU did not al- well. The expression of today could low entrance to American GM prod- be somewhat different: “Any kind of ucts. American pressure was huge. bread (even the one poisoning us) and A statement by Paul Nilson, presi- plenty of new technology.” Games go dent of the European Development along by themselves. Commission, explaining that relation By the introduction of GMO in the was recorded: “If they stop lying us, human body, we have entered a new we will stop telling truth to their fac- stage in the development of human- es.” Today’s notion of development of kind. Which one? I dare give a global society is very interesting, rather inad- division of the relation between man equate. The fact that technology ad- and food through history in three vances by the speed of light does not stages: mean that society advances as well. Allegedly, it is all for the sake of man. It is the opposite, in my opinion. 110 • The first stage was also the of the last century (the time of longest and it lasted from introduction of GMO). All until the beginning of man to then one was able to decide on the introduction of the first one’s fate, at least in terms of industrial white bread. During food. One could choose between this period man lived in white and whole-wheat flour, harmony with nature. Man industrial or personal vegetables, had as much as nature was milk from the country or from giving, and it was a lot, because the dairy The advancement of they were not destroying it. If technology can be best portrayed it was otherwise, man would in the example of the plow. It used cease to exist a long time ago. to be pulled by cows, while the Instead, human population wealthier had oxen. When they is now expressed in billions. harnessed horses it proved to be more effective. Then a tractor was • The second stage was the created and offered to farmers period of abandoning harmony for even faster and more modern with nature and it lasted for work. Everything was like before, about one hundred years. Man but far more productive. Corn, became more satisfied because wheat, rye, oat, potato and other of being able to use various cultures remained unchanged. advancements, such as airplane, Nutritive value was the same TV, telephone, automobile and as before. Natural selection many more. Technology was gave new hybrids with even supposed to serve for prosperity more yield. According to Jeffrey and better life. Technologies and Smith, the “seed of destruction” quality of life did not advance was planted during the eighties in the same pace. Quality of life of the last century. Since then advanced slowly, until reaching everything has changed and its peak. It was during the eighties 111 we are entering the third stage buyer’s back. The manufacturer in the nutrition of humankind. is not responsible anymore, because the information • The third stage is characterized that products are genetically by even faster technological modified is now public. advancement. However, as technology strongly progresses, What is a genetically modified or- quality of life decreases. GMO ganism? It is an altered organism, turned the world upside down. which is different than a natural one, Man cannot influence on its and which was created using tech- products. Not even an air- niques of genetic engineering. One conditioned tractor can enable of the techniques is recombination, one sow the type of corn one by which genes in DNA are manipu- wants. On their fields people sow lated from one organism to another genetically modified corn without (gene transfer). It resembles reproduc- even knowing it. The same goes tion of unrelated species, which does for potato and soya. The right to not happen in nature. This, at least for choose and personal control over now, justifies our fear that every or- one’s life and health does not exist ganism can be turned into a “won- anymore. Democratization of der”. I hope this will not happen to society, as “the greatest value” of man. This branch of science has pro- modern man, has its downsides gressed significantly with some plant too. People did not know that species. Altered plants carrying new they would be deprived of the genes represent new genotypes. most important right - the right Let us remind ourselves of the to be informed, so they could, for cloned sheep and the following big their own good, be able to make headlines about the discovery of a choices on certain issues. From century, etc. Dolly the sheep was born that moment onwards the entire with altered chromosomes and it burden has been placed on the had arthritis. It was not the only one 112 with health problems. Other cloned them have only one thing in common sheep and cows had similar problems. - they are equally unaware of what Primarily, they had lung diseases and they eat, including those who buy great problems with immunity. and eat expensive “self-labeled” organic food. They know nothing! What In biological terms, does it mean “organically grown”, genetic engineering is equal to when they do not know what was breaking of atoms and it has grown? For his own pleasure, man di- "the same, if not even worst, vided all animals in two groups: consequences for humankind. • Pets, as protected animals, Robert Anderson, a geneticist, even though they are not New Zealand, 2002. protected, because they have been separated from nature The development of genetic engi- and they suffer for that, and neering led to the creation of numer- • All those animals people breed for ous GM organisms, but it also led to their carnivore need and which the discovery of many related prob- also live in unnatural conditions. lems. Humankind is now divided in four Millions and millions of animals large groups: the rich, the poor and are slaughtered each year in order to those in between. The fourth group is meet the human demand for meat. made of those who are starving. All of

113 Genetically modified food (the United States of America, 2008)

GM crops courgette and yellow pumpkin (in- Soya (80%), cotton (70%), oil- significant amounts), tobacco (brand: seed rape - canola (60%), corn (38%, Quest). Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%),

Other sources of GMO

Dairy products of cows that were hymonizine (labferment) used in the injected with rBGH. production of thick cheeses. Food additives, enzymes, aromas Meat, eggs and dairy products of and agents for increasing the success animals which have consumed GM of processing, including sweetener food. Honey and pollen that can con- aspartame (Nutra Sweet) and rennet tain GM sources.

Some ingredients that can be genetically modified

Baby food, salad dressings, bread, sugar, peanut butter, enriched flour cereals, hamburgers and hot dogs, and pastry. Products that do not be- butter, mayonnaise, crackers, cook- long to food category, but that can ies, chocolate, candy, fried food, chips, contain GM ingredients are: cosmet- vegetarian burgers, meat replace- ics, soaps, detergents, shampoos and ments, ice cream, frozen yogurt, tofu, shower gels. tamari, soya sauce, soya cheese, toma- Source of the original text: Seed of to juice, powdered proteins, baking Destruction, 2008, Jeffrey Smith powder, alcohol, vanilla, powdered 114 115 Our daily bread

116 e can learn a lot on food from the Chinese. They consider five plants almost sa- Wcred - millets, rice, soya, wheat and barley. We can, of course, add corn, which was basic food to generations and generations before us. Contemporary nutritionists add oats to this group as a very useful type of cereal grain.

Cereals belong to the large fami- stroys us, when around 1500 indus- ly of grasses (over 5000 species). They trial products produced by chemical were named after a Roman goddess processes without nature’s blessing Ceres. Cereals were the basic food to destroy not only our bodies, but our people for thousands of years before minds, too. us. They contain highly balanced con- There are more and more sick peo- centrations of proteins, carbohydrates, ple, while our home drug supplies and fats and minerals. They also contain public pharmacies are packed with plenty of vitamins, especially those medicines and supplements. What from B group. Several sentences from had been made for thousands of years the Holy Bible also show us how seri- was destroyed in only one hundred ous this topic is, about which we write years of development of chemical in- pages and pages of text in the fight for dustry and refinement of everything proper nutrition. Walter Pedrah quotes that was whole-grain and useful only a text from the Book of Genesis, the in that form. first from the collection of texts on the Two authors have a valuable expla- history of the Jewish people on God’s nation of benefits of whole-grain cere- message after He created the man and als. Anthony Satilaro and Tom Monte woman: “I shall give you every grass say: that produces seed and that is in the “Many people are afraid that they entire world, and every tree with fruits will gain weight if they eat carbo- producing seed and these will be your hydrates. But if you take nutrients food.” Today we can feel the beauty from whole-grain cereals and vege- of this message, when the market de- tables, you will probably lose weight 117 and maintain it easily.” Do not forget Saccharose is not digested in the that simple sugars give abundance of intestines, unlike complex carbohy- empty calories that the body will most drates, but it is immediately reab- often store as fat. This is how some sorbed into the bloodstream. When people gain weight, but the whole you chew and swallow the first piece time they yearn for food. As strange of candy, certain amount of sug- as it may sound, but obese people are ar passes into the bloodstream right hungry for this reason. They take main- away, bringing abundance of fuel in- ly simple sugars from refined cereals, to the blood, which the body will have ingredients that do not contain any to burn immediately, simultaneously nutrients needed for bodily functions. energizing the body significantly. But, Ingredients such as these cause noth- because this energy burns out quick- ing but weight gain. The body of man ly so that only a little or no sugar is left living on this kind of food yearns for vi- in the blood, you soon begin to feel tamins, minerals and proteins. empty, tired, sometimes even emo- Refined wheat grain deprived of tionally exhausted. This state is called germ and bran is left with nothing but hypoglycemia or low sugar level in the carbohydrates. Food producers often blood. When it occurs, the body does add some artificial nutrients to their not have enough fuel and it craves for products calling them “enriched”, but energy. Someone with a low level of the end result is loss of important vi- blood sugar usually satisfies this need tamins, minerals, proteins and plant fi- by eating another piece of chocolate bers. or some other candy, after which the The same rule applies to refined cycle of jumps and falls of blood sug- sugars. Simple sugar or saccharose ar continues. is artificially taken from sugar beet or It seems that it all started to go sugar cane, depriving it of nutrients sideways in 1873 when the human- that were originally in the plant. kind firstly tasted white flour and felt amazed by its flavor. 118 That year, in Paris, the first large pecially today, more and more ingre- mill for the industrial production of dients that are tasty but useless are white flour was presented, accord- used. ing to Urlich Strunz and Andreas Jopp. Amount of vitamin E in They inform us that white flour is but some foods (per 100g) a string of sugarless molecules with- Wheat germ oil 174 mg out sweet taste and with many useless Suncflower 62 mg calories. All that is useful to the body Hazelnut 26 mg is extracted from white flour through Almond 26 mg industrial processing of grains. Useful Olive oil 12 mg matters remain in bran, which is given Rice 10 mg to livestock. Bran has 5-10 times more Tuna in oil 9 mg minerals than white flour. Wheat has Walnut 64 mg around 28 important elements and White bread 0,59 mg in processing to white flour 9 of them completely disappear, according to Despite improved living standard, Valentina Fedina. people’s health deteriorates, while pharmaceutical industry grows and The mouth is a place where offers medications to all problems. we practice freedom: by breathing, Profit remains the only motive behind speaking, praying, eating and inventing supplements (replacements "drinking. Using the mouth properly for original ingredients). is leading your life properly. Today around 40% of calories we Mishio Kushi take from fats that contain neither vitamins nor minerals as well as from White flour was not used in my re- carbohydrates, mainly white flour and gion until the fifties of the last century, white sugar. Because of that problems when the use of white sugar and re- occur, primarily for the colon, which is fined oil also increased. Since then, es- deprived of fibers and microelements. 119 The stomach bloats, bowel move- In areas where climate allowed ment is missing and many other prob- the cultivation of wheat, which is lems emerge. Nutritionists’ statement not the case with the Petrovac pla- that industrial processing turns natu- teau, people had a healthy and use- ral nutrients into useless food should ful nutrient. Whole-grain wheat offers be accepted as the reality of today. In proteins, useful fats, vitamins, min- the production of white flour around erals and several enzymes. It recov- three quarters of vitamins and miner- ers the body, protects from anemia als are lost. and guards the heart and the liver. It is very useful for children, if we leave Loss of minerals ( % ) out the possibility of allergy to glu- Calcium do 60 ten. Some call wheat “plant egg”, be- Magnesium do 85 cause it is a complete nutrient. If that Potassium do 77 was not the case, could a child from a Zink do 78 poor family be raised only on milk and Iron do 76 flour? Modern deceit is called integral Chrome do 80 flour and integral bread. It is not real Manganese do 86 integral (whole-grain) flour derived Selene do 75 from whole wheat grains, which can still be found in households practic- If white bread is made with yeast, ing traditional ways of milling grains. one gets an even more useless and Industrial integral flour is actually rein- somewhat harmful product. Namely, tegrated from refined flour with addi- yeast expand cooked cereals and it tion of bran, as an attempt of recover- continues in the bowel. With its acid ing what was already destroyed. That it deprives the body of some minerals, is not the same and you should not especially calcium, which is more diffi- fall for that advertisement trick. There cult for women, because of their dis- are two kinds of wheat - hard and soft position to osteoporosis. 120 - out of which the first one contains introduction was „revolutionary“ for more useful elements. the village, because before that the only shoes had been made of knitted pig Loss of minerals ( % ) skin and sheep pouch („oputasi“). My white whole grandfather was very talented for mak- Element br. 100 br. 100 grams grams ing this kind of footwear. I remember Magnesium 0,5 mg 133 mg wearing it as a young man during sum- Calcium 14 mg 45 mg mer. I waited for my grandfather eager- Phosphor 86 mg 423 mg ly on his way home every market day, because he would always bring me a When was the first time I tasted the baked white roll. Despite being cold, magic white bread? From this point in white as it was, with its special smell time, it was a long time ago, before I and taste it was a real treat for me. went to primary school, during the fif- My next encounter with white ties. My grandfather would go to the bread happened in the fifth grade, city every market day. To him that was because I moved to a city school. I a way of gathering news, because he bought it almost every day at Anka’s would meet many people from other store. We would wait in lines to buy a villages. Cousins would sit down and quarter of the hot “white”. The taste of have a chat, mostly about who was ill, hot bread and hunger made us swal- who died, who got a baby. They would low almost without chewing. Around not drink too much, because they did not have enough money. Some cattle would be sold, and some chopped woods, just to earn enough to buy something else, primarily petroleum for lamp, salt, sugar, matches, etc. In his day, footwear was handmade, until rubber peasant shoes appeared. Their 121 that time a kind of white or half-white deuce was slowly replacing barley flour called deuce became available. flour and soon became the only kind We found out that zero also exist- used. Tasty half-white bread emerged. ed, but was used only for cakes. The

Millet

This is the grain that has fed hu- Millet is a very useful nutrient, be- mankind for centuries. It has been in cause it contains around 11% proteins use for thousands of years and it orig- and around 5% of fat, which makes it inates from the East, where it is still an energizing food. It contains all ami- popular. In the West corn has almost no acids needed by the body, but its completely replaced millet, leaving it main advantage is the abundance of literally only as bird food. minerals. Iron, magnesium, phosphor and salicylic acid are a true benefit for Millet is probably precursor the body, especially for the skin, hair to all other grains: sown in its wild and teeth. It is useful for people who form, it probably fed humankind move little, especially for pregnant "before the discovery of the plow. women. Minerals and vitamins from Walter Pedrotti this grain recover cells and protect the body from cold and bronchitis. Millet When and how it came to our re- does not contain gluten and it is easy gion, I cannot tell precisely, but it to prepare. probably came from Italy and then Various literature has given us at through Dalmatia, because it was a least twenty recipes with millet as the favorite nutrient in the north of Italy. main ingredient. My favorite is cooked The “Venetian polenta” made of mil- millet spiced with warm basa cheese, let is known in that region, something just as polenta is made in Petrovac vil- like our millet dodger. lages today. 122 Millet with pumpkin is a true treat and also one’s battle against a stom- and it can also represent a complete ach ulcer. It helps lunch that will recover and refresh the the recovery of gut flora, so it is body, especially when it is under psy- recommended to use it while taking chological pressure, because it has antibiotics. calming action, facilitating digestion,

Barley

Barley is one of the oldest if not the oldest food that fed animals and man for thousands of years across the planet. It has been used for 15 to 17 thousand years and it was known as a com- petitor to wheat and corn in the times of ancient Egypt and Greece. Barley is now replaced by wheat, so today it mostly serves as animal food. It is extensively used in the production of beer. Still, in some areas of the world its traditional use without yeast “preski” bread. Warm and smeared has been preserved, such as Tibet and with basa cheese it was a true treat. Nepal. In Christian tradition it used to Once it got cold and hard one would be popular to make bread without be careful not to break their teeth. yeast, especially during certain festiv- Mother and grandfather were the ities. I also remember that time, when only ones in our home fasting and for my mother used to prepare Christmas breakfast mother would often make bar- bread out of pure barley bread with- ley bread without yeast. The main and out yeast, the one we used to call only meal with the bread was minced 123 onions in oil with some salt. They took It is easily digestible so it is good for a piece of bread at a time and dipped the nutrition of children, older persons it in oil with onions. With God in their and those recovering from a disease. It thoughts and a bowl of natural food also contains plenty of phosphor, so it they would start a new working day. is recommended to students and oth- Barley could be basic food, especial- ers engaged in intellectual work, be- ly for the poor (sometimes a half a kilo- cause phosphor is a mineral protect- gram of bread was the only food for the ing nerve cells and improves memory. day), because it contained many useful Those experiencing sleep depri- ingredients. Starch, proteins, sugar, min- vation should consume barley in all erals and some vitamins are its advan- its forms, because barley is useful for tage. Barley has low glycemic index and good sleep. Only rye and buckwheat it is also rich in soluble and insoluble fi- contain more phosphor. bers. Soluble fibers facilitate metabo- Besides nutrition, barley is used for lism of fats, carbohydrates and choles- other purposes also. Warm compress terol. Insoluble fibers facilitate the work with barley mash are known for curing of intestines. Barley fibers are true allies pus filled blisters and pimples. Roast against EPG. Scarce in sodium, it is suit- barley is acknowledged as the replace- able for use in cardio diets. It belongs to ment for coffee, but without caffeine prebiotics, because it contains indigest- ible food ingredients that are beneficial for the digestive tract as they stimulate the growth of useful bacteria, improving general health of the host.

Look how he is blushing, as if he ate some barley bread. P.P. Njegos " Waiting for bread 124 Oat

It has been around for thousands Amount of vit. B6 in some of years, since times of the ancient foods per100 g Chinese and Romans. Today it is large- Sardine 0,69 mg ly used in Russia and Ireland, much Oat 0,96 mg more than in our region. Here, this ce- Chicken 0,53 mg real is mostly used as animal food. It Courgette 0,46 mg has high calorie value and it is recom- Banana 0,36 mg mended during cold periods and hard Rye flour 0,35 mg labor. We have learned this from an- Beans 0,26 mg Potato 0,19 mg imals. Horses are privileged and it is White bread 0,02 mg impossible to use them for plowing or extracting timber from the woods Because of its benefits in case of without snack consisting of a full feed- impotence, it is contained in high per- bag of oats (“zobnica”). The name of centages in concentrated mixtures the bag “zobnica” (zob = oat) sug- in meals of breeding animals, horses, gests its purpose as a bag attached to rams, even roosters. The latter ones a horse’s head enabling it to eat in all get a portion oat grains between conditions and in any place. meals. Oat is not only known for high calorie value, but also for high content of proteins, vitamins and minerals. Oat, unlike other cereals, contains growth hormones, so it is an especially important food during the period of physical development of the body. It decreases the amount of gastric acid and helps digestion, because 125 oat fi bers facilitate bowel movements. Norsemen described the Vikings as Namely, on their way through the co- having broad shoulders due to heavy lon oat fi bers attach to water, forming and continuous consumption of oats. a sort of gel that increases the volume If this is true, then I advise mothers to of colonic contents thus preventing introduce oat and barley mash on the constipation. It helps the action of the menu of their little ones. thyroid gland. It also contains unsatu- We must also mention the down- rated fats and essential fatty acids and side of oat and that is negative infl u- beta glucan fi bers and helps decrease ence on persons suff ering from gout, the level of harmful fats in the blood. because oats contain purine that helps the creation of urine acid in Regular consumption joints. This is why a person with gout of oats can decrease facial problems should defi nitely avoid con- wrinkles. This eff ect results from suming oat. "beta glucans that oat has. Lejla Kazinic- Kreho

It is used in natural cosmetics, es- 50-70% pecially in masks, because it recovers facial skin. It is also added to a bath 15-20% tub fi lled with water. Prior to the ad- 15-30% dition, oat must be boiled for at least twenty minutes. Only fi ltered boiling water is added. Carbohydrates Folk doctors used to recommend Fats Proteins placing warm oats in a linen cloth for removing back pains. Optimal daily intake

126 Corn

We know much more about corn utes. It was a product that required than about other cereals. We know it certain knowledge and ability to originates in the Americas, where an- properly enrich it with dressing (basa cient cultures that cultivated it turned cheese in boiling water) whose taste it into religion. Some Native Americans depended on the level of maturation believed man was fi rst created from of basa cheese. The older, the better. corn fl our. Anyway, corn is an amazing Polenta was almost always combined plant which feeds a half of the world with red onions as salad. today. Even among our older generations, after Columbus’s travels (when it arrived to Europe for the fi rst time), it was the basic ingredient along with barley and millet. My mother used to say, whatever the crisis, there was always corn bread and polenta. But it did require certain knowledge of how to prepare it. There are several dishes, out of which some are prepared even to- Polenta day both in the countryside and cities by ladies who nurture tradition and val- “Ljevaca” was also a very tasty ue of original ways of preparing food. and nutritive meal made by combin- Corn bread (“kuruza”) is the basic ing corn fl our and some fat and bak- product and everyone should try it. ing it in a pan. It would then be spiced The second product according to its (again with melted basa cheese) and popularity in the past was polenta. It served warm. was not like the today’s instant polen- “Cicvara” was the main event. It ta that everyone can make in fi ve min- also required skill and it was mostly 127 served during special occasions, such cation than we can say this grain is in as Christmas and the slava. Christmas great crisis, from the nutritionist point lunch, which was served earlier than of view. In other words, with this food usual, would start with cicvara. An un- man is entering a food crisis, at least in written rule was that the sign of good terms of quality. cicvara is when you could see your re- fl ection in it (in melted fat on the sur- face). Besides it, there was boiled and roast corn on the cob, “varica” - meal consisting of mixed corn and beans. Mother used to make corn “bulje” (popcorn) in a sieve that was used for separating grains after threshing. That was a real treat. Today many types of corn diff er from each other by the concentration of proteins and oth- Corn bread er element. Geneticists have contributed a lot to the increase of yield per Is corn to thank because in her a unit of measurement. Of course, just tenth decade my mother’s stories like with other agricultural products, were still clear and pleasant, full of viv- quantity has been more important id details, as if the events happened than quality. Old types were much several days beforehand? It may have more complex and richer in nutritive been so, because corn is rich in B elements. group vitamins – thiamine and pan- Artifi cial fertilizers contributing tothenic acid – which preserve brain to increased yield have also lowered cells and the adrenal gland. It seems quality, so today corn with “poorer that, thanks to beta-cryptoxanthin contents” is dominant. If we add to and carotenoids, corn protects smok- this the infl uence of genetic modifi - ers from lung cancer. 128 The chemical industry has also in- However, according to Zoran volved and taken its share of the corn Maksimovic from the Department of cake. Corn is processed into many Pharmacology in Belgrade, corn may products, from alcohol, cosmetics and be the only representative of all plant pharmaceuticals to bio-diesel. species whose evolution has been so Corn has been put aside unjust- closely connected to the evolution of ly. Domesticated animals have sim- man that the process of its cultivation ply taken it away from us, because and adaptation can rightfully be con- their breeding is practically impossi- sidered an example of joint evolution, ble without it. Man has left corn to in- because the development of this cul- dustry, which profits by creating vari- ture and humankind has been deeply ous “miracles”. and essentially connected.

Rye

Rye has not been used as much It is rich in lysine, an essential ami- as corn, barley, oat or wheat. It first no acid that is scarce in other foods. appeared in the fifties in the form of B group vitamins are the main white flour. Rye slowly mixed with strength of rye, along with vitamin E other cereals, but it was cultivated the as antioxidant. Rye mash successfully most, because it was more resistant to resolves constipation. harsh mountain climate than the others. Rye bran soak up a lot It has its advantages, but it is most of water in the stomach, thus praised for its benefit for blood ves- creating the sensation of fullness sels and it is recommended to per- "and relieving bowel movements. sons with bad blood circulation, ath- Walter Pedrotti erosclerosis and irregular arterial pressure. 129 Buckwheat

White buckwheat fl owers spread across the Petrovac plateau

Science has doubts whether buck- Buckwheat has come back and its wheat is a cereal or something else. white-reddish fl owers fi ll the fi elds. It is believed that buckwheat is fruit It is milled in the water-mill and new seed related to rhubarb, while, accord- generations study recipes of many ing to all its characteristics, uses and meals made of it. cultivation, it goes hand in hand with Buckwheat is a nutritionally bal- other cereals. anced food, more than other cereals. Buckwheat grows in highlands It is richer in amino acids and B group and poor soils. It tolerates draught, vitamins. but does not tolerate weeds, which it simply annihilates. Because of its nu- In terms of nutritive value tritive and to certain extent medicinal and ease of utilization, buckwheat characteristics it is often called the ce- proteins are much better in quality real of future. This is what is now hap- "than proteins of any other grains. pening in the Petrovac plateau now, S.K. Vranjkovic 130 It is rich in magnesium, which Buckwheat does not contain glu- helps blood circulation and improves ten, which is its advantage over other heart rhythm, and it is also considered cereals. Buckwheat flower has always useful in nutrition, because it decreas- been used as medicine for cough and es the risk of diabetes. An American clearing gunk from upper airways. study has shown that regular use of buckwheat is enough to prevent the creation of gallstones. Canadian researchers have discovered that buckwheat contains a matter called chiro-inositol that lowers blood sugar. It is said it keeps the body warm and it removes harmful fats. It is useful for pregnant women, recon- valescents and children, because of it beneficial influence on growth. It has a low glycemic index and it also contains flavonoid rutin, a strong antioxidant which is helpful against the creation of EPG, the main culprit for aging and facial wrinkles. Amount of vit. B1 in some foods: Wheat germs 2 mg Sunflower seeds 2 mg Chicken chest 0,7 mg Barley flakes 0,6 mg Buckwheat flour 0,6 mg Whole-grain wheat flour 0,5 mg White wheat flour 0,06 mg

131 INTRODUCE TO NUTRITION Fats and oils OR CONSUME MORE • unrefi ned cold-pressed oil (corn, sesame, sunfl ower, olive) Cereals • quality butter • sbrown rice • barley Dairy products • millet • naturally soured dairy • buckwheat products (kefi r, acidophilic yogurt, sour milk) • oat • naturally cultured cheese, • wheat cheese creams, etc. • rye • spelt Meat, eggs and fi sh • cereal fl akes • white fi sh, especially small species • whole-grain fl our products • poultry fed with natural food • organic eggs Fruits and vegetables • fresh fruits and vegetables • pickled vegetables • raw fruits and vegetables • dried fruits and vegetables

Pulses • boiled pulses • germinated pulses • green pulses and peas • soya grits and fl our

Source: Jadranka Boban Pejic and Z. Pejic STOP CONSUMING OR Pulses DECREASE CONSUMPTION • textured soya products • canned pulses Cereals • white rice Fats and oils • white bread • refi ned oil • pastries made of white fl our • butter • industrial products of • pig fat cereals and fl our. • processed plant-based fat • suet Fruits and vegetables • tropical fruits Dairy products • vegetables boiled for too long • pasteurized and • vegetable chips, etc. homogenized milk • frozen fruits and vegetables • powdered milk, industrial sour cream

Meat, eggs and fi sh • beef, pork, • horse meat, hare meat, • lamb, eggs • meat products • other kinds of meat

Food and life

133 What has the garden yielded?

134 Potato

It was fi rst brought from South It is known for its healing action America to Spain in the 6th century. against scorbutus, due to high con- The Europeans knew nothing about tent of vitamin C. potato, so they often used green It contains other vitamins and min- fruits that tasted badly due to alka- erals as well, while it is richest in car- loids. Raw potato was called “the bohydrates. Contains fermentables Devil’s apple”, because it caused poi- and some medicinal substances. soning. Potato was not popular in Potato is a food that can be pre- Spain, until it reached Italy, whose res- pared in many ways. It can be used raw idents demonstrated greater skills in (for medicinal purposes), cooked, baked. preparing it. In the 16th century it was You can use even ones that turn green brought to England and other coun- due to exposure to sunlight for putting tries of the Western Europe. them in compresses to remove pain in Thanks to Dositej Obradovic, potato joints. Our grandmothers used to cure was brought from Germany to Serbia, minor burns by bandaging them with more precisely to the Banat region, in grated potato or apple to make the pain 1759. In our region potato is called the disappear quickly. Potato is an impor- second bread, for good reason, be- tant guardian of the human heart, because, besides bread, it often saved cause it contains fl avonoids that do so. people from starvation and disease. It contains high concentrations of vitamins C and B6. Vitamin B6 helps against stress, helps performance of the heart and lungs and strengthens immunity and good sleep. Potato has more potassium than banana. Potato is an important and most frequently used ingredient for making baby food. 135 Content of some elements Meals with potato were a real plea- in potato (per 100 g) sure. Obviously those before us knew Energy 116 kcal how to enjoy in what they had. Some Fat 0,5 g potato dishes are very popular among Vit.C 26 mg present generations as well. Vit.B1 0,2 mg One of these are surely potato Vit.B2 0,6 mg halves (“police”). A potato is washed Folic acid 0,3 mg first thoroughly, then sliced into two Iron 2,8 mg halves and salted on inside. Halves are Potassium 750 mg then rubbed against each other un- Combination with carrot, peas, til salt begins to foam. It is then baked sour cream and white chicken meat in the oven without additions. After is an excellent choice for children’s baking, while still hot, they are served food. The confirmation for this comes with basa cheese. The more mature from the past when children did not basa cheese is, the tastier it will be. eat industrial food. Namely, pota- This was a popular winter treat. to and corn-based products used Another popular meal in the coun- to be basic food for kids. Potato was tryside consisted of thin slices of po- offered to them in several different tato that would be baked in a casse- ways: mashed potato, baked potato role greased with fat. Additions to po- or baked or cooked potato with ba- tato were onions, salt, sweet paprika sa cheese, sour milk or with jam. There and a few pieces of bacon. Sour milk were probably more combinations. was served with it, along with black It does not have high energy value. whole-grain barley bread. Compared to chips, it is 6 times less One more dish that was consid- (80:530). Fortunately, our grandmoth- ered the food of the poor used to be ers did not know about chips. Cooked very frequently prepared. It was roux unpeeled potato is a true vault of min- soup from boiled potato with addition erals. of salt, onions and some vegetables, 136 if any were available. Those who had and French fries. The way of process- used to put a small piece of smoked ing potato resulted in many low qual- meat. Roux soup was often the only ity and, by many, harmful products. dish for lunch. A gourmand who sees Chips and French fries are produced only taste and variability would prob- by frying at high temperature, which ably grade this dish negatively. They leads to the creation of EPG and tox- would probably mock it even, say- ins that can help the development of ing it was a miserable dish. However, mutations. These are also considered a nutritionist would grade it highly. carcinogens. Scientists have discov- Roux soup with barley bread was a ered that, according to Perricone, fried gift to the body, because it cleans it. potato, especially the dark red col- We can call it a daily fast, but one that or kind, is high in acrylamides, whose does not make you hungry. When you consumption has been linked to can- mix potato as a diuretic full of potas- cer. Acrylamide damages the DNA, sium with some energy from barley which is most often the first step to bread, which helps digestion as a pre- cancer. Unlike frying, cooking (boiling) biotic, and sour milk as a fine probiot- does not lead to significant creation of ic, the body is left with nothing but acrylamides. joy. If people of today, who most often have improper nutrition, especial- Best foods with K ly the obese, would know about the Dried apricot 1850 mg benefits of this dish, they would con- Soya 1680 mg sume it at least once a week. Potato Grapes 746 mg was also eaten with diluted plum jam. Potato 421 mg There will be more words on potato Banana 360 mg and sour milk as a dessert later. Mellon 320 mg Modern technology turns pota- Broccoli 316 mg to into several tasty, but dangerous Peas 244 mg products. Primarily there are chips Tomato 222 mg 137 Also, a more favorable way of pre- solanine, a poisonous alkaloid. There paring food is simmering with plen- were no poisonings because solanine ty of fluids at lower temperature for is found right under the peel, so thick short period peeling would successfully remove it. So, it takes only a small, but wrong, It should be noted that solanine is sta- step to turn a useful food, such as po- ble at higher temperature, so cooking tato, into a harmful one. does not destroy it, while baking it at I would like to get back to its good 170 to 200 degrees Celsius would de- side, because I remembered how my activate most of it. Its concentration in mother used to lower my body tem- sprouted potato increases. After be- perature with slices of potato put on ing extracted from soil, potato losses soles of my feet, forehead and chest. its nutritive value. According to G. P. Back then my mother did not know Malahov, in storage it has the follow- about paracetamol. Other special- ing values: ties made of potato worth mentioning include also cooked sour cabbage • Young potato in September is with cooked potato instead of bread. made of 85% nutritive matter. Based on findings I gained from talk- • From September to January ing to much older persons, I conclude this decreases to 75%. that cooking was the main method of preparing food. They also knew • From January to March potato that potato was bad when it turned has 70% of nutritive matters. green or when it sprouted. They did • From March to the not know this toxicity was caused by percentage falls to 60%.

138 Beans

Modern man has ousted this food that the enjoy- to the margin of the menu. This is an ment in meat is irrefutable fact, at least in the region I but a relapse of live in. Most urban families eat beans past primitive lifestyle. two times a month. Two times a week Beans, whole-grain cere- would be better. als and milk can lead to decreasing Decreased consumption of beans the use of meat to very small amount. is unjustifi ed and harmful for the hu- When we add red onion and garlic to man body. If we were to say it poeti- this, then we see the magic formula cally, then we would say: “The guts are for food our ancestors had. grieving for beans.” Plant fi bers have many benefi ts. It is truly baffl ing that beans, which Soluble fi bers absorb cholesterol, tri- many call a superfood, are disregard- glycerides and toxins. Insoluble fi bers ed that much. facilitate bowel movements. It is be- Nutritive contents of beans are lieved that beans are the only food very important, especially the abun- that decreases the desire for meat dance of minerals (copper, phosphor, consumption. We all know about the manganese, magnesium, potassium drawback of beans - they give us gas- and zink). As for vitamins, beans off er ses, usually 4 to 5 hours after eating folic acid and vitamins B1 and B6. It is them. Cure for the prevention of gas- a food with high percentage of pro- ses is in the way of cooking. It takes teins. several hours of steeping beans pri- Combination of beans and whole- or to cooking, after which the steep- grain cereals in a meal gives the con- ing water is discarded. Beans are then tent of proteins comparable to the one cooked in a pot without a lid and salt. given by meat and milk. It seems we If you do it this way, you will get the should not condemn those who say desired result. 139 Garlic

Historical evidence show that gar- of Marseille from the plague epidem- lic has been in use since several thou- ic. I believe that generations before us sand years ago. According to some can thank garlic and red onions, as well writings, it originates from Middle as wild garlic, for their vitality, strength Asia. Use of garlic was described in and resilience to illness. many cultures, beginning with the Egyptian, Chinese, Roman, English, French and many others. Still, garlic receives the most attention in a French town called Saint Clar. According to S. K. Vanjkevic, every Thursday morning from July to January the market opens with only one product on offer - garlic. Every August whole town changes because that Garlic underwent thorough scien- is when a garlic festival takes place. tific studies for the first time at the turn In this town everyone eats garlic in a of the 19th century. Active substanc- traditional way - by simply rubbing it es belonging to sulfur compounds against a slice of bread. It is an amaz- were discovered. Garlic is a complex ing plant. It is at the same time food plant and contains numerous chemical and medicine, poison and magic with compounds that are active in various which people used to chase witches ways. Available data reveal over thirty and vampires, but it was also used to kinds. Simo Vulin states only some of cure many illnesses. The most famous the most important: written record of garlic benefit comes • Allicin - responsible for from 1720 when in combination with antibacterial and anti- vinegar it saved thousands of residents inflammatory action 140 • Alliin - antibiotic action • Aphrodisiac - for this factor some authors place it on the • Diallyl disulfide oxide - garlic top of the list of aphrodisiacs. essential oil that lowers the level of lipids, especially Different forms of garlic make it cholesterol, in the blood. mysterious and unstable. Every way of • Germanium - found only in traces, taking garlic makes its action last long. but still has anti-cancer action It was proved that one of the most valuable components - allicin - is pro- • Gurvich rays - thanks to duced only when garlic is chopped its radiation rejuvenates or squashed. I did not ask my moth- bodily functions. er from whom had she learned that it • Anti-arthritis factor - was best to squash garlic and leave it in helps curing arthritis. olive oil for a while, but she used to say it was best prepared that way. Allicin • Blood sugar regulation does kill bacteria, but it is unstable. If factor - helps with diabetes- we leave garlic squashed for several related problems. hours, it transforms into another sulfur • Antioxidant - prevents compound without the characteristics peroxidation (rancidity) and of allicin. During cooking it decompos- serves as natural preservative. es into another sulfur compound with- • Anticoagulant- substance out bactericide but with anti-cancer preventing blood coagulation. characteristics. Garlic can also be taken by swal- • Selene - mineral found in garlic lowing a whole peeled clove. That which has positive effect on way it lowers blood pressure. If taken many processes in the body chopped and freshly squashed, it has (see the chapter on Selene). antibacterial action thanks to allicin.

141 „Garlic and May butter to say that garlic was good for every- cure every malady, let goat thing, especially for flu and other ill- milk be their company“. nesses, blood pressure, for eliminat- " 19th century song ing parasites, cleaning the blood and entire body. They called it the elixir of According to some authors, pow- youth as well, they used it for treating dered garlic has great influence on the warts, bronchitis and asthma, hiccups body. This form of garlic is called “ma- and toothache, hair loss and dandruff, ture garlic”. Scientists have different eczema and blisters. views on deciding which form is the A lot of this was true. I was the cod- best and a recommended daily intake. dler of the family and no one could General opinion is that one should take make me eat garlic. Whether because one to three cloves of garlic per meal. of that or something else, I often had In terms of weight that means three to flu. Unlike me, my buddy Srele of- six grams a day. ten had onion breath. During winter Science has made effort to deter- he smelled like garlic, and like red on- mine nutritive components (water, en- ion in summer. He grew up and left ergy value, proteins, fats, minerals, vi- the countryside and I never saw him tamins, etc.). Since we consume only sick. Not even during seasonal flu pe- small amounts of garlic, all these vi- riods. The first line of defense against tamins, minerals and proteins do not flu were rakia, bacon and onions. With benefit our body that much. Therefore sour cabbage brine this makes a pow- one should seek vitamins, minerals and erful natural protection. other nutrients in other foods as well. All known analyses and new findings have not succeeded in removing its label of the wonderful healer. I heard people praising garlic in the wintertime stories as well. They used 142 Fresh garlic, cooked or raw, has the same, if not even better, anti- and garlic in vinegar can improve thrombotic characteristics than aspirin the condition of cholesterol. Plain – a generally accepted blood clotting "milled garlic and garlic spice inhibitor. It is true that aspirin acts as an bought in stores are completely anticoagulant in only one way – by de- therapeutically worthless. creasing the production of thrombox- Jean Carper ane. Ahoin also works like that, but it also stops the grouping of blood plate- Here is a story of Jean Carper on gar- lets in seven other ways – in all existing lic and red onion: “Garlic and red onion ways.” Medical researchers from the are rich in ingredients acting strongly University George Washington dis- against the creation of clots. Researcher covered that garlic and red onion con- Eric Blog, from the University in New tain three additional ingredients acting York, extracted an ingredient called against clotting, including the most ahoin from garlic (named after the important one – adenosine. Spanish word for garlic – ayo), which

You better run, fl u, here’s carrot and garlic!

143 Red onion

„Go to the garden and pluck me two heads of red onions, I need them for salad”, my mother would tell me. If there were no heads yet, I would pick a few ing to insulin properly. It decreases sug- leaves instead. This is how it used to be ar level and improves the body’s resil- before or how it used to be with those ience to glucose. who had gardens. Fortunately, even af- Red onion is a strong anti-cancer ter 20 years of schooling to run away asset protecting the body. This is espe- from fi eld manual labor, many have re- cially evident in the prevention of can- turned to their beautiful gardens. cer of esophagus, colon, vocal cords, Red onion contributed to the pro- ovaries and prostate. tection of human health as early as Recently, an ingredient with an ac- 6000 years ago. Because of its benefi - ronym GPCS was discovered in red on- cial action on the level of blood sug- ion. It is associated with preventing the ar, it is successful in combating the cre- activity of osteoclasts, cells infl uenc- ation of EPG. It is used raw, but it is al- ing the fragility of bones. This discov- so prepared in many other ways. It can ery is important for women, which are withstand preparation at high temper- aff ected by this problem during the atures. Research has discovered that menopause. If consumed on daily ba- red onion lowers blood glucose level sis, red onion signifi cantly decreases by increasing insulin in the blood and the risk of colon cancer. Chrome lev- glycogens in the liver, which energizes el decreases and action of red onion the body. It lowers cholesterol, there- as well if one takes a lot of sugar and fore it belongs to natural statins, just white fl our. People who move little also like garlic. lose chrome from the body. Red onion is a good source of Here are some benefi ts we have chrome, which helped the guts react- from red onion, according to Perricone: 144 • slows down the development of arteriosclerosis, because it decreases the occurrence of EPG

• lowers blood cholesterol

• decreases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer

• encourages immunity functions

• improves the ability of the body to eliminate foreign substances

• recovers physical strength

• increases resilience to several causes of stress

• has favorable infl uence against aging

• acts as an antioxidant

• protects the liver.

Basic onion characteristic (regardless of the type) is the abundance of sulfur compounds. Quercetin is a fl a- vonoid whose greatest contribution to onion is the defense against heart diseases, because it has antioxidant effect, especially in the case of oxidation of bad cholesterol. Onion, also, helps in preventing infl ammatory processes. 145 Wild garlic

Everything attributed to garlic can People trust this plant very much also be attributed to wild garlic (ram- and say it is the best cleaner for the sons). This plant is even richer than blood and the digestion system. Its garlic in some elements important to leaves are good for battling intestinal man, such as: manganese - up to 15 parasites. They strengthen immunity times more, adenosine - 20 times and and facilitate digestion. magnesium - 2 times.

Wild garlic is also known as ramsons or bear leek. We did not need to grow it in the garden, because it grew all over Osjecenica and Klekovaca mountains. It is a plant found in shades of forest trees in April and May. Shepherd and forest workers ate it regularly with bacon they would car- ry for snack. Stories say it is the fi rst plant bear picks after its winter sleep. It belongs to antioxidants and it lowers blood pressure and cholesterol.

146 147 To the barn for milk, to the store for margarine

148 Milk is rich in calcium and it alone can meet our daily needs for this element Mwith only a half a liter per day. Unlike calcium, milk is scarce in iron and the body must obtain it from other sources. Common nettle, greens, meat and whole- grain cereals are capable of providing iron, whose scarcity can cause one type of anemia, because it is a component of B12 vitamins.

It is one of the foods that experts D. However, there are disagreements disagree about. Easterners claim that about calcium. milk is good only for babies while they Namely, research showed that a are still breastfed, because when they number of women had osteoporo- grow up they lose the enzyme lactase, sis, despite significant consumption which degrades milk sugar, for which of milk. A research involving North milk should be avoided by adults. Milk American women who suffered os- is one of the foods commonly causing teoporosis despite taking plenty of allergies and intolerance in the body. It milk gave the explanation. The cause is recommended that fresh milk is sub- was excessive consumption of meat, stituted with sour milk. This is maybe whose digestion requires acidic envi- justified in this time, because milk of ronment that takes calcium for itself, today is not what it used to be. Cows thus leaving little of it for the bones. eat grass less and less, while milk is What experts do agree about is processed at high temperatures and the time of consumption. Milk should using additives to get long-lasting be taken alone only. It is not good products. So, if bought in stores, it is to combine it with coffee and tea. far from being natural, but we can find Evidence that milk does more good it in the countryside in abundance, be- than harm we find with our ances- cause cows there are fed naturally, like tors, who often had barley or corn a hundred years ago. bread with milk for breakfast, but al- Two most important ingredi- so for dinner, which was the case with ents of milk are calcium and vitamin my father and grandfather, who slept 149 very well afterwards. It seems that to- “Average life expectancy day we cannot rely on the past and let among the Hunza people was it be our guide. 120 years. They were vegetarians Many studies found that milk is not "who largely consumed goat good for adults. More than a half of cheese over winter. the world population does not drink Gennadiy Petrovich Malahov milk (east) and they raise healthy babies and have strong bones. Seventy One of the hormones present in percent of people (mostly elderly) milk attracts special attention. It is does not have enzymes for the diges- somatomedin C - insulin similar to tion of milk, because of which diges- growth factor (IGF-1). In nature it is tion problems can be expected. found in cow milk, breast milk and the British scientists performed a great blood. The more milk you drink, the survey in 2010 and concluded that more the level of this hormone grows. persons who drank more milk had Its role is to facilitate growth. Level of poorer health, immune system and IGF-1 in the blood reaches its peak in hormonal status. adolescence, when it encourages the The highest probability of death growth of breasts with girls and pros- by cancer has been reported in tate with boys, and then it drastically Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and drops as years pass, but not if you con- Sweden, the world’s biggest consum- sume plenty of milk and cheese. Milk ers of milk, according to P. Holford. It is does not only contain IGF-1, whose not easy to frighten us milk drinkers, small portion is reabsorbed in the but experts’ warnings keep on. Here is blood, but it encourages the body to how Holford explains risks of milk: produce its own supplies. This hor- “Why does milk increase risk? It mone, besides stimulating growth, contains 38 hormones and promoters prevents suicide of excessive cells (a of growth. In the end, that is its func- process called apoptosis). This is good tion: to encourage growth of cells. if you are a baby that needs to grow 150 fast, but it is bad if cancer cells are the ra pack milk of today, regardless of only cells in the body that multiply them both having 38 hormones and quickly. That is not good at all, because growth promoters? it was established that IGF-1 directly encourages growth of cancer cells, so Increase calcium level in the elevated levels of this hormone are as- blood by eating honey. After two sociated with increased breast, pros- and a half hours the concentration tate, colon and lung cancer. "of calcium in the blood increases Women who are about to enter and that concentration stays for a menopause with high concentrations whole day. If you eat honey every of IGF-1 are exposed to two times morning, there will always be greater breast cancer risk.” sufficient calcium in the blood. Despite all of this, it is difficult to D. K. Jarwis intimidate us, since we have this image of our 100-year old ancestors who I will not give add my judgment drank liters and liters of milk, because to these controversies, because we it is exactly milk, sour milk, young should leave some questions hover- cheese and basa cheese that nurtured ing over our heads. If we knew every- them. However, a question emerg- thing today, what would be left for es: was that milk the same as the tet- the scientists of tomorrow?

Sour milk

John McKehn from a clinic of nat- el problems, from constipation to co- ural medicine in Bridgeton says the lon cancer, drink a glass of sour milk following on sour milk: “If you knew every day.” Sour milk has been known how important it is to consume fresh for a long time and it is considered it sour milk, you would drink it by tons derives from the Mediterranean coun- every day. If you wish to avoid bow- tries. Today it is largely being replaced 151 by yogurt, which is just a Turkish ex- After the addition of bacterial cultures pression for sour milk, according to milk was not heated. Jar with milk was Stojanovic and Katic. It is the same wrapped in thick cloths to prevent it product. Sour milk is made by fer- from cooling down quickly and to en- mentation with some useful bac- able fermentation. teria. These are mainly Lactobacilus Sour milk helps in losing weight, bulgarikus, Lactobacilus acidofilus, because a glass of milk has around Bifidobakterium bifidus, etc. 150 calories, while a glass of sour milk Acidofilus and Bifidus are the se- has around 80. If made from partially cret to medicinal action. Therefore skimmed milk, it has even less calories. acidophilic milk is more valued here. Besides increasing the absorption of Acidophilic milk contains less lactose, so it is more appropriate for people whose body cannot tolerate this milk sugar, which can be diagnosed with intolerance test. However, one should differentiate fresh homemade sour milk from the

industrial. Fresh milk, as McKehn calls Sour milk - at the end of lunch it, is not additionally heated after adding cultures. Thereby, useful bacteria calcium by its lactic acid, it is also rich that multiply are much more stable in this valuable mineral. It is useful to for further multiplication in our body. consume it in the morning, because Applying heat after adding cultures, probiotic bacteria have more chanc- for the sake of faster fermentation, es to participate in digestion through- weakens bacterial cultures for the con- out the day. tinuation of existence in the body. My If in the morning you drink a glass mother and other housewives from of sour milk in which you put a spoon- the village prepared it the right way. ful of milled mixture of flax, sunflower, 152 pumpkin seeds and sesame the night milk in the meantime. Drinking it then before, with addition of carob and cin- is fine because by that time antibiotics namon, you will lower your cholester- have already left the stomach and en- ol and strengthen your immunity. tered the blood. Acidofilus and Bifidus Something else about sour milk. bacteria save the stomach. Useful sour milk bacteria belong to a The only thing better and tastier large group of bacteria called gut flo- than sour cow milk is sour goat and ra. There are several hundreds of spe- sheep milk. cies. With its acidity, sour milk helps digestion and bowel movements. It Amount of vit. B2 in some is very useful for lowering cholester- foods (per 100 g) Corn flakes 2 mg ol and it even increases good cholesterol (HDL). It strongly helps immuni- Chicken chest 0,9 mg ty (immunostimulation), so it is easier Wheat germs 0,72 mg to beat a disease with it. Sour milk re- Oat 0,52 mg Mushrooms 0,4 mg covers disturbed stomach flora to nor- Fasting cheese 0,3 mg mality after taking antibiotics. Sour milk 0,3 mg To women yogurt is cure against Milk 0,2 mg all diseases. It strengthens immunity, White flour 0,03 mg contains larger amounts of calcium and prevents vaginitis. Goat milk belongs to fatty milks, George HalpernUniversity in Davis but that fat is more valuable and is I once heard how a pharmacist for- easily digested, because fat particles bade a patient to drink yogurt while are smaller. It is a good source of cal- taking his antibiotic. Wrong! He prob- cium, phosphor, potassium and vita- ably wanted to say not to drink yogurt min B12. Sheep milk, as well, has bet- and antibiotics together. Taking anti- ter characteristics than cow’s: biotics between eight to twelve hours enables you to drink a glass of sour 153 • Contains more vitamins A, B, C i E • Richer in proteins

• Has twice as more calcium • Consists of short-chained fatty acids claimed to have no • Has less sodium influence over cholesterol level. • Easily digested

Fresh sour milk(“zamuza”)

This special dairy potion was dis- tives, such as rBST (recombined bo- covered by shepherds. They al- vine somatotrophine hormone). ways had supplies of milk in udders In 1994 American congressmen of sheep and goats. They obviously reacted demanding reports on rBST. needed to consume one kind of sour Except the published information that dairy product besides boiled milk. it was used to increase cow milk pro- Since they always moved, they were duction, they knew nothing more. prepared to make the processing on They did not know about experi- the way. Namely, every shepherd car- ments on mice nor about the conse- ried a wooden pot with a lid (“kobi- quences. ca”) in which they stored sour milk. Toast cheese, which is easy to put When they consumed almost all sour on a slice of bread and make a sand- milk from the pot, a shepherd would wich, is a very complicated prod- milk a goat or sheep able to give milk uct. Besides a little milk and cheese, it and fill the pot with fresh milk. When has many more other additives. One the pot was full, they would leave it in brand of such cheese has the follow- the sun for a while. Due to fermenta- ing: tion, they would get a foamy and tasty cheese 17%, water, plant fat, milk sour-sweet milk product. And what is proteins, powdered whey, emulsifier the yogurt we drink today like? Maybe salts m (E341, E452, E339) and salt. there are some with hormonal addi- 154 Is it appropriate to ask who is hap- fer or one who has a single dilem- pier - one who stands in front of a dis- ma - whether to take more mature play in a supermarket and looks at or younger cheese, the one from the how much types of cheese is on of- freshly milked milk in the morning.

Whey

Whey is a dairy product ob- drink it every day - he would say to tained in the production of cheese. himself. Whey enables better utili- Practically, it is a by-product that used zation of vitamins (bio availability to to be given to pigs. Children were the body) through beta globulin pro- reluctant to drink it, despite their teins. This group of proteins helps re- mothers’ efforts, just as was my case. covering damaged liver cells. Alpha- Mothers did not know why, but they lactalbumin is the second most pres- knew it was healthy. Out of the three ent protein and it is the most valuable jars or bottles lined beside the stove, protein in breast milk. People who we would drink from the last one, the drink whey are in better mood be- one which contained fresher, milder, cause of this protein that helps the whey. It is the best friend of the liver. production of serotonin (mood en- A true blessing. It is rich in B group vi- zyme). Another feature of whey is tamins. It has some proteins, lactic ac- strengthening of immunity, which is id and milk enzymes. It strongly sup- attributed to immunoglobulins that ports useful bacteria in the stomach make 10% of all whey proteins. It is a and also facilitates liver detoxification. protein of colostrum, which defends For its acidity, it is also an antiseptic. I newborn babies from infections in used to watch my father gulp down the first days after birth. Whey should whey or diluted sour milk when he be consumed on daily basis, having was very thirsty. It brought him back in mind completely improper nutri- strength and freshness. One should tion of today. It is especially useful for 155 children and should get them used (drugs for lowering blood fats), antibi- to drinking a certain amount every otics and some other poisons cannot day, because its consumption is com- preserve their livers without whey or pletely harmless. People taking statins fresh sour milk.

Basa cheese

Three types of basa cheese are Basa pomjesa is both skim and made in the Petrovac plateau region: cheese. It is the most perfect “hybrid” Fasting basa cheese– made of of the two, bringing their best to basa. skimmed milk. Basa pomjesa is a perfect milk spread Standard basa cheese – made of or cheese spread without any non- partially skimmed and whole milk. lactic additives, which is made only in Basa pomjesa cheese –standard the Petrovac region. It is very sought basa enriched with skim. after and producers do not have prob- Since fasting basa and standard ba- lems distributing it. sa are made also beyond the Petrovac The analysis by the Veterinarian region - Lika and some other parts of Institute in Banja Luka determined val- the former Yugoslavia - here we will ues for basa pomjesa as follows: describe basa pomjesa cheese. Laboratorial assessment of basa pomjesa Milk fat Content Tested Milk fat % in dry of dry Proteins % AciditySH Characteristic mat. % mat.. % Drying Method of testing Gerber Calc. Kjeldahl Semimetr. at 105C Producer 1. 20,00 52,19 38,32 14,30 38,20 Proiducer 2. 20,00 47,91 41,74 16,00 32,80 Average value of 20,00 50,05 40,03 15,15 35,50 both samples 156 These are the values of typical ba- 2.5 liters of whey is added to it. After a sa pomjesa which consists of standard while, curds are separated and put in a basa and 25-30% of skim. All other ver- colander. Cream skimmed from 5 liters sions with more fasting basa are less of milk is added to filtrated curds and fatty and less tasty than basa with ex- everything is mixed and salted as de- tra skim. sired. Less salt is used usually than in Basa is neither mentioned in re- the case of skim or young cheese. This lated bylaws from the SFRY era nor in is young basa that can be consumed present ones valid in B&H. This is an- right away. other proof that it is a specific prod- If one desires mature basa pomje- uct produced in a limited geographic sa, then young basa is put in small area, in limited amounts, which, so far, wooden barrels, some salt is added has not been described, tested in lab- and it is then lagered and left to seep oratory, standardized in literature or in slowly through a small opening near any state acts regulating dairy prod- the bottom. After 15 to 20 days you ucts. get a drier product, altered in taste, A diary woman producing dairy which many prefer over young basa. products in traditional way tells us Mature basa is especially valued as how to make basa pomjesa. addition to potato halves served dur- Milk is boiled, skimmed and left ing winter communal bees and for aside. Skimmed milk is mixed with making cicvara. fresh raw milk previously heated un- In another region of the Petrovac til you can no longer put a finger in plateau, basa pomjesa is made a little it, which can be considered as a sort bit differently. of tyndallization and which lasts for This other story on making basa 20 to 30 minutes. The mix contains pomjesa goes like this: “After filtration, equal amounts of skimmed milk and fresh raw milk is put on the stove and fresh heated milk. The mix of these heated for 15 to 20 minutes at such a two milks is 20 liters in volume and temperature that one can hold a fin- 157 ger in milk. It is then removed from the stove, cooled down a little and poured with whey. We add 1.5 liters of whey to 8 liters of milk, which depends on the sourness of whey. If whey is somewhat sourer, less can be added. When curds form, they are moved to a colander to seep. A half a kilo of skim is added per two kilos of cooled curds. It is then mixed all together and salted.” Basa pomjesa prepared like this has won prizes at local fairs. Basa pomjesa belongs to whole milk products, because it contains more than 45% milk fat in dry matter. In terms of thickness, it belongs to soft dairy products appropriate for spreading. It is a product with limited expiry date, because except for salt it does not contain any other ingredients, unlike a cheese like toast cheese (emulsifi er, stabilizer, aroma, carotenoids, etc.). It is interesting to men- A small barrel full of basa pomjesa tion the price of this product, which is three times lower than an industrial cheese spread. We get a clearer pic- ture of basa pomjesa if we compare it with other dairy products available on our markets. 158 Comparative values of basa pomjesa and some dairy products. Milk fat Milk fatin Proteins Product Drymat % Acidity SH % drymat % Method of Drying Gerber Calc. Kjeldahl Semimetr. testing at 105C Basa pomjesa 40,00 20,00 50,00 15,00 35,00 Toast cheese 47,00 45,00 Vajkrem milk 40,00 32,48 75,00 2,88 spread ABC milk 30,00 22,00 70,00 6,40 spread Sombor heese 44,00 53,00 18,00 35,00

According to all its characteristics, duction, under the infl uence of the area basa pomjesa can be categorized as a or soil or particular way of production. product with geographical identifi ca- In our case, this geographical area tion, as regulated back in 1992 by the can be defi ned as the area of Petrovac EU in the regulation no. 2081 called plateau surrounded by mountains “Protected denomination of origin Osjecenica, Klekovaca and Grmec. So, (PDO)”. This is certifi cate of origin issued Petrovac basa and sirac (cheese) are for products with name, quality and made only there. Therefore, residents characteristics that are mostly or com- of Petrovac are entitled to have BASA pletely related to a defi ned geograph- POMJESA proclaimed a regional prod- ical area. In former Yugoslavia, geo- uct with recognizable and constant graphical markings were fi rst regulat- characteristics, whose name would ed in 1981, with amendments in 1990. be protected and added to the cata- Precise conception of geographical logue of dairy products. Because of its marking of origin Yugoslav authorities uniqueness, taste, appearance and con- determined in 1995. Such marking can tent, it cannot be substituted by any be put on a product whose characteris- other dairy products. tics mostly depend on the area of pro- 159 Margarine- deceit without lie

A result of technological advance- ol, but does have something else. It has ment the food industry is margarine unhealthy trans fats that are more dan- as well. It is probably the most worth- gerous than saturated fats in bacon. less food after white sugar and which According to Michael Pollan, warning is very harmful for human health. After signs about trans fats were so strong the campaign against animal fats nutri- that they had been seen back in 1956. tionists were tasked with finding a re- That year, Ancel Keys, father of the lipid placement. It came in the form of mar- hypothesis, warned that the increasing garine. Since in this region everything consumption of hydrogenated plant arrives with delay, fortunately, marga- fats could be the cause of the increase rine has become hit only over the last in heart diseases in the 20th century. couple of decades. Margarine replaced Trans fats are not a part of normal butter, and here it was supposed to re- nutrition and they can cause biochemi- place skim (“skorup”) and basa cheese. cal changes, out of which the most dan- I am proud to say that this never suc- gerous are those affecting the changes ceeded in the villages of the Petrovac in cell membranes and the resulting ar- plateau. Today an opposite movement terial clogging. is in progress, because people are re- Margarine is not a natural prod- gaining trust in basa and skim largely. uct. It is vegetable oil in solid state ob- Margarine is the biggest fraud of tained by the injection of hydrogen. today performed by the food indus- Somewhere you can read it is hydroge- try that cheats consumers, but with- nated fats, because the process is en- out telling them lies. Is it possible to abled by hydrogen peroxide used in trick someone without lying? It appears production. so. Exactly like it is done with marga- The industry has enriched margarine that says “no cholesterol”. Correct. rine with synthetic vitamins A and D Margarine does not contain cholester- to make it even more sought after. As 160 technology advances it has reduced con, basa, sirac and sour milk as natural some fatty ingredients in it, but that is products so beneficial to our ancestors. not enough, because margarine is far Alongside mostly vegetarian food, they from being a natural product. Opinion were true guardians of health. is that it increases bad and decreases When I was a child, I have been good cholesterol, which is more harm- to my friends’ houses and, like in my ful than total cholesterol. It also increas- house, I never saw industrial margarine es triglycerides. When homocysteine on the table during lunch. Fortunately, and hydrogenated fats are joined, that we still had not heard about it then, alone is enough to dub it cardiovascu- otherwise we would ask for it from our lar risk, regardless of normal values of parents. Basa, skim, sirac and home- cholesterol. This only confirms the fact made sour cream were the basic dairy that the rate of heart attacks is equal products and no industrial addition was with patients having normal and ele- necessary. Nothing is worse than when vated cholesterol level. Besides marga- I go to a house in the countryside and rine, it would be good to avoid poly- see children spreading margarine on unsaturated fats as well, which are un- white bread. It happens in households stable and oxidize easily due to their that have more cows and abundant chemical structure, thus easily creating milk, sometimes even given to piglets trans fats and free radicals. According for lunch. I feel sorry for those children to Cherie Calborn and associates, some and think about becoming a mission- of the products containing these fats ary who would go from house to house are: chips, biscuits, crackers and many and advise people not to buy industri- salad dressings. He also states that on- al margarine and butter over those they ly cold pressed olive and linseed oil. By already have. Why butter? Because it the way, linseed oil is very unstable and went through industrial processing, ho- it should never be heated or used for mogenization of milk, additional pas- long periods once the bottle is opened. teurization and was stored for several Here as well I stand in defense of ba- months or years as such in a cold room, 161 according to Rika Zarai, before reaching Who has read more than fifty books, our mouth. But, there are no more mis- as I have in the preparation for this book, sionaries because globalization has tak- will remain confused because of some en its toll. Everything is shown on televi- statements and explicit recommenda- sion, every day, for several times. Praises tions coming from important figures for margarine without cholesterol nev- in the field of medical-nutritionist sci- er end. ence. It worries me they are not moder- Who is confused nowadays and ate, but rather utterly exclusive on what who is not, question remains. An old vil- should and should not be consumed. lager not reading the newspapers and On the importance of being moderate watching commercials is not. There are in nutrition, Jadranka and Zlatko Pejic less and less people like that. His re- say: “When we have learned certain sponse to everything is: “God gave it, facts, suddenly we begin to be afraid God took it!” or: “There will always be of some foods or we unconditionally cure”. By rule, such persons are always trust other foods we have included in cultured and ready to make jokes, even our diet. Both are wrong. There is no a at their account, so, when asked what completely bad food or a food that we the doctor had told them, they respond can eat in limitless amounts and that it their heart would work until the end of still remains good for us. Excessive con- their lives. sumption, which is exactly the case Confused is the one who reads the with modern man, of any food cannot newspapers and magazines a lot, who end well in terms of health.” listens to radio advising or who watch- Being moderate is the key. How es television in order to find out more. much, when and how we will eat some- Kiosks are littered with magazines on thing is as important as what we will eat. nutrition, food, diets, health, plants, Creating delusions that we must not eat etc. That is a true haystack of data and something is as if we were to under- pieces of advice on how to live healthy. stand freedom as anarchy. We are al- Official literature is not much better. lowed everything and we can consume 162 everything. Question is - should we or they knew, but that they did not learn at do we want something, how and when. school. They did not learn that carrot is Here are several products some say full of beta-carotenes that would, some- should never be consumed, while oth- how, turn into vitamins and be useful to ers praise it with good explanation. the body. I am angry with nutritionism These are: meat, milk, carbohydrates, as science, because it rejects the advice synthetic vitamins, supplements, of my mother and other mothers and coffee, black tea, soy and some other. offers something more modern in the My mother would be happy when I form of pills carrying beta-carotenes. took one of the carrots she would bring Take a pill anytime and anywhere and from the garden. After washing them you do not need to bother your teeth and making them ready for soup, she chewing a hard carrot. It was kept a se- would give my one telling me to eat cret for a long time, or it was unknown, at least one raw, because they were that one who takes these pills in excess healthy. How did she know they were can achieve an opposite effect or even good, when we did not receive news- risks cancer. It is correct that the body papers, when we did not own a TV or ra- needs antioxidants, but diversified nat- dio, and I was a small child and not a nu- ural nutrition contains enough of them. tritionist? She knew it because she lived It is a true blessing and should be con- “traditionally” with nature that took care sumed as often as possible in various of everything, even of when was the forms. There are many more controver- moment for telling a story so it could sies in this science, but I hope the time be remembered and carried to the next has begun when much will be adapt- generation. It was well known on which ed for the benefit of man, otherwise the occasion someone was remedied by destruction of humankind by the food a carrot, a leave of cabbage, a pota- industry will continue. to, garlic or honey. There is a lot more

163 Meat, meat, as if we’ve forgotten about it

164 eat, pig fat, eggs, vegetarian food and milk are products with which nutrition- Mists crate most confusion among consumers, because they disagree on them the most.

Many experts condemn the use cal reactions occurring in the process, of meat, because it poisons the body. which are responsible for the increase This is where we have to ask ourselves of cancerogenity. Grill, burned oil in – what meat, how much meat and which potatoes are prepared all day prepared in which way? We can most and toaster turn good foods into poi- definitely agree with those who say sons for our body. Some condemn on- that consuming big amounts of meat ly red meat (beef, mutton, goat meat, with lots of fat every day, without long pork) for increasing the risk of cancer. chewing, poisons our body. Others re- They go so far that they claim red meat fer to the life of Native Americans and increases the risk by 50%. According to people from the age of bow and ar- Patrick Holford, the only thing worse is row, who were only hunters and ate processed products made of red meat. meat and wild fruits. How come the Still, not all studies confirm the link Eskimos survive on meat? Which the- between meat consumption and can- sis should we accept – that humankind cer. A study in Britain, which included did not start as vegetarians or that man 3660 adults and lasted for seven years, ate only plants initially? concluded that high consumption of After reading numerous science ar- meat could not be linked to increased ticles from across the globe, I conclude risk of cancer in any way. What now? that the preparation and the amount Probably something in between. Eat of meat are more decisive factors for everything, but moderately and pre- risk of cancer than the kind of meat. pared in the “healthy” way. To be even Even in terms of the amount of fats and more secure, we can replace “moder- cholesterol, it is more important how ately” with “in small amounts”. meat is prepared, because of chemi- 165 • Several older hens or one rooster The nutrition of our grandparents during the course of a year. was based on products of their own labor in the field, garden, orchard, mead- We can conclude that a member of ow, forest or barn (meat, milk, eggs). a family of seven would eat 150 grams Today man additionally decreases nu- of meat on average per week, which is tritive value of some natural products less than a can of spam eaten today for fearing something. That is why one breakfast. An average American eats peels an apple, pear and other fruits 1.7 kg of meat a week. fearing pesticides. They do not cook Had they not consumed dairy prod- unpeeled potato (ignorance) thus ucts that much and some eggs, we losing almost all minerals. They boil could easily categorize our ancestors as peeled potato and other vegetables vegetarians. Since they were not veg- and then throw the water away, etc. etarians by choice, they were close to In an improvised overview that fol- them by their diet. Throughout histo- lows we can see how much meat one ry many chose to be vegetarians for its family of seven members ate annually health benefits or philosophical or re- a hundred years ago: ligious reasons, according to Georges • One well-fed pig for Pamplona. In his book he says: “Enjoy winter consumption, healthy life.” and “To feed on plants, fruits, cereals, vegetables and peas is • One piglet or a fat sheep not just a trend or some kind of a rev- for Christmas, olutionary idea, but an ancient prin- • One piglet or lamb for the slava ciple since the beginning of human- – if it does not fall near Christmas kind.” But still, I would rather character- according to the calendar, ize their nutrition as macrobiotic. This is what Jadranka and Zlatko • One lamb for reapers during Pejic say about macrobiotics: reaping of grass and for their hosts, Organic foods, processed in the least possible measure, with no addi- 166 tives, primarily plants, are the essence there are more and more movements of macrobiotic nutrition. It honors veg- (small for now), groups and individuals etarian principles as well, but it also warning about the grim future of nutri- leaves the possibility to all populations tion. Man is simply benumbed by aro- that are accustomed to meat due to mas and sweeteners, hypnotized by their geographical location or a thou- commercials and fascinated by colors sand-year way of life to continue that from show-windows. One has lost the way, honoring the laws of nature and power of personal judgment and blind the principle of necessity. Besides this, forces are already carrying them fast. macrobiotic nutrition follows person- Some, it seems, have lost their digni- al needs, and therefore it does not es- ty, their self-management system and tablish other principles, but develops personal initiative for living. There is adaptability that cannot turn into a no difference between an alcoholic, dogma. Ecological justifiability in mac- smoker and a fat person whose only robiotic nutrition is reflected as an em- measure for pleasure is the full stom- phasis on greatest possible consump- ach. Full of what? They obviously do tion of foods from the close surround- not care, because that is the only way ing.” they are going to fall asleep. Whether we are to succeed in I stand with those fighting for the slowing down wheel of the food in- preservation of, or more appropriately, dustry that brings something new ev- the return to natural nutrition, such as ery day, which is even more attrac- Jadranka Boban Pejic and Zlatko Pejic. tive for our senses, but with ever in- With their recommendation for gradu- creasing threat to our health, I am not al introduction of macrobiotics, these sure. I am unaware of a similar exam- renowned experts in the field of nat- ple in the history of civilization devel- ural nutrition suggest an almost iden- opment when something stopped or tical model to the one a hundred years was reversed, including the way and ago, when there were no refrigerators, quality of human nutrition. However, deep fryers, toasters and other. Even 167 though it did not have a name, that Food item Proteins % kind of nutrition was completely nat- Mushrooms-morel 35-36 ural. Dried vegetables 20-25 Is it possible that to apply the nu- Cheese 23-29 Meat 15-20 trition program from a hundred years Walnut and hazelnut 16-17 ago today? Yes, indeed! Egg-yolk 16 If you look or, even better, if you try Oat 11-13 what these two recommend in terms Wheat 10-12 of what to eat and what to avoid, you Wheat bran 12-15 will see it is not bad at all, and with a little eff ort, it is not hard either. The body needs proteins, but they Diet with small amounts of meat, can be obtained from other foods. plenty of sour milk, cereals, pesticide- Table above off ers some foods rich in free fruits and vegetables is a big step proteins. forward from the current improper nu- Strictly fat-free food is not desirable trition of modern time. either, according to Nicholas Perricone. We must admit we eat plenty of He claims such food contributes to dry meat today in various forms. Poor peo- skin, fragile nails, depression, lack of en- ple eat it, too, because there are a lot of ergy and weak memory. cheap processed meat products. Meat Fats are building elements for cell consumption decreased to a minimum membranes and hormones, which is (two to three times a week) will im- very important for normal develop- prove our health, according to experts ment of the body. No fats means no in this fi eld. It will also decrease chron- transfer of vitamins A, D, E and K. ic fatigue and sleeping after lunch as well as problems with gastric acid and rheumatism.

168 Eggs

Besides meat and milk, eggs with their yolk full of cholesterol attract attention of nutritionists. You can come across a piece of advice that no more than one to two eggs a week should be eaten, just like that all the fuss around eggs is exaggerated and that you can eat it normally. Advocates of the latter are for normal consumption of eggs, explaining that mechanism of healthy body reg- ulates cholesterol level through liver activity. Namely, when intake of cholesterol is increased, the liver automat- ically transfers less cholesterol into the blood, so blood cholesterol level remains the same or insignifi cantly increased. This explanation is fully acceptable and answers why people who eat plenty of food with cholesterol have normal cholesterol level in the blood.

169 Fast food

170 hether it all began 250 years ago in England or even before with the Jews be- Wfore Christ, we will leave it to debate, but the English were the first ones claim- ing the invention of sandwich. John Montagu, who wanted to eat while playing cards without getting his hands dirty, ordered a soft schnitzel be put between two slices of bread and brought to him. The rest is history. People fell in love with soft sandwich. It has become so popular that in England sandwich memorial week takes place every May. For people from the island it has become almost the most favorite meal. A proof of its popularity is the initiation of a magazine called “International sandwich & snack news”. Still, I believe that the sandwich from 250 years ago is not the same as today. 250 years ago it could not be made of meat injected with hormones and full of fats and white bread.

While listening to the wonder- five costumers each. What is it about? ful voice of Olivera Katarina (famous Why such a crowd only at one place? I Serbian actress and singer - transla- know the food, I have tasted it myself. tor’s note) singing “Sitting in a Paris ca- Quality is surely not the thing that at- fé…”, I am sitting at the last floor of a tracts them. Is it their first time there, big mall where restaurants are all lined so they are drawn by curiosity to try up. Six of them, one by another, the something new? That also is not the first one having the biggest crowd of reason. Still, I think it is about some- costumers. I will not reveal its name, thing else: the first thing, surely, is the you will figure it out quickly. As I see softness of the first bite, which suits the crowd, I start counting the people our youth that, according to some, waiting to buy something to eat there. does not like to chew much. “Give I count 62 persons in several rows. I me something quick”, many would notice there is not anyone older than say. Another thing is taste. The food 30, moreover, I believe at least 70% has been designed to be most likable of them are under 20 years of age. to our senses. So, there you have the Other restaurants have no more than 171 market and many years of testing of Pollan on a hamburger. Now I am con- those to be consumers of the food. vinced he was right. It is about pleasing the customer, Those who claim that fast food not about what is healthy for them. culture rules today are right. Michael If you please the customer even with Pollan says that kind of food is quick, some aroma and various fl avor en- cheap and simple, a product of indus- hancers, you will sell more and earn try, not nature, a fuel, not a means for more. In the end, that is the goal, and socialization with other people and the goal justifi es the means. Only other species – nature. profi t matters. Cheese pies, meat I have experienced that simplicity, pies, schnitzels, various salads, “sar- quickness and cheapness of a meal al- ma”, skewers, fi sh and many more are ready in 1980, during my stay in North waiting in the kitchens of other res- Carolina (USA). I attended a special- taurants for other consumers, who, it ist training for more than a month at seems, will not rush and make crowds a turkey farm with an American team like at restaurant number one for a of specialists. Lunch (at noon) was al- long time. While watching all that, I ways at the same time, same spot and remembered the words of Michael with completely identical food. It was a fried drumstick with one baked potato in a plastic wrapping and a cold Coca Cola. It was like that for 30 days in a row, all for one dollar. When I asked my partner why they did not change the menu every now and then, slight- ly amazed by the question he immediately replied that was the best, Green pumpkins cheapest and quickest. Judging by the fat Americans, it seems we have

172 found discovered what the American surprised by the question, and we all dream is, at least in terms of food. admitted of knowing so little about it. My village had water supply prob- One was for sure, we agreed that lems, which was one of the biggest modern man, to whom a comput- issues. Mother stored every drop she er and a TV are basic assets, and con- could spare to be able to water papri- served and fast food main meals, ka and tomato plants. I felt her sorrow would not survive if returned to the for not being able to provide them lifestyle of 200 years ago. Still, that enough water. She said they would could be made possible with the as- slowly die, once the leaves turned yel- sistance of a manual called “Eating in low. Garden vegetables would reward nature – wild plant cookbook” by a one’s effort around them. As if they nun Atanasija Rasic. communicated with people through Has a revolution and rebellion their color, smell and taste. Mother against “Western food” emerged from would rejoice at every summer rain, the awareness on its harmful con- because she was then able to rush to sequences? It appears so, but quiet- the garden and pick a few leaves of ly and shyly, which is unjustified, be- onions, early cabbage or greens for cause there already are hundreds of soup. books warning and calling for rebel- Besides being moderate in every- lion against fast food. thing, another reason for my mother’s In late eighties in Italy, a move- long life is that natural lifestyle. That ment against the increasingly arriving bond with nature, especially through American fast food was founded. The gardening. movement is lead by an organization Thinking about some texts I read, established in Rome with the princi- I asked my friends what they thought ple that “a firm defense of pleasure” about the nutrition of people 100 or, is the only way of combating the uni- even better, 200 years ago? They were versal madness of rushed lifestyle. At the opening of a manifestation “Terra 173 Madre”, Carlo Pertini, founder of the of a newly opened tourist and recre- “Slow Food” movement stated that ational center “Cardaklije” you cannot civilization must transform and un- get any kind of “Cola”. But you can get derstand that further progress and good cicvara, ustipci (salty donuts), departure from economic and social layered pie with basa, spiced polenta, crisis is possible only through combi- homemade sour milk and many more nation of the traditional and the mod- homemade foodstuff. You can drink ern, with honoring the rights of the homemade rakia, juices, wines and weak and insisting on healthy food. else. “Well done, sir” – as they say.

Restaurant„Cardaklije“ Food quality, as he says, depends “I think that the mouth on the consumers who respect peas- and the stomach bring more harm ant’s labor and who are ready to edu- than good. I think nature was cate their senses. "wrong when it gave them to us. Another center, created under the Liyu (1611–1680) starry Petrovac skies, may be the seat of a future movement against fast Harley Pasternak, an expert known food in our region. In the restaurant for his work “Five factor diet”, has list- 174 ed top ten healthy national cuisines. It has a very appealing cuisine. It is looks like this: based around fish, rice, vegetables 1. Japan. Residents of this coun- and various, but very attractive spices try are considered the healthiest in in the unusual combination of sweet the world. It is thought it is because and salty. The Chinese do not count of their food. These people know how calories, but they do eat moderately to listen to nature by including rituals and consciously. aimed at achieving calmness and ex- 4. Sweden. This is one of the pressing courtesy and dedication to leading countries when it comes to food, i.e. harmony and peace during healthy food habits. According to the meal. Fish, rice and vegetables are the Pasternak’s list, it is ranked the first in “wholly trinity” of the Japanese cui- Europe. They beat long winters by con- sine, while everything is prepared and suming vegetables. Sweden is consid- served in mini portions containing di- ered number one consumer of straw- verse content in order to eat slowly berries and blueberries. Countries that and with enjoyment. follow these mentioned are: France, 2. Singapore. Cuisine that has re- Italy, Spain, South Korea, Israel and mained pretty unknown to the world. Greece. It is characterized by lots of rice (al- So, if Sweden was left out from most three times a day) and plenty of the list, it would include only the fruit. Mediterranean and far East countries. 3. China. An Asian country with Many nutritionists agree with that the biggest population in the world statement.

175 Menu by the nun Anastasija Rasic Menu

1. SOUPS 4. SALADS Thristle soup Deadnettle Common chicory leaves Vegetable soup with lemon Dandelion leaves balm Potato soup with marsh- Primrose leaves mallow Bulrush soup Common nettle Meadow clover soup Clover

2. MAIN COURSE 5. DESSERTS Common nettle schnit- Jam of various kinds of zels Wild spinach schnitzels fruit Thristle jam Baked potatoes with greens Chicory jam with apples Ground elder schnitzels with grits Wild cherry and wild rose compote Sorrel omelet Compote of various kinds of fruit Mushroom stew Mushroom goulash Mushroom moussaka

3. SIDES Mashed oxalis Mashed common nettle Mashed thristle Mashed knot grass and garlic Braised potato and hogweed Braised potato and bulrush roots Fried water lily rhizome

176 6. JUICES AND SYRUPS Common nettle juice Elder juice Hawthorn juice Wild rose and honey juice Birch juice Blueberry juice

7. COFFEE Thristle root coff ee Dandelion root coff ee Chicoria root coff ee Oak acorn coff ee

8. TEAS Various teas made of wild fruit Various teas made of medicinal plants

177 Combining foods

178 ature gave us an additional sense that modern medicine often disregards. That is the Nability of the body to choose food autonomously. One day my mother cooked good sour cabbage with dried pig guts and invited our neighbor to join for lunch. “Thanks, but I’ll pass, Smilja”, he said, “I have noticed that cooked cabbage does not suit my stomach well.”

Some would complain of discom- Products of today taste better and fort after eating garlic or something better. Discovery of new appearances else. A young daughter-in-law would and attractiveness of packaging never accidentally exclaim in front of her ends and all that in order to please our mother-in-law that she would like to palate, as the Chinese say. When en- eat some green apples. Mother-in-law tering our stomach, foods, even those would reply:”That is good, have some. with the most appealing taste and I know what’s the matter.” There are smell, are included in the process of many more examples of how our digestion without our control. Our will body chooses and responds to food. controls only the mouth. Additives of It is interesting to mention brine and today have such influence that our whey. If one drinks larger amounts of ei- body does not recognize anything ther of these, they will have to rush to anymore. Who gets “addicted” to the nearest toilet. Nature acts on its own. chips, flips and other snacks will hard- From the early days, people were able to ly restrain themselves. Who develops harmonize their nutrition to a great ex- fondness for a pâté with four types of tent by listening their bodies. That lasted additives, out of which one has been until the appearance of industrial prod- declared completely harmful, or chick- ucts with many additives that brought en hot dogs without any chicken at all total confusion to our senses. is unlikely to give up on it. Gastronomy and nutritionism have Only a single concentrated gone separate ways a long time ago. kind of food for lunch is a jack pot. The market got its tentacles in gas- Euro Giunti tronomy only for profit. Every day new " 179 dishes and new food combinations that had Ialso read in a daily news- are invented, not taking care of hu- paper. This is a quote of a part of the man health, but of desires and taste text that I found interesting: “Before only. On the other side, if you look at you start feasting on this food, please nutritionists’ schemes of what goes take a Ranisan pill. You do that and with what, you will be amazed. Now then make an order”, says the author. a plate can hold so much animal pro- He continues: “We started with some teins and carbohydrates that “cannot aspic and Zlatar mountain cheese, stand” each other in the stomach nat- then went to beef goulash and calf’s urally. Digesting such mixture goes on head in beef intestines and mixture of with all the accompanying plights of grilled meat in lepinja (flatbread). The the digestive system. only mistake we made is not taking What would a cardiologist say Ranisan on time, (this drug enhances about that? They would not like it if digestion and decreases the quanti- we disobeyed them. A fat one with city of gastric acid). Even though these gar in their mouth should not say any- dishes are made of top quality ingre- thing at all. Such character feels no dients, Serbian cuisine is a cholesterol shame. bomb, so ony should be careful. You need to leave a pot in your belly for One third of colonic the authentic Turkish, I mean, Serbian contents produced after digesting coffee, served in wrought copper a meal is discharged after 24 plates, coffee pots and with rahat lo- "hours, two thirds after 48 hours kum and a cube of sugar.” and all the rest after 96 hours. Those who take mineral supple- Euro Giunti Combining in nutrition ments are a proof that proper combining of foods is of special impor- This is the reason why a wait- tance to the body. Many recommen- ress of a renowned Belgrade restau- dations say that magnesium helps rant offered us her piece of advice proper heart function, which has 180 been confi rmed by doctors, whose Once again - the market. That instructions we often disregard. If one mighty machine has crushed man, takes this mineral in excess, they will giving them food to enjoy and to get decrease the utilization of calcium, so their money out of their pocket for by curing the heart they will weaken something that should be in the gar- the bones and help the advancement bage, from the aspect of health. One of osteoporosis. of schemes of proper combining of Nutrition with balanced intake of foods is in the appendix. various foods rich in minerals is a better solution, because nature has taken care of balance.

181 Food intolerance

182 f contemporary methods of saving the body from total breakdown due to im- Oproper nutrition, I acknowledge only listening and honoring one’s body and the food intolerance test.

I have heard a lot about the first ilar. All I could read in official medical method from many people who books and learn directly from doctors maintained their vitality by listening was insufficient for one comprehen- and honoring the autonomous will of sive solution. I was even instructed to their bodies. However, life would be turn to blood type diets, which, by the much simpler if the opposite would way, I do not believe in, because it did not happen. Frequently occurring not bring any improvement for me problems, such as allergic reactions, nor did i read anything positive about are caused exactly by those foods it by world renowned nutritionists. It which the body “asks for”. is claimed that the nutrition problem I myself experienced the sec- can be solved by grouping all peo- ond method. I could not believe that ple on Earth into four groups. That is something so useful, such as deter- just too simplified and unconvincing. mining what is not good for the body It looks like the horoscope. There are, and against which it tries to fight, however, similarities among people could come into existence. I used to born under the same sign of the zo- belong to the group of people whose diac. I can accept this because we are bodies did so. Namely, as I dedicated all born on a planet of one solar sys- myself to nutritionism, I thought it was tem under various influences of na- up to me to find answers to my own ture, whose part we are. That is just digestive problems. I used to have a global determination of our traits by flatulence, heartburn, chronic fatigue nature. and general symptoms of bad di- Let’s get back to the food intoler- gestion. Every other evening I had to ance test. On my way back from the take a Rupurut pill or something sim- doctor’s office after testing, I was in 183 disbelief. I could not believe my body enough of it at my bedside and my could not tolerate wheat. So, I should travel bags. not eat anything made of wheat. I was After the test, I adhered to the rec- almost frightened, because I remem- ommendation strictly. My wife active- bered all those tasty foods. Above all, ly involved and started looking for so- that is our daily bread with which ev- lutions. The task was to make bread ery day begins and ends, especial- without wheat flour and yeast, be- ly in my case, because I always loved cause in her case the test proved yeast finishing a meal with a slice of bread intolerance. She managed to produce spread with some homemade plum a new kind of bread called “preski” jam. I started thinking about all kinds (rye, buckwheat, millet, oats) of high of pastry that I loved. All kinds of salty organic value, because it contained pies that I favored, Italian pastas I en- seeds. It was very tasty and appeal- joyed, sweet pies and so on. Speaking ing. Because of its special flavor and of cookies, I liked wafers, bear paws appearance, I named it a salty cookie. and other. I disliked cakes, because I After a month everything considered them, and still do, to be changed. I could provide the solution something very bad for the body. I an- immediately and it stands even to- alyzed what was it that did not suit me day. Difficulties were gone. Flatulence, for dinner. Milk with bread, jam with heartburn, chronic fatigue - all gone, bread, cheese and basa and all kinds and the immune system was signifi- of dried meat with bread. Practically, cantly strengthened. Rupurut is now I could not stand any kind of dinner. a thing of past, I hope forever. Even I accepted a medical piece of advice now, it is still at my bedside, just like of not dining after seven p.m. or four when a smoker stops smoking and hours before my bedtime. It was all leaves a pack of cigarettes saying in vain. Rupurut became my trusted “let it be where it was the last time I companion. I always checked if I had smoked one”.

184 Simply said, the overall condition sumed daily by rule - basic food or to a of the body has improved. And what substance always present in the body is the intolerance test? A BICOM ther- (e.g. Candida in cases of chronic colon- apist Gordana Ljojic Dolic defines it ic mycosis). Constant contact with an as follows: “Today every man intakes allergen causes almost always hidden dozens of kilograms of food additives manifestation . At the moment, the over a year. Such situation leads to biggest causes of major masked aller- the condition that more persons suf- gies in our region are milk and wheat. fer from various kinds of allergies and Practically all of us have taken these other chronic diseases, without know- foods since our earliest childhood on ing or being able to find the causes daily basis in various forms. Because of for their problems. Not many people that, they are most commonly causes would think the consummation of ev- of disease symptoms. But, due to eryday groceries could cause so many masked allergies, the true cause of ill- health issues. Even less people would nesses remains unknown. By that we think the same for “healthy foods” that mean that there is no sudden wors- are considered to be desirable for nu- ening of symptoms of diseases (e.g. trition. But, if you do have some of the rash and other skin conditions with following problems, you should re- persons suffering from neurodermati- consider your food choices: fatigue, tis) when, for example, a person aller- dizziness, rash, redness, eczema, pso- gic to milk consumes a lot of cheese riasis, flatulence, diarrhea, bowel irrita- or other dairy products, or when a tion, gastritis, bad mood, depression, person allergic to wheat consumes hyperactive children, migraines and mostly pastry while on vacation. That headaches, body weight changes,… is why we talk about masked aller- In a book “Biophysical therapy”, Dr gy. Main, masked allergy is a perma- Schumacher writes that main allergies nent heavy burden, a constant stress are mostly developed in early child- on the immune system. The serious- hood due to sensitivity to one – con- ness of ailment depends on how long 185 can the body manage to compen- resonates with allergens that slow sate for permanent stress exposure. down its metabolism, create allergies At any time, the compensation mech- or weaken immunity. By avoiding, i.e. anism will become overloaded and not consuming, those allergens we re- collapse, primarily when new physi- lieve the body and immunity of the cal or psychological burdens are add- burden and the body feels better and ed. Therefore, masked allergy is often we have more energy. The most com- the foundation of the development mon allergens bothering our body of next acute forms of allergies. In the are wheat, gluten, cow milk, milk sug- case of people suff ering from allergies ar, eggs, white sugar, citruses, soya. to various substances simultaneously, Diet according to the intolerance test experience has shown that one type is applied for 3-6 months, after which of allergy to a single substance is the these foods are gradually introduced basis for all other acute allergies. This back into one’s nutrition. “ can easily and painlessly be tested us- A year has passed since the testing ing the bioresonance method, i.e. the and the last time I had digestive prob- BICOM apparatus. All is based on the lems. Now, for once or twice a month, achievements of biophysics, i.e. quan- I can enjoy a pie, pizza, apple pie and tum medicine. All is based on reso- all other that I was recommended not nance, a patent by Nikola Tesla. to eat every day. That is a true plea- The BICOM resonance method sure for me. Man can easily adapt to works according to the same princi- new circumstances, only if one wish- ple. When we send frequencies and es to. Lejla Kazinic Kreho confi rms that wavelengths of allergens, nutritive the dynamic, and almost turbulent, or inhalatory, to our body, it receives lifestyle of today and low quality food all frequencies and responds only have contributed to the creation of in- to those that have been memorized tolerance of the body to certain ingre- in our cells as harmful. The body re- dients: members all that does not suit it and 186 “It is considered that hypersensi- increased stress, fast meals and con- tivity to a food item occurs when we stant rushing – when we are stressed have eaten that food item in excess, the body cannot digest food proper- which leads to the immune system ly.” overload. All that is combined with

187 Influence of food on health (personal research)

188 hanks to the selfless assistance of doctors and my friends Gordana Grubor, TGordana Ljojic Dolic and Milenko Krneta, we have tested 110 patients, mainly those who sought medical help in internal medicine clinic, cardiology clinic and clinic for determining food intolerance, for reaction to food.

Content of test questions was Right at the beginning, we were drafted following the Patrick Holford able to recognize that women were method. more in danger than men, because The aim was to implement a sur- they had worse scores by 20%. vey that would assess the medical Analysis of tests revealed catastroph- condition of patients in terms of: ic results and level of vulnerability of Test 1. General condition of diges- bodies of people tested for proper tion eating habits. The worst results were • Test 2. Blood sugar condition realized in the test for determining the intake of antioxidants in the body • Test 3. Methylation of the body – (found in fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, homocysteine level in the blood pulses, red wine). The percentage of • Test 4. Is the intake of those with insufficient intake of anti- antioxidants satisfactory oxidants was over 95%. Over 60% of participants had in- • Test 5. Is the intake of stable sugar levels in the body. More essential fats satisfactory than 53% did not realize required in- • Test 6. Is the body supplied take of essential fats (useful fats). 52% with water adequately. of them were thirsty, without even This test confirms the opinion of knowing it. This percentage point- medical experts, at least those who I ed to the conclusion that bodies of cooperate with, that nutrition of peo- these people had been under perma- ple in our region is improper. nent pressure (stress), which will bring sickness to those bodies some day. 189 • Do you add salt to Methylic Q or methylation, i.e. prob- food? - yes 50% ability that the body has an elevated level of homocysteine, is present with • Are you rarely fully awake 70% patients. Cardiologists, who face 15 minutes after getting these problems every day, best know up? - yes 40% how much the cardiovascular systems • Is your skin dry and of these people are jeopardized. The rough? - yes 49% situation is even more obvious when one sees the answers to these ques- • Do you rarely eat nuts and tions: seeds, e.g. less often than every two days? - yes 53% • Do you eat less than two fruits a day? - yes 44% The general conclusion is that most of the participants need help • Do you feel worse after from a nutritionist and food intoler- meal? - yes 40% ance test taken previously. • Did you take antibiotics in the last six months? - yes 40%

• Do you eat ehat products? - yes 81%

An apple a day keeps the doctor away 190 191 Some recommen- dations in the end

192 Meat: • fish no less than two times a • dried meet products and week, at least canned fish, sausages only in small amounts for pleasure and • chicken meat once a week, only if you made it yourself, • red meat (pork, beef, mutton) • do not combine large up to two times a week, quantities of meat and bread or potato in a single meal.

Milk and dairy products: • drink acidophilic sour • careful with skim (kaymak), milk. It is good to start the because it is a whole milk product, day with sour milk. • cheese up to three days old • fasting cheese or basa can be is very useful, unlike mature more often on the table. cheese, which is pleasure but not as useful for the body. Cereals: • avoid white wheat flour • decrease consumption of and white rice, the whole- all wheat products and give grain is the real deal. opportunity to barley, rye, oats, millet and buckwheat. This change will benefit the body.

Vegetables: • include various vegetables not be peeled, should be as much as possible to consumed raw or soaked in your menu. Everything else hot water for a short period. than potato, which should 193 • Peas should be prepared • Add fresh salads to every meal. two times a week. Fruit: • Eat every day as much various • Start your day with ten fruits between meals as you dried plums that you have can. Domestic fruits are more soaked in water over the useful than imported. night. It will facilitate regular bowel movements. Stop consuming: • Too salty food • Coff ee and alcohol in excessive amounts. One cup of coff ee a • Heavy cookies with sugar, day and one glass of wine or butter, margarine and various rakia before lunch are benefi cial. creams. All of that cannot even be compared with a pie • Salty and sweet snacks. made of whole-grain fl our and apples from the countryside.

Do not forget: • At least six glasses of water every 7 days. Use herbs from a day, with the fi rst one your surroundings (lime tree, right after waking up, and elder, yarrow, thyme, oregano, it should be lukewarm. common nettle, juniper, dried fruits, St. John’s wort, mint, • Honey in various forms. nana). These herbs are easy to • Various herbal teas. If you make recognize. trust only what you tea only of one herb species, pick by yourself, but not alongside you should change the specie 194 roads or landfi lls, from which Soya milk enriched with gelan plants absorb heavy metals. gum has replaced cow milk, which Enjoy while you can, before we en- was useful for centuries. They will for- ter that European Union, where cows bid us to sell rakia and wild apples, be- do not feed on grass, GMO products cause they are not adequately pack- are in increase, piglets are not fed with aged or something like that. common nettle, potato and pumpkin. Chickens do not eat garlic and worms. And do not forget about aﬅ of this while you eat! Enjoy your meal.

195 Appendix

196 1. Table overview of nutritive values of foods

(All table data was taken from literature listed)

2. E-numbers

(Ibrahim Elmadfa, Erich Muscatti, Doris Fritzche. Publisher: Mozaik knjiga)

3. Possible cancer risk factors

(Cherie Calbom and associates, The Complete Cancer Cleanse)

4. Ten minerals in our body

(Earl Mindell, The Vitamin Bible)

197 1. 1. Table overview of nutritive values of foods Nutritive values of cereals (per 100 grams) Cereals Calories Proteins Fats Carbohydrates type Wheat 330 11-12 1,5-2 65 - 70 Barley 340 10 - 11 1,8-2,2 70 - 73 Rye 350 10 - 13 1 - 2 40 - 60 Oat 390 11-12 4,5-6 65 - 75 Buckwheat 330 10 – 11 2 - 3 67 - 72 Corn 360 8 – 9 2-3,5 65 - 70 Dark bread 240 8 - 9 1 - 3 48 White bread 250-290 6 - 8 0.5 - 2 58-60 Grits 360-370 10 - 11 0,8 - 1 76 Millet 340 7 - 8 4

Nutritive values of cereals products (per 100 grams) Carbohydrates Cereals type Calories Proteins % Fats % % Dark bread 240 8-9 1-3 48 White bread 250-290 6 – 8 0,5 – 2 58 – 60,3 Grits 360-370 11 1 76 Oat flakes 400 14 7 67 Rice 370 8 0,5 79 Rye flour 350 10-13 1-2 75 Soya flour 450 34 19 34 Corn bread 230 6 2 46

198 Nutritive values of various kinds of fruit (per 100 grams) Fruit species Calories Proteins % Fats % Carbohydrates % Apple 50 0,1-0,3 0,1-0,3 3 - 11 Strawberry 39 0,9 - 1 0,4 - 0,5 5,3 - 9 Pear 57 0,7 0,4 14 Cherry 58 0,9 0,7 15 Peach 44 0,8 – 0,9 0,1 – 0,2 6,1 - 11 Sour cherry 55 1 0,6 14 Grapes 74 0,5 - 0,9 0,1 – 0,5 15,6 - 17 Plum 54 0,8 0,2 14 Walnut 625 28 48 21 Hazelnut 295 15 64 14 Dried figs 285 3,5 - 4 2 – 2,7 66,6 - 67 Dried grapes 285 1,9 - 3 0,6 - 1 65 - 72 Dried plums 255 2,2 - 3 0,5 - 1 37,1 - 75

Nutritive values of various kinds of vegetables (per 100 grams) Fruit species Calories Proteins Fats Carbohydrates Beans 330-340 22 - 24 1- 1,5 50 - 55 Peas 30 2 0,2 – 0,4 6 Green salad 10-14 1 - 1,5 0,2-0.3 2 Tomato 21 1 0,2 3-3.5 Potato 85 2 0,1 18 Pumpkin 15 0,8 0,1 Cabbage 228 1,4 0,2 4 - 7 Carrot 40 1 – 1,2 0,2 8 Onion 40 1 - 1,4 0,1 – 0,3 6-10 French fries 270 - 550 4 12 - 30 30 - 35

199 Chips 560 5 40 45 - 50 Red paprika 27 - 28 1 – 1,4 0,1 – 0,3 5

Nutritive values of various kinds of meat (per 100 grams) Meat type Calories Proteins Fats Beef 250 19 12 Calf 180 19 12 Calf’s liver 140 20 4 - 5 Pork 360 16 30 - 50 Bacon 890 99 Chicken 150 20 8 Goose 200 - 300 10 - 18 18 - 30 Duck 120 - 140 22 - 25 4 - 6 Mutton 200 - 300 15 18 - 30 Lamb 190 - 250 18 20 - 25 Horse 120 - 150 18 - 22 2 - 3

Nutritive values of milk and dairy products (per 100 grams) Product type Calories Proteins Fats Carbohydrates Skimmed 34 33,6 0,5-1 4,8 - 5,2 Whole milk 65 3,2 3,4 4,6 - 4,8 Yogurt 70 3,7 - 4,5 3,5 5 Whole milk 320 - 400 28 - 35 30 - 34 38 cheese Fasting cheese 100 33 - 35 7 - 9 4 Butter 740 1 80 3 Sour cream 200 - 300 3 20 - 30 3 Sheep milk 100 5 - 5,5 7 - 7,5 4,3 Goat milk 70 3,2 - 3,6 3,8 - 4,2 4,8 200 Nutritive values of eggs (per 100 grams) Part Calories Proteins Traces of fat Egg – egg white 45 - 50 11 Egg – yolk 360 16 32 Egg - whole 160 13 11

Content of vitamins - fruit Vitamins Fruit species A E B1 B2 Biotin Apple 6 0,49 0,04 0,03 4,50 Strawberry 2 0,12 0,03 0,05 4 Pear 2 0,50 0,02 0,05 0,50 Cherry 6 0,13 0,04 0,04 0,40 Plum 13 0,86 0,07 0,04 0,10 Walnut 8 6,04 0,34 0,12 20 Hazelnut 5 26,29 0,39 0,21 35 Sour cherry 23 3,60 0,15 0,12 0,75 Dried plum 40 0,13 0,05 0,06 0,40

201 Content of vitamins - vegetables Vitamins Vegetable A E B1 B2 Biotin species Beans 56 0,13 0,08 0,12 7 Peas 105 0,26 0,30 0,16 5,3

Green salad 244 0,60 0,06 0,08 0,11

Tomato 114 0,81 0,06 0,04 4 Potato 1 0,10 0,10 0,05 0,04 (baked) Cabbage 12 1,70 0,05 0,04 3 Carrot 1700 0,47 0,07 0,05 5 Onion 1 0,07 0,03 0,02 3,5

Content of vitamins - meat Meat type A E B1 B2 Biotin Beef – leg 10 0,54 0,09 0,17 2,93 Calf – fillet 0,01 0,15 0,30

Pork 311 0,12 0,80 0,19 4,58

Chicken 39 0,66 0,08 0,16 2

Mutton 0,50 0,16 0,22 1,33

202 Content of vitamins – milk and dairy products

Product type AED B1 B2 Biotin

Skimmed milk 14 0,04 0,03 0,04 0,18 3,5 Whole milk 31 0,1-0,5 0,06 0,1-0,3 0,5-1 0,5-2

Yogurt 32 0,09 0,06 0,04 0,18 3,5

Whole milk 291 0,53 1,10 0,05 0,34 3 cheese

Fasting cheese 68 0,10 0,15 0,03 0,28 6,48

Butter 603 1,40 0,80 0,01 0,02

Products with the most favorable ratio of calcium, phosphor, magnesium and potassium Content in mg per 100g of Ratio the edible part of product Product Ca P Mg K Ca:P Ca:Mg Ца:К

Rye bread regular 21 174 57 227 1:8,2 1:3 1:10 Wheat bread 23 131 51 208 1:7 1:2,8 1:9 class 2

Millet groats 27 233 83 211 1:9 1:3 1:8

Rice* 24 97 26 54 1:4 1:1 1:2 Buckwheat 220- 50-100 298 78 1:5,4 1:1,4 1:4 (groats) 400

Peas* 115 329 107 873 1:2,9 1:0,9 1:7

Young cheese, 150 216 23 112 1:1,4 1:0,1 1:0,7 fatty***

203 Pork meaty 8.0 170 27 316 1:21 1:3 1:39

Eggs, chicken* 55 215 12 140 1:4 1:0,2 1:25

Potato 10 58 23 568 1:6 1:2 1:56

Cabbage** 48 31 16 185 1:0,7 1:0,3 1:4

Cucumber* 23 42 14 141 1:1,8 1:0,6 1:6

Tomato 14 26 20 290 1:1,8 1:1,4 1:20

Apple 16 11 9 248 1:0,7 1:0,6 1:15

Celery * 63 27 33 393 1:0,4 1:0,5 1:6

Carrot ** 51 55 38 200 1:1 1:0,7 1:4

Walnut * 124 564 198 664 1:4 1:1 1:5

Beans * 150 541 103 1100 1:3,6 1:0,7 1:7

Beet ** 37 43 43 288 1:1 1:1 1:7

Hazelnut *** 170 229 172 717 1:1,3 1:1 1:4

Leek ** 31 58 14 175 1:1,8 1:0,4 1:5

Salad * 77 34 40 220 1:0,4 1:0,5 1:29

* acceptable product; ** very good; ***extraordinary

204 Content of sodium and potassium in some products and their ratio (per 100 grams) Ratio Products Sodium mg Potassium mg Na:K

Green peas 2 285 1:142

Zucchini 2 238 1:119

Potato 28 568 1:20

Cherry 13 233 1:18

Cucumber 8 141 1:17

Cabbage, white-headed 13 185 1:14

Plum 18 214 1:12

Pumpkin 14 170 1:12

Pear 14 155 1:11

Raspberry 19 224 1:11

Carrot 21 200 1:10

Apple 26 248 1:9

Tomato 40 290 1:7

Millet groats 28 211 1:7

205 Fat and cholesterol in foods (per 100 g)

Food item Fat (g) Cholesterol(mg) Calories

Fresh milk 3,5 13 66

Sour milk 3,5 13 65

Whey 0,2 2 24

KSour cream 24 75 255

Young cheese 40 % f.d.m. 10,3 38 153

Kashkaval 45 % f.d.m. 28,8 68 389

Egg (1 egg, 58 g) 6,2 230 84

Butter 82,5 230 748

Pig fat 99,7 86 898

Beef suet 96,5 100 872

Margarine 80 0 720

Squid 0,8 170 68

Hake 2,5 60 102

Trout 2,7 56 102

Mackerel 11,9 69 180

Carp 4,8 67 118

Tuna in oil 20,9 32 303

Sardine in oil 24,4 120 302

206 Pork leg 3,5 50 108

Bacon from the back – raw 82,5 60 802

Calf’s liver 4,1 360 124

Lamb’s liver 4 300 133

Poultry liver 4,7 550 136

Calf’s brains 7,6 2000 111

Lamb’s brains 9,1 2200 128

White meat - poultry 1-9 20-50

Donuts 11,8 125 334

Apple pie 9 18 210

Cheese pie 13 65 260

Almond 54 0 599

Fried peanuts 49 0 586

Coconut flour 62 0 606

Hazelnut 61 0 643

Walnut 62 0 666

Pumpkin seeds 49 0 610

207 Good and bad foods according to key health factors Total health Total Energy/ blood sugar Digestion Sensitivity to food Immunity Hormones (male) Hormones (female) Mood Sweet snacks x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Salt x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Refined food x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Tea/coffee x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Wheat x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Sugar x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Industrial processed x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x food Dairy x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x products Red meat x x x x x x x x x x x Alcohol x x x x x x x Water o o o o o o o o o o o o o Blue fish o o o o o o o o o o o o o Raw o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o vegetables Raw fruit o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Walnut/seeds o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Note: This table shows clear influence of increased consumption of every food on key health factors x = moderately negative, xx = very negative influence, xxx = utterly negative influence, o = moderately positive influence, oo = very positive influence, ooo =utterly positive influence. Source: Holford, P. : Secrets of 100% healthy people.

208 75,5 68 65 68 73,5 65 3,6 3,7 2,5 7 2 2,2 1,5 - 2 11,5 9 11 12 11 11 10,5 - 10,5 11,5 Bj. % M. % h. U. % 285 320 270 290 280 270 Kalo- rije 280 5,3 2,2 1,8 1,8 5,4 Nia- cin (mg) 5,0 1,2 3,0 1 1,2 1,9 0,8 E (mg) 1,4 0,01 0,02 0,08 A (ij) Vitamins 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,35 0,32 0,29 0,38 P (g) 0,1 0,1 0,03 0,07 0,07 0,05 0,05- Ca (g) 0,4 0,3 0,4 0,45 0,35 0,46 0,04 0,02- K (g) 0,13 0,12 0,15 0,14 0,12 0,078 Mg (g) 0,01 0,01 0,01 0,03 0,02 0,007 Se (mg) 2 1,4 0,9 3,5 3,5 3,2 Zn (mg) 3 2 10 18 4,3 5,5 3,2 3,5- 3-3,5 Minerals (per 100g) (per Minerals Fe (mg) Millet Corn Buckwheat Oat Rye Barley Content of minerals and vitamins - cereals type Cereal Wheat

209 No Yogurt No No Neutral Neutral Eggs No Fish Coffee No No No No No Meat Yes Yes Yes Vegeta- bles No Yes Yes Yes Yes Neutral Neutral Neutral Fruit Yes Yes Neutral Bread No Yes Best alone Neutral Milk Good and bad combinations Food Milk Eggs Bread Cereals Meat/ Fish Pulses

210 2. E-number (a part of the complete list)

Colorants Possible side- E-nu- Name Origin Typically found in mber effects Effervescent products, Cinolinic pudding mix, E 104 Synthetic Allergic reactions yellow smoked fish, color for Easter eggs Apricot marmalade, orange gel biscuits, finished drinking chocolate, finished Allergic reactions, Yellow- soups, finished mixture especially with those E 110 orange S (azo Synthetic for coating, finished being oversensitive colorant) cheese dips, creamy to aspirin yogurt, marzipan, pudding mix, lemon cheese spread Color True lipstick obtained Alcoholic E 120 Allergic reactions (cochineal) from a shield beverages, jam, louse species Pudding, finished products, rolls, Allergic reactions, Azorubine coating mixtures, especially with those E 122 Synthetic (azo colorant) pudding mix, brown being oversensitive dips, finished soups, to aspirin aromatized ice creams Allergic reactions, Cochineal Effervescent products, especially with those E 124 red A (azo Synthetic fruit gels, replacement being oversensitive colorant) salmon, candy to aspirin

211 Higher concentrations can Brown HT cause deposition E 155 Synthetic Bagels, dessert, spices (azo bojilo) in the kidneys and lymphatic circulation. Liquid extract of seeds of Candy, cheese, E 160b Bixin tropical tree Allergic reactions margarine species Bixa orellana

Increased iron level in human digestive E 585 Iron lactate Synthetic Dyeing olives to black system can initiate the development of various diseases

Sweeteners Causing problems Desserts, treats, with sensitive E 951 Aspartame Synthetic food additives persons and states of phenylketonuria

Preservatives Possible side- E-nu- Name Origin Typically found in mber effects Conserved fruit, Benzoic E 210 to marinades, acid and Synthetic Allergic reactions E 213 mayonnaise, benzoate I fruit, salad

Sodium Cheese, meat, fish Creates E 251 nitrate products of smoked Synthetic cancerogenic E 252 Potassium herrings or anchovy nitrosamines nitrate with vegetables

212 Creates E 249 Tin nitrite Salamis, fish Synthetic cancerogenic E 250 Sodium nitrite products, cheese nitrosamines Sodium Creates E 251 nitrate Cheese, meat and Synthetic cancerogenic E 252 Potassium some fish products nitrosamines nitrate

Antioxidants Possible side- E-nu- Name Origin Typically found in mber effects Gastric problems and complications E 310 Flaked cereals, with asthmatics Propyl gallate bubble gum, and persons E 311 Octyl gallate Synthetic instant potato oversensitive to Dodecyl gallate products, plant fats aspirin; must E 312 and oils, snacks not be added to baby food

Allergies cause Butylate E 321 Synthetic Bubble gum skin to crack. Not hydroxytoluene for children. Allergies cause (BHT) Synthetic Bubble gum skin to crack. Not for children.

Sugar replacement

Occasional reactions Algae, mana to oversensitivity; Cream, ice E 421 Mannitol (sweet and manntol can cream, candy, plant juice) cause diarrhea and vomiting

213 Other additives Possible side- E-nu- Name Origin Typically found in mber eff ects Glutamic E 620 acid With oversensitive Sodium E 621 Flavor enhancers persons they glutamate of meat, vegetable can cause Natural amino and fi nished meals, the “Chinese Potassium E 622 acids and their as well as cookies; restaurant glutamate salts, industrial the biggest allowed syndrome”: processes amount of glutamic sensation of Calcium E 623 of sugar acid, sodium and pressure in the glutamate production potassium glutamate temples and is 10 g/kg of a food neck stiff ness; not Ammonia E 624 recommended to glutamate small children Magnesium E 625 glutamate

214 3. Possible cancer risk factors

Exposure to chemicals from: Industrial pollution Cigarette, pipe and cigar smoke Exhaust gases from automobiles, buses , trains and airplanes Thinners, glues and paints used in homes and offices (formaldehyde, toluene and benzene) Products for personal hygiene: cosmetics, hair dyes and shampoos Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and chemical fertilizers Exposure to heavy metals from: Tobacco smoke: nickel, led, cadmium and arsenic Dishes: stainless steel, nickel, aluminum Jewelry: cheap earring connectors or other jewelry made of nickel-based gold-plated jewelry Hydrogenised fats and oils: nickel Food products: nickel Dentistry materials: porcelain crowns and restorative material (nickel) and amalgam fillings (mercury) Tap water: led, cadmium and plutonium Exposure to pollution of very low frequencies from: Microwave ovens Cellular phones Electric blankets Electric alarm clocks and clocks with radios Mattresses with metal springs Water beds with heaters TVs, lamps and computers (even when turned off) Ionization smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors 215 Food we eat, be excessive intake of: Hormones and antibiotics in animal products Food treated with pesticides Food preservatives Food with fats and trans fatty acids (toxic fats) Animal products and insufficient vegetables, fruits and whole-grain cereals Food rich in sugar Products containing caffeine Processed and refined food

216 4. 10 minerals in our body

Fat and cholesterol in food (per 100 g)

No. Mineral Role in the body Best source

- development of bones and keeping them strong. Milk, cheese, soya, fish, 1 Calcium - influences heart rhythm, nuts, spinach, common - helps metabolism of iron nettle, beans.

- helps proper heart action, - participates in the development of the skeleton, Fish, all kinds of meat, 2 Phosphor - participates in the transfer seeds and nuts of nerve impulses, - important for maintaining energy

- helps to turn sugar into energy, - prevents the deposition of calcium in the kidneys and the gallbladder, Sunflower seeds, cocoa, 3 Magnesium - considered to have cereals, nuts, green anti-stress action vegetables, beer yeast, soya - helps in recovering proper heart rhythm

217 - prevents one type of anemia, - influences skin appearance, - participates in the production of hemoglobin, Liver, red meat, yolk, 4 Iron - combats fatigue, beans, oats, nuts. - helps the metabolism of B group vitamins

- strengthens immunity, - speeds up healing of wounds, - helps decrease cholesterol, - improves fertility, Liver, red meat, yolk, 5 Zinc - important for protein synthesis, beans, oats, nuts. - removes white spots from nails, - helps the prostate,

- improves absorption of iron, thus maintaining energy of the body, Beans, wheat, peas, 6 Copper - prevents anemia indirectly, meat, plums. - helps in the prevention of arthritis,

- participates in bone structure, - improves muscle reflexes, Cereals, green vegetables, 7 Manganese - prevents osteoporosis, peas, beet, nuts. - decreases bodily sensitiveness.

218 - normalizes heart rhythm, - helps discharge waste materials (CO2) - helps in curing allergies, Dried apricot, soya, 8 Potassium - lowers blood pressure, potato, banana, grapes, - influences hypoglycemia because melon, broccoli, tomato. it participates in the transformation of glucose to glycogen.

- a strong antioxidant, - preserves elasticity of tissues (rejuvenation), - strengthens immunity, Liver, bran, fish, red 9 Selene - helps to remove dandruff, onion, tomato, yeast - protects from some forms of cancer.

- excess of sodium Salt, carrot, beet, smoked decreases potassium, 10 Sodium meat, meat products, - increases blood pressure, smoked bacon. - helps in curing sunstroke.

219 References

220 1. Boban Pejic, J. ,Pejic, Z. (2010): Food for life (Hrana za život). Planetopija - Zagreb. 2. Vanjkevic, S.K. (2002): Potato (Krompir). Vanjkevic S.K. – Belgrade. 3. Vanjkevic, S.K. (2002): Healing with cereals (Lečenje žitaricama). S.K. Vanjkevic - Belgrade. 4. Vanjkevic, S.K. (2002):Healing with garlic (Lečenje belim lukom). S.K. Vanjkevic - Belgrade. 5. Veladzic, M. , Caklovica, F.and ass. (2008): Genetically modified organisms (Genetski modificirani organizmi). University of Sarajevo - Sarajevo. 6. Veljkovic, B. ,Blazević, A. (2005): Healing with common nettle (Lečenje koprivom). Metaphysica - Belgrade. 7. Vulinovic, S. (2004): Garlic as food and cure (Bijeli luk hrana i lijek). Partenon - Belgrade. 8. Vucetic, J. ,Gojgic- Cvijovic Gordana and ass. (2002): Vitamins molecules of health (Vitamini molekuli zdravlja). Velarta - Belgrade. 9. Gacesa, D. (2010): The greatest natural treasure (Najveće blago prirode). Grafomark - Laktasi. 10. Gostouski, R.P. (2004): Diet (Dijeta).Grafid - Belgrade. 11. Rubac Ruzica (1988): With food to happiness (Hranom do sreće). Gardos- Zemun, NIO «Univerzitetska riječ» - Niksic. 12. Elmadfa, I. ,Muskat, E. and ass. : E-numbers (E- brojevi). Mozaik knjiga - Zagreb. 13. Zunic, D. (2001): Healing characteristics of fruit and vegetables (Lekovitost voća i voćnih sokova). Neven - Zemun. 14. Zunic, D. (2002): Wines and rakias with medicinal herbs (Vina i rakije sa lekovitim biljem). Neven - Zemun. 15. Zarai Rika.: My natural medicine (Moja prirodna medicina). 16. Ihan, A. (2009): The immune system and resilience (Imunološki sistem i otpornost). Mladinska knjiga - Belgrade. 221 17. Kazinic Kreho Lejla (2009): 21st century nutrition (Prehrana 21. stoljeća). Profil knjiga-Zagreb. 18. Calbom, C. ,Calbom, J. and ass. (2007): Complete cancer cleanse (Potpuno očišćenje od raka). Leocommerce - Belgrade. 19. Carper, J. (1999): Miracle cures (Čudesni lekovi prirode). Narodna knjiga - Belgrade. 20. Carper, J. (2008): Food (Hrana). Sezam Book - Zrenjanin. 21. Latinovic, R. (2010 ): Petrovac basa and sirac (Petrovačka basa i sirac). Grafid - Banja Luka. 22. L. Kac, D. ,Gordon L. Debra (2010): Fight your cholesterol (Izborite se sa holesterolom). Mladinska knjiga - Belgrade. 23. Malahov, G.P. (2007): Nutrition and food (Ishrana i hrana). Prometej - Belgrade. 24. Manuela Grcevic and ass. (2011): Chicken egg as functional food (Kokošje jaje kao funkcionalna namirnica). Feed, no. 2. 25. Miller, D. (2009): Natural medicine (Prirodna medicina). Metaphysica - Belgrade. 26. Mindell, E. (2003): The vitamin bible (Vitaminska biblija). Familet - Belgrade. 27. Mihajlovic, B. (2007): Wine, rakia and vinegar in traditional medicine (Vino, rakija i sirće u narodnoj medicine). Partenon- Belgrade. 28. Mratinic, E. (2002): Healthy food from nature (Zdrava hrana iz prirode). Neven - Zemun. 29. Nishi, K. (2004): Golden rules of health (Zlatna pravila zdravlja). Momir Ubiparip - Belgrade. 30. Nishi, K. (2004): System of natural rejuvenation (Sistem prirodnog podmlađivanja). Momir Ubiparip - Belgrade. 31. Nishi, K. (2005): Macrobiotics (Makrobiotika). Aruna - Belgrade. 32. Pauling, L. (2008): Live longer and feel better using vitamins (Živeti duže i osećati se bolje uz pomoć vitamina). Esotheria - Belgrade. 222 33. Pedrotti, V. (2001): Simple teas for a better life (Jednostavni čajevi za bolji život). Evro-Giunti – Belgrade. 34. Pedrotti, V. (2007): Cereals (Cerealije). Evro- Giunti - Belgrade. 35. Perricone, N. (2009): Food for eternal youth (Hrana za večnu mladost). Profil knjiga - Belgrade. 36. Pigozzi, P. (2001): Food cures (Hrana liječi). Trsat - Zagreb. 37. Pollan, M. (2011): In defense of food (U odbranu hrane). Čarobna knjiga - Belgrade. 38. Pospisil, E. (2006): Cholesterol (Kolesterol). Mozaik knjiga- Zagreb. 39. Natural pedicine (Prirodna medicina), Zivkovic Maja (2007): Combinations in nutrition (Kombinacije u ishrani). Evro-Giunti - Belgrade. 40. Stojanovic, L. ,Katic Vera(2004): Hygiene of milk (Higijena mleka). Veterinarian chamber of Serbia - Belgrade. 41. Unger, U. (1996): Vitamins (Vitamini). Mozaik knjiga - Zagreb. 42. Heiden, Z. ,Brand, G. (1989): Healthy food – healthy heart (Zdrava hrana - zdravo srce). Dečje novine - Gornji Milanovac. 43. Holford, P. (2011): How to improve digestion. Mozaik knjiga - Zagreb. 44. Holford, P. (2011): Prevent and cure cancer. Mono i Manjana - Belgrade. 45. Holford, P. (2011): Secrets of 100% healthy people (Tajne potpuno zdravih ljudi). Mozaik knjiga - Zagreb . 46. Lorraine Clissold (2010): Why the Chinese don’t count calories (Zašto Kinezi ne broje kalorije). Mozaik knjiga- Zagreb. 47. Cobic, V. (2010): Cook happily and live eternally (Kuvajte srećno živite večno). Dilema - Belgrade. 48. Jarwis, D.C. (1994): Secrets of green vaults of nature (Tajne zelenih riznica prirode) I. Ginis Ju - Belgrade. 49. Jeffrey, S. (2008): Seeds of destruction (Seme uništenja). Envelope. 50. Strunc, U. , Jop, A. (2008): Vitamin revolution (Vitaminska revolucija). Mladinska knjiga - Belgrade. 223 51. Strunc, U. , Jop, A. (2008): Minerals (Minerali). Mladinska knjiga - Belgrade. 52. Nazarov, G. (2004): Step by step to healthy life (Korak po korak ka zdravom životu). NIP ``Zdrav Život``- Zemun. 53. Ullman Marcela: Natural pharmacy (Prirodna ljekarna). Mozaik knjiga. 54. Volk, P. : Principles of healthy lifestyle (Načela zdravog života). Hippocrates. 55. Nishi, K. (2007): Why do the “immortals” eat (Čime se to hrane ``besmrtni``). Aruna - Belgrade. 56. Satilaro, E. , Monte, T. (1989): Live healthy (Živeti zdravo). Rad - Belgrade. 57. Sibalic Milica (1989): Superfood (Superhrana). Sibalic, M., Sibalic, S., Sibalic, A. – Belgrade 58. Gacesa, D. , Gacesa, D. (2010): Resolve the high cholesterol problem with nature (Riješimo problem povišenog holesterola uz pomoć prirode). Grafomark - Laktasi. 59. Tomazincich, J. (1985): Teas and advice (Čajevi i savjeti). Tomazincich, J. -Ljubljana. 60. Treben Maria (2008): Our daily stress (Stres naš svagdašnji). V.B.Z. – Zagreb. 61. Chapel, P. , Andrews, D. (2005): Homeopathy (Homeopatija). Isotheria - Belgrade. 62. Vanjkevic, S. K. (2003): Healing with aromatic plants (Lečenje aromatičnim biljem). S.K.Vanjkevic. 63. Seehusen Henning (2009): Spice herbs (Začinsko bilje). Mozaik knjiga - Zagreb. 64. Stojiljkovic, S. (2008): Losing weight and detoxification in a healthy way (Mršavljenje i detoksikacija nazdraviji način). Goja - Belgrade. 65. Sinjakov, A. (2001): Stimulators of life (Stimulatori života). Draganić - Belgrade. 66. Banamini Izabela (2007): Calories recipes for the whole family (Kalorije recepti za celu porodicu). Evro- Giunti -Belgrade.

224 67. Humble, J. : MMS – the miracle mineral supplement of the 21st century (Čudesni mineralni dodatak 21. vijeka-MMS). Esotheria - Belgrade. 68. Jovanovic Olga: Curing with medicinal plants and more (Lečenje lekovitim biljem i još ponešto). Portenon - Belgrade. 69. Anita Hesmann- Kosaris (2005): Nutrition according to blood groups (Prehrana u skladu sakrvnom grupom). Mozaik knjiga - Zagreb. 70. Manohar, M. : Curing naturally (Lečenjena prirodan način). Ajuverda. Knjigotisak. 71. Virapen, J. (2010): Side-effects: Death (Nuspojava: smrt). Omega Lan - Zagreb. 72. Prometej, Sehic (2011): Encyclopedia of cleansing of the human body (Enciklopedija čiščenja čovečijeg organizma). Prometej- Belgrade. 73. Tucakov, J. (2009): Curing the breathing organs with herbs (Lečenje biljem- organa za disanje). Zapis - Zemun. 74. Andrea Oppermann, ( 2006): The magic of zuchinni and pumpkins (Čarolija tikvica i bundeva). Mozaik knjiga - Zagreb. 75. Darko Grbesa, ( 2004 ): Methods of evaluation and tables of chemical composition and nutritive value of hale feed (Metode procjene i tablice hemijskog sastava i hranjive vrijednosti krepkih krmiva).Croatian agronomical society - Zagreb.

225 226 Publisher: Publishing and graphic design company

Banja Luka Miloša Obilića 30 [email protected]

Belgrade, Dečanska 12 [email protected]

For publishers: Danilo Novakovic Nenad Arsic

Printed by: Grafid d.o.o. Banja Luka

For the printing company: Srdjan Ivankovic

Copies: 500 CIP - Каталогизација у публикацији Народна и универзитетска библиотека Републике Српске, Бања Лука

613.2 641.5

ЛАТИНОВИЋ, Рајко, 1948- The Life and Food of my Ancestors / Rajko Latinovic ; [English translation Nikola Galic ; Photography Nikolina Toljaga]. - 2. izd. - Banja Luka : Besjeda ; Beograd : Ars Libri, 2016 (Banja Luka : Grafid). - 226 str. : ilustr. u bojama ; 20 cm

Izv. stv. nasl.: Život i hrana mojih preda- ka. - Tiraž 500. - Bibliografija: str. 220-225.

ISBN 978-99938-1-276-0

COBISS.RS-ID 5692952 About the author ey said: Inspired by feelings of gratitude to his home ground, Rajko Latinovic ventures into sincere knowledge sharing on reasons of long and idyllic life of his ancestors, emphasizing how their simple everyday habits and necessities, and also the way of nutrition, signi cantly contributed to their healthy and long life. The book THE LIFE AND FOOD OF MY ANCESTORS is an attempt of synthesis of simple and understandable discourse on the one hand and scienti c con rmations of statements on the other. Working professionally in the eld of nutritionism as a doctor of veterinary medicine, the author has expanded his knowledge and observations to human nutrition, o ering, bravely, simple and logical comparisons, Today morale is in decline, because market adding originality and uniqueness to the text. His vast experience obtained in prestigious companies, institutions and on study A wonderful book, which is a written memory of our tradition and terror has created a religion of money. visits to many developed countries the author has applied in his professional life as a customs, not only in terms of nutrition. Emir Kusturica, moviemaker founder, manager and technologist of the rst company in Bosnia and Herzegovina With a ection and patience, the author tells the story, mixing the past producing vitamin and mineral supplements to animal feed. Believing that health of and the present (not accidentally at all), but, while reading, you realize he " animals, as an important source of food for humans, has decisive in uence on human is skillfully leading you to self-assessment and useful contemplation. health, the author, bravely and with simpli ed arguments, states the advantages of After reading the book, everyone will have their own conclusions, but all will surely feel better and ful lled, because this book exudes positive natural nutrition over commercial and industrial o er of “fast” food, whose value is Whoever is the father of disease, bad nutrition is its mother. often dubious. The author uses his biomedical knowledge in brave statements and energy, which the author draws from his and our ancestors. recommendations of “what is good and what is bad” for human nutrition. Therefore, I am happy to recommend this book to everyone, especially Chinese proverb After his rst book “Petrovac basa and sirac”, as a desire to continue the to young people from the author’s home region. They should read it, promotion of traditional ways of food preparation and nutrition habits from his proud of their ancestors, striving to be worthy of their legacy. birthplace, Rajko Latinovic o ers “The life and food of my ancestors”. " Rajko Latinovic was born on May 19th, 1948, in the village of Kolunic, near Rajko Latinovic Bosanski Petrovac, where he also completed primary school and gymnasium. He Prim. Dr med. Gordana Grubor How did man come to be, I do not know. completed studies of veterinary medicine at the University of Sarajevo in 1973, INTERNIST – ENDOCRINOLOGIST But, I do believe that humankind itself will cause where he also obtained the degree of a doctor of veterinary medicine in 1987. its disappearance from the face of the Earth. I accepted the o er to provide a brief introduction about the author and the The author book with special pleasure. "

e life and food ancestors of my Rajko Latinovic Dr. Rodoljub Trkulja e life and food of my ancestors

Rajko Latinovic