The Wheel of Health

Good health is an attractive state, but it can be a very dull topic. Everything depends on how it is approached. Dr Wrench attracts our attention at once, by asking "Why not research health as well as disease?" To him it is more interesting to know why we are not as healthy as we should be, than it is to ask why we are as diseased as we are. Naturally he had difficulty in finding people in whom he could study health as a natural characteristic, but finally found what he wanted in the small tribe of the Hunza in Northern Pakistan. The very place itself has its fascination, lying hidden high up in one of the tremendous clefts amongst the 'congress of great mountains' separating Pakistan from China and Russia. The Hunza are people of extraordinary physique and health, and this is largely attributed by Dr Wrench to the fact that their foods, such as vegetables and wheat, are not 'sophisticated', as Robert McCarrison calls it, by the artificial processes applied by Westerners. How these processes affect our food is dealt with in great detail. The argument is detailed and is attractively presented. Whether there is much likelihood of Dr Wrench's views being widely adopted is open to question, but they are impressive. The simplicity of Hunza life is greatly to be desired. Our western civilization will never adopt it in toto, but we could take some elements of it to heart. This book will appeal to all who interest themselves in health and the principles of its maintenance. This is a new edition of this title. The text has been extensively re-edited for today's reader.