Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 3, 1 Malaki 2012 — E ala! E alu! E kuilima! -- Up! Together! Join hands! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

E ala! E alu! E kuilima! -- Up! Together! Join hands!

The daily lives of our Hawaiian ancestors were filled with physical work. Without the power of modern machinery, hard physical work was required in planting, growing, harvesting and storing of food. Fishing, cooking, traveling, building, as well as making implements and fabrics required human power or exercise. The cleaning and tending of acres and

acres of both 'uala and lo'i kalo was difficult, back-breaking labor. Digging, building and maintaining miles of irrigating waterways, vital to all human and farming endeavors, required many hours of toil. Strong backs, muscles and halanee were required for work and chores associated with daily living, like: making tapa for clothing, blankets and sails; weaving lauhala mats; building canoes; as well as carrying bundles around or up to 'ohana who lived in mauka areas. Our ancestors walked everywhere, carrying whatever they needed to transport. They paddled canoes across the oeean or swam across waterways when moving from plaee to plaee or island to island. Just imagine, our 20-minute drive from Kailua to Honolulu was a 30-mile walk that included a treacherous elimh up the nearly perpendicular Nu'uanu Pali. All the

hard physical work by our ancestors produced remarkably strong bodies. And, the traditional Hawaiian diet supported their activities. Our ancestors were described as lean, muscular, athletic and eapahle of hard work, way beyond fatigue. Traditionally, ruling chiefs retained a powerful officer, the kālaimoku, who guided and counseled on administrative matters related to the maka'āinana. One responsibility of the kālaimoku was to keep all men fit, healthy and ready to serve. He was also well versed in warfare, thus, he kept the village men fit and ready to assist their ali'i in time of war. If he determined that the maka'āinana were becoming stout and clumsy, the kālaimoku reconunended increasing vigorous activities to burn off any accumulating body fat. The kālaimoku also held the ali'i and mō'I to the same high fitness standards. He could advise the ali'i to eat appropriate foods and to exercise. As a most drastic measure, he would recommend that the king move to an area where food was less available to support a dietary change. Food choices and exercise have changed tremendously since our ancestors' time. And,

Hawaiians have changed from being in a constant state of warrior-readiness, to Hawai'i's least physically fit and least healthy populahon. Most jobs today are highly sedentary, and with little need to use physical effort in any daily activity, we have heeome soft, heavy and sickly. The situation is not hopeless. We retain the ability to think, learn and act. We ean access the "Hawaiian-warrior courage" in our genes. We ean start with small lifestyle changes, then increase the time and effort we put into improving our health. For example, just changing to drinking water instead of eola drinks or sweetened beverages has helped several Hawaiians lose 7 or 8 pounds within a month. Coupling the beverage change with walking during the workday has yielded 12to 15-pound losses in a month. Let's take the challenge! Take a supportive eompanion with you and have fun. It will make a difference. Today, most of us cannot hold a candle to our ancestors' physical conditioning and stamina. We ean, however, recapture a large portion of their physical and spiritual well-being. We havetojustdoit! ■

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