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t has long been a spiritual retreat for the rich and famous -from V l ; t W Putin to hince Charles -but now Mount Ahos -and its communityof Greek orthodox monks are king hail@ as a medical miracle. Their pared-down,rustic Meditenanean diet,togethefwith a reliance on home-grown seasonal produce, has led to an extraordmmly low rate of cancers,heart disease and Alzheimer's among .themonks. So what can we learn from an all-malebastion whose lifestyle has barely evolved since 923AD?We went in search of the secrets of the Mount Athos regime, fkom coolung principles to philosophies, to see what we could bring back home. Here,in the first of a two-part series,we analyse the monks' nutrition and lifestyle.In tomorrow's Observer,Stephen Moss samp1esthe monastic routine plus five exclusive Athos recipes. '

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Exclusive recipes from Mount

Athos,free with the Observer

r Secrets of 1.

the Mount Athos diet

The monks' exceptionally healthy diet is governed by a series of rules and principles,much of it centred on a philosophy of strict moderation. Helena Smith reports on a land without butter or the Mount Athos monks, meals are sacred afFairs - an extension of their communion with God. Fasting

Mood and place is aiso very important. When we eat we are very calm, there is total silence except for the elder who may read from the scripturesor say a prayer." The cook's mood, he says, is similarly important. "I love cooking not because I want to please or be flattered but because I love the people I am cooking for."

r n M More than 200 days of the year are designated as "abstention days", including Mondays, Wednesdaysand Fridays each week and lengthier religiousholidays. On these days, the monks eat only one meal, usually at sunset. Dairyproducts,wine and olive oil are forbidden. That leaves fruit, veg, bread, and lots of 1entils.my in very special circumstancescan fasts be flouted, for examplewhen a monk is so ill that he has been *blessednon his sickbed. On non-fast (or feast) days - Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays - the monks eat two meals with wine: one after

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churchataroundgamandoneafkrvespets at around 4.3opm. The pations are small by western &mda& - themonks can have topups from the containers on the table, but they rarely do. Plus, eating time is limited to mund 20 minutes, and once the atbit rings a bell the monkshave to stop. In a community that seesi n m u d d o n as the causeof disease,thektrnuyof enjoyinga second plate is pemitted rarely. W t h the exception of one or two tubby monks. thev show areat self-mtdnt." o d h e r stephen Moss, who &ted Mount Athos. "They know how much they need to get by and they don't eat a sliver of broccoli more." The monks believe that fastingbrings them cl&r to God.Abstaining from rich, oily foods for more than half of the year is r e g a d d as the ultimate form of self-conkol. "Too much food, like too much sleep, is not only bad for the body but the mind," says Brother Mobis, a leading spiritual 'gure on the fasting days a monk prays more Mount. because he is 6Ued with enthusiasmand has a higher purpose. Monks don't fast because they care about their physical health, or worry about getting cancer, or want to live long and good lives. The fmgality and simpliaty of the food they eat, natudly, has a good effect on their health and helps keep physical damage at bay. But they do it because they reject everythingthat is superfluousin life, and in cutting out their own desires, they come closer to God."

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All the vegetables and fruit eaten on Mount ~ t b o is o himegrown in the monastery

1 gardens, which means that not only is the

monks' diet organic(no pesticides are used) it is also entirely seesonal.Vegetables are cultivated in flat plots close to monasteries and cells. Depending on the season of the year, the gardens are brimming with beans, auberghes, courgeut'es, cauli3owen, lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, beetroot and

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peninsula by fishermen-monksand eaten stewed, fried or grilled.

Alcohol is readily availableon the Mount because it is all home-brewed,and the

monksdonottumtheirnosesupatit.The consumption of wine remains an important

part of the liturgy in church d c e s and aid to digestion. many view it as an essential ' " Jwas In earlier times, when widespread, storiesof drunk monks were legeadary. However, thephilosophy of by most of the monks, moderation is obse~ed particukrly the younger generation, who ofken akemateit with raki, & l d firewater. At meals, monks rarely drink more thanone glass of red wine. Most days on Mount Athos will start with a cup of mountain or sage tea, both made from indigemus plants. Turkish-style cups of sweet, gtainy coffee are also allowedand monks will Frequentlysavour one in theafternoan, or before goingto work. On fast days, however, most try to abstain from tea and coffee. Sweets are a much enjoyed part of the Athos diet, from the traditionalCreek sesame flour and honey confection, halva, to loukoumi - a kind of stidrqrturM d-t. Most meals end with a cake, baklavaor oat-styleb i t of some kind

favounlte oily dishes stew),or chickpea patties tomorrowSObserver). daysiscaughtdfthe

For€he~tpart,fdiscookedinhuge cauldrons, pans Paas nays in wood-burning ovens.Onfapt&ys,whendiveoilis forbidden, ingredientsare often stewed or fried in ;tahiniinstead. "But butter is out," says Brother Epifanios, "and so are matgarha, rich aeamand sauces likebechamel. In 35 years of cookingI've never once put them in any of my dish@s." Spice8are used abundantly. Brother Epifaniosis~yfond~Nminwhose nwritshefirstdiscEnreredatStGath~s momstayintbeSinai.%~wondersfor the digestion," says the chef, who oa Feast dayshas t o c a t e r f w u p t o 3 , o w ~ e aat the.'TindudecumininIleorlyev~I cooknowaadthemonkseeemtoubett;" hdw,celery,dill, f-el, -tic, ~regan~andrnlnt~~~llgus seagonfoods.

'Intoday's world people want

to eat and eat. They have made a living of eating,whereas we should only eat what we need'

tmlrrLn$rPblJ No ralldagis permitted during meals, even a whisperedre~uatforthesalt tobepassed. Wtead, everyone Ustensto a monk reading 1hTheLivesofrheSaints.Th9monks explain that the meal is an integral part of

A layman called Christos,an air tiai3c contrdler in Themb&iwho has visited the Mmm, noted: "3ust two meals seems towork,Tkyaretherightporti~l~~,soyou don'tf&dovemdkd. The food is a bit cold, but actually I don't care too much about this. I like thewhole atmospherewhen we're eating -theorder, peoplecombginalltogether,the prayer, listening to a monk giving a reahg." %tt to live, don? Mve to eat," says grother Ephraim at the Skete d St Andrew. "In today's society, people want to eat and eat. They've made a living of eating, whereas we should only eat what we need, which is h t a tenth of what we eat anyway." WZlat Stephen Mcws didn't do on Athos was experieme~~o~ccooldngona~tday."I wasthereattheendofchristrnas-&re8 accm>otheJullancal~dar,~whlchtwo

weeksbehindthoseduswbadoptedrtte

GregortaPlversionzicoupledcentwiesago. Usually,they fast on Mondays, Wedn&ays and~days,andonthosedaysth@y~ fish, all dairy products, eggs,wfne &ad ollw oil - though,oddly, they are atlowed to

~ ~ s h a u t d g o t o t h e o t h e r ~ e . " eat olives."

f e ~dott ~h e r ~ e b e i B g m a k f n s a @ ofood, co=u4@m#~-.

iracle on the mountain Mount Athos monks are on earth. Helena Smith ts' extraordmary fin-

lained of ditiicultiesurinating,a often assodatedwith v r m e decade later,11 had dkeloped cer - four timen h e r thanthe

the result of the very special

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Sncethei96os,studieshaoe!~that *IKedit~diete9nphyslcarztral Foleinind pndlower~af card.iovasdardisease.*C)nNIm~~ hcnre@monestepfutherbyf~meat a n d o n l y ~ e a W M , ~ ~ theyhaveavery~~ofgahuatedfats andahighint.akeof81aaga-3bttyadds-bath o f w b i c h ~ p f t t r t h e r t o ~ ~ ~ of cardkievasculiirdisease," S B . EWsapidm. ~ Monks speakof %I inaedde feeling of lightness and freedom". Records show that hearx &ease, cardiac arrestsandstrokesarevirtually~ent among the monks. The absenceof stress, comDetitivenessd anxiet~around socialand ecoiomic inseanity has a& been linked to their mental wellbebg. Instead, monks derive pleasure from the knowledge that they have nothing and will have nothin$. Thispartly accountsforthe astonishing absenceof Alzheimer's disease also discovered on the Mount. After subjecting more than 2.000 monks to repeated W s over a fiveyear period, Eur* neurologists were so startled to discovera "zero-incidence" of the disease that they atended their study to monwtedes and nunneries around Greece. The resultswere equally mrprhbgonly two nuns, both well into their Sos, showed signs of vascular dementia, and no monk outside thepeninsulaappearedaftlictedwiththe

disease at all. "We had to ask why, and the answerM y lay in the lack of worldly concerns their spiritual life, d t y and diet," says Pro S t a m Wyamiis, thepre-eminent Greek newoh@ who led the study. "For A t h & monks, in partieula, there is no such thing as existential anxiety. These men& not fear death. Instead, they face it with the expectatitmof eternallife which is why, when it does come, they ;uetotally euphoric."

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Moderation i

The Athos diet is e s s e n ~ 'M y editerranean Ete':

he Mediterzanean diet, with its reliance on o k oil, is not actually. alow-fatdiet-iVsaemoder;te fat" diet. But it is traditionally assodatedwith a lower incidence

m&mdmhaW*M."We x+mt&W€s a c a m a d h n r t r n ip wrpae meala ~ , , " ~ ~ S T s ~ t o l ; o ~ o r f b u r

saajrllW~~@e&r~o%=o~two

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philosophy of moderation in all things. Worth remembering when ordering that takeaway.

4 Ewater-based e Z & oil-coowith techniques (steaming1 redudng monksaauscer rates islikelyt0be~highimt;lkeaf p h t foods, parthhly the wide

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lliham!&s have about 20 minutes k~~oeat~meals-affer

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add tomato products.

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boiling/bakingfoods) is an instant wav to cut down on fat. The monks use a lot of olke oil, but they never use butter or cream, which are high in saturated fat, associatedwith raised cholesterollevels.

watch your salt

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The monks do not consumeany processed food - often a source of "hiddenn salt in western diets. The absence of ready-meals means the monks know exactlywhat's in their food and how much seasoninghas been added. They also use spices for seasoning, or add herbs such as parsley, dill, oregano and mint. This is a good way to add flavour and means you don't have to add much salt when cooking. The recent WCRF report confirmsthat salt (and salt-preserved foods) are probably a cause of stomach cancer.

rsnot just diet that makes @e monks so healthy - of -stress, an outdoor Be and the support of a caring brotherhood &play I their part a

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Jeremiah thinkslack of stress among on Athos is the crucial reason why the ,&gUence of cancer is low. And scientists agree himabout its importance. When they zero incidence of Alzheimer's disease had to ask why," says Professor Stavros ,a pre-eminent Greek neurologist. e answer clearly lay in the lack of ' PBpldly concerns. For Athonite monks there is -. gUCh thing as existentialanxiety." not a lot of stress in our lives," Jeremiah. "People in the world with making money, getting and worryiug about what other them. We have to do what we

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Without the strains of employment (or UWmployment), nor anxiety about career )&&as, the monks are free to work short -ktcreative - days. Most of the work is -en between loam and 2pm. The abbot w which "obediences" the monks will mdertake, and they have a changeover at the h g h i n g of each year, though some monks . Will do the same job for a number of years. One - ;Wmk, a huge man with a jet-black beard called - 3W&a Ioannis, heroically manages to combine C winemaking and beekeeping.

:%Wethelurount Athos way :ajeu Shah, director of the Stress Management

.'b k t y , likes to use the analogy of a

the weight of cars and trucks over it. Keep increasing the ,he says, and eventually the bridge will When we deal with stress there are WQoptions: we can either reduce the weight @n aur bridge, or we can fortify our bridge so %can take the strain. *For people who don't

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want any weight on their bridge, thisis the perfect life," Shah says of the monks. "There is virtuaUy no weight on their bridge. V i y all their decisions are made for them." But the monks have also fortified themselves with an excellent support network in their brotherhood. And, of course, the support of their faith. Clearly, it's not easy to replicate the stressfree monastic Lifestyle. But there are p ~ c i p l e s for dealingwith stress that the monks have unconsciously adopted: 1) Simplifyyour life. lf you simplify it, you're less likely to buckle under the weight of it. 2) If you can't simplifyit, get some support: send the kids off to the grandparmts; delegate to a colleague; relieve the burden by talking to a professional; have a massage to give yourself some time out. 3) Rev up your support mechanism: the monks derive huge succour from their friendships. "Most people don't have a support mechanism in place so they try to manage too much by themselves," says Shah.

ynme!Ifin the garden or allotment and you wodtnaeicethesweatonyourbrav. 4)Dadtmakea~ofit.Leadhganactive lifedghreyoumoreenergyandraiseyour spirits,but you're more likely to mainGh it if 6% part of $nu routine rather than a chore.

=onics are laconicwhen it comes to talking about sex. "Some people have a uro~em.m e a m l e have m ~r0blemat ';aF ~ a t i eisid&,-a r youagUS~bornmonk. . Women are not altowed to enter M. There is a story, p o s s i i apocryphal, about a igth-century foundling child who had bed aLl his life on Athos, had seen IKI woman other than the V i Mary, and was shoc%edlate in life to discover that not all women had halos. "Physical separation helps us to concentrate," says F'ather Isidore. "Like a scientist who sits in his laboratory and doesnPt go to bars or discos,or like a sportsmanwho gaesofftoiso~~camps." Father JemnW adds: "S