Macrobiotic

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Weight loss on macrobiotic diet

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Losing weight on the macrobiotic food diet

How to lose weight with macrobiotic diet, reduce weight by proper eating, slimming, how to achieve ideal weight loss.

At the beginning of macrobiotic transition nearly everybody will lose weight of few kilograms. Somebody more, somebody less. For many people it’s very positive effect and there are people, for which it’s the main motive for eating and staying with macrobiotic diet. Overweight people are better at the beginning with it, they have enough fats from which they can lose weight from. A little worse are these that have no extra weight, because even these are losing few kilograms at the start. The reason is simple. Organism, especially intestines, are adapted from the childhood for the digestion of another kind of foods, and it’s mainly simple sugars and quantity of fats. It takes certain time, until the organism cleans from the sediments and excesses, hence the whole period is followed by the weight lose. The weight loss will eventually stop (for somebody earlier, somebody a little later, mostly it takes about half a year). Then the weight is adjusting slowly and it settles on the ideal rate. Even the man, who eats macrobiotic diet, can be obese. If he overeats, he goes up with his weight as anybody else, if not more.

The problem of thinness is social problem. The most and the worst is hit the surrounding by it. Poor “slim macrobiotic” man has to hear often even several times a day hear the sentence: “Oh dear, you look bad, eat something finally”, or “It was so handy woman and now, look at her!”. It’s all only relative, because most times, the slim man will feel much better than ever before, his vitality is growing greatly. But today the average man is mildly obese and the percent of obese people is incomparably greater than slim ones. When you meet someone on the street who gained on weight, you won’t tell him: “What are you doing, that you are so fat”, but you rather choose sentence: “You have improved.” But if somebody lose weight, he hears many times a day: “You are so slim.” The power of collective is strong and only few are able to throw all these talks out over your head. If we lose weight too much, fast and long, it’s necessary to control the menu. Especially its variety, if we haven’t tied it up too much and if we are not eating one-sided. We have to be careful about, if we are not using salt too much, because even this is one of the reasons for the excessive weight loss. If we lose weight too quickly, we increase the ratio of fats and especially in the form of seeds, we can moderately increase the ratio of legumes and above all we are chewing very well. We have all come through this period, when surroundings had pity and scolded to us. It’s best to throw it over the head and get round. It doesn’t take long and the reward for us, except of good health, is better figure, stronger muscles and beautiful, clean skin and it’s worth waiting for some time to this.

Tags: diet, Macrobiotic, weight
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The Macrobiotic path to total health

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

The Macrobiotic Way of Eating
The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health: A Complete Guide to Naturally Preventing and Relieving More Than 200 Chronic Conditions and Disorders
by Michio Kushi, Alex Jack

Even in medical schools, alternative medicine is blossoming. Two thirds of them now offer courses in complementary healing practices, including nutrition. At the heart of this revolution is macrobiotics, a simple, elegant, and delicious way of eating whose health benefits are being confirmed at an impressive rate by researchers around the world.

Macrobiotics is based on the laws of yin and yang-the complementary energies that flow throughout the universe and quicken every cell of our bodies and every morsel of the food we eat. Michio Kushi and Alex Jack, distinguished educators of the macrobiotic way, believe that almost every human ailment from the common cold to cancer can be helped, and often cured, by balancing the flow of energy (the ki) inside us. The most effective way to do this is to eat the right foods, according to our individual day-to-day needs. Now in this marvelous guide, they give us the basics of macrobiotic eating and living, and explain how to use this powerful source of healing to become healthier and happier, to prevent or relieve more than two hundred ailments, conditions, or disorders-both physical and psychological.

This encyclopedic compendium of macrobiotic fundamentals, remedies, menus, and recipes takes into account the newest thinking and evolving practices within the macrobiotic community. The authors integrate all the information into a remarkable A to Z guide to macrobiotic healing-from AIDS, allergies, and arthritis, to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. They also clearly explain what we need to know to start eating a true macrobiotic diet that will provide us with a complete balance of energy and nutrients.

Living as we all do in environmental and climactic circumstances that are largely outside our personal control, it is vital that we follow a healthy lifestyle, including a flexible diet that we can adjust to meet our own individual needs. The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health gives us precisely the tools and the understanding we need to achieve this goal. Use it to build a strong, active body and a cheerful, resourceful mind.

As the 21st century begins, the world faces an unprecedented health and environmental crisis. New diseases and epidemics have emerged, family and social conflicts have increased, and ecological threats have multiplied and spread, imperiling humanity’s biological and spiritual evolution, as well as the future of other life on this planet. At the heart of this escalating crisis is the integrity of the world’s food supply. Genetic engineering, cloning, food irradiation, microwave cooking, and other new technologies are radically changing the way humans have eaten, fed their families, and managed their health for thousands of years, violating millions of years of natural order.

Personal and planetary health are inseparable. World hunger and poverty cannot be divorced from eating beef, chicken, and other animal foods that require up to ten times more grain to produce than growing grain directly for human consumption. SARS, AIDS, mad cow disease, and other new epidemics are connected with a widespread decline in natural immune function as a result of the modern way of eating and overmedicalization. Violence and war are intimately related to liver, kidney, and pancreatic imbalances that give rise to anger, fear, and greed on a personal, family, or societal level.

The macrobiotic way of eating is very broad and comprehensive. It has been observed by millions of human beings for thousands of years, contributing to health, happiness, and peace for endless generations and our species overall biological and spiritual evolution. For the most part, it is based on whole cereal grains (the traditional staff of life), vegetables from land and sea, beans, and other fresh foods, with a minimum of animal products. With the advent of the modern era about 400 years ago, this way of eating steadily declined around the world, as meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy became the center of the diet; white flour and white rice displaced whole-wheat flour and brown rice; and canned and frozen foods, highly processed foods, and foods grown with or containing chemicals largely replaced fresh, local produce grown organically and consumed in season.

Today the modern supermarket and natural foods store contain a cornucopia of foods from all over the world. Bananas, mangoes, and other tropical foods are eaten by people living in the Arctic, while dwellers in the rain forest have access to hamburgers, french fries, and soft drinks. Watermelon, strawberries, and other perishable fruits are consumed in winter, and steak, fried chicken, and other heavy animal foods are consumed in summer. The typical family today rarely eats home-cooked food together, and electric or microwave ovens are found in the vast majority of households. The end result has been a wave of epidemic and degenerative disease, including heart disease, cancer, AIDS, new multiple-drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, and other afflictions. The advent of cloning and genetic modification of foods and medicines; the rise in organ transplants and implants, especially from animals to humans; the spread of artificial electromagnetic fields from computers, cell phones, and other technology; and the destruction of the environment, including desertification, the thinning of the ozone layer, and the onset of global warming, have contributed to a further decrease in natural immunity to disease. The biological degeneration of human beings, reflected in a sharp rise in infertility and the use of new artificial birth technologies, as well as the spread of infectious, degenerative, and immune-deficiency diseases, threatens the continued existence of our species. The modern evolutionary crisis encompasses all of the nearly 200 conditions and disorders dealt with in this book.

The world is now splitting into two directions. The first is respecting nature, traditional wisdom, and natural order. The second is oriented toward artificial intervention into natural processes. Our natural evolution on this planet will end if the second way prevails. The present situation is similar to that described in the story of Noah and the great flood. Unless we awaken to the spreading chaos around us, the earth will be engulfed by a biological catastrophe of its own making.

Our species and the planet as a whole are in urgent need of healing. For many years, the macrobiotic community has warned that the outer environment is a reflection of the inner environment and that the key to the health and environmental crisis is a return to a more natural way of life centered on a natural way of eating. Personal and planetary health are indivisible. When one person is nourished, the whole planet benefits. When the earth prospers, each person is energized and refreshed. Modern macrobiotics is devoted to creating a world of universal health, happiness, and peace in harmony with natural order for endless generations.

Despite the lack of a leading philosophy and its practical application to every dimension of the crisis, modern society is beginning to take positive steps to redress the balance. First, the health revolution, as noted in the introduction, is now spreading. This includes organic farming, the environmental movement, and the macrobiotic community. Modern science and medicine has rediscovered the central importance of whole grains, as reflected in the Food Guide Pyramid and other dietary and nutritional guidelines. Second, communications networks are elevating consciousness. Through the Internet, information on health and diet is easily exchanged, and there is the potential to reach every home or community directly through this new technology. Third, new alternative approaches to health and well-being have emerged that emphasize a balanced diet, healing with energy and vibration, and living a natural way of life.

The Macrobiotic Diet

The macrobiotic way of eating has been practiced widely throughout history. Each culture and civilization has applied principles of balance to the proper selection and preparation of food and developed a unique cuisine in harmony with its natural environment. The macrobiotic approach is based not only on meeting optimal nutritional needs but also on a deep understanding of the earth’s relation to the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies; the evolution of life on the planet; ancestral tradition and heritage; ever-changing environmental and climatic conditions; humidity, pressure, and other atmospheric influences; local availability, affordability, and other economic factors; natural storability and other practical considerations; and the effects of different foods and beverages on our mind, body, and spirit.

The macrobiotic way of eating is not a set diet that applies rigidly to everyone, but a flexible dietary approach that differs according to climate, environment, condition of health, sex, age, activity level, and personal need. Macrobiotics is the collective wisdom and universal heritage of humanity. It is not the manifestation, property, or exclusive possession of a single era, culture, society, nation, religion, school, family, or individual. The goal of macrobiotics is freedom-the ability to create and realize our dream in life as part of our endless spiritual journal in the infinite universe. Standard macrobiotic dietary practice provides almost limitless variety and choice to prepare healthful, delicious food suited to our unique requirements, needs, and goals. No food is prohibited in the macrobiotic way of eating, and no food will heal all diseases. The standard macrobiotic diet is based on a comprehensive approach that takes into account the overall balance of energy and nutrients of food and looks at multiple causes and effects. Table 1 summarizes the major approaches to healing.

In comparison with the modern way of eating, the standard macrobiotic way of eating has the following general nutritional characteristics:

• More complex carbohydrates, fewer simple sugars

• More vegetable-quality protein, less animal-quality protein

• Less overall fat consumption, more polyunsaturated fat, and less saturated fat

• A balance of various naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients and less supplementation

• Use of more organically grown, natural food and more traditional food processing techniques and less chemically grown, artificially produced, or chemically processed foods

• Consumption of food primarily in whole form as much as possible and less refined, partial, or processed food

• Greater consumption of food that is high in natural fiber and less food that has been devitalized by overprocessing

Dietary Guidelines

The following guidelines represent a standard average for persons in usual good health. Those with one of the conditions described in this book may need to limit some types of foods, especially fish and seafood, fruit, juices, seeds and nuts, snacks, and desserts, as well as the amount of salt, oil, or other seasoning used in cooking, until their health improves. Please refer to the specific conditions and disorders in Part II for dietary advice and Part III for one of three comprehensive healing diets that can be indivi- dually tailored to your condition and needs. Part III also includes a comprehensive list of the major foods used in the modern macrobiotic diet in a temperate climate as well as a list of foods that are generally avoided or minimized.

DAILY FOOD FOR THOSE IN GOOD HEALTH

WHOLE GRAINS

The principal food is cooked whole cereal grains, comprising from 40 to 60 percent of the daily food intake (average 50 percent by weight). Whole grains include brown rice, whole wheat berries, barley, millet, and rye, as well as corn, buckwheat, and other cereal grasses cooked in a variety of styles. Short-grain or medium-grain brown rice is the staple today in most macrobiotic homes around the world, generally pressure-cooked or occasionally boiled, and is eaten at least once a day. It may be cooked plain or together with about 10 to 20 percent millet, barley, whole wheat berries, fresh corn kernels, or other grain. It may also be cooked together with a small volume of adzuki beans, lentils, chickpeas, or other beans. The majority of whole grains are to be eaten in whole form, and ideally constitute the center of every meal. Occasionally, several times a week, whole-grain products, such as cracked wheat, rolled oats, noodles, pasta, unyeasted sourdough wheat or rye bread, and other unrefined whole-flour products may be taken as part of this category. White flour and other highly refined and polished grains are avoided or minimized. From time to time, organic white rice may be taken for relaxation, enjoyment, or medicinal benefits. Whole grains should be freshly prepared at least once a day and may be used for leftovers the same day or the next day.

SOUP

One to 2 servings of fresh soup are consumed each day, either a cup or bowl, making up about 5 to 10 percent of daily food intake. The soup is frequently seasoned with miso (naturally fermented soybean paste) or shoyu (naturally fermented soy sauce), to which wakame (a sea vegetable) and carrots, onions, or seasonal land vegetables are added during cooking. The taste of miso or shoyu should be mild, not too salty or too bland. Barley miso, rice miso, or hatcho (all-soybean) miso, aged for two to three years naturally, are recommended for regular use. A wide selection of sweet vegetable soups, bean soups, and grain soups may also be prepared. Soup is to be prepared with fresh ingredients each day and not be canned, packaged, or precooked.

VEGETABLES

About 20 to 30 percent of daily food includes fresh vegetables prepared in a variety of ways, including steaming, boiling, and nishime-style (long simmering). Vegetables are also occasionally sautéed, stir-fried, baked, deep-fried, or prepared tempura style. Further, salads are boiled, pressed, or occasionally eaten fresh. The vegetables include a wide variety of leafy green and white vegetables such as kale, collard greens, broccoli, and watercress; round and ground vegetables such as cabbage, onions, and fall- and winter-season squashes and pumpkins; and root vegetables such as carrots, daikon, and burdock. Shiitake and other mushrooms are also used occasionally. The major portion of vegetables is cooked and a minor portion is pickled or eaten raw. When preparing root vegetables, the root and leaf portions may be cooked together to achieve a balance of energy and nutrients. Tropical and semitropical vegetables are best avoided, including eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, spinach, sweet potatoes, yams, avocados, peppers, and others, unless you live in a hot and humid climate. Mayonnaise and commercial salad dressings should also be reduced or minimized. Vegetables are to be prepared as freshly as possible and not canned, frozen, or bottled, which reduces their energy and nutrients. As much as possible, vegetables are to be eaten the same day they are prepared.

BEANS

A small portion, about 5 to 10 percent of daily food, consists of cooked beans or bean products. Beans for regular use include adzukis, lentils, chickpeas, and black soybeans, while all other beans may be used on occasion. Bean products such as tofu, tempeh, and natto may also be used daily. Beans will keep for about 24 hours and may be reheated or added to soups, stews, and other dishes.

SEA VEGETABLES

A small volume of sea vegetables, about 2 percent, is taken daily, including nori sheets, wakame, and kombu. Nori, the thin sheets used to wrap sushi, is eaten as a condiment, while wakame is used daily in miso soup, and kombu is frequently cooked with grains, beans, and vegetables as a seasoning to supply minerals. Hijiki or arame may be taken as a small side dish about twice a week, while all other sea vegetables such as dulse, sea palm, and Irish moss are optional. Sea vegetables are very strong and after cooking will usually keep for a day or two.

SEASONING

Naturally processed white sea salt is used as a regular seasoning, along with miso (soybean paste) and shoyu (naturally fermented soy sauce). Daily meals, however, should not have an overly salty flavor, and seasonings are generally added during cooking and not at the table. Other seasonings may be used occasionally such as umeboshi plums, umeboshi vinegar, rice vinegar, lemon, ginger, horseradish, mirin, garlic, mustard, black or red pepper, and orange. Naturally processed, unrefined vegetable oil is used in cooking, especially light or dark sesame oil. Kuzu is the principal thickener used for gravies and sauces. Commercial seasonings, herbs, spices, and other sugary, hot, pungent, aromatic, or stimulant seasonings are avoided or minimized.

CONDIMENTS

Condiments are placed on the table for use, if desired, to balance the meal. Condiments for daily use include gomashio (toasted sesame seed salt), made usually from 16 to 18 parts roasted sesame seeds to 1 part roasted sea salt, half ground together in a small earthenware bowl called a suribachi; roasted wakame or kombu powder, made from baking these sea vegetables in the oven until black and crushing them in a suribachi and sometimes adding toasted sesame seeds and storing in a small container or jar; umeboshi plums, small salted plums that have been dried and pickled for many months with sea salt and flavored with shiso (beefsteak) leaves; tekka, a root vegetable combination of carrot, burdock, and lotus root chopped finely and sautéed in sesame oil and miso for many hours; and green nori flakes. Other condiments may be used from time to time.

PICKLES

A small volume of homemade pickles is eaten each day to aid in digestion of grains and vegetables. A variety of vegetables may be used to make pickles, including daikon, red radish, turnip, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, and turnip. These are made with bran, brine, miso, shoyu, or umeboshi and are aged from several hours to weeks, months, and even years. Lighter pickles (pickled for a shorter time) are recommended in spring or summer or for persons who need to reduce their salt intake. Saltier pickles (pickled for a longer time) can be eaten during colder weather or by those who need to strengthen their condition. Sauerkraut is a traditional pickle and may be eaten regularly. Commercial pickles made with spices, sugar, and vinegar are avoided or minimized.

GARNISHES

To balance various dishes and make the meal more beautiful, garnishes may be used frequently. These include grated fresh ginger root, chopped scallions, grated daikon, grated rad- ish, grated horseradish, green mustard, lemon slices, orange slices, red pepper, black pepper, and others.

BEVERAGES

Natural water is used for drinking, cooking, and preparing teas. Spring water, well water, or filtered water are most suitable. Bancha twig tea is the principal beverage, while roasted barley tea, brown rice tea, and other grain-based teas or any traditional, nonstimulant, nonaromatic beverage may be used occasionally.

Supplemental Foods for People in Usual Good Health

ANIMAL FOOD

A small volume of fish or seafood may be eaten a few times per week. White-meat fish is less fatty and oily than red-meat and blue-skin varieties. This includes cod, haddock, flounder, trout, and many others. It should be taken with grated daikon, lemon, or horseradish as a garnish and plenty of fresh vegetables at the meal. Infrequently, other types of fish, seafood, or shellfish may be taken. All other animal food is customarily avoided in the modern macrobiotic community, including meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy foods of all kinds.

FRUIT AND JUICE

Fruit may be taken several times a week, preferably temperate-climate fruit such as apples, pears, apricots, berries, or melons. It may be taken stewed or cooked, naturally dried, or fresh in season with a pinch of sea salt. Tropical fruits such as bananas, pineapples, mangoes, papayas, figs, dates, and kiwis are avoided or minimized. Citrus fruits such as orange, tangerine, and grapefruit may be taken in small volume, especially in season or in warmer weather. Juice is very concentrated and has more expansive effects than fruit. A small volume of cider or temperate-climate juice may be taken, preferably in season and at room temperature or warmer.

NUTS AND SEEDS

A small volume of nuts and seeds may be taken, about 1 cup a week. Almonds, walnuts, pecans, and other smaller nuts are preferred over large or tropical varieties of nuts, such as cashew, macadamia, and Brazil nuts. Sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, and other seeds may be eaten lightly blanched or roasted as an occasional snack. Nut and seed butters are highly concentrated and may be taken in small volume.

SNACKS AND DESSERTS

Delicious snacks and desserts may be taken in moderate volume two or three times a week and may include a wide array of sweet dishes prepared with natural ingredients. Often desserts can be prepared with sweet vegetables such as squash, pumpkin, and parsnip; fruits such as apples, berries, or melon; chestnuts; adzuki beans; and other naturally sweet foods without a concentrated sweetener. However, for dishes that need a strong taste, a grain-based sweetener is recommended, including amasake (a fermented sweet rice beverage), barley malt, or brown rice syrup. Soft snacks such as mochi, sushi, noodles, puddings, kanten, and chest- nuts are preferred over hard baked snacks and desserts. Cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, rice cakes, popcorn, and puffed grains, however, may be taken in small volume. For custards, whipped toppings, and frosting, agar-agar, tofu, tahini (roasted sesame butter), or kuzu (a white root that is used to thicken dishes) may be used instead of eggs, cream, milk, and other animal products. In macrobiotic households today, sugar, chocolate, brown sugar, honey, molasses, fructose, saccharin, and other highly refined or artificial sweeteners are strictly avoided. Maple syrup is used sparingly for special occasions.

BEVERAGES

Recommended daily beverages include bancha twig tea, roasted brown rice tea, roasted barley tea, and other traditional nonstimulant, nonaromatic teas. Spring water, well water, or filtered water is used for daily drinking, cooking, or preparing teas. Occasional-use beverages include kombu tea, umeboshi tea, mu tea, and grain coffee (made without figs, dates, or tropical sweeteners). Carrot or other vegetable juice may be taken several times a week. Infrequent-use beverages include green tea, soy milk, beer, sake, and other light to moderate alcoholic beverages. Stimulants such as coffee, decaf, black tea, and aromatic herbal teas such as peppermint, rose hips, and chamomile are avoided or minimized. Chlorinated, fluoridated, and other chemically treated water is avoided, as are distilled water, carbonated and bubbling waters, soft drinks, very cold beverages, and hard liquor.

Way of Eating

The standard way of eating provides a complete balance of energy and nutrients. There is no need to count calories or calculate individual nutrients. You may eat regularly 2 to 3 times a day, as much as is comfortable, provided the proportion of each category of food is generally observed. Thorough chewing is essential to digestion, and it is recommended that each mouthful of food be chewed 50 times or more until it becomes liquid in the mouth. As Gandhi wryly observed, drink your food, and chew your liquids. Eat when you are hungry, but it is better not to overeat. Leaving the table satisfied but not full is recommended. Similarly, drink only when thirsty, but do not unnecessarily restrict liquid. Avoid eating for three hours before sleeping, as this can cause stagnation in the intestines and throughout the body, overburden the pancreas and contribute to hypoglycemia, and disturb the kidneys and bladder.

Before and after the meal, express your appreciation to God, the universe, or nature for the food you have received, and reflect on the health and happiness it is dedicated to creat- ing. Appreciation may take the form of grace, prayer, chanting, or a moment of silence. Express your gratitude to parents, grandparents, and past generations who nourished us and whose dream we carry on, to the plants and animals that gave their lives so we may live, and to the farmers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and cooks who contributed their energies to making the food available. Every day it is also helpful to reflect on your physical, mental, and spiritual condition. Take just a few minutes to review the events of the day, including thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Try to connect them with your way of eating, especially foods consumed in the last 24 hours. Soon a clear pattern will emerge, and you will know intuitively what kind of effects different foods and beverages have on your daily health and happiness.

From the Hardcover edition.

Excerpted from The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack Copyright © 2003 by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Michio Kushi is a leader in the international macrobiotic community. The author of many books, Kushi received the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Writers Society. In recognition of his role in launching the modern health and diet revolution, the Smithsonian Institution opened a permanent Kushi Family Collection on Macrobiotics and Alternative Health Care in 1999. Kushi lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.
More by Michio Kushi

Alex Jack is an author, teacher, and dietary counselor. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Cancer Prevention Diet, Imagine a World Without Monarch Butterflies, and The Mozart Effect. President of Amberwaves, a network devoted to preserving whole grains from the threat of genetic engineering, he lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and family.
More by Alex Jack

Tags: food, health, Macrobiotic, vegetable
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The Hip Chicks Guide to Macrobiotic

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter

For those of you unfamiliar with the Kushi Institute’s “Way To Health Program”, It is a weeklong immersion into macrobiotics where on average 12 people arrive at the Kushi Institute Sunday evening, with many having very serious health problems, and often only a spattering of macrobiotic knowledge. When they leave the following Saturday, they are to have learned enough to begin a successful practice of macrobiotics. A pretty tall order to pull off, right? Jessica was the manager of this program for two years, she knows what essential information must be conveyed to the beginning person to macrobiotics, and she does it in a very interesting and at the same time witty manner. She goes far beyond the essentials, sure there are many books out there that cover the basic concept of yin and yang, but there are far fewer that attempt to tackle the teaching of the Twelve Laws of Change of the Infinite Universe. Jessica shows us the 12 laws at work in her own life, so hopefully we can more easily apply them to our own. With these passages, Jessica is transformed from mere author to the heroine of the book, and in the process without our realizing, she has succeed in teaching us what would regularly be some very difficult material to grasp.

Jessica includes a very large section of recipes in her book, besides including probably every dish a beginner would want to have in their recipe repertoire, like nishime, nabe, and kinpira, there is also huge amount of recipes that long term macros probably have not seen elsewhere. I personally have made the Amaranth and Apricots recipe and was quite pleased to find such a unique recipe. There are many more that I can’t wait to try out like mock tuna, or Black-Eyed Pea Croquettes, hambulghur helper, or peanut butter cups from the extensive dessert section. This is definitely not a situation where you buy a new book, and are soon disappointed to find that it really just has 1 or 2 truly useful recipes to use that you already did not have from somewhere else. I do not think I have never seen anywhere else Jessica’s recipe for sourdough bread, which interestingly enough is steamed rather than baked, as baking is something one wants to try to minimize when possible.

Maybe the nicest thing about this book is that it is so contemporary. Yes there are some very nice macrobiotic cookbooks out there, but sadly many of them are from the late eighties, and early nineties when I first began my practice of macrobiotics. There are so many new issues that have appeared on the horizon since then, like genetically modified foods, newer sweeteners like stevia and sugar cane, low carb diets, or many of the new highly processed “convenience health foods” now on the market, Jessica addresses them all, plus gives frank information on timeless ones like dairy, meat, chicken, nightshade vegetables, alcohol and much more.

Finally there is a great chapter entitled Beyond Diet, a handy glossary, and a very comprehensive resources section including macrobiotic counselors, places to study, mail order resources to buy food, and a great selection of web sites to check out. All in all, this is a great book for both the beginner, and those of you that are long time macros. Probably the best advice that Jessica offers to someone that is just easing into macrobiotic cooking is. “Maybe there is no garnish for the soup. Perhaps you never made it to the seaweed dish. Who cares? It doesn’t matter. The Macro Police are over at Madonna’s house.” This in a nut shell sums up the overriding philosophy of the book, provide comprehensive information about macrobiotics, but never make it dull or boring.

Heralded by New York magazine as one of the city’s most popular diets, macrobiotics has become the latest trend in dieting, thanks to high-profile supporters like Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Speaking to the generation of young women looking to extend their healthy lifestyles beyond yoga and Pilates, macrobiotic chef and instructor Jessica Porter offers fresh, contemporary, and accessible insight into one of the world’s oldest, yet most popular, diets. She explains that by eating good quality whole foods, any woman can experience physical, sensory, emotional, and intellectual freedom.

The effects of eating a macrobiotic diet can extend beyond basic health to weight loss, beauty, better sex, and peace of mind. Cooking tips and recipes are combined with Jessica’s no-nonsense philosophy and witty anecdotes to create a lifestyle book that will inspire women to hit the kitchen with an understanding of how to strengthen their minds and bodies through food.

Author Biography: Jessica Porter is a macrobiotic chef, cooking instructor, and hypnotist. She completed her macrobiotic training at the Kushi Institute in Beckett, Massachusetts. She hosts a weekly radio show in Portland, Maine, has written and appeared in her own one-woman show, Zen Comedy, and has been featured in Simon Doonan’s recent book, Wacky Chicks: Life Lessons from Fearlessly Inappropriate and Fabulously Eccentric Women.
Paperback: 289 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.80 x 9.16 x 7.48
Publisher: Avery Publishing Group; (September 9, 2004)
ISBN: 1583332057

Tags: book, health, Macrobiotic, recipe
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Sweet vegetable drink

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Vegetable drink with strong sweet taste - macrobiotic recipe

How to prepare sweet vegetable drinks, when to drink sweet drinks, what vegetables are needed for this sweet macrobiotic drink?

If you like sweet (and who doesn’t), it’s best if you cover your sweet cravings with natural sources. There’s nothing more natural than fruits and vegetables if we talk about the sweet taste. But fruits are so sweet that they are not recommended for regular eating. Instead of them, use vegetables any time you want. And maybe you would be shocked how strong sweet taste can you achieve with simple cooked veggies (at least I was myself). I always craved for chocolate, honey, sweet biscuits, just anything with sugar. But after starting macrobiotic cooking, it has changed completely. Not that my sweet craving taste would be gone. But I can cover 80% of my sweet taste needs with very natural, hence completely healthy foods, without any side effects.
Sugar is completely wrong product for your body. It’s devastating all your organs, whole system is shocked by the strong massive energy that comes together with sugar. It’s totally chemically refined foodstuff. You couldn’t find it in the wild nature, if the science wouldn’t bring it to your homes. It lacks all minerals, trace elements, vitamins. It’s just simple energy to be burned. But it comes with consequences. Because it lacks minerals, these minerals are needed for the processing of sugar by your body. It takes calcium from your reserves like bones. Yes, that’s why your teeth are getting bad. That’s why you have fragile bones. It takes many other minerals too.
It’s giving so much pure energy, that body can’t handle, if you are not marathon runner or very much active sportsman. This energy is getting into the blood stream and if not used, it’s going to be stored somewhere in the form of fat.
If you start eating macrobiotic, your body is starting to clean all your stored wastes. The sugar comes out as first. Usually in the form of zits on your face and other skin problems (eczema, skin itching).
The best natural substitute for the simple sugar is vegetable sweet drink. For the transition phase is recommended honey also, but try to switch to complete polysacharids (whole grains, vegetables, fruits) as fast as you can (but don’t be stressed by it).
Sweet vegetable drink is made of sweet vegetables. There are many of them, but these are basic: onion, carrot, cabbage, turnip, pumpkin, sweet potato, celery, parsley. How do you prepare sweet vegetable drink? It’s really very simple. Choose any of these vegetables, switch them often, use any of them together with any other, it’s up to you, there are no rules, all vegetables can be used together. Important is to chop them on very small pieces, so they release a lot of their sweet taste. If you have them chopped all, put them into the pot and pour water over them. I usually use ratio of 1:1 (vegetable:water). But it’s really up to you. Try to experiment and use 1:2 for example. Just don’t measure it exactly, do it by intuition. Ok, you are nearly done, because all you need to do is to turn the heat to the full flame and when it boils, lower the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes. And you are done. Really simple, isn’t it?
Now, because after 30 minutes of boiling, the vegetable is completely out of any taste, you can try it. Strain the drink and throw off all the vegetables (preferably to your compost). I prepare this drink in a bigger amount, so I can store it into the fridge and drink 1-2 cups every day, for the length of 3 days. So I am making new sweet vegetable drink every 4 days.
Use this drink when you are a little hungry, or you have low sugar in your blood (hypoglycemi). It will make you wake up nicely and give you fresh energy. Of course, you this drink any time you know you will like it and if you have real taste for something sweet.

Tags: drink, energy, Macrobiotic, sugar, vegetable
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How some groceries get their names

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

How some groceries get their names

In the last times we have used to, that in our market and directly on our dishes, appear strange, formerly unknown foods. Few of them get new name from us. In most cases we také them with their original names, that is a little adjusted to English. Even in macrobiotic diet, that gives priority to products of local, ergo american at best of origin, does occur range of exotic ingredients thus words. Huge amount of them comes from Japanese. For interest I offer you short guidebook for some of these words with explanations why do they sound like this and not otherwise. Part of them is however etymologicly opaque (kuzu, shoyu, miso, kombu).

Probably the most widespread speciality of orient origin is soya cheese (sometimes also called cottage cheese) tofu. This word is of Chinese origin and is compounded from phrases tó and hu, which do mean “spoilt soya”. Japanese pronunciation is really more closer to tóhu then tófu; in Japanese books of travel we can read, how through villages and cities did cruise boys on bicycles, they were called tófuja-san, thus roughly “mister tofu”, because in the box on carrier they were delivering fresh tofu and sell them to families. When about these tofu carriers replace mobile icecream mans in our countryside. The second mentioned product natto does also include component tó (soya bean in Chinese), but first part of the word does mean probably “cleaned”. My Japanese friend contribute to this: “Do you already know that tohu in cubes does look like “cleaned soya”, but by this name is called natto, that is evidently spoiled, but is called cleaned!” The word for soya - daizu - does mean “big bean”.

You can easily analyse names of seaweeds - nori does mean “ocean moss” by the Chinese characters, that is this word recorded with, but the meaning is not clear from the sound meaning of the Chinese word. Arame is “sparse ocean plant” (arai - sparse + me), whereas wakame “young ocean plant” (wakai - young), but Japanese friend comments again: “If this wakame does grow for example four or five years, we still call it wakame.” By the other seaweeds the names are not so clear, I’ll give notice only about everlasting problem, what to do with hiziki - I have seen already probably four versions spelling, that try to successfully put it well to original. Thus make notice, that right Japanese pronunciation is chižiki. And write is as you want.

Even among vegetables does appeared new product from the world of raising sun - big rooted daikon. And his etymology? Dai is big and kon is root. Nothing very inventive. The same for our favoured umeboshi don’t mean nothing else than dried plumps (ume - plump + boshi - dried). And if we are with the names that don’t boast with resourcefulness, let’s add rubbing bowl suribashi, that Japanese read suribači, because it’s compounded from verb suru - rub and bachi - bowl. If we see written “rubbing bowl suribachi”, it’s the same nonsense as “CD - disc”.

Gomasio, according to original reading gomashio is formed from parts goma - sesame and shio - salt, again nothing spectatular. And the last mention I’ll do about tea. You have probably noticed, that most from macrobiotic recommended teas is ending by cha. Right from this Chinese base have Czech language name for tea - čaj. Japanese do use the same term but they always characterize it somehow, for example by adding kuki, that does mean twig. The same for sencha does mean “roasted tea” and our favorite bancha hides in itself a little of xenophobia, because it could be translated as “alien tea”. And we are home.

People come here for:
tea tofu
soya tea
origin of soya
tofu pronunciation
gomasio meaning
spoilt tofu
macrobiotic groceries
soya and tofu

Tags: Macrobiotic, tea, tofu
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Quick tips to lose weight

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Question:
If anyone could give me their absolute best tips to lose weight, I would be greatful?
Hi guys, I’m trying to make some BIG changes in my life right now, and one of them has to do with my body: I’m severly overweight and out of shape. I started exercising last week, but I’ve exercised before too and not really lost a whole lot of weight. If anyone here could give me some pointers I’d appreciate it.
Thanks for your time.

Answer:
I am personally eating macrobiotic diet for 4 years and I am completely satisfied. As for the weight loss, we have opposite problem in our macrobiotic community. How to gain weight, but in the healthy way On a macrobiotic diet you’ll lose a lot of weight very fast, but still in the best healthy way (from their point of view).

The weight loss point of this diet is, that it’s based on the complex sacharides (polysacharides) - whole grains, vegetables, fruits - as opposite to the simple ones (mono, di) - sugar.
The complex sacharides are going slowly (3 hours) into your blood stream and you have no strong cravings like with the simple sugar.

Try to switch completely to the whole grains, vegetables and fruits.
Use whole grain malts (barley, rice, corn) and maple syrup instead of the sugar.
Use good quality cold pressed oils and no more than 1-2 tablespoons a day.
Limit the salt intake and switch to sea salt. If you eat lots of salt, you will need to compensate it with lot of sugar too. Try to limit the salt only and you’ll see, there’s no such strong need for sugar.
As many people suggested - it more frequently, but smaller portions. This way you’ll achieve stable sugar blood level.
Chew well and eat slowly in a calm environment. Not watching TV, not reading newspapers or surfing internet.

Many tips like this were posted here. I just wanted to show another alternative, that has many books written about and many courses and website tips on the net - macrobiotic.

Tags: diet, Macrobiotic, salt, sugar, weight
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Michio Kushi

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Dr. Michio Kushi

Born in 1926 in Wakayama prefecture. Graduated from Department of Political Science, University of Tokyo Faculty of Law, and University of Tokyo Graduate School. Dr. Kushi studied the possibility for establishing world government and world federation for global peace. He moved to the United States in November 1949 and started to study at Department of Political Science, Columbia University Graduate School. The dietary culture of the ancient Greek and China, and thoughts of Yukikazu Sakurazawa of Sekai Seifu Kyokai had impacts on him. Dr. Kushi decided to devote himself to significant modification of the human life and global dietary pattern. He drew up the standard macrobiotic diet focusing on a grain- and vegetable-based meal, with his wife, Aveline (1923 to 2001).

Over 50 years, he has been vigorously engaged in teaching and educational activities in the entire US. In 1978, he founded the Kushi Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1995, Dr. Kushi received the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize with recommendation from volunteers of the American Bar Association. In 1999, the National Museum of American History in the US (more widely known as the Smithsonian Institute) acknowledged permanent preservation of Kushi’s family collection. Currently, Dr. Kushi holds various important positions such as the President of Kushi Foundation, Inc., and President of the Green Cross Group, Japan.

Dr. Michio Kushi carefully evaluated and selected the ingredients for Fermena based on the macrobiotic theory and the Yin-Yang philosophy. Dr. Kushi discovered that by adding Fermena to our normal diet, one can get some of the same benefits of macrobiotics without adopting a completely macrobiotic lifestyle.

Says Dr. Kushi, “I selected over 50 kinds of plants for the ingredients of Fermena based on the macrobiotic theory, principally focusing on the Yin-Yang balance. I combined the materials with a grain and bean base while placing an emphasis on intestinal absorption of vitamins and minerals of wild grasses, herbs, vegetables and fruits.

As far as I know, this is the first enzyme having such a wonderful taste and nutriment. If Fermena is incorporated in the daily meals, anyone can start improving his or her dietary habits without understanding the difficult concepts of macrobiotic diet. I hope that this attempt can help promote human health.”

Tags: kushi, Macrobiotic
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Madonna macrobiotic and yoga

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Of course, her healthy diet and strict yoga workouts are also keeping her in trim.

When Madonna was inaugurated into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame this week, Justin Timberlake said: “Nobody has got into the Hall of Fame when they’re looking this damn fine.”

We’ll drink a macrobiotic yoghurt to that!

£60m

What she’ll earn from new Live Nation record and touring deal

£30m

Projected earnings from the tour that follows release of Hard Candy album on April 29

12 million

Number of fans who saw her last tour of 60 dates

£100m

Projected gross ticket sales for 2008/2009 tour

Forehead

Baby smooth with no lines - amazing for a woman coming up to her 50th birthday

Eyes

Women half Madge’s age worry about wrinkles - but she seems to have erased them

Cheeks

Rosy cheeks are a clear sign of youth - these seem fuller and more unlined than ever. Thread-lift surgery through tiny holes in the scalp allows surgeons to gently pull up loose skin, giving a more youthful look

Neck

Madonna’s is as unblemished as the day she first hit the charts with Holiday

Body hair

Madge is phobic about her body hair and is said to spend £100,000 a year on waxing to keep herself fuzz-free

Figure

She works out for three hours a day doing yoga and cardio. She also follows a strict macrobiotic diet of veg soup, juice, tofu and pulses. At 5ft 3ins, she weighs under 8st, with what experts call a “bionic body.”

Tags: diet, Macrobiotic, madonna, yoga
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Macrobiotic Yin/Yang versus Traditional Chinese Medicine misunderstanding

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic Yin/Yang versus Traditional Chinese Medicine misunderstanding

Why did George Ohsawa swapped the two basic yin/yang energies, was it by mistake, was he uneducated, was he drunk? My answer to the chaos about yin/yang being swapped in macrobiotic in opposite to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

I was reading at many forums and websites that macrobiotic is totally off because the founder George Ohsawa didn’t even understand the basic yin/yang symbols. I didn’t know the answer to this assertion myself for a long time. Actually, I even didn’t care, because I was pretty satisfied with the macrobiotic diet in my everyday life. I didn’t care about the yin/yang theory too much. I was eating my whole grains, legumes and vegetables and I was accepting the yin/yang view that macrobiotic theory was providing to me. Only after I have started to study more of the Taoistic teachings, I came to the fact that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is using the exact opposite of the yin/yang symbols. What’s yin Sky for the macrobiotic, it’s yang Sky for the TCM. What’s yang Earth for the macrobiotic, it’s yin Earth for the TCM. I started to search for the reason of this Ohsawa’s move. But I couldn’t google it anywhere. Hopefully, I have found the explanation while surfing cybermacro.com articles.
The article that explains perfectly this situation is written by Bill Neal and is called Original Yin/Yang and Five Transformations.
It’s based on the Roy Collin’s findings and enormous study of the Chinese history and Ohsawa’s books. He devoted a lot of time to this problem and there’s a brief explanation why it happened.

There are two main views to the yin/yang concept. The physical (materialistic) and the metaphysical (philosophical). The macrobiotic is using the physical view over this subject, while TCM did come up with the metaphysical. It was Konfucius who started to look at things in the philosophical point of view. But the macrobiotic need to deal with physical part of the life - food. It’s much better for it, to use the physical system of the yin/yang. Anyway, the first and original creator of the yin/yang symbolism, did come up with the same terminology as macrobiotic use. It was George Ohsawa who was very educated and used the better option from these two variants.

Hope I have shed some light to this confusing situation.

Tags: Macrobiotic, medicine, ohsawa, yin yang
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Macrobiotic - Yin and Yang

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic - mysterious power of Yin and Yang

Yin Yang
Every meal you eat contains some energy in itself. Watch over your energy balance and your body will reward. Macrobiotic defenders assert, that this way you’ll achieve long, happy and healthy life.

The word macrobiotic is deduced from Greek “macro” and “bios”. It could be explained as natural way of living. If you’ll adhere to macrobiotic, you should be assured about longevity, inner harmony and health ofcourse.

Macrobiotic works with idea of yin and yang

Yin and Yang are basic antipole energies, that are as two magnets constantly attracted, repeled and harmonize.
Macrobiotics assert that every particle, thing and living creature are result of these energies.
The same is for every food you eat, it has own energy - either balanced or extreme.
Psyche shows after this meal either harmonized or extreme contition. If you’ll for a long time consume foods balanced from the point of yin and yang, you’ll establish harmony to your organism and so health. On the contrary if you’ll consume extreme foods for a long time, your body won’t able to regulate constant disharmony and succumb to disease.

Yang energy

It’s centripetal energy, contracting.
Extremely yang - belongs there meat, poultry, eggs, salty cheese, fish (red meat), refined salt
Moderate yang - belongs there fish (white meat), mollusc, sea salt, soya, fermented vegetables

Yin energy

It’s centrifugal energy, releasing.
Extremely yin - sugar, honey, sweetness, cofe, alcohol, milk, yogurt, cream, tropical fruits and vegetable, spice and herbs
Moderate yin - salads, local fruits, nuts, vegetal oils, non-stimulating drinks

Macrobiotic - impact on alimentation

For the last several years was manner of eating changed so much, that the main component of nourishment are all complex foods. Even the products alone, the ones you cook from, are results of industrial modifications.
The main mistake is, that disappeared whole grains from the cooking menus, that in the shape of white baked goods lose their most valuable components. Furthermore the consumption of fats was increased, simple sugars, animal proteins and chemicals, used in the processing foods.

Macrobiotic for balanced body

What to eat then, to get your body in harmony? The base are whole grains (unhusked brown rice, barley, millet, husked oat, wheat and rye grains, corn, buckwheat), soups (from any vegetables), seaweeds, legumes. Up to third of every meal should make vegetable cooked in steam, boiled in water, stewed on the minimum of oil or infused.
The food could be filled with fishes and sea products baked on grate or boiled. From drinks is ideal tea from 3 year tea twigs or tea from roasted rice or barley grains. And ofcourse drink to too cold spring water.
From condiments use with light degree sea salt, soy sauce or salty plumps umeboshi. Sour taste to foods give rice or cereal vinegar, piquant will be grated ginger, shallot or horseradish. For a sweet taste you can use rice or barley malt.

Eat macrobioticaly is not easy at all and it won’t do without restrain. But the one who have tried macrobiotic, will surely confirm, that balance of foods will penetrate to whole body and will solve all ailments.

Tags: energy, food, grain, Macrobiotic, yin yang
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Macrobiotic weekly menu

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic Menus from the 2005 Summer Camp

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Millet with amaranth Toast Oatmeal Leftovers Pumpkin seeds Prunes/raisins/orange pieces Shiso condiment	Brown rice Noodle and vegetable dish with blanched kale, sautéed onion, Chinese cabbage, yellow squash, bok choy, scallion Dill pickle Snack: Melon	Brown rice with aduki beans Creamy onion soup with onions, oatmeal, celery, rice miso Corn on the cob Salad: leaf lettuce with red cabbage, jicama, and blanched snowpeas Dressing: ume, red onion, olive oil, lemon, dill Arame with carrots and sautéed onion Dill pickle Peach kanten
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Oatmeal Toast Leftovers Apple butter	Brown rice salad with chickpeas and almonds Barley miso soup with noodles, sautéed onion, wakame, cabbage, scallion Kale Dill pickle Snack: Melon	Brown rice, long grain Cornmeal polenta Pinto beans Corn on the cob Salad: romaine lettuce with red onion, red cabbage, carrot, radish, cucumber Dressing: tahini, soy sauce, lemon juice Dill pickle Chips with cucumber salsa (or tomato salsa if desired) Campfire: popcorn
Monday, July 18, 2005
Teff (polenta style) Oatmeal Leftovers Pumpkin seeds Rice syrup sauce for teff	Brown rice Quinoa red lentil salad Barley miso soup with bok choy, sautéed onion, carrot Yellow squash and onion, nitsuke style Lightly pressed cucumber pickles Dill pickle Chuck’s bread Snack: Melon or Apple	Sushi with pickled ginger, walnuts, cucumber slices, carrots Light miso soup with tofu cubes and noodles Boiled winter squash Pressed salad with Chinese cabbage and cucumber Almond cereal munchie
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Oatmeal Leftovers Sunflower seeds Apple/raisin relish, pear pieces, cooked	Brown rice Rye crackers with peanut butter Split pea soup Sautéed cabbage with ume vinegar Boiled daikon with oily miso Nori condiment (Cornellia’s recipe) Lightly pressed cucumber pickles Snack: Apples	Brown rice Spaghetti Minestrone soup with white beans Mock tomato sauce (for spaghetti) Blanched broccoli Sea palm cooked with sautéed onions and carrots Daikon pickle
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Millet and Quinoa Oatmeal Leftovers Pumpkin seeds Cooked fruit compote Roasted dulse	Brown rice Tabouli on lettuce leaves Fried tofu served with sauerkraut Kombu clear broth served with lemon garnish Corn on the cob Blanched snowpeas Blanched greens from radishes Kombu condiment Onion oily miso Snack: Fruit platter: strawberry, peach and apple	Brown rice Chapati from bread class Hummus Light vegetable soup Green beans Cucumber relish (cukes, scallion, parsley, ginger juice, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, lemon juice) on lettuce Campfire: popcorn
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Oatmeal Chapati (if available) with apple butter Sunflower seeds Raisins	Brown rice Noodle and vegetable dish, with sautéed onion, yellow squash, and carrot; dressing of soy sauce, dark sesame oil and brown rice vinegar; parsley Fried tempeh Barley miso soup with onion, celery, wakame, daikon Blanched kale Sauerkraut Snack: Apples and pears	Brown rice with wild rice Azuki bean with winter squash Corn chowder Salad with lettuce, radish, red onion, carrot, cucumber Dressing of umeboshi, olive oil, lemon juice, herbs Hijiki with sautéed onion and carrot and sesame seed Couscous cake with strawberry topping
Friday, July 22, 2005
Oatmeal Cornmeal polenta Leftovers Roasted walnuts Stewed prunes Roasted dulse	Cornellia’s 5-taste rice Rye crackers with lentil paté Barley miso soup with wakame, sautéed onion, cabbage, carrot Blanched baby bok choy Sauerkraut or daikon pickle Snack: Oranges	Brown rice Seitan cutlets in gravy Sage gravy with tahini and onion Cauliflower millet mashed potatoes Blanched green beans, carrots Pressed salad Rice pudding
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Oatmeal Millet or other grain Leftovers Sunflower seeds Raisins or other fruit	Brown rice Barley miso soup with wakame, sautéed onion, daikon, carrot, or other vegetables Couscous with vegetables such as onion, carrot, squash Blanched cabbage or other greens Daikon pickle Snack: Fruit	Brown rice Ohagi with sunflower seeds Black bean soup with seitan Salad Daikon pickle or cucumber relish
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Cook’s choice Leftovers	Travel Food: Rice balls Raw vegetables Trail mix Apple and/or orange

Tags: Macrobiotic, menu
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Macrobiotic way introduction

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic way - introduction to macrobiotic diet

Book of Michio Kushi - Macrobiotic Way is book about fundamentals of macrobiotic containing recipes for beginners.

Michio Kushi - Macrobiotic way
Introduction
In accordance to the need to change somewhat dietary regimen of my family, I have stumbled upon book of Michio Kushi - Macrobiotic Way, in the store with healthy foods. After buying it I have readen it in one breath.

Basic thought of macrobiotic
First third of book is dedicated to the basic concepts and their explanation in accordance to macrobiotic. After reading this section helped me as the basic knowledge. In this part of book are also bring out people’s stories, that by changing of diet solved or improved their health problems. Macrobiotic is not only the way of food processing and consuming but also method of thinking, so these narratives are very useful here. For these that seek only new way of eating in macrobiotic, is this part of book unnecessary pithy.

Practical part - macrobiotic cookbook
Second part of book is most interesting, it’s devoted to macrobiotic kitchen and additionally describes working tools, methods, processes and materials in macrobiotic. Following 60 pages recipes with uncomplicated recipes for beginners. Macrobiotic don’t use animal milk and products, which is good advantage for these, that have non-milk diet, but for other diets it means choosing suitable recipes or appropriate materials for cooking.

Conclusion - using of macrobiotic
In the end of book are described individual products and their use for purpose of nutrition, so for medical purposes. After reading this book I have visited health food store, where I have found some of these mentioned products. I would suggest to beginners to go shopping with summary of products written on the small paper. This book seems to me like appropriate tool for microbiotic beginners.

Tags: book, kushi, Macrobiotic, recipe
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Macrobiotic transition period

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Slow transition period to the macrobiotic diet

This article contains: How to slowly start the macrobiotic diet transition, comments and tips what you can expect at the start of macrobiotic diet, the elimination and cleansing process, the healing phase of the bodily systems, what mistakes do people conduct when starting the macrobiotic diet…

The transition to the more natural diet and lifestyle shouldn’t be a big problem. But somebody does take this new approach too seriously and eliminates precisely all foods, that he was used to. If we rush this process and want to change everything in one day, we will permit a lot of mistakes for sure, and we will come back to the previous lifestyle in a short time, or we will try for something else. The desire for instant success is the part of this modern consumer mentality. And if we want to transition to macrobiotic - as a prevention of cancer - by this approach, then we can end in failure as in any endeavour.
How do we choose the natural foodstuff? At first we start to appreciate the crop, that have growth and ripen on the fields. This is where it gained its value really naturally. In a sharp contrary to the foodstuff that were produced by an industry and moreover artificially processed. Similarly it’s necessary to appreciate and take into consideration our own natural biological rhythms and the pace of our personal growth. In many cases was the cancer developed due to a bad diet for maybe 10, 20 or even 30 years. According to each patient’s situation, it will take few months, or even few years, until the full regeneration of functions of all the bodily systems (digestive, nervous, respiratory, discharging, circulatory). This healing process shouldn’t be rushed with a help of artificial products.

Tags: cancer, diet, Macrobiotic
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Macrobiotic teeth problems, tooth decay

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic teeth problems, tooth decay

What to use to clean your teeth in macrobiotic diet, what are preferred methods of teeth cleaning, how not to harm your teeth while eating macrobiotic diet, how to prevent tooth decay?

When you start eating macrobiotic diet, you can count with much less tooth problems, especially tooth decay. The bacterium that cause the tooth decay is called Streptococcus mutans. This bacterium does feed from the simple sugars, monosacharids and disacharids. The worst are sugar and fruit juices. It demineralize the tooth, takes calcium and it causes decay. If you eliminate these simple sugars, the bacterium can’t live in your mouth environment. From another view, you can say that tooth decay does exist in the acidic environment. And acid forming foods are mainly all simple sugars. If you stop eating them, you will have more alkaline atmosphere in your mouth and in your whole body and hence the tooth decay has no chance in your mouth.
When you’ll be eating macrobioticaly for longer time, you can also experience that your old tooth decays are repairing themself. The tooth will regenerate and be healthy again. But it takes long years to happen and you shouldn’t be eating excessive amounts of macrobiotic yin sweets (malts, fruits, oils).
For the teeth cleaning use simply quality sea salt and mechanical cleaning with teeth brush. You can also buy Denti power in a Healthy food store and use it instead of the sea salt. It has similar alkalizing effect.
Use small amount of sea salt after every macrobiotic sweet to prevent the tooth decay.

Tags: Macrobiotic, sugar
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Macrobiotic food and sugar crave

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic food and sugar crave

How to deal with strong sugar cravings, how to steer away from the wrong types of sugar foods, how to naturally satisfy your need for sweet taste?

Everybody needs delicious sweet taste during the day. The sweet is giving your body relaxing energy, uplifting feeling. Sweet is connected with love on the emotional level. But you need to take only good quality sweet sources, that will not harm your body and psychic. Simple refined sugar is very bad for your health/body. It’s not called refined by chance. The reason is, it’s totally exhausted product, where only the simple monosacharids stay in. But monosacharids are not good for your digestion at all. They are very quickly going into the blood and if you are not marathon runner, or very active person, you can’t burn them so fast as they are provided. The end effect is, they put a big load on the digestion organs and if they are not burned, they are transformed to fats and stored in various body parts. Refined sugar wasn’t option in the human history until the recent century. Look more into the human history if you want to live and be healthy. People were eating much more natural sweet products. They were eating simple fruits. Only the seasoned fruits that were around them. They dried them for winter storage and consumption. They couldn’t transport subtropical fruits (bananas, oranges, mangos) to the moderate climate zones. The nature has great logic, just watch and learn from it. The best macrobiotic sweeteners are rice malt, barley malt, rice syrup and sometimes maple syrup. Also all kinds of available fruits, dried or fresh. Because sweet is considered yin in energy, try to make your cakes with the little of yang energy too. It’s good to use kuzu to your desert preparation. Or to cook your fruits with a pinch of quality sea salt.
If you are Earth element in the Nine star ki, the sweet is your dominant taste. You will crave for sweet taste very often. You need to learn few principles to overcome this sweet need everyday. The best method is to prepare sweet vegetable drinks. You can prepare them once in 3 days. Because they can be stored in the fridge for 3 days easily. They are very simple to make, but you’ll be very surprised how sweety they are. They are perfect to drink when you crave for sweet taste. They are made from sweet vegetables like onion, cabbage, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, turnip, parsley and many others (try to experiment). Just chop all vegetable to very small pieces and put into the pot with water. The water/vegetable ratio does vary and it’s up to you, but try to start with 1:1 ratio. Don’t add anything else and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Drink your 1-2 cups warm and store the rest into the fridge, after it gets cold. It will last easily for 3 days there.
Another important thing how to prevent you from sweet cravings is daily fresh salads eating. It’s something like fast pickles. It’s just like pickling the vegetables for 30 minutes. Pickling does mean, that you mix chopped vegetables (not only the sweet types for this, you can use anything and even fruits) with salt and press it (the best is with your hands) until the juice comes from the vegetables. Then let it rest for 30 minutes and you can eat this delicious uplifting salad. You can store this salad in the fridge for 3 days too and take a little bit each day. You now see, it’s very easy to cook macrobiotic. You wouldn’t believe it’s very simple to cook macrobiotic pudding like the one on the picture.

Tags: energy, food, fruit, Macrobiotic, sugar, vegetable
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Macrobiotic rice mochi

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Traditional Mochi manufacturer

Nobuyuki Kojima was born in Nagoya in family of wholegrains merchant and for the whole life works with rice. As a young boy was in family business responsible for disseverment brans from natural rice, to get white rice. He was always happy for the father’s success in business with this rice and he was proud of it.

In 23 years was affected by weakening kidney disease, 6 month was bind to bed. If classical medicine totaly failed, he was searching desperately for some relief. He decided to leave hospital and immediately start 20 days fasting. Using traditional medical practices as acupuncture, herbs and yoga, slowly getting back his vitality and strength.

It was irony, that one day after his recovery and entering to job to the manufacturing of white rice, one of his customers asked him for wholewheat rice. Kojima was shocked. More than 100 passed years was white rice main foodstuff across the whole Japan. “What do you want to do with whole rice?” asked him Kojima. “Want to eat for my health” replied older man with smile. Customer told to Kojima, that he was recommended to whole rice by macrobiotic master for the condition strengthening of his heart. Except this he told him, that everyday intake of whole rice had substantial influence on complete improvement of his condition.

This conversation played out about 25 years before and strongly influenced Kojima’s life. Not only he began consume whole rice that positively influenced his health, but in year 1974 he began make mochi from it. In this time was production of mochi from anything else than white sweet rice nonunderstand. Kojima was also not understand.

Mochi production from whole grain rice

In the present days Kojima produce tons of mochi monthly from brown rice and he is using methods that he come to after years of practice. His seven days production process begins by boiling of 600 kg sweet brown rice in steam, from which he make about 800 kg mochi. In steam processed rice go trough mill, so it’s more mushed than rice processed for example with hand meat mill. Gristing do change the rice to sticky dough.

Further this dough is churned 60 times on the specialy constructed machine. During this churning phase are remaining whole grains mashed, until they change to smooth fine-grained sticky substance. Kojima intuitively feels, that this heavy churning is what gives mochi its concentrated energy.

After churning, while mochi is still hot and soft, it’s stored to boxes with grided bottom and in this is put to fridge for three days. Iced mochi is easily cut on pieces approximately 2,5 x 5 cm. For Kojima overtake possible contamination, immediately these pieces pack to vacuum and by steam sterilize. This packing process gives mochi lifetime of one year and this helps Kojima export to the whole world.

In Japan and North America too, is most popular Kojima’s mochi from 100% organic sweet brown rice. Nevertheless Kojima produce other types of mochi, to which he adds millet, mugwort or black sesame seeds.

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Macrobiotic oriental medicine

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Oriental philosophy and medicine

Macrobiotic and oriental philosophy are based on the priciple of balance in mutual complementation of two opposite energies Yin and Yang. Orient teaches, that all things are variations of one infinity, that everything is changing in time and space and all is unique. To the seven laws of universe includes yet more propositions, that what has beginning, has also ending, what has underside, has also frontside. According to these rules does infinite differentiate to yin and yang, two principles, known for many from the monade picture, circled black and white symbol, where abbundance of yin holds in itself rudiment of yang and opposite. On the base of this philosophy did build eastern civilizations their conception of medicine, different from our.

Yin and Yang are relative principles, one is changing to the other in the framework of endless transmutations. All exist in the form of contrasts. Without cold doesn’t exist heat, without high doesn’t exist low and similar. Characteristic of yin is centrifugal motion, exterior, ascending direction, woman, sympathetic nervous system, psychical activity, cold. Characteristic of yang on the opposite is centripetal motion, interior, man, parasympathetic, physical activity, heat. Also other categories could be similarly separated (chemical elements, light, colors, vibrations etc.), but for medical conception would these characteristics suffice.

Organs of the man are divided to these two principles on the basis of density and compactness. So will be hollow stomach, urinary bladder and intestine yin, dense liver, spleen, heart yang. In the books about acupuncture is possible to find yet different organs separation, according to their energy, called KI. This power is always contrary than the organ, the it flows into, that’s why is acupuncture using opposite division. In the oriental medicine is expected, that every organ is in opposite and supplemental relation at the same time to another larger organ. The relations are then following: lungs - large intestine, heart - small intestine, kidney - urinary bladder, liver - gall blader, spleen and pancreas - stomach. Unbalance of one organ is then signified by dysbalance of relevant organ. So could be explained on the base of yin and yang philosophy, that for example weakening of stomach condition and small intestine by unsuitable diet based on white flour and sweetness leads naturally also to diseases of pancreas, spleen and heart - modern medicine have explanation of heart attacks because of increased level of cholesterol and blood vessel clog, but this is actually caused by unfit diet initially.

Macrobiotic diet and development of man in the direction of humanity, are allegedly binded together, one is reflected in the second. Diet should be adjusted to surrounding, conditions we live in, it should recept our activity and direction. Judging according to principles of yin and yang help us to determine, which macrobiotic foods are appropriate for us and which not. At the same time we have to know the yearly cycle of energy in plant kingdom and their characteristic in accordance to local climate. In warm weather grow yin plants, in cold climate to the contrary yang plants. Winter vegetables, as a beet, contain less water, grow more slower and are heavy. Summer vegetables, as a salad, grow faster, are light and watery. Among yin foodstuff we include sugar, milk, fruits, fats, nuts, seaweeds, vegetables, some types of cereals, among yang foods belong buckwheat, fishes, venison, eggs and salt. Bedouin in desert eat juicy fruits of cactuses, Escymos after polar zone in the yin climate are eating yang with the base in many fishes and meat. Macrobiotic is way, how to make our life more extensive, how to harmonize it. This is also according to orient teachings, the manual for longevity. The truth certainly is, that modern civilized man, occupied predominantly by yin psychical activity with randy approach to world, does consume incorrect quantity of yin sugars, milk products, fats and that’s why his inner balance is slowly moving to the one side and his organs are becoming tender, ductile, predisposed to yin diseases of the modern world - diabetes, heart failure, diseases of skin, cancer of the large intestine, etc. Here I emphasize especially for our need, the necessity of physical activity and adequately balanced diet, to keep us in good condition for a long time. Oriental people use for strengthening of inner organs also various cleaning techniques, but about this more in the upcoming article, where I will direct especially to meridians of individual organ systems.

Diagnostic of oriental doctors is grounded in the attempt to see the whole condition of the man, his being - western medicine is oriented more to the disease as it is. By a long anamnesis they see to his history, to his psychical and physical condition, possibilities of his development, they estimate his common sense and spiritual level, and after then they study details like are symptoms. Intuition plays in the hands of these healers a big role. Not in the least line is the health of man connected with social activity, that’s why it’s not possibly to leave out this facet in the whole view. After then are analyzed in detail individual meridians, searching for the condition of supplemental organs, oriental healer does pay attention to the face of the man, its proportion, structure, wrinkles, lips, he notice the shape of ear, nose, color of the eyes, sclera, size of pupil and examining iris in detail, that is the mirror of probably the whole man - one comment, that by examination of iris does devote also modern ophthalmology. He is not playing on the visionary, when analyzing a palm, its size, shape, basic lines, depth and length of fingers, discrepancy of their harmony. During the five thousand years, did eastern healers founded simple medicine, practical and humane, that is paying attention to the disease on one side and also preserving health. The man is seen in unified relationship with the nature, social environment and family background.

Following is article about oriental phylosophy and medicine II, where I dedicate more to organ’s relations, their effect to our life and origins of some diseases.

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Macrobiotic mistakes

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Important and less important macrobiotic mistakes

Mistakes that do happen to many practicing macrobiotic people around us

Satisfaction of the sweet taste by using of simple refined sugar or honey or excessive quantity of malts. Usually it’s enough to not oversalt and maximally restrict the consumption of bread (it’s oversalt and the flour does harm too). To this belongs also the art of making sweet vegetables really sweet and to consume daily not more than 1-2 teaspoons of barley or rice malt with the tea. Also the patience to chew well. It will come alone with a little of persistence.

Very common mistake is lack of discipline in the fruit consumption. Relatively good eating macrobiotic will be ok with 3 apples (fruits) per week.

Everyday sweet gruels for breakfast are not only mistake, but they slowly lead to the incapability to recognize what’s right and what’s wrong and to inability to remain with macrobiotic or to do it harmonically.

After some time, as the worst consequence will arise some of these obstacles of the successful growth:
- the need for risky excessive consumption of salty umeboshi plums or umepasta
- aversion to follow-up successful macrobiotic practice even if the healing process was started and verified
- and also seeking of some new ways (each time with failure)

Very risky is distraction from macrobiotic in the case, when you were bring to macrobiotic because of some serious illness. Because it will always come back after leaving macrobiotic and while consuming ordinary (or even for example vegetarian) diet.

It’s usually forgotten, that so called macrobiotic desserts, that are either baked or from flour or with creams or with accumulated condiments, are very unsuitable even if there’s used no sugar in them.

It’s also forgotten, that every oil, even the best prepared sesame oil, is concentrate. With very expansive (yin) energy. Hence it’s in the macrobiotic, especially in its healing variant, used moderately.

And finally: it’s often forgotten on the most suitable form of the raw vegetables. Pressed salads. They are not present in some cookbooks at all or are undervalued.

Useless death of these, that diverted with serious illness from macrobiotic because they started to feel better. Because it doesn’t mean yet, they are totally healed.

The food alone will help very much, but the most effect will bring the proper breathing, sufficiency of physical movement (at least walking) - and if we have desire and ability to keep learning.

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Macrobiotic millet

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

The best tips for macrobiotic millet cooking

How to cook millet, how to prepare good macrobiotic millet whole grains?

The millet cooking is a little problem for some macrobiotics. Because millet gets bitter sometimes, sometimes not. I have realised it does depend on the type of millet you are using. There are more millet types like: Pearl millet, Foxtail millet, Proso millet (also known as common millet, broom corn millet, hog millet or white millet), Finger millet and many others. The most common millet in the kitchen is Pearl millet. To get rid off the bitter taste it’s recommended to wash scald the grains with hot water. You pour the boiling hot water onto the millet grains and then you pour this water out. By this, the millet will release the bitter factors into the hot water. But some people say, that by this, you are giving away also all kinds of vitamins and minerals. And I personally think it’s true. I was personally trying many millet manufacturers and cooking all kind of millets, until I found the one that is very tasty and not bitter. But I am also ok with the bitter taste anyway, I like it too, so it’s all relative. But if you are the person that don’t like millet because of the bitter taste, try the hot water tip, even if it would lead to some degree loss of vitamins and minerals (you can still compensate them in other meals) and enjoy the millet taste with your dishes. Or try to find the right millet type, that is not bitter after cooking.

The cooking of millet in general is done like this. You rinse the millet grains in the water, at least 3 times. And cook with 2 - 3 times of water (preferably spring nature water) and pinch of salt, or if not using the salt, you can add seaweeds like Kombu or my preferable seaweed with millet are Arame or Hiziki. I am cooking millet in pressure cooker with 2x of water for 30 minutes if cooked millet alone. But very often I mix millet + whole brown rice in the various ratios, most usually 70% rice + 30% millet and cook them together for 45 minutes. Many people say, that millet is cooked in 15 minutes. But according to macrobiotic rules, all grains are cooked longer time and it has own special reasons like the proper energy (yin/yang) flow for example.
If you are not cooking in the pressure cooker, I would suggest to use 3x of water and cook for 40 minutes.
But the practice will teach you the most. You will learn how many water to use and how long to cook, to get the best taste for you and your family members. We are all different, and we need also a little bit different styles of cooking times and water proportions.

The millet is considered as the yang kind of whole grain and also alkaline. Many other grains are acid forming. Also buckwheat is alkaline and very yang. For this reason, millet is ideal for using with sweet (yin) sort of foods. It’s great for preparing of desserts or sweet dishes like sweet gruel. You can simply mix the cooked millet with a little of malt in the mixer, you will get very delicious cocktail. Or you can bake in the cooked millet with grated apples (or any other fruits). You can blend the cooked millet with amasake for your breakfast dish and sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds. Or you can use millet for more complicated desserts. It’s just very appropriate because its alkaline, yang quality.

Tags: cooking, grain, Macrobiotic, millet
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Macrobiotic microwave cooking

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Microwave cooking dangers from the view of macrobiotic

What are the dangers of the microwave heating/cooking from the point of macrobiotic theory, the energetic (yin/yang) explanation of the microwave cooking dangers.

Macrobiotics are known for cooking their grains and beans for a long time in the pressure cookers. Usually people are satisfied with 20 minutes cooked rice, but macrobiotic diet suggests to cook the brown rice for 45 minutes and even in the pressure cooker, if you are not using pressure cooker, you should prolong the cooking time to 60-90 minutes. It’s very different to other diets. But it has all its reasons. You should try to view at all aspects of the macrobiotic diet from the energetic point of view, from the yin/yang theory, because the macrobiotic is based on the ancient Taoism teachings.
Heat is considered as the yang aspect. Cold is the opposite - yin. Because the uncooked grains are a little bit yin from the view of the digested energy, the energy that would they give if eaten, we should balance their yin state with a good quality yang energy - and that is the heating. But you can use many kinds of heating styles and techniques and the modern age is bringing you even the new, modern styles. But it seems, that the science is not thinking about the well being of the Humanity at the first place. It seems like the money business overpowers it, especially with the microwave ovens fast spread all over the world. It was a very good selling product, because it will attack the most needed aspects of every man - speed and easiness. People want fast results and very easy use of their tools. This is what microwave cooker does the best. But if you look at the Nature, there’s nothing long term, that is based on these principles. The Nature is supported/based on the quite opposite - patience, slowness, persistence, slow growth. But back to the energetic view over the different heating styles.
The most natural heating energy is achieved by the most natural heating fuel - the wood. It’s providing the best quality - it means balanced - form of the yang heating energy, hence the food will be the most balanced too if heated with the wooden fire. But nearly anybody could practicaly use the wood for cooking of their foods, so we have to choose the best compromises. And the closest heating fuel (again from the energetic view) that we can use in our kitchens in this modern age is the gas.
The electric cooking is completely different style. There’s no flame, the heat is product of the high intensity electric waves - it’s nothing you could find in Nature to cook your food. It’s very unnatural form of heating and it delivers very chaotic energy to your body. Because the high intensity waves are chaotic, they are very yin and the food is missing the yang aspect to be well balanced. And if electric cookers are chaotic and the electric cooking is very yin, consider the microwave cookers - they are much father on the yin scale of cooking. The yin energy is very extreme, there’s no heat used to cook your food, the heating is achieved by completely alien way to us - by very high intensity wave vibrations. It’s so high, that it breaks the atomic structure of the foods - it’s giving total energetic chaos to your foods. And what you eat, is what you become - you will accumulate this chaos to your body, to your thinking. It doesn’t need to show immediately if you are balancing this chaos with another form of energies in your life, but in the long term, it’s making a big impact on you and our bodies are not able to maintain the healthy balance with this style of cooking.
At best, try to cook/heat your foods with the gas cookers or if you are lucky with the wooden fire (maybe in your mountain cottages). If your kitchen has only electric cookers, try to use portable gas cooker, it’s well worth the hassle.

Tags: cooking, energy, Macrobiotic, microwave, yin
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Macrobiotic menu foods

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic menu foods

What are the main macrobiotic food ingredients, main food categories, what kind of foods to eat daily in your menu plan?

When you are starting macrobiotic, concentrate on the simple menu plans before you get experienced and your macrobiotic recipe repertoire goes up and also your cooking style ability. Try to visit as many classes as possible at the beginning to widen your macrobiotic cooking, so you can supplement your menus with new food types. Basic macrobiotic menu does consist of few main macrobiotic food categories:

Whole Grain is the main food on your every plate, it does form 30-50% of the whole food plate. They can be cooked together with the beans, you can use them together with soups or mix with the vegetable and make a grain-vegetable salad. Sometimes you need to eat more vegetables and reduce the grain amount, your macrobiotic counsellor will tell you more details.

There are many condiments made from the whole grains. You sprinkle them on top of your dishes lightly before eating them. These condiments are gomasio (made from roasted sesame and salt, melted together in the suribachi), powder from the shiso, goma-wakame and many other condiments that are very high in the minerals. You can buy these condiments at shops, but for gomasio it’s always best if you prepare it fresh at home.

You will use many types of organic vegetables to compliment your whole grains. They are the second most important food (in the quantity meaning) after the whole grains. It’s recommended by Aveline Kushi to use at least 7 different types of organic vegetables every day. But don’t stress it too much. This is just the ideal, that’s good to think about, but don’t get obsessed. You can eat fresh uncooked vegetable salads many times through your week. Always consult exact amounts of each ingredient in your macrobiotic menu with macrobiotic expert counsellor. Sometimes raw vegetables are not suggested at all. The counsellor will tell you if you can use pickled veggies and how strong (with salt and pressing time) should they be.

Miso soup made from vegetables and miso is served every day. The amount used is 1-2 cups per person. It’s usually made from onion, carrot, shitake mushrooms. All these ingredients are boiled together for 15 minutes and miso is added for the last 30 seconds of simmering. Try to make miso soup always different, by changing the vegetable types, cutting styles, cooking time, adding all kinds of seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flax), using different types of cold pressed oils (sesame, sunflower).

Sea vegetables (seaweeds) are used daily in your macrobiotic menu, but in a very small amount in comparison to grains and vegetables. Recommended amount is 1 tablespoon of cooked seaweeds everyday. They are very rich in minerals and proteins. The types that are used: wakame, kombu, nori, aramame, hiziki.

Condiments as said above are used to give your food better taste. But don’t overuse them because they are quite salty. It’s good to use no more than 1/2 teaspoon per meal.

Pickles are used everyday to help your digestion and they have also alkaline effect on your body. Use them with 1-2 meals in your usual day. But be careful with the amount, because they are often quite salty. Use 1-2 slices of pickled vegetables. The most famous macrobiotic pickle is called takuan or pickle made from daikon (daikon radish pickle). Also organic sauerkraut is usually used for daily macrobiotic menu.

If you are thirsty, the number one macrobiotic drink is kukicha tea. You can drink it every day, after your meals or between them. Buy good quality kukicha teas made from roasted twigs. Drink the tea warm, not hot, not cold.

The other macrobiotic menu foods are: all kind of beans (adzuki, lentils, chickpeas), tofu, tempeh, seitan, natto - these are very rich in proteins and can form 10-15% of your plate. You can also use noodles, seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flax), oats, natural sweeteners (rice syrup, rice malt, barley malt, maple syrup, fruits). Other foods can be incorporated into the menu if you know what you are doing or macrobiotic counsellor guides you. The informations provided in this article are only informative and are very basic and you should investigate more detailed descriptions of macrobiotic menu plans in the books of Kushi and many others.

Tags: food, grain, Macrobiotic, menu, vegetable
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Macrobiotic history

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

History of macrobiotic diet

Macrobiotics, from the Greek “macro” (large, long) and “bios” (life), is a dietary regimen that involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other local foodstuffs such as vegetables and beans. Although in macrobiotics people may opt to use Japanese ingredients (Japan being the cradle of contemporary Macrobiotics), according to the general guidelines people should use the ingredients that are found locally (e.g. mustard instead of ginger), and avoid the use of sugar and other highly processed or refined foods. Macrobiotics also addresses the manner of eating by recommending against overeating and requiring that food be chewed thoroughly before swallowing.

History

The earliest recorded use of the term macrobiotics is found in the writing of Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine. In his essay ‘Airs, Waters, and Places,’ Hippocrates introduced the word to describe people who were healthy and long-lived. Herodotus, Aristotle, Galen, and other classical writers used the term macrobiotics to describe a lifestyle, including a simple balanced diet, that promoted health and longevity.

Macrobiotic methodology was utilized by many of the long-lived traditional cultures, such as the Incas, the Chinese in the Han Dynasty, etc. George Ohsawa drew from Oriental and Japanese folk medicine to create his version of this traditional philosophy of health.

George Ohsawa brought his teaching to Europe from Japan. Ohsawa was a Japanese philosopher, who was inspired to formalize macrobiotics by the teachings of Kaibara Ekiken, Andou Shōeki, Mizuno Nanbaku, and Sagen Ishizuka and his disciples Nishibata Manabu and Shojiro Goto.

Ohsawa brought his macrobiotic teachings to North America in the late 1950s. Macrobiotic education was spread in the United States by his students Herman Aihara, Cornelia Aihara, Michio Kushi and Aveline Kushi, and their students. Michio Kushi has been the most prominent of these teachers.

Ohsawa coined the term for a natural way of living, macrobiotics, in the late 1950s. Macrobiotics, from the ancient Greek language, means the way of longevity. This term has been used by many authors in describing longevity teachings from the Far East.

“Whole foods, such as brown rice, are central to a macrobiotic diet, and many of the first customers and owners of the alternative food stores were students of macrobiotics. In the 20th century, a few creative and brilliant teachers, such as the Kushis (who immigrated to the United States from Japan after World War II), emerged who distilled the wide-ranging ideas and interpreted them for modern, urban, and industrialized life.”

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Macrobiotic food proteins

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

To the question if macrobiotic (or strict vegetarians, vegans) help to improve state of health, couldn’t be answered easily. From the one point is advantage of these nourishing methods high supply of fruits and vegetables and low volume fats in the menu. But big amount of important nutrients is missing. So it depends very much on that, how are your knowledges about sources of proteins, vitamins and minerals, to not be exposed to their deficiency.

Proteins - vegetal foods may be good source of proteins, however it depends on that, how they are combined together. Complete protein is made for example from proteins of soya and wheat.
Minerals - high intake of fibre typical for macrobiotic (so big as 60 g - hence two times the recommended daily dosage) may disrupt absorbtion of calcium, zinc and iron, even in the case when they are enough in the food.
Vitamins - one of the most heavy reproach towards macrobiotic is prohibition of consumption of crops from other climatic zones. That’s why in the winter is not possible to eat south fruits and similar. If we compare the volume of C vitamin in mandarins and apples, it’s sufficient to cover of daily dosage either 2 mandarins or 2 kg of apples. Ofcourse that recommended cabbage is also very good source of vitamin C, but it would be necessary of 200 g fresh cabbage daily and it would mean to it this amount every day. Macrobiotic is so narrowing possibilities of selection in the scope of fruits and vegetables.

As macrobiotic, so vegetarians recommend many health benefical foods (tofu, tempeh, seitan and similar). These foods is however better to line up to mixed menus.

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Macrobiotic food chewing

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic food chewing

How to chew your macrobiotic food and what are advantages of proper chewing, why to chew your foods so many times?

At first, sorry for my bad english, it’s not my native language.

It’s very recommended to chew your macrobiotic food until it’s liquid. Kushi says, that 50 times per mouthful is optimal minimum. In his words: “100 bites leads to a very strong health, 200 bites leads to an enlightenment”. When chewing, saliva acids are starting to digest the complex sugars (polysacharids) to more simple sugars (disacharids). Then the stomach gets optimally prepared food and the digestion can continue smoothly with acids in the stomach and colon.

Chewing has also another very beneficial aspect. From the energetic view: your mouth works like an energetic oven. You are “baking” your food while chewing and you are activating the earth & heaven energy with every bite. When the tongue connects with the upper mouth it creates an electricity charge into the food. The more you chew, the more you are getting very quality chi (ki, prana) into your food also.

While chewing, the muscles of your whole face are working, stretching and that is very important for the good blood circulation into all parts of your face, brain and because everything is connected, also into the whole body. While you chew your food, the special brain cells that are important for good/clear thinking are activated and getting fresh blood.

Another good impact of chewing is for teeth. Every teeth is connected/related with some meridian and when you chew, they are all massaged and meridians are activated. The energy can flow freely.

Sounds good? So sit, relax, don’t hurry and let your mouth work a little more than you are used to. You don’t need to count your chews. It will make you stressed quickly. Count it for a few times and then you will know from the experience and from the liquidity of food when to swallow. Kushi is sometimes very strict, because he recommends to chew your soups very well too. The benefits are still there ofcourse, but the patience needed for this is much bigger. It’s still very good to chew your liquids if you have the time.

But, the most important is, don’t get mad by all of this, if you don’t chew your last food perfectly. Easy and do the best you can, sometimes it’s twenty times chewing, sometimes it’s hundred. Anyway, I can tell you from my personal experience, the better you’ll chew your food, the faster you’ll get healthy, not only physically, but the healthy mind will naturaly follow - it means clear, relaxed, self-confident, positive thinking full of love and compassion and you’ll start to follow your big Dream!

All is very logical and simple in the macrobiotic world of yin and yang. Just start to cook good macrobiotic foods and enjoy their delicious taste while chewing. Your patience, love, thankfulness will be returned by the Cosmos hundred times to you.

Other macrobiotic articles about chewing follows. Much more professionally written. Enjoy

Chewing Well:
The Salivary Glands Partners for Life
by Kelly Reith, BA, RHN Back

We all know how to chew our food well and that this simple act helps digestion. The litre or more of saliva that our mouths produce every day also aids digestion. But chewing our food well and allowing it to be coated with our mouths’ saliva can lead to digestive magic.

The following words are just a reminder of all that chewing, saliva, and chewing combined with saliva can do.

Chewing

Chewing your food, even without the aid of saliva, can help your body begin to digest your food.

Here are a few examples:
•Chewing well grinds food into small bits, allowing it to be more easily swallowed. Ever try swallowing a poorly chewed food? It actually hurts on the way down the esophagus. You can feel the food tear and scrape your throat.

•Well-chewed bits of food are more easily coated with digestive juices once in the stomach. The body uses less of its energy to digest well-chewed food than hastily chewed and swallowed food.

•Chewing well also allows the molecules of nutrients from the chewed food to be more quickly released and assimilated.

•Keeping a food in the mouth longer and chewing it well allows the food’s flavours to be recognized by the tongue. When the tongue recognizes the flavour it sends a message to the brain, which in turn sends messages to the digestive system resulting in the release of the correct digestive juices needed for that food.

Saliva

Saliva can do a few things on its own as well:

•It moistens the molecules of dry foods so that we can taste the foods when we eat them.
We aren’t able to distinguish many flavours in dry food.

•It binds masticated food bits into a bolus, which we can swallow easily.

•It lubricates the esophagus. In fact, the bolus of masticated food never touches or potentially
damages the walls of the esophagus.

•It is important to oral hygiene. The mouth is almost constantly flushed with saliva, which flushes
away food debris and protects your teeth from decay. Saliva can actually kill some bacteria.

But where does all this saliva come from?

You have 3 pairs of major salivary glands and a few minor pairs located throughout you mouth. The salivary glands create saliva, which is then secreted into your mouth via the salivary ducts. Sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it? Well here are a few of the less obvious facts about the three main salivary glands:
• The first pair of salivary glands to be considered here are the Parotid Glands. These glands, located just under the ears, produce a serous solution. The oral serous solution is clear and watery, and contains the digestive enzyme amylase, also known as ptyalin. It is no wonder that these salivary glands are the ones most associated with carbohydrate digestion. The ducts for these glands are near your upper teeth.

• The Sublingual glands are located under the tongue and produce a saliva that is primarily mucous. Mucous saliva is thick and gluey. It binds the masticated (chewed) food into a bolus as well as lubricating the esophagus. The ducts for these glands are located on the floor of your mouth.

• The Submaxillary glands, also known as the Submandibular glands, are located near the jawbone, secrete both serous and mucous saliva. The saliva reaches your oral cavity via ducts located under your tongue. The Submaxillary glands and the Sublingual glands also produce salivary amylase.

Partners in Health

You now know what chewing well on its own can accomplish, what saliva on its own can accomplish, and even a bit about where that litre (+) of saliva that you produce every day comes from. Now let’s put it all together:

• Chewing well combined with saliva are partners in digestion. We all know that chewing well and mixing your food bits with saliva leads to carbohydrate digestion but did you know eating protein-rich meals actually decreases the amount of salivary amylase produced? Eating a carbohydrate-rich meal leads to a slight increase in the amount of salivary amylase produced in your mouth.

• Saliva acts as a first defense against bacterial infection. By chewing food well and creating more surface area on which the saliva can act, more potential food-borne bacteria can be killed.

• The bicarbonate in saliva may activate the enzyme cellulase found in raw vegetables. The enzyme cellulase digests the fibre cellulose. Together bicarbonate and cellulase begin to digest the raw vegetables. Chewing well also helps to break down the cellulose. However, the combination of the saliva and chewing helps the body to fully digest raw vegetables and receive their nutrients.

Don’t forget – even the most pureed soup or juiced veggies need to be ensalivated. Swish nutrient-rich liquids around in your mouth before you swallow. The carbohydrates present in the soup or juice can be partially digested by your saliva.

I once read that the mouth doesn’t make enough saliva to initiate carbohydrate digestion so if you’re chewing for that reason, don’t bother. Fortunately that ‘idea’ has been thoroughly disregarded by the many who know better.

Chewing well and tasting your food is just plain common sense. The fact that our body produces a substance (saliva) that makes chewing, tasting, and swallowing easier is a bonus to our vitality. Chewing well and saliva - each have their own merits. It’s when they work together that we can really appreciate the partnership that nature has created for us.

- Kelly Reith, BA, RHN is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist living, working, and chewing in Toronto, Canada. She can be reached at kellyreith@mac.com

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Macrobiotic food diet

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic nutrition

Today very popular idea MACROBIOTIC comes from Greek words, that means “big, long life - longevity”. It’s needed to mention that macrobiotic does mean not only the way of nutrition, but also whole philosophical system connected with it, that from one part comes from religiously - philosophical zen-buddhism.

Zen doesn’t abjure life, it only propagate full merging to the life - food don’t have to degrade man, to man be its slave. Assure more deeper possibility of health by following the right path. That’s why with obesity is good to choose at least some methods from macrobiotic diet, compare them with energetical options of reduction diet.

Macrobiotic diet has more levels, altogether ten, from the lowest, that is the most similar to our racional nutrition, to the highest (that is not always recommended), where is nutrition composed solely from whole grain products. A kind of founder of modern macrobiotic doctrine is Japanese George Oshawa (1893 - 1966), he asserted, that there exist no illnes (so also no malignant tumours), that couldn’t be healed by appropriate use of natural foodstuffs. Convincing evidence about this are not yet there, even if with this nutrition you can preventively strike against emergance of malignant tumours (for example large intestine).

Lower levels of macrobiotic diet contain still relatively varied, not monotonous nutrition, higher levels are already stereotypic, one-sided, the higher have to eventually result into deficiency disease, deficiency of many basic nutrients (full-valuable proteins, essentials fatty acids, some vitamins, trace elements, salts). The food in the scope of these highest levels actually cease to be enjoyment.

The base of ideology of macrobiotic nutrition is assertion, that in foods exist mysterious energies, principles Yin (female) and Yang (man), whose mutual ratio gives the food their nutritive value. The best ratio of yin and yang has supposedly whole grain. Yin is dominant in potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, butter, bananas, honey, champagne etc. Whilst yang is in cereals, carrot, apple, goat cheese (not so in goat milk) etc. On the practical feature is basic requirement of macrobiotic nutrition, natural foods, non refined, not chemicaly manufactured, without fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, which is nearly inaccessible. Whole grains should be in their natural, non refined, so called integral form - for example brown rice, wheat.

Sort of middle form of macrobiotic diet is yet acceptable, it consist of 50% whole grains (rice, wheat, millet, corn, rye, barley), from 40% legumes, vegetables (that grows on the ground, sea - some seaweeds), soups from them, 10% prducts of animal origin (only white meats, fish, poultry, turkey, eggs and milk only a little), fruits minimaly, no sweet fares. The highest level of macrobiotic nutrition does mean 90% of whole grains and 10% vegetables.

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Macrobiotic food

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic food

What is considered macrobiotic food, how to know if the food is macrobiotic?

Macrobiotic is pretty detailed system of what to eat and what to stay away from. In every book you can find recommended food lists. There are also some foods, that are not considered macrobiotic, but can be used for the transition phase. Until your body eliminates all your old body rubbish and you start to be satisfied with the simple but very delicious macrobiotic food taste, you can use honey for sweating. But try to avoid it if you can and consider using maple syrup, rice malt, barley malt, fruits for sweating. Because honey still contains more simple sugar (disacharid) than these listed macrobiotic sweeteners, they are complex polysacharids. The macrobiotic food is viewed as pricey by many people. But I can assure you, that it only seems so from the first encounter. The most expensive foods like seaweeds, miso, tahini, amasake, mirin, shoyu, quality cold-pressed oils are used only a few each day and they will last for long time. Then the other foods on the macrobiotic list are very cheap. These are all whole grains (rice, millet, barley, oat, wheat, corn, buckwheat), legumes (lentil, all sorts of beans - adzuki, chickpeas, soya beans).

Then there are vegetables. These you can buy chemically treated in the usual shop or organically produced in the special health shops. Please, invest in your health, there’s nothing much more important to invest your money anyway. And try to buy the quality organic vegetables and fruits for your macrobiotic cooking. The money is usually double or even triple cost of the chemical vegetables and fruits, but you don’t think in money terms about your healthy macrobiotic food. Vegetable is very important to deliver you the best, fresh, energetic cosmic energy (chi, ki, prana) into your body. The organic vegetable contains very clean and strong energy and if you chew it well, you will be overwhelmed by it. For protein intake, you will consider foods like - tofu, tempeh, seitan, natto. They can be made at home, but not many people have enough time to do them regularly. Although it’s a lot of fun to try it at least once. Or to make it your weekend relaxing habit. Making seitan is very easy. Tofu and tempeh are different, they take much more time and it’s better to buy them prepared at shops. But ask your macrobiotic friends, what tofu, tempeh, natto manufacturer is the best. Because there are many nowadays and still appearing new and not all of them do produce perfect quality macrobiotic foods.

Seaweeds are very important for daily cover of quality minerals (especially calcium). They are also rich in protein. Common seaweeds are - wakame, kombu, hiziki, arame, nori. You use wakame in miso soup, it can be cooked for short time, 2-20 minutes is enough. Kombu is used in pressure cooker and for longer cooking in general. You put them in the pot with legumes or grains. Cook kombu for at least 30 mins. Arame, hiziki are also used with grains in pressure cooker. Nori can be used very quickly, by roasting. It’s crispy and very delicious.

Use only hard pressed quality oils for cooking. Oils that are used daily are sesame and sunflower. Olive oil use only if you live in the hot climate zones. Recommended amount of oil to use each day, is like 1-2 tbspn. The more you are active (sporting, active job), the more you can use. But don’t think that you are doing good when you try to avoid using oil completely. Many people think, they can be better macrobiotics by restricting the already given food regime and making their new, strict macrobiotic version. Oils are very important and try to fry, deep fry, saute part of your foods everyday. It gives you the very much needed uplifting, fire energy.

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Is macrobiotic diet expensive

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Is macrobiotic diet expensive

How much does it cost to eat macrobiotic diet, do you pay more for your macrobiotic foods than for the regular, is macrobiotic only for rich people?

At first, please excuse my poor English, that’s not my native language, but I am still trying even with such hard themes like macrobiotic. But I think I have something to say here.. actually any comments and tips about my bad spelling and grammar are very welcomed, so I can learn.

The macrobiotic diet is viewed by many people as expensive form of eating. They see all the pricey products in the organic shops and think that it’s only for the lucky ones, with high salaries. Maybe also the celebrities, like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sting that are known for eating macrobioticaly, add to this image that you need a lot of money to be on the macrobiotic diet. It’s well known fact, that you pay more for the real organic quality products, like vegetables, fruits, etc. As sad as it is, we have to accept that fact and not be tempted to exchange our real health for the money, by the means of paying less for the worse quality products. This is my first point to this thing.
But the most important thing I want to share here is, that the whole concept of macrobiotic diet being very expensive, is totally wrong. It’s far from truth and is shared only by the people that don’t eat macrobiotic at all, or that have very little experiences. This is spread by the people that only think about eating macrobiotic, but never started. They find negative aspects of this diet and if they can’t find any, they come with the “high cost” theory. I always suggest them, to try this wonderful diet for at least one month and then they will see if it’s really true. I am also willing to pay them for whatever they spend over their monthly limit. I am ok with offering something like this, because I am eating 4 years macrobioticaly and since my start I save 10-50% of my monthly food expanses, when I compare them to my previous bills (when eating non-macrobiotic food) and when I compare them with friends that are on the typical US diet.
There’s simple reason for this. The most costly macrobiotic foods are the ones, that are used very sparingly or that are used daily, but with a very small amounts. The most expensive macrobiotic foods are: seaweeds (wakame, kombu, hiziki, arama), miso (barley, rice, hatcho), malts and syrups (barley, rice, corn, maple), protein rich products (tofu, tempeh, natto, seitan), tahini (sesame paste), high quality cold pressed oils (sesame, sunflower, olive), organic vegetables and fruits.
I am talking about food costs here only. I don’t mention the initial investment into the cooking ware like pressure cooker, good knife, possibly good quality cooking pots (preferably ceramic ones), suribachi. You can omit many of the cooking ware and be content with the simple pressure cooker (you can also omit this one for the first month and test the macrobiotic diet with a simple pots).

For the expensive foods I mentioned above, I will add few comments to each. As I said, they are used very sparingly or in a tiny amounts.

Miso - you don’t need to buy than more type of miso for the start. The optimal daily amount of miso per person is 1 teaspoon. So you can imagine how long does 1 miso jar will last. For me it’s about 1-2 months.

Seaweeds - again, you don’t need many of them for the start. You can start simply with wakame for example. And they will cover your minerals, trace elements nicely when cooked in the miso soup. 1 Wakame packet will last me for 3-6 months. You can buy Kombu as the second, that is used for grain cooking and especially for the cooking of beans.

Malts - suggested ideal amount of malts per person per day is 1-2 teaspoons. Again, you can gues how long 1 jar of malt will last you. I am ok with 1 jar of barley malt every 7-14 days.

Soya products - if you want to be cheap, you can cover your protein body needs with a simply pressure cooked beans, which are also very delicious and are even more recommended than the processed foods like tofu, tempeh, natto, seitan. You can also prepare seitan at home, it’s quite easy. And because in macrobiotic diet, proteins are covered by 10-20% of the whole food plate, you will eat a small piece of these products in the end.

Tahini - not used very often, I am using 1-2 teaspoons 3 times a week.

Cold pressed oils - recommended amount is 1-2 tablespoons per day. I recommend sesame or sunflower for the start.

Organic vegetables and fruits - if you want to really save some money, don’t buy always organic veggies. But I consider this part as the investment to my better health and better life future. I don’t look behind for money, when we talk about health achieved by the natural way of prevention. It’s up to you. But I also started with the non-organic vegetables and my health was getting better everyday. So, don’t stress it and buy organic if you feel ok with spending money for it.

My 10-50% saving factor is achieved by a simple thing. The macrobiotic diet base on the whole grains. And the grains are very nutritious for the price they cost. You will be perfectly satisfied with 500g of grains per day and I am not sure about the US prices but 1 pack of rice is very cheap in my country.

That’s it. For me, the macrobiotic diet is very cheap, money saving and I can’t agree with the “expensive theory” at all.

Tags: cooking, diet, food, health, Macrobiotic, miso, money, organic, vegetable
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Macrobiotic diet

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Diet 1 - Macrobiotic

The word - macrobiotic - does come from Ancient Greek: macros - means big, bios - stand for world (universe, cosmos). This philosophy comes out from the assumption that man is part of the nature and universe and his health is conditioned by the way, how he accepts the world and his relationships with his neighbourhood. Everybody should be at least as healthy to be fully happy from the life.

Macrobiotic, macrobiotic diet

Macrobiotic and menu according to macrobiotic principles may be appropriate supplement or even the base of the diet for food allergy. In accordance to diets, as a necessary precaution to food allergies and intolerances, I assume, that acceptation of some principles of macrobiotic and subsequent menu adjustment could be appropriate method, how to relief oversensitive immunity systém and whole organism of allergic people and in the same time enlarge already poor menu.

Further are then introduced very brief macrobiotic principles, with this, that continuously will appear new recipes from this area.

It’s a way of eating and lifestyle, that is known for several thousand years. In the modern times come up more often to bigger distraction of man from nature, which consequences are more and more not only known diseases, but also diseases and sick conditions, with that new modern medicine can’t help.

The principle of macrobiotic diet is food rich on cereal, legumes, fresh vegetables and fruits and necessary big restriction of meat, cheese, eggs, poultry and refined foods with small contents of fibre, furthermore salt, sugar and fat.

Requirements for correct alimentation and nutrition coming out of geographical location, climate, place, profession demandingness and individual differencies as e.g. state of health.
Makeup of macrobiotic foods

Modern cooking consist of big amount of refined and synthetic foods. It’s assembled particularly satiated animal lipids, cholesterol, refined vegetal lipids, excessive degree of salt, sugar and chemical additives.

Structure of macrobiotic foods

50- 60% cereals (whole grains), 20-30% vegetables, 5-10% legumes and seaweeds and 5-10% soups and 5 percent of relish and remaining foods.

Principles of macrobiotic diet for inhabitants of temperate zone

Consumption of shellfish, mollusc and fishes (compensation of pork, beef and poultry meats).
Soya products (milk products compensation).
Consumption of foods in the most natural shapes - unhusked grains of cereals and their flours, that replace white flour.
Elimination of refined sugars from the diet and their substitution for compound sugars (polysacharides) - they burn slower.
Considerably bigger and more often use of legumes in our menu.

Basic foods in macrobiotic

Whole grains

Cereal grains have to stay whole and also be consumed as whole. They are prepared by cooking in pressure cooker or baking in ceramic pot. The main consumed grains are wheat, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, corn, millet, oat, rye.

Vegetables

In macrobiotic they make together with whole grains the base of the diet. The best is fresh, from home market. We should use seasoned vegetables, thus it’s not suitable to use vegetables, that is not commonly growing in our zone. In the winter is therefore good to consume marrow, cabbage and root vegetables. Vegetable is also recommended to consume with fish, because it help digesting of fish meat. Amongst unsuitable vegetables we classify spinach, rhubarb, asparagus, mangold and tomatoes. They include big amounts of oxalates that are often cause of allergens.

Seaweeds

Seaweeds belong to important part of macrobiotic diet. They are valuable source of vast amount of trace elements and minerals, that are necessary for optimalization of metabolic processes in our body. Seaweeds used in macrobiotic: Agar-agar, arame, Dulse, Hijiki, Irish moss, Kelp, Kombu, Nori, Wakame.

Pulses

Belong as well to basic stone of macrobiotic eating. In the present time are legumes very neglected, and that is big mistake. Legumes contain high quality proteins of vegetable source, hence they are more healthier than meat. On top of that they contain wide range of vitamins and minerals.

Soya and soy products

Also count to very important parts of macrobiotic. To their biggest advantages go easily digestible proteins. To the most used soya products belongs tofu, tempeh, miso and soy sauce Tamari and Shoyu.

Supplemental foods in macrobiotic

Salt - in macrobiotic is used solely see salt, that is obtained by volatilization of ocean water. To other supplemental products and condiments belong for example ginger, rice vinegar, onion, soy sauce, umeboshi plumps, nori condiment, gomasio (sesame seeds + see salt + sometimes powder from seaweeds) and others.
Sweetener - only naturals are used - barley malt, amasake, apple syrup.
Oil - we use only non refined oils, created by simple extraction if cold. To the regular using are the most appropriate particularly light and dark sesame oil and corn oil cold.

Beginning of macrobiotic diet

After your decision to change your whole diet and menu, there should follow gradual restriction of satiated lipids, refined starch and sugar. On the contrary you should include to your menu more cereals, pulses, vegetables, seaweeds. Every day try to eat several kinds of whole grains and vegetables, that should be dominant in cooked condition, legumes and seaweeds.

The basic kitchen tool is pressure cooker , wooden equipment, pots from stainless steel or alloy, knifes from carbon or stainless steel, big stainless steel strainer, ceramic pots for baking in the oven.

We wash foods just before cooking and use them with husk, in husk is contained the most valuable matters. We soak legumes for 8 hours before cooking (through the night at best). The water from soaked pulses strain off, the water from the whole grains you can use for cooking. Vegetable prepare by cooking but more suitable is preparation under steam. Cooked vegetable flavour with little amount of soy sauce and salt with pinch of sea salt.

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Macrobiotic cooking basics

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Principles of macrobiotic cooking

For more than three milliard years, no other species developed the art of cooking. For millions of years have our ancestors eat wild cereal grains, thereby they contributed to the expansion of their intellect, erected posture and high level of consciousness. During the ice age, humanity began to use fire for adjusting to cold climate. Fire give energy, vitalize physical, mental and spiritual activity. Fire used for cooking had created human culture and civilization.

At the beginning fire was used just for cooking. Then was used for the manufacturing of wear, building of dwellings and creation of tools and equipments in the nature environment. Intellectual, emotional, social and ideological awareness of species homo sapiens was developed very rapidly thanks to fire in the outer settings (culture) and in the inner settings (food cooking). By the people uniquely used fire was object of many traditional myths and legends. For example narrative of Prometheus is response to the meaning of using fire at the destiny of mankind.

However, as the use of fire began widen to the next regions of life and arised new technologies, people began lose the ability to flexibly adapt and secure to maintain natural environment for cooking of food. In place of that, the human civilization still more succumb to artificial thermic environment, that is defy of their control.

Modern population suffer now from various physical and mental diseases, caused mainly by the long-term consumption of unnatural and artificial foods and drinks and also by breathing the polluted air and drinking contaminated water, that all is caused by unproper using of heat energy. Present world is afflicted by different social conflicts and fights, wars and battles, that are also consequencies of abusing of fire energy. Our race is now from this reason placed before the possibility of extinction. To reverse of this trend is needed, that everybody understand the basics of cooking and apply them daily. Proper cooking will not only protect the possibility of maintaining life on this planet. It will have also impact on the next evolution of human consciousness. Cooking is the highest art, that mankind have created. We have many masterly works from Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Mozart, Beethoven. But only cooking is able to create and change daily life of us all.

Purpose of cooking is to harmonize with surroundings – minerals, water, biological life, atmosphere, pressure and time.

Preparation of simple macrobiotic meals is the most practical and slightly densed method for smooth transformation of man to healthy, happy and freedom being.

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Macrobiotic cooking

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Macrobiotic cooking principles may be summarized like this:

1. All foods should be selected from natural or organic products growing in the same climatic zone and the same season of the year.
2. Our daily food should comprise all stages of biological evolution, especially plant life (excluding polar areas).
3. The food should be prepared fresh if possible (not damaged and alive until the beginning of cooking) and should be used as a whole (leafs and also roots in the case of vegetables and head and bones and also tail in the case of fishes).
4. The main part of food should be whole grains and cooked vegetable. Formerly ripen types should be boiled longer, later types could be boiled less.
5. Before using of fire and water should be individual foods stored separately - not mixed - to eliminated premature change of quality.
6. When we cut the foods, it’s important, that every piece presented both qualities yin and yang. (This art is teached in the macrobiotic courses of cooking).
7. During of cooking process, we should hold up from frequent stirring and moving and if it’s possible, easily allow to foods, that they mix themselfs alone by the normal cooking process.
8. There should be excluded excessive use of fire, water, pressure, time and also salt, oil and other spices.
9. Spices should be natural products, as sea non refined salt, non-refined vegetal oil. Natural malts from wheats should be used occasionally. The taste of spice shouldn‘t be savorous and should be used to underline natural dominant tastes of the food itself.
10. Types of cooking and types of meals shouldn’t be repeated frequently. It’s important to change styles of cooking, properly adapt to changes of environment and tend about variety and enjoyment of food.
11. As the most quality for cooking is recommended fire from the wood, then natural gas, wood coal and other natural fuels, that are more practical in the modern urbanized environment. Electric and microwave cooking changes the natural structure of foodsand this artificial way of rapid cooking should be excluded.
12. The most quality water is spring water, good water and mountain stream water. Chemically processed water, the same for destilled water, should be eliminated.
13. For adaptation to climate and heat is not suitable to use aromatic spices.
14. Meals should be arranged as beautiful food. Served dishes should contain natural forms of foodstuffs and should be placed on the plate in the order of meals. Food should be served gracefully and consumed with thankfulness.
15. The cooking environment and in the dining room should be kept clean and quiet. And these who cook, serve and eat, should be quiet and have peace in mind.

Even if we use the same foods, eat at the same places and use the same pots, the result is different macrobiotic meal in the end. It depends on the changes of condition, psychic and thinking. If our condition is clean and calm and devote to the preparation carefully, than the food brings health and awareness to all, that eat them. On the other side, if our condition stagnate, is broken and in disorder, our food will bring family deterioration. Consequently, these who cook need to have good health and deep understanding to the relations of yin and yang code of nature and universe and also practical knowledges of proper techniques of cooking. This kind of person is socially the most valuable asset, because she make family, community or nation more healthy and happier. Traditionally in the course of history both genders, but specially women, had deciding impact on the human evolution. If we want turn away the destructive process of modern civilization, it’s important, to preserve proper cooking if possible in every family, in every community and in all countries.

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