[net.veg] Macrobiotics

ebernstein@ishtar.DEC (Ed Bernstein) (08/02/84)

{You'll have to eat me.}
{What, with a gammy leg?}

	Macrobiotics is a fascinating subject above and beyond specific recipes,
with many long potential net arguments...(echem. I mean...) discussions 
possible. I have some experence with it, and with some of the more active
people in it. For the recipes to really make sense ('You mean I can't use honey
either?') some background would help. Also, it is extremely difficult to get a
straight answer from anyone (especially me) on what exactly Macrobiotics is
that anyone else who follows the diet will agree with completely. 

	Some basics:
		-- Everything that exists is some combination of two opposing
		   tendencies...Yin and Yang. As far as the diet goes, all food
		   is also some combination of the two, but in most foods, there
		   is a dominance of one over the other. The idea is to balance
		   these two tendencies correctly, and thereby maintain an
		   appropriate homeostasis for a human being. 

		-- Yin is Expansive, the tendency to expand from some center.
		   Centrifugal force. Foods that are heavily weighted in favor
		   of the Yin tendency are Sugars (Honey, Maple syrup, Barley 
		   malt), Fats, tropical fruits, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes,
		   etc.

		-- Yang is Contractive, the tendency to contract to the center.
		   Centripetal force. Yang weighted foods include Meat (red >
		   fowl > fish) cheese, eggs, root vegetables, wood (I know you
		   don't eat much, but there are certain twigs that make a nice
		   Bancha tea) and other contracted things. 

	[ You can think of the food chain, with Yin things on the bottom 
(plants) and the most Yang things on the top (The predetors which are eating
the plant nutrition, but after it has been highly condensed.) ]

		-- In general, the perscribed way to keep a balance between
		   Yin and Yang is to avoid the extremes of each, and eat foods
		   which hover just around the balanced point. That means
		   a heavy emphasis on whole grains, beans, and vegetables.

		-- Natural foods are the key. All the food processing that goes
		   on puts in dyes, preservatives, artifical whatever that
		   (in most cases) make the food much more Yin, along with
		   salt which can be too Yang (and rock salt, not the preferred,
		   more balanced, sea salt). Also, even many 'natural' foods
		   are not quite whole foods, which means they are only using
		   part of the food (such as white flours, separating the sugar
		   from the cane, etc). The problem with that is that the whole 
		   plant is always somewhat balanced, and by only using a small
		   part of it, we risk unbalancing ourselves.

	Anyway, These are some of the basic ideas. From there, you can read 
lots of books with reasons why certain foods are better for certain times
than others (Eating with the season is important, eating local foods are great,
organically grown is the best, avoid eating foods imported from tropical
environments if you don't live in one, etc). Different people follow these
sorts of guidelines to different degrees of strictness, and have reported 
health results that are nothing short of astonishing. Epilepsey, Diabetes, 
Colitus, Leukemia, and cancers of all sorts have been reported to have been
controlled by this diet, not to mention headaches, acne, drowsyness, and
weight problems. While I had no serious illnesses, the two months I spent
eating a fairly strict macrobiotic diet saw me sleeping less, feeling more
awake, sleeping less, completely cleared up acne I had always had on my back,
cleared up my sinuses, lost about ten pounds, and felt generally wonderful.

	Macrobiotic receipes generally include whole grains, often brown rice,
kasha, millet, bulgar, etc, and beans such as lentils, adzuki beans, chickpeas,
etc, seasoned with mild to small amounts of hotter spices. Miso is a staple, 
which is a paste made from fermented soybeans and a grain. Tofu and Tempeh are
eaten occasionally. Sea vegetables are an important part of the diet (to suply
minerals.) Liquids are used very sparingly, and generally drank after the
meal, never with it. Chewing is of paramount importance. "Chew each mouthful
fifty times" is common advice. 

	I'd definitely like to see more discussion on the diet from others
who have tried it. I'll save my criticisms of it till then, since I've gone
on much too long already. For more information and more useful receipe info,
there are many books and cookbooks. Look in "health" or "natural" food stores.
Names to look for are: Michio and Avelin Kushi, George Osawa, Ed and Wendy Esko,
and others I can't think of now. The East-West Journal is a magazine that also
has much information on the subject, with receipes and many case studies of
people overcoming diseases with the diet. A recent issue (Feb or March, I think)
on Men's health had articles on people using macrobiotics for Prostrate 
disease and AIDS. 

	Anyway...

					Ed Bernstein
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