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Macrobiotics
Facts and misconceptions
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Macrobiotics is more than a diet
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The standard macrobiotic diet is
well known to most people. It is mainly composed of whole
grains, vegetables and small amounts of fish, legumes, soups and
pickles. Keep in mind, this is the macrobiotic diet. Meaning,
the application of the macrobiotic philosophy to food and
nutrition. The macrobiotic philosophy is universal and the laws
of nature of opposite but complementary forces that macrobiotics
explains apply to everything in nature. The macrobiotic diet is
only the nutritional aspect of this philosophy.
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The right foods for your illness
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Applying the standard macrobiotic
diet arbitrarily can be dangerous in some cases. Because a
persons current state of health means that even some of the
macrobiotic foods can be harmful.
Example: someone with a salmonella
poisoning, a food allergy or advanced ulcerative colitis will
not tolerate lettuce, chard or even brown rice and will have to
rely on a different group of foods rather than brown rice or
whole wheat until the condition improves. This person will have
to follow a modified diet that suits the current state of health
until the condition improves, only then the patient can move to
the standard macrobiotic diet. The same logic applies to all
diseases and all patients.
Another example: a patient suffering from constipation will be well
advised to stay away from carrots and radish leaves until their
constipation is alleviated. This is because carrots and radish
leaves are strong yang foods and will make constipation worse. |
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What to eat? |
Do you know what foods you should
start with based on your current state of health?
Do you know how these vegetables
and other foods will affect your body?
Do you know when to eat and when
to avoid each one of them?
If you do, then you are your own
doctor!
You are a free person.
You know what it means to be free
from the need for a doctor or a medicine
Your heart does not know fear.
Fear of illness.
You know that your food is your
best medicine
You know what to eat and you use food as medicine |
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If macrobiotics means eating locally grown foods,
why are we eating Japanese foods? |
This is not a criticism of
Japanese foods. Macrobiotic Japanese foods are excellent and
many are delicious. Macrobiotics philosophy originated in the
orient and the main teachers who carried macrobiotics from the
Far East to the west and other places were Japanese. So it was
natural for them to teach people eating balanced Japanese
macrobiotic foods. However, we must not forget that in a broad
sense macrobiotics calls for understanding the world around us
and applying its principles of balance in our daily lives
including our eating habits.
One of the fundamentals of
macrobiotics is that one should eat locally grown food. This
means that applying macrobiotics principle in south Africa, one
has to select south African balanced foods, and there are!
Applying macrobiotics principles in south America, one has to
eat balanced south American foods, and there are! And so on.
We provide each of them with a
diet plan that suits their health condition but contains
carefully selected locally grown foods. The selection of these
foods is usually made based on the patients current health
condition.
This is all a testimony to two
things. The first is the validity and power of macrobiotic
principles and food as medicine. The second is the fact that
every locale has its own food cure when applied properly and
there is no need to dramatically change one's own eating habits
in order to get cured of any illness.
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The standard macrobiotics diet does not work for
some people. Why?
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Food is always best medicine, no
matter what the illness. If you have followed the macrobiotic
diet for a while (especially the #7 number seven diet which
consists of eating only brown rice for many days) and found no
relief, it does not mean that food is not best medicine. It
means that your choice of foods for your specific health
condition has been wrong. For example, if you are suffering from
heart disease and decided to eat a bowl of carrots and leeks
soup, you will feel much worse. Or if you have diarrhea and
decided to eat a bowl of parsley, cucumbers and lettuce salad,
that will greatly aggravate your diarrhea.
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Standard macrobiotics vs. a diet designed for your health
condition |
The standard macrobiotics diet
developed over the years is general and not for everyone. It
recommends eating plenty of vegetables, but it does not specify
which vegetables will be helpful for each specific illness.
Your own health condition,
especially if it is a serious condition, might require you to do
more research into what foods are currently healthful for you,
which means digging deep into the macrobiotics principles of yin
and yang and balance. It would also mean experimenting for some
time with foods to see how each type of food affects your body.
Or we can help and save you time and effort by providing you with expert
advice and a diet plan that is suitable for your health
condition. |