The Macrobiotic Diet for Healing
This is much more than just a diet, it is also a way of living your life in balance. Exercise along with rest; socializing along with solitude; adopting sensible sleep habits and keeping a tidy home are all considered part of leading a macrobiotic life. Most people associate macrobiotics with the nutritional regimen that was developed by Japanese writer-philosopher George Ohsawa in the early 20th century. This diet was later popularized in America by Michio Kushi in the sixties and seventies.
Macrobiotics has an emphasis on eating whole grains, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, beans, and largely restricting your intake of meat, dairy products, refined sugars, and processed foods. Macrobiotics aims to provide the body with essential nutrients while limiting the accumulation of toxins within the body. The diet is based on the Eastern concepts of yin and yang, which are the two contrasting universal energies believed to be present in all things, including food. By consuming foods with the least pronounced yin and yang qualities (like whole grains and vegetables), one can supposedly achieve a more balanced condition and initiate a healing process. It’s thought that the standard American diet, with its emphasis on red meat (overly yang) and sugary foods (overly yin), can throw the body out of balance and lead to many diseases, including cancer.
Whole Grains
Approximately 40 – 60% of the diet. Traditionally grains are the base of various cultures throughout the world.
- From brown rice to oats to millet and spelt, there are many different varieties of grains available.
- Grains are soaked overnight to neutralize enzyme inhibitors and to increase the absorption of nutrients when consumed.
- How to soak grains, nuts and seeds.
Vegetables
Approximately 20 – 30% of diet
- A variety of leafy vegetables, root and sea vegetables are an important supplement to every meal because they are rich in calcium, beta carotene and many other vital nutrients. Some include: bok choy, carrot tops, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, daikon greens, dandelion greens, kale, leeks, mustard greens, parsley, spring onions, turnip greens, watercress, acorn squash, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, buttercup squash, butternut squash, cabbage, cauliflower, hokkaido pumpkin, onion, pumpkin, red cabbage, and turnips.
- Okay to eat these occasionally: celery, chives, cucumber, endive, green beans, green peas, iceberg lettuce, Jerusalem artichokes, romaine lettuce, snap beans snow peas, and sprouts.
- Eat plenty of roots vegetables: burdock, carrots, daikon, dandelion roots, lotus root, parsnip, radish.
- sea vegetables are also a mainstay of this diet are a great source of iodine and minerals.
- There are also certain vegetables that should be avoided or used sparingly, they include members of the nightshade variety: potato, tomatoes, peppers of all kinds except for black pepper.
Beans
Approximately 5 – 10% of diet
- Although all organically grown dried beans feature prominently in macrobiotic recipes, author Michio Kushi recommends you eat the small beans such as lentils, chickpeas, black soybeans and azuki beans more frequently than navy beans, lima beans or other large varieties, which contain more oil and fat.
- organic tofu, tempeh and natto are eaten daily.
Soups
- Soups are the most flexible dish, and may be made with vegetables, grains, or beans, and use a variety of seasonings.
- Miso is a common base for these soups because it is rich in nutrients and enzymes.
Condiments
- Asian seasonings, sea salt, rice malt and the sea vegetable kombu are used to add flavor to foods.
- Garnishes may include Asian pickles, freshly grated ginger root or horseradish, fresh scallions or onions.
Foods to avoid:
- Refined sugars and flour should be avoided when following a macrobiotic diet.
- This means no cookies, muffins, chips, popcorn, white rice or bread products.
- Dairy and meat products also should be avoided when following a macrobiotic meal plan.
- Fish is allowed for occasional use.
Resources
Testimonials for the macrobiotic diet
Stage 4 Lung Cancer Metastasized to Liver and Pancreas with Macrobiotic Diet
Malignant melanoma healed with macrobiotic diet
Brain cancer healed with macrobiotic diet
Leukemia healed with a macrobiotic diet
Ovarian cancer healed with a macrobiotic diet
Macrobiotic Book List
The Macrobiotic Way – has practical advice on living in harmony with nature with the latest research on nutrition and health care. Macrobiotic foods and where to find them, cooking methods, dozens of delicious and easy-to-prepare recipes, sample menus, a simple exercise program, and a plan to design your macrobiotic home make The Macrobiotic way the definitive guide for the journey to a macrobiotic life.
The Cancer Prevention Diet, Revised and Updated Edition– includes a complete theoretical explanation of the macrobiotic approach, chapters on the 20 most common cancers, basic dietary guidelines and home remedies, recipes and menus, scientific and medical information, brief case histories, way of life suggestions, meditation and visualization exercises.
The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health: A Complete Guide to Naturally Preventing and Relieving More Than 200 Chronic Conditions and Disorders- details how the laws of yin and yang govern all phenomena, from the movements of subatomic particles to the composition of blood and tissue, from the formation of the planets and moons to the relationship between the sexes. By knowing how to balance these forces in our own lives, we can turn sickness into health, conflict into peace, and sadness into joy.