The Macrobiotic Diet
Brought to the attention of the masses by famous beings such as Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.
What is it?
A way of eating which centres predominantly around whole grains. Foods are attributed a yin or yang property and work on a sliding scale of some being more yin or more yang than others. The Macrobiotic way aspires to getting that perfect balance. It is typically a vegetarian diet although no food appears to be officially banned so to speak, merely extremely yin or yang and thus best avoided. A variety of foods as well as whole grains (barley buckwheat, millet, rice) such as vegetables (some of which to be eaten raw), beans and bean products, sea vegetables, soups and pickles can be expected to be eaten when following the macrobiotic path. Fish would be eaten occasionally but meat and animal products in general would more than certainly be off the menu. The philosophy suggests that extreme Yin foods (spice & sugar) and extreme Yang foods (dairy and salt) are best avoided and a diet full of those foods which sit neatly in between should be eaten.
Not just the food
The method in which food is prepared is an important factor in macrobiotic eating, locally grown produce is preferred. Cooking methods suggest ditching the aluminium pans and utensils in favour of copper pans and open flames. Chewing food thoroughly is also a big part of the macrobiotic way. Some sources recommended 50 - 100 chews per mouthful. This helps break the food down putting less stress on the digestive system and is thought to help nutrients from the food be more easily absorbed into the body.
What are the benefits?
Testimonials to the diet suggest that one can achieve many health benefits, including physical attributes such as flawless skin, fabulously functioning internal organs to mental well being, a sound base upon which to cultivate one's own philosophies and give thanks for the world around them. (See much deeper than just the food bit).
Whole grains to whole new life style
We tried it for 7 days and preparing for a week of macrobiotic eating required a complete store cupboard and fridge overhaul, out with the nightshade vegetables which apparently steal calcium from the bones, anything vaguely processed and chemicalized and in with the fresh local produce, bought from local farm shops and farmers markets.
What we thought about the foods we tried.
Miso had a distinctive taste and was rather salty. Pickles and condiments were nice and certainly necessary to give taste to bland but nicely textured soya proteins, i.e. diced tofu.
Meal times became a little time consuming and pre planning of dishes is essential. The shopping and cost aspect includes specialist stuff from the health food store which isn’t necessarily available on a daily basis and can quickly add up. But with practice and a shrewd knowledge of getting the best from those macro meal leftovers it's not too bad.
But it is difficult to get other house hold members to conform so you end up cooking more than one meal.
Having to limit tomatoes and potatoes from the diet was a little disappointing as well.
How did we feel?
Hard to tell if the path to absolute health and longevity is sought over a period of 7 days, but generally well being and happy thoughts raged at the notion of aspiring to be healthier and put more thought into what we eat, and cutting out the rubbish food resulted in a small weight loss. The full blown Macrobiotic way of eating is not going to happen over night but certain elements integrated into daily diet i.e. eating slower, buying Local produce, visiting fresh farmers markets and lowering that carbon foot print and the air miles of the produce will make a difference. The key achievement of this week has been breaking away from processed canned food and microwave dinners and putting the effort into fresh food preparation. We feel emotional calmness and totally de-sludged!
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