Zen Macrobiotics for Americans by Roger Mason Tùy chọn

[huynhdoan2000]

Zen Macrobiotics for Americans
A Practical and Delicious Way to Eat Your Way to Health
by Roger Mason
Copyright 2002 by Roger Mason
All Rights Reserved

Zen Macrobiotics for Americans is not intended as medical advice. It is written solely for informational and educational purposes. Please consult a health professional should the need for one be indicated. Because there are always some risks involved, the author and publisher are not responsible for any adverse affects or consequences resulting from the use of any of the suggestions, preparations or methods described in this book. The publisher does not advocate the use of any particular diet or health program, but believes the information presented in this book should be available to the public.

All listed addresses, phone numbers, and fees have been reviewed and updated during production. However, the data is subject to change.

Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: Chapter 4: Chapter 5: Chapter 6: Chapter 7: Chapter 8: Chapter 9: Chapter 10: Chapter 11: Chapter 12: Chapter 13: Chapter 14: Chapter 15: Chapter 16: Chapter 17:

Contents
What is Macrobiotics?…………… 7-10
Yin and Yang…………………… 11-12
Whole Grains……………………. 13-18
Beans Are Good Food ………… 19-20 Vegetables …………………….. 21-24
Seafood, Meat, Poultry and Dairy.. 25-30
Fruits and Sugars …………….. 31-34
Other Diets …………………… 35-38
Your Hormones ………………. 39-44
Natural Hormone Balance………… 45-48
Natural Supplements ………… 49-56
Tropical and Nightshade Foods .. 57-60
Exercise ……………………….. 61-62
Fats and Oils …………………. 63-66
Curing the Incurable …………. 67-70
What to Drink …………………. 71-74
Daily Menus and Cookbooks… 75-78

Chapter 18: Condiments and Seasonings .. 79-80
Chapter 19: Calorie Restriction and Fasting .. 81-84
Chapter 20: Calorie Density …………………. 85-86
Chapter 21: Feed Your Pets Well …………… 87-88
Chapter 22: Meditation ………………………. 89-90
Chapter 23: Books to Read ……………….. 91-92

The information contained in this book should not be considered medical advice. The ideas, thoughts and opinions expressed herein belong solely to the author, who is not a medical doctor. Except as otherwise noted, no statement in this book has been reviewed or approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

About This Book
Back in the late sixties most of the middle class youth of America seem to have joined the psychedelic generation and looked for new horizons to expand their lives. Most all of these young people had grown up on meat, potatoes, white bread, and sugar as this is all they knew.

Along came very conservative George Ohsawa and talked about a way of health and longevity that expanded your mind naturally by being in tune with the Universal Order. This was appealing to many people, and became rather popular along with the general interest in natural food and herbal healing. Now almost four decades later macrobiotics is still popular and well known.

After eating this way for over thirty years it became clear that all the books on this subject were, in fact, about JAPANESE macrobiotics, written by Japanese people (or with their outlook), with Japanese cooking, and Japanese ingredients. Someone needed to write a book making macrobiotics more PRACTICAL, more universal, more down to earth, more fun, tastier, more creative, less restrictive, without all the Japanese clothing, but not watering it down or weakening it at all. There were just too many unneeded limitations, and too much cultural influence that simply did not translate here. Why expensive, hard to find Japanese vegetables, only 5% soups, tea with caffeine, buckwheat noodles with white flour, refined cous cous, no salads, very limited seasonings and condiments, few fresh green and yellow vegetables, all that salt, no supplements, no natural hormones, almost no raw foods, sprouts or fresh salads, and no fasting?

All the books on macrobiotics followed this same Japanese dogma without deviating. Someone needed to write a book that would keep the integrity and effectiveness, while expanding the scope. This book is for all races and cultures despite the title. This will not be a long book, nor filled with recipes and personal stories. At first, this may seem like too austere a way to eat everyday, but more and more it becomes your natural and enjoyable way of life. You will no longer want to eat meat, dairy, desserts, or tropical foods except very occasionally if at all. After more than 35 years of personally doing this you can believe that this is a wonderful, fulfilling and rewarding way to live as well as the best way to cure “incurable” illnesses.

Overview
There are so many natural health books today about the right foods to eat and so many contradictory philosophies. How can one know what is valid and what is not? So many authors are very convincing. The answer is very simple - RESULTS. The macrobiotic way of eating is the only proven way of curing “incurable” illnesses like the various cancers, diabetes, heart and artery problems, arthritis, osteoporosis, and the wide variety of illnesses that plague modern society, especially in the developed nations.

You have to experience this for yourself. Nature is the greatest healer, and our lifestyle will allow Nature to heal us. If we are in harmony with the Natural Order we will be healthy and happy. If we are ignorant of the Natural Order we will be sickly and unhappy. Buddha said ignore-ance (to ignore), not sin, is the root cause of suffering. This is simple, clear, practical and realistic.

Most people simply do not realize that we are literally what we eat. If we eat large amounts of animal foods, fats, refined foods, sugars of various kinds, preservatives, chemicals, and colorings we will suffer from an endless list of illnesses. The idea that diet can cure illness is not accepted by the mainstream at all.

We must take responsibility for our health, and our very destiny. We must treat the CAUSE of our illnesses whether this is mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual, and not just try to remove the symptom. Today nearly everyone goes to the medical priests we call “doctors” and puts all responsibility on them instead of them- selves. We try to obliterate the symptom of our problem with surgery, drugs, radiation, and now microwaves and lasers. Look at the cause of your suffering. It is only by dealing with the cause that we can be well again. You cannot be well by treating the symptom and ignoring what caused this symptom to manifest. You cannot be well by giving the responsibility to any health professional whether allopathic or naturopathic. You cannot be healed by throwing money at your problems no matter how wealthy you are. You cannot cure yourself by being butchered, poisoned and irradiated- and now microwaved and lasered.

You can and will get well by aligning yourself with the Infinite Order and making better food choices, taking proven supplements, balancing your hormones, fasting regularly, ending bad habits, and exercising. This is what natural health is all about.

Chapter 1: What Is Macrobiotics?
____________________________________________________
The word “macrobiotic” comes from the Greek words “macro” or great, and “bios” or life. Hippocrates (the Father of Medicine) and Herodotus used this way of eating natural foods to regain health and to treat their patients. This way of eating was popularized in Europe and America in the 1960’s, especially among the younger people. George Ohsawa was the main source of information with his rather basic books “Zen Macrobiotics” and “You Are All Sanpaku”. William Dufty and his “Sugar Blues” also was popular. Then along came Michio Kushi, Herman Aihara and other writers. These few basic books had an immense influence - which is still strong today - simply because this means of healing works. Their claims that you could cure cancer and other terminal illnesses with diet proved to be true.

One can certainly wonder how a poor immigrant like George Ohsawa showed up here in America with no money, no credentials, or anything but his dream, and has had such a tremendous influence on American society. Four decades later, and long after his death, macrobiotics is stronger than ever. There is an old saying, “one man plus truth equals an army”. This is how George did it; he was merely a messenger for a very important message that people here were ready to receive. His unsophisticated little paperback books became more and more popular as people found they made sense and the advice really worked. The people who changed their way of eating and their way of life got the results he promised and cured their illnesses by changing their direction.

The underlying theory is really very simple. The essence of all this is simplicity. Thoreau said, “simplify, simplify, simplify.” One eats whole grains as their main, principal food. Beans and legumes are also staples. Most green and yellow vegetables are eaten. Soups, salads, and local fruit are eaten in moderation. Seafood is also eaten in moderation, or you can choose to be a vegetarian. Tropical foods from hot climates like bananas, citrus fruit, mangoes and the like are avoided for those living in temperate climates regardless of their genetic inheritance. Nightshade family vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes (tomatoes are botanically classed as fruits), peppers, and eggplants are avoided as well as vegetables high in oxalic acid., such as spinach and Swiss chard. Basically sweeteners are not used including honey and maple syrup. Just because a food is palatable does not mean it is healthful and suited for us to eat. There are some good tasting foods that do not support a long and healthy life. One drinks good water or herb tea, and eats only two meals a day. No meat, milk, dairy products, poultry, or eggs are eaten. If one wants to be a vegetarian seafood is left out. You always adapt to your genetics, the climate, and the seasons This, in a few sentences, is what comprises the macrobiotic way of eating and is always adaptable and flexible for each person.

In current Western religions dietetic principles are almost ignored completely. Some Seven Day Adventists, Buddhist, and Hindu sects still observe them. Even the Catholics have given up abstaining from meat on Fridays. Kosher and halal foods are not based on health principles. In original Christianity such principles were integral. In Japan today this type of eating is called shojin ryori and is still popular in the countryside (but generally not the city). Our biology and physiology are ignored instead of cared for. The teachings of the ancient religions always taught the body is a holy temple of the spirit, thus the importance of healthful eating and drinking, as well as avoiding harmful habits like coffee, tobacco, and alcohol. The Code of Manu, the Bible, Canon of the Yellow Emperor, I Ching, Tao te Ching, Bhagavad Gita and Charak Samita all spoke of taking care of our earthly abode of consciousness, our physical body. You must be your own doctor, you must take responsibility for your health and happiness, you must heal yourself when ill. Be responsible for your life. Only you can heal yourself. “Physician, heal thyself.”

Happy societies are based on millions of happy individuals. Imagine if the 6 billion people on this earth ate and drank and lived in harmony with the Divine Order. This planet would be all we have dreamed of and more. Our health and happiness are determined by our judgment, by our awareness, and our faith in the Infinite. With good judgment we are happy and healthy. Macrobiotics is based on clear judgementt, and there are no rigid rules to follow. There are principles to lead us, but no dogma we must obey. Instead of structure there is flow. As the Zen master Lin Chi said, “At one stroke I forgot all my knowledge! There is no need for any discipline; for, move as I will, I always manifest the Tao.” Macrobiotics is a deep understanding of the Ultimate Ground of Being that underlies all of existence. Above all, this is practical, pragmatic, logical, rational, sensible, based on common sense, and relates to the most everyday and mundane aspects of our lives. This includes washing the dishes and driving to work. We come to realize the Divine in the everyday. The more we understand the Order of the Universe the more we harmonize with it and eat the foods that are best for us. As artists we create our own lives and design our own lifestyles by living in harmony with universal laws. We become our own doctors and follow the admonition, “physician, heal thyself.” As we become more aware we gain freedom, health, happiness, creativity and spiritual realization. We take full and total responsibility for our lives and do not blame conditions, circumstances, or other people for our faults, limitations, problems, and unhappiness. Look at your life….are you happy with it? Your life is exactly the way you made it, and you are free to change it any way you choose in your heart. In your innermost being you do not really want to be a famous actor or actress, a powerful and influential politician, a billionaire business magnate, a legendary sports figure, or other such meaningless and empty fantasies. Such people are never happy.

Our overall attitude should be one of THANKFULNESS and being grateful for all we have been given, not taking anything for granted. We should always be thankful just for being incarnated in physical bodies and being on this earth. It is very rare to be given the gift of being alive in human form. Life is a brief flash of light in the cosmos, and we have been given this chance to live any way we want to, and be anything we want to be. Always be thankful and grateful simply for being alive on this earth as a senient, aware being. We all manifest the entire universe. We are all microcosms of the the Infinite Universe.

Japanese macrobiotics overstressed whole grains. The traditional classification was seven levels of eating with 100% whole grains at the top. The seventh level was 40% grains. The idea that eating only whole grains as the ultimate diet is obviously unrealistic and unhealthful for several reasons.

No one can eat diet #7 with 100% whole grains for any length of time. You could only eat such a diet very temporarily to heal and cleanse yourself. Such a regimen is seriously lacking in vitamins (especially vitamin A), minerals, and plant nutrients such as sterols, lignans, etc. Only 50-60% of our diet should be whole grains as our principal food. Dried beans are included with grains for simplicity, and because they are so close as principal foods. Soup should consist of vegetables along with grains and beans in any combination. In Japanese macrobiotics only 5% soup was allowed, but no realistic explanation for such limitation given. A daily bowl of hot flavorful soup before dinner (and lunch as well) every day allows you to eat less food and feel full on less calories. Soups are no different from regular food as long as you CHEW the solids in your soup and do not swallow unchewed vegetables, grains and beans. Therefore, an ideal and practical diet for most people would be about 50% whole grains and beans, 30% vegetables, 10% seafood, and 10% salads and/or fruits. A practical diet for the vegetarian would be about 50% grains and beans, 30% vegetables, 10% salads, and 10% fruits. These two diets would basically suit everyone and would, in fact, cure so called “incurable” illnesses such as cancer. Seafood should be limited to 10%. You can eat 10% fresh salad regularly as long as you use a light and healthy dressing. You can eat up to 10% local fruit especially in the summer, but you really don’t need fruit at all especially in winter. You’ll see why this is true in Chapter 7 on Fruits and Sugars. Macrobiotic desserts are a temporary transition and not a permanent part of your diet. Desserts are really an unnecessary Western custom and not part of a healthy lifestyle, even if made with honey, fruit syrup, amazake. or other natural sweetener.
As a transition you can temporarily make desserts out of whole grains and whole fruits with no other sweeteners.

Ohsawa always made a point that one should never waste food, not even a single grain of rice. This may sound obsessive, but there is an important point here. You should always eat all the food you put on your plate with great thankfulness and appreciation and literally eat the last grain of rice on your plate to show respect for the Universal Order. One never wastes food.

You avoid Nightshade vegetables including potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants as they contain large amounts of toxic solanine. You also avoid tropical vegetables such as taro root. This is discussed in Chapter 12: Tropical Foods and Nightshades. You will also limit foods high in oxalic acid such as spinach and Swiss chard.

The most important food to eliminate is milk and dairy foods due to their lactose and casein content. All adults of all races are lactose intolerant. This is a fact. Everyone loses their ability to secrete the enzyme lactase after about three years of age. Red meat is too full of saturated fat and cholesterol. Poultry and eggs are high in saturated fat, and are two of the most allergenic of all foods.

You will come to greatly enjoy grains, beans, vegetables, seafood, soups, salads, and fruits. You will come to not miss red meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy foods that Americans eat so much of. This will become a natural way of life to you.

Chapter 2: Yin and Yang
____________________________________________________
No book on macrobiotics would be complete without talking about yin and yang. Ohsawa called this “our guiding compass” as using this principle showed us right direction in our daily lives. In Oriental philosophy this is the unifying principle where the interplay of opposites is central. Yin is the feminine, cold, contracting, violet energy, while yang is the masculine, hot, and expanding red energy. Together the universe, and everything in it, is made, preserved, and dissolved. The universe we live in is not solid at all like we think, but rather an energy dance of vibrations. Existence is without beginning or end, beyond space and time. and ever changing. Yin and yang are relative terms and not absolutes. Everything has both forces in it, and nothing is purely yin or purely yang. The most yang substance has yin at its heart, while the most yin substance has yang at its heart.

A very good way to look at the foods we eat is that a balance of yin and yang forces should prevail. Too much yin or too much yang ends up in sickness and ill health. You cannot balance yin and yang by going to extremes such as eating a very yin food like candy and then eating a very yang food like beef. You cannot cook tomatoes (yin) with salt (yang) to make them less yin as the chemi- cal constitution will remain the same basically. Balance means to eat proper foods in the right amounts so that a natural equilibrium prevails.

To get an idea of how this applies to what we eat, the most yin foods to yang foods goes from yin drugs (e.g. stimulants) - sugars - alcohol - yeast - oil –-fruit – yin dairy (e.g. yogurt) - nuts - water - sea vegetables - green and yellow vegetables – beans - grains – seafood
– yang dairy (e.g. hard cheese) - poultry - meat – eggs – salt - yang drugs (e.g. opiates). Dairy products can be yin like yogurt or yang like hard cheese. Drugs can be yin like stimulants or yang like opiates. Please look at this chain of food from yin to yang very carefully and remember it. You can see that vegetables, beans and grains are the basis of our diet. This gives you an idea of how to avoid the extremes to balance your body, mind, health and life. You cannot stay healthy by eating, for example, honey and fish and expecting them to balance each other out. You can see in our present society that poor health comes largely from an extreme intake of sweeteners of various types on one hand, and extreme intake of animal products on the other hand as staples.

The Yin and Yang classification is very helpful with colors as well. Colors go from yin ultraviolet – violet – indigo – blue – green – yellow – brown – orange – red - yang infrared.

You can take this too far, however, and the original writers certainly did. In the real world this only works to a certain degree and then becomes too complex for it to be practical anymore. A perfect example is cherry tomatoes. These are small (yang), round (yang) and red (yang), but are one of the top ten allergenic foods on earth and chemically very yin. tomatoes or little, round difference. Most people simply are biologically incompatible with them and will react negatively to their regular intake. Too much concern about what is yin and what is yang, and how to make yin foods more yang and yang foods more yin becomes more like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin than eating a balanced diet.

Some things to remember:
Whether you eat big, pear-shaped yellow cherry red tomatoes makes very little
Yin and yang are always relative.
Whatever has a beginning has an end.
No two things are identical.
Oneness always manifests itself at all times as two forces we can all yin and yang.
Yin and yang are always changing into each other. Yin attracts yang and yang attracts yin.
Yin repels yin and yang repels yang.
Nothing is only yin or only yang; everything is composed of both yin and yang together.
Nothing is balanced and static; everything is made up of dynamic and unequal portions of yin and yang
The bigger the front, the bigger the back.
The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity. All antagonisms are, in reality, complimentary.
The entire universe is everchanging, limitless, infinite, constant, and omnipotent.
Your worst enemy is your best friend, and will teach you more than anyone else.
Every experience in your life is exactly what you need at that moment and must be learned or it will be repeated. There are no mistakes.

Chapter 3: Whole Grains
____________________________________________________
Whole grains are literally the staff of life. Whole grains have been the staple of most civilizations since man mastered the art of agriculture over ten thousand years ago. The word “cereal” comes from the goddess Ceres. When man learned how to grow his own food, and not merely hunt and gather, he gained freedom for the first time. This was the major defining difference between cave people at the mercy of natural forces and those who forged their own destiny. Americans and Europeans no longer eat many whole grains, however, and haven’t for a long time. The rice is white, the bread is white, the cornmeal is de-germed, the cold cereal is refined, the flour is white. and we have all but forgotten about such wonderful foods like oats, barley, buckwheat, millet, and rye.

Why base your diet on whole grains? This has been the staple food for mankind for thousands of years and rightly so. Let’s use extremes to make a point. If you ate nothing but red meat for a month what effects would it have? Ketosis (high blood ketones) , high cholesterol and triglycerides, elevated uric acid, bad body and mouth odor, a general feeling of malaise, physical weakness, and other problems. If you ate only fruit for one month? Extremely disrupted blood glucose metabolism, severe lack of nutrition and a dangerous sugar overload. Eggs and poultry? Very similar to meat, but worse since so many people have allergies to poultry and eggs. Green and yellow vegetables? You would lose weight and lack protein and other nutrients, but would certainly feel good and look better; but you cannot continue on such a regimen. Whole grains? You would feel and look wonderful, your mind would be clear, you would be full of energy, your body would be cleansed, your body fat would fall, many illnesses and conditions would be healed, but long term, you would lack certain vitamins (especially vitamin A) and minerals, and other nutrients that are found in beans and green and yellow vegetables. Clearly whole grains are our principal food.

Let’s take one specific example as proof. What is the most rapidly growing epidemic disease in the world by far? Diabetes. Diabetes and other blood sugar disorders are the worst health threat we face. One in three American children will grow up to suffer from type 2 diabetes! People who eat the most whole grains have the lowest rates of diabetes, while people who eat the least whole grains have the highest rates. Do we have published clinical proof this is true? Yes, there is overwhelming evidence of this. Our own USDA Research Center says this. The University of Minnesota proved this in studying over 160,000 men and women. The National Public Health Institute in Finland found this is true. Harvard Medical School has published several studies on this. The most impressive of all is the Framingham Study which is the longest and largest ongoing study of diet and health. Since this is true for diabetes it is certainly equally true for coronary heart disease- our biggest killer by far, various cancers, and the other conditions we suffer from.

We eat twice the protein we need, five times the fat, as well as twice the calories. The reality is that “protein deficiency” rarely exists, but protein overload is very common. The average whole grain contains about 8% high quality protein. This is readily bioavailable with a wide variety of amino acids. When you eat beans regularly you will have an even larger variety of amino acids. The idea of lacking certain amino acids and having “incomplete” proteins is not based on science at all. You will get plenty of complete protein on a macrobiotic diet even if you choose to be a vegetarian and eat no seafood.

Let’s start with wheat. Nearly all the wheat eaten in America is in the form of refined white flour. Even the “whole wheat” bread in the grocery stores is often adultered with white flour, chemicals and preservatives, as well as being too light fluffy. Most bakeries do not sell real whole wheat bread, but rather “wheat bread” with unbleached white flour added. Buy your bread from a natural foods store or bakery that sells the real thing, or make it yourself. Whole wheat breads vary quite a bit according to weight, water content, slice thickness, and even the amount of oil added, but a typical slice has about 70 calories and 13% fat calories. You can find very good whole wheat breads or bake them yourself if you have the time. Most all the various pastas are made from white flour or a mixture of white and whole wheat flours, but you can readily find a wide variety of whole wheat pasta now in most chain grocery stores. Two ounces of dry whole wheat spaghetti is about 200 calories. When cooked this is only about 5% fat calories and will weigh about six ounces drained al dente. Bulgur wheat is whole wheat that has been soaked to expand it and then dried so it cooks more quickly. This retains most of the whole grain nutrition, contains only about 152 calories per cup cooked and a mere 3% fat calories. Bulgur is not well known here. Couscous is nearly always a refined grain and not a good choice and should only be eaten occasionally in Mideastern restaurants. Look for whole wheat couscous in natural health stores for regular use. Whole wheat tortillas are best made at home with a simple ten dollar tortilla press since they are so difficult to find even in Latin grocery stores. Commercial cold cereals are rarely made with whole wheat. The few that are have sugar added to them. Fortunately you can find a few good whole grain cold cereals now in chain groceries and not just natural food stores. A typical one has only about 120 calories per cup (30 g) dry. You’ll rarely find whole wheat products when you go out to eat in restaurants. Yes, there are occasional uses for unbleached white flour at times as a thickener in white sauces and soups, but not to replace whole wheat flour in breads and such.

It is true you should eat more steamed grains rather than flour products like bread, and noodles. Whole grains that are steamed retain more nutrition than pasta, bread, and other flour products. Traditional macrobiotics recommends sour dough bread as if this is somehow not leavened with yeast. All risen bread is still based on yeast- wild or otherwise. The only unleavened “bread” is usually matzoh.. Yes, yeast is very yin, but it is completely dead after baking, and you are getting very little cooked yeast proteins in a slice of bread. You should look for heavy dense loaves that weigh about two pounds about eight inches long and four inches high.

Whole unprocessed grains have a long shelf life while retaining their nutrition. Once ground into flour, however, they oxidize and lose their valuable nutrients. Ideally one should grind their own flour, but this is not practical for most people. It is best to buy refrigerated, fresh ground whole wheat bread or pastry (low gluten) flour in a natural food store if possible. You will find different uses for both bread and pasty flours. If you can’t grind your own then buy your flour in the grocery store and keep it refrigerated. The reason white flour does not need to be refrigerated is that the oils and nutrients have been basically refined out of it. Definitely you want to eat more steamed grains than flour products (such as noodles and bread) as a general rule.

Brown rice is sold in most any grocery and Oriental grocery store now. Some Asian restaurants, especially in big cities like New York or Los Angeles, offer brown rice with your meal if you request it. It is worthwhile buying 25 pound bags of organically grown brown rice since many chemicals are used to raise regular rice. You can buy exotic brown rice like jasmine and basmati if you’re willing to pay up for them. The short grain variety is usually preferred as it is supposedly more yang. It really makes little difference. It is worth the price to get organically grown rice since it will be your staple. You can also find short grain “sweet rice”, but this takes longer to cook correctly, and is really meant for desserts rather than meals. Brown rice pasta is popular now, but you have to cook it carefully, never cook it too long, and cool it off once it is finished. Brown rice flour is available and mostly used for baking. You can readily find brown rice hot and cold cereals. These usually use brown rice in a mix with other whole grains. Rice is most versatile and can be used in many ways in very different types of dishes. A lot of people choose to eat brown rice as their staple food as they feel it simply tastes better than the other grains. One cup of cooked brown rice has about 173 calories and 5% fat calories. Urban people in Japan, Thailand, Viet Nam, China, Korea, and other Asian countries generally eat white rice, and it can be very difficult to find brown rice in city restaurants in Asia.

Wild rice , like buckwheat, is not botanically clased as a grain. Wild rice is really a grass with a strong flavor, and is pricey compared with brown rice. This is a perfectly good food, but you may want to use it to flavor your brown rice and other grains rather than eat it by itself as the taste is simply too assertive. This makes a good addition to your other grains and adds variety and flavor. It has even less calories than brown rice as it contains only 3% fat calories.

Corn is still eaten whole as a vegetable as corn on the cob. Frozen corn is acceptable out of season. White or yellow cornmeal is popular, but make sure it is whole and not “degermed” with the nutrition removed. A fancy word for corn meal mush is “polenta”, which is served in some of the finest restaurants especially Northern Italian ones. If you have never had polenta it is very easy and quick to fix and quite good as well as inexpensive. Just take 1 cup of corn meal and three cups of water or vegetable stock and cook for about fifteen minutes. You can replace one cup of stock with non-dairy milk to make it creamy. Corn grits are a Southern staple, but have been degermed and are not a whole grain. Even Mexican white hominy (maiz trillado) is degermed. It seems that whole corn grits do not exist for some reasons. Anything labeled “hominy” is also degermed unfortunately. Good corn chips, that are baked rather than fried, can be an excellent whole grain food. Latins use harina masa or finely ground corn flour rather than coarse meal, but be sure this is ground from whole corn and not degermed. An ear of corn has about 89 calories with 10% fat calories and is equal to a half cup of fresh or frozen corn kernels. A quarter cup of whole corn meal (30 grams) has 100 calories and 10% fat calories and cooked with three quarters of a cup of water or stock would make a large serving of polenta. You can find special coarse ground meal labeled as such.

Oats are rarely eaten now except as oatmeal for breakfast. Too often this is instant or quick cooking. Be sure to buy the “old fashioned” oatmeal as it cooks in a few minutes. Oat groats and steel cut oats are other good choices. Very few people use oat flour, but it goes well in breads and baking. Oat flakes also go very well in baking. Some whole grain cold cereals include oats in them. This is a yang cereal with a high oil content. It grows in cold regions and is very good for cold climates and in winter time. A cup of cooked oatmeal has 145 calories and 12% fat calories, so it is especially good for cold weather. It’s a shame such a fine flavorful grain is now generally limited only to breakfast cereal. Oats also are a source of beta glucan for your immunity.

Buckwheat is not botanically a grain, but certainly is rightly considered a grain for practical purposes. You can buy buckwheat groats in the grocery store. Very few people eat buckwheat groats anymore, but they are quite good and mix well with other grains. Try half buckwheat and half brown rice for a change. Buckwheat cooks very easily and quickly. You can find hot cereals made with buckwheat as well. An emphasis was made in macrobiotics about eating buckwheat noodles or “soba”. Go to an Oriental store and you will find all the buckwheat noodles are filled with white flour. Buckwheat lacks gluten to hold it together and must be mixed with wheat flour. It is difficult to find buckwheat noodles made with whole wheat flour for some reason. They are very expensive anyway, and simply have no advantage over whole wheat pastas. Buckwheat groats are delicious, can be mixed with other grains, and are very nutritious especially in winter since they are very yang and grown in cold climates such as Canada.

Rye is not commonly eaten today except mixed with white flour in rye bread. Nearly all rye is used to make whiskey. Rye has a strong and distinctive flavor with no gluten, and cannot stand alone in bread. There are a few hot cereals made with rye, but they are not very widely sold. When you make your own whole grain bread be sure to make some rye bread occasionally with one third rye and two thirds whole wheat flour along with caraway seeds and cornmeal.

Millet is a popular staple in some African countries, but not very popular here. You can buy whole millet and try it to discover a whole new grain to eat . It is easy to find and inexpensive. This is steams quickly and ican be mixed with your rice for variety. You can add millet flour to homemade bread as well. You’ll find this in multigrain breads often. A cup of cooked millet contains about 287 calories and 6% fat calories. This seems high because cooked millet does not contain much water and is very filling. This is a staple food in some countries yet not popular here in America. This is a fine grain to eat with a lot of nutrition.

What about spelt, teff and quinoa (KEEN-wa)? These are ancient grains, can be hard to find, and rather expensive compared to other grains. Try these for variety as they do differ in taste. You will find baked goods and pastas containing these. As they become more common the price will come down.

If you could eat only one food to stay alive temporarily during an emergency your best choice would be to pick any whole grain. You could thrive on this for a long time. Whole grains are your staple food and should be the basis of your diet, your principle food. Whole grains are easily digested and leave no toxins in the body during their metabolism. They contain all the protein you need, are very low in fat, high in fiber, low in calories, and very concentrated in nutrition. Whole grains are also the best food to regulate your blood sugar. Blood sugar dysmetabolism -both low and high- is epidemic in West-ern societies largely because we have forgotten whole grains as our main source of nutrition. This is the central food of the macrobiotic way of eating.

Some grains can be successfully sprouted including barley, buckwheat, rice, wheat, millet, oats, and triticale. You can find these in natural food stores or easily sprout them at home. Try these for variety and taste. Treat sprouts as vegetables since that is what they are nutritionally after being sprouted.

Get some cookbooks on how to cook grains in a variety of international styles. You’ll find they quickly become an immensely enjoyable principal food you look forward to every day. It can be difficult at first to use whole grains as your principle food when you haven’t been used to them. Once you learn to cook them they will become the main course of your every meal. You’ll come to love whole grains as the center of your dietl and look forward to enjoying them in a variety of ways.

Chapter 4: Beans Are Good Food
____________________________________________________
Beans and legumes are wonderful foods that feed much of the world. Dried beans should also be a staple in your diet. You will come to enjoy them very much as you learn to cook and flavor them in international styles. In affluent societies, such as ours, they are often looked at as food for poor people. Go to the store and buy some pintos, lentils, black-eyed peas, chili beans, black beans, northern, pink, chickpeas, kidneys, limas, navy, and cannellini beans. Now go to a Latin market and you’ll find beans you’ve probably never heard of. Buy one of each variety like pigeon peas and favas and go home and try them. Go to a gourmet store or search the Internet and you’ll really find some interesting ones like appaloosa, calypso, Christmas limas, cranberry, European soldiers, yellow eyed peas, white emergo, trout, tongues of fire, Swedish brown beans, snowcaps, scarlet runners, Spanish Tolosanas, French flageolets, French navy, Jackson wonders, piebald, provence, rattlesnake and rice beans.

Go to the library and get some international cookbooks and see how the cooks of the world prepare their beans. Bean soups, refried beans, pasta and beans, bean dips, bean salads, and bean spreads like hummus show their versatility. Some beans can be sprouted, especially soy, mung, lentil, green and yellow peas, chickpeas, and adzuki beans. Try adding bean thread to your soups and stir fries. Well cooked beans are anything but food for Third World and poor people. The early macrobiotic teachers emphasized adzuki beans only because the Japanese actually eat very few beans in their diet. Enjoy all varieties of beans cooked in various inter- national styles with good herbal flavorings.

Beans are very high in protein, vitamins, minerals and plant nutrients like lignans and sterols, but without the calories or the fat. People who begin eating beans regularly sometimes have excess gas or bloating, but this basically goes away as the body gets acclimated to eating them and your intestines become healthier. There are digestive enzymes such as Beano®, aka alpha galactosidase, available if you want to take them, but it isn’t necessary. To give you an idea of the nutritional profile of common beans here are some basic facts (per half cup cooked):
Bean (half cup cooked) Cal. %Fat Calories %Protein

Chick peas 120 4 20
Kidney 112 1 20 Lentils 115 1 26
Pinto/Calico 117 1 19 Lima 111 1 20 Blackeyed 100 2 17 Yellow Soybeans 139 14 29 Red beans 100 1 20 Black beans 113 4 23
Navy bean 129 1 21 Northern beans 104 1 19 Pink beans 125 1 20 Cannellini 125 1 20 Fava (Broad) 100 2 30
Split Peas 115 1 24

It can take 2 to 3 hours to cook beans, so you can cook up a pound bag and freeze half of them if you want to. Remember to bring them to a boil, turn off the heat, and let them hot soak for a few hours before cooking. Do not add salt until after they have fully soaked. Never add baking soda to cookbooks suggest. Adding onions, leeks, and celery, makes them more, nutrirtious, colorful, and interesting. Be sure to use your favorite herbs, spices and flavorings to make them even more delicious.

What about tofu, which is so popular? This is a very versatile food, but a very refined one. Tofu is missing most of the nutrition and is over 50% fat calories. It cannot be sautéed as it absorbs oil like a sponge. It certainly does have limited uses, but this is just not a staple food. Tofu is the “white bread” of soybeans. Tempeh is a whole food and a much better choice having all the nutrition of the soybean.

When you learn to use and cook beans in new and creative ways you’ll come to enjoy them as a regular part of your diet. Beans are next to grains as a principal food due to their high nutrition, good protein, high fiber, low fat content, and low calories. Beans are good food.
make them cook quicker as some vegetables such as garlic, carrots,

Chapter 5: Vegetables
____________________________________________________
It seems most Americans are rather bored by green and yellow vegetables. This is really due to the poor cooking and flavoring methods used to prepare them. Most restaurants barely serve green and yellow vegetables except homestyle restaurants in the South. Fast food restaurants serve almost none. Even gourmet restaurants often only offer one single vegetable du jour. The uncreative way green and yellow vegetables are generally prepared, cooked, and served in America is a very good reason more people aren’t attracted to them. Many still buy vegetables including leafy ones in cans. Some frozen vegetables are very tasty and full of nutrition, and can be acceptable in winter when they are out of season. Fortunately we have a wide variety of fresh vegetables available all year round here in America. Most people eat their vegetables boiled until they’re soggy and then flavored with butter, salt and pepper. Nearly all Latin countries are the same way and avoid green and yellow vegetables for some reason. The Asians generally are the premier vegetable cooks. The main Asian preparation is a stir fry with lots of good flavors added such as ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sherry, oyster sauce, dark sesame oil, black bean sauce, chili sauce and other such condiments. Get some Chinese, Viet Namese Indonesian, and Thai cookbooks for interesting ways to fix vegetables.

One could easily get the idea macrobiotic books that Diet #7 is the ideal. Here the more grains you eat, and the less vegetables you eat the better. This is a big misunderstanding as eating only whole grains is a very temporary regimen for people with serious illness. It is important to eat lots of fresh green and yellow vegetables with your grains and beans. Vegetables contain vitamins and other nutrients such as vitamin A, beta carotene, vitamin C, and sterols that are not found in grains. You can eat as much as fifty per cent fresh vegetables and should eat at least twenty five per cent. You’ll eat more vegetables in the summer when you need lighter food and fewer calories, and less in the winter when you need heavier food and more calories.

Let’s take a look at some of the many good vegetables we can eat. Asparagus, artichoke, bok choy, bush and pole beans, bean sprouts, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, red and green cabbage, Chinese cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Swiss chard (occasionally), cucumbers, garlic, edible gourds, endive, collard and mustard greens, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce (many varieties other and flavor your favorite

from reading the early than iceberg), lotus root, many types of mushrooms, okra, onions, parsnips, peas, snow peas, various pumpkins, radishes,rutabagas, salsify, Malabar spinach and New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia not Spinacia), green and yellow squashes, various winter squashes, green beans, sweet potatoes (which are not yams), turnips and watercress.

The older macrobiotic books also kept recommending such hard to obtain and expensive vegetables like burdock root, Hokkaido pumpkin, daikon radish, mountain potatoes (jijeno) and other such Japanese foods. These just don’t translate here very well. These have no advantage over the vegetables we have in America, and can be very hard to find even in Asian food stores.

A word about onions, leeks, garlic, and green onions (Allium family). Onions, etc. must always be cooked to evaporate the irritating volatile oils, and must never be eaten raw. Raw garlic and onions are used as natural insecticides due to their irritating nature. Certain yogic systems do not allow onions and garlic as they are considered to “rajastic”. This means overly stimulating and disturbing to the body. Some people will be allergic and biologically incompatible with the Allium family and should not eat them. If you get indigestion from eating any of these please drop them from your diet. It is true that the substances in garlic have been shown in countless clinical studies to have healing properties for most people. This has been verified clinically over the years, but some people will still be allergic.

You rarely see raw vegetables or raw salads recommended in traditional macrobiotics. It is true that people on an all raw food diet quickly become very sickly and have to stop such a regimen. Raw foods are part of eating well, especially in the summer when lighter fare is needed. Most vegetables are simply inedible when eaten raw and need light cooking to make them palatable. The old macrobiotic idea of “pressing” and salting your salad greens is very unnecessary and ruins crisp lettuce and other raw vegetables. A small salad makes a wonderful and colorful addition to a meal, especially in summer when less calories are eaten. The real concern is finding a low fat or no fat dressing to go on your salads. Many Latins have a custom of simply squeezing lime juice over their salad and do not use creamy dressings at all. Asians flavor their salad greens with such condiments as soy sauce, sesame, and ginger.

We also need to discuss salted and salt pickled vegetables. These are popular in cold, remote areas where produce is seasonal.. This is about the only way they can eat green and yellow vegetables in winter. The salt overload from such foods is just not necessary. Pickled vegetables are still popular in Asian areas where there is no refrigeration. There is just no reason to eat pickled vegetables, including such things as preserved daikon radish. It is far preferable to eat frozen vegetables since a wide variety are available all year round. There are times when frozen vegetables are fine in winter; There is a loss of texture in these but no loss of nutrition. Canned vegetables are generally avoided.

We must discuss sea vegetables as well, which are commonly referred to as “seaweeds”. Traditional macrobiotics recommends we eat these very nutritious vegetables from the ocean such as nori, kombu, and hiziki. These are the best source of minerals we can eat and can be found at oriental grocery stores. Americans have never cultivated much of a taste for these, and most people refuse to eat them except maybe when they eat nori wrapped sushi. Buy some of the various sea vegetables and at least try them in small amounts. You only need a tablespoonful at meals and it makes an elegant garnish. There is a problem with these in that they contain extremely high amounts of iodine. Only use them in moderation. Some people may react to such high doses of iodine and should avoid them;

Please change your view of vegetables so you can see how delicious they can be when prepared well. Get some international cookbooks and see how the chefs of the world prepare different vegetables. Modify any recipes if possible that sound good, but don’t use the specific ingredients you want. Most recipes can be adapted to be healthful.

Tempura vegetables are popular in Japanese restaurants, but are very high in oil content no matter how skillfully cooked. This certainly tastes good, but is not a good way to eat them regularly. Tempura is best reserved for special occasions.

You can use a pressure cooker if you choose to, but very few people do. The idea that this makes food more yang is technically true, but rather unimportant. If you want to cook your grains and certain dishes in a pressure cooker they are very safe, easy to use, and cook your food more quickly.

Notice that sprouts weren’t included in traditional Japanese macrobiotics. There are many seeds that can be sprouted to add taste and variety to your vegetables, salads, and sandwiches. Many sprouts are now available in grocery stores. Making sprouts at home is easy and fun. Just some of the vegetable seeds that can be successfully sprouted are alfalfa, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, chia, cress, radish, and fenugreek.

If you want to lose weight and eat less calories simply eat more good green and yellow vegetables. You should eat fifty per cent or more whole grains as your principal food. To lose weight you can eat more green and yellow vegetables, salads, soups, local fruits, but with no seafood. This is filling but very low calorie.

If you don’t feel like fasting, you can go on a vegetable soup diet for a week or two. You can lose an impressive amount of weight while never being hungry. Just make soups from your favorite grains ,beans, green vegetables, and yellow vegetables. Flavor these fully. Vegetables have less calories than any other food group. This is a partial fast and will also benefit your health from the very low calorie intake.

Calorie Content of Common Vegetables (100 grams)
Artichoke 26
Asparagus 26
Beets 31
Broccoli 18 Brussels sprouts 32
Cabbage 27
Carrots 52
Cauliflower 27
Celery 14
Cucumber 9 Kale 33
Leeks 52
Lettuce 35
Mushrooms 40
Onions 24
Radishes 17
Squash, Summer 14
Squash, Winter 25
Turnip Greens 24