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Macrobiotic Diet
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1. Pattern of eating
This refers to which foods make up your diet. Many people in modern societies, for example, eat meat as their main food. Some health conscious people eat salads as their main food. Some eat mainly fruits. And so on. These are different patterns of eating.
Macrobiotic teachings recommend a pattern of eating as follows:
Click on the following links to read, in greater detail, about specific food groups and what place they have in a macrobiotic diet:The pattern is the most important. Even when you cannot control the quality of your food, as when you eat out in restaurants, you can still choose the pattern and, in that sense, observe a macrobiotic diet.
We will discuss this pattern in greater detail below.
2. Food quality
Where possible, eat natural and organic foods that have been grown and produced naturally without the use of chemical fertlisers, growth hormornes and so on.
In the case of processed foods such as soy sauce, miso, vinegar, etc, it is best to eat those that have been processed according to traditional methods - eg, say sauce and miso made by natural fermentation – without modern short-cuts.
But while the macrobitic diet emphasises good quality, organic and natural foods, it does not mean that non-organic, lesser quality foods should be totally avoided. This is because of the third principle of the macrobiotic diet:
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3. Variety of foods
Eat a wide variety of foods, because different foods nourish you in different ways.
Eat different foods even if this sometimes means sacrificing on quality. For example, if you can only get organic carrots and broccoli, it does not mean that you eat only carrot and broccoli. Other vegetables are also important.
I used to run a natural and organic foods store and I ever encountered customers who would ask if a certain item was organic. When I said “No’, these customers would quickly throw down the item as though it was poison.
Such an attitude is not in accordance with the principles of a macrobiotic diet.
4. Climatic adjustments
People living in hot tropical climates need to eat differently from those living in cool or cold temperate climates. This may seem obvious. Yet many people do not observe this principle at all.
For example people in cold climates nowadays commonly eat tropical fruits such as banana and pineapple. Or, they eat hot spices which, traditionally, have not been eaten in cold climates.
These foods help the body to cool down. So if you eat them in a cold climate, you might feel cold.
Likewise, nowadays it is common to find people in the tropics eating cold climate fish like salmon.
Or, because of the health foods movement, some people in hot tropical climates have started to eat cold climate grains like buckwheat. Or, people in low lands are eating grains that grow in high mountains, like quinoa.
Such food choices are, again, not strictly following the principles of a macrobiotic diet.
Those who understand the macrobiotic diet and follow this principle of making climatic adjustments are able to tolerate a broad range of climatic conditions. They don't need central heating during winter, not do they need air-conditioning during summer.
I have ever invited macrobiotic teachers from North America to Singapore, and they switch easily from winter to a hot, equatorial climate without feeling any discomfort.
In contrast, I have come across people who cannot bear their own climates because they do not adjust their food to their climatic conditions.
The common example is of people in the tropics who eat plenty of meat (and other foods that warm the body) and so they absolutely cannot live / cannot sleep without air conditioning.
It can go to the other extreme as well. A friend of mine once met a “raw foodist” – who eats mainly salads, fruits and fruit juices – in Bali. The weather was hot, yet the raw foods person was wearing two layers of clothing and still feeling cold!
5. Personal adjustments
People with serious illness, however, have special considerations. They need to adjust first to their body condition – the internal climate.
In some cases, this may require people in the tropics to eat a more temperate climate diet, or vice versa. If you have an illness, it is best you consult a macrobiotic counsellor. If you cannot find a counsellor, study deeper to acquire a good understanding of yin and yang.
Intuition
Personal adjustments also means developing – and following – your intuition.
Sometimes, your intuition might tell you to eat something that is contrary to what is recommended in the so-called macrobiotic diet.
For example, the dietary guidelines may tell you to avoid meat, but if for some reason you have a very strong craving for meat, you would probably be better off eating it.
This happened to me once. I had turned vegetarian for about six months, but I was not balancing my vegetarian diet properly.
One day, i felt a very very strong desire to eat meat. Still, I tried to stick to macrobiotic recommendations and I ordered some fish. In doing so, I had already broken my vegetarian diet.
But even after I ate the fish, the meat craving remained strong. In the end, I gave in and ordered a chicken drumstick.
What happened next was quite shocking. I gobbled down the drumstick in less than a minute – like a hungry man long deprived of food – and was still craving for more.
I thought about it and decided to order a second chicken drumstick. Again, I ate it quite quickly, althought not as quickly and greedily as before.
After that, I felt much better.
A macrobiotic counsellor's advice
I remember also a consultation given by macrobiotic teacher Ed Esko, to a teenage girl in Singapore. I was sitting in taking notes and learning from the consultation.
I cannot remember what health condition the girl had, but I remember clearly the advice that Ed Esko gave her regarding following a macrobiotic diet.
He told her to follow his advice 70 percent of the time, and to follow her own intuition the remaining 30 percent of the time.
He explained to the girl that she had been given a lot of contradictory dietary advice by various people. As a result, she was quite confused. So she should listen to him (Ed Esko, the macrobiotic counsellor) most of the time, but also learn to develop her own intuition about what to eat and what not to eat.
Specific foods
The above principles of macrobiotics are important. Always bear them in mind.
As mentioned above, the recommended macrobiotic diet consists of:
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