Some shiatsu people recieve some training or introduction to Macrobiotics which is a diet that promotes eating within the laws of nature based on the Yin and Yang. It is becoming popular with cancer survivors and some hollywood types, my instructor does it and recommends if you would like to try it start by using it like a general guide. Basically everything is given a value of yin or yang on a number line and try to eat values that their values balance out or eat foods close to the value of zero.
Hi JB
There is several problems with macrobiotics:
1. Can be acid forming with the high amount of grains, so no wonder it is quite a high salt content i.e. expensive seaweed to alkalise. Re: Food & Healing by Annemarie Colbin; You Don't Have to Feel Unwell by Robin Needes.
2. Any change of diet to more natural foods can cause positive changes to ill health. You find this in other dietary systems completely different to each other. But long term use of a healing diet may lead to other problems.
3. Even though mankind has taken up the use of fire to predigest food, therefore has reduced its capacity to generate internal digestive fire, one key aspect of traditional diet is enzyme rich food. So why does the macrobiotic system knock raw fruit and veg?
4. Strict categorisation of food % will lead towards macro-neurotics, stressing the poor old Spleen (from a TCM point of view of course). Being stressed over food can be as damaging as eating junk food without consideration.
5. Talking about TCM, why macrobiotics reversed Yin for Yang and Yang for Yin makes to no sense to me. Saying that for example that Yin is expansive, when by its relative nature Yin is contracting and condensing!
On a positive note there are benefits like: organic, wholegrain, seasonal and local.
Best Wishes
RP
Hi Reiki Pixie,
I checked with people that are on the diet and they seem to be doing well, it seems that few are on the strict original diet and over the years there has been some growth in the philosophy. For grain acid they recommend over night soaking with a little vinegar added to the water.
Fruit is not over eaten are treated like treats (acid forming and lots of sugar), local is best. I think people do wander from being to mentally attached to being rigid on this diet. Its a nice philosopy to being close to nature. Jessica Porter's book Hip Chicks guide to M.B. has a nice take for women in that the diet was created by men and the 50 -60 % grain may be more suited to men than women, she flipped that ratio for women and does ~30 % and 50-60 vegi and has had good results for women who may have a more yin constitution than men. The Japanese flip on Yin and Yang I had trouble with in the beginning but since the relativity is the same except for the sign it still works especially for micro objects such as conception on up it makes sense and I have yet to see the chinese OMT explain that. So all and all its an interesting guide at best.
Hi JB
Thanks for the reply.
One thing I must pick up on is your statement that fruit is acid forming. Yes fruit is acidic, but in terms of cellular metabolic processes fruit is not acid forming. This "forming" is a bi-product of metabolism, and in the case of most fruit is alkaline forming. This is why fruit has been used in traditional medicine as a cleanser, which in one respect helps to rebalance the pH of the blood to the necessary level of 7.4, a slightly alkaline state (of course other things can be used like mineral supplements and deep breathing techniques).
Best Wishes
RP
Hi JB
There is several problems with macrobiotics:
1. Can be acid forming with the high amount of grains, so no wonder it is quite a high salt content i.e. expensive seaweed to alkalise. Re: Food & Healing by Annemarie Colbin; You Don't Have to Feel Unwell by Robin Needes.
2. Any change of diet to more natural foods can cause positive changes to ill health. You find this in other dietary systems completely different to each other. But long term use of a healing diet may lead to other problems.
3. Even though mankind has taken up the use of fire to predigest food, therefore has reduced its capacity to generate internal digestive fire, one key aspect of traditional diet is enzyme rich food. So why does the macrobiotic system knock raw fruit and veg?
4. Strict categorisation of food % will lead towards macro-neurotics, stressing the poor old Spleen (from a TCM point of view of course). Being stressed over food can be as damaging as eating junk food without consideration.
5. Talking about TCM, why macrobiotics reversed Yin for Yang and Yang for Yin makes to no sense to me. Saying that for example that Yin is expansive, when by its relative nature Yin is contracting and condensing!
On a positive note there are benefits like: organic, wholegrain, seasonal and local.
Best Wishes
RP
2. Macrobiotics is not a diet, it's an guide to combine meals to
healthier life.
3. There's never been any knockout of raw fruits etc in macrobiotics,
in the original books. More, there's been recommended a thing like
partially "rotten" rice, for example.
4. Everything can be driven to absurd, this is no fault of
macrobiotics.
5. Yin-Yang is more complicated, and Yin may be dissipation = getting larger, and Yang may be concentration = getting smaller in size.
6. Turning to full Yang meal can help fight serious Yin diseases like diabetes or cancer, when Yin gets to extent it forms "kingdom in kingdom", so
the mentioned trend in Hollywood is quite topical.