Healthy Diet For a Peaceful World
by Gabriele Kushi
author of Embracing Menopause Naturally
The goals of macrobiotics are the realization of planetary health and happiness, world peace and human evolution. Macrobiotic, derived from the Greek word macrobios (large life), is associated worldwide with living and eating in harmony with the season. Macrobiotics embraces the 5,000-year-old philosophy of yin and yang, wherein yin represents expanding energy and yang contracting energy.
Yin and yang are the building blocks found in all phenomena in varying proportion. Scholars have classified the relationship of yin and yang in many phenomena, including food groups, body types, organs and meridians.
What is a macrobiotic diet?
Macrobiotics supports traditional foods that people ate before the dawn of our modern civilization. Thus, the macrobiotic diet emphasizes natural and whole foods such as grains, land and sea vegetables, legumes, beans and bean products, seasonal fruits, seeds, nuts and vegetable oils.
These foods eaten in season provide a healthy body and a peaceful mind. Foods to be avoided are excess animal products (meats, dairy, eggs, honey, fish), refined and processed products (sugar, white flour) and stimulant foods (nicotine, coffee, spices), which seem to contribute to sickness, aggression and disharmony.
A variety of cooking techniques such as steaming, pressure cooking, sauteing, baking, juicing, sprouting, pickling, soaking, fermenting or raw are used to enhance the nutritional value and seasonal energy of food. The macrobiotic diet provides guidelines (proportional as well as food-wise) that can be modified depending on one's individual health, personal needs, climate, environment and other considerations.
Thus it differs from a vegetarian/vegan/raw diet, which does not take such considerations. In the context of disease treatment, or for more detailed guidance regarding dietary change, it is recommended that individuals seek advice from a qualified macrobiotic health consultant.
Daily macrobiotic dietary guidelines for a temperate climate:
40% - 60% Whole Grains: Major portion of whole cooked grains like short- and medium-grain brown rice, sweet and wild rice, millet, spelt, barley, oats, kamut, quinoa, wheat or corn. Minor portion of whole grain sourdough bread or other baked whole flour products, pasta and flakes.
20% - 30% Vegetables: Green leafy vegetables, including collard, kale, broccoli, nappa cabbage or mustard greens; root vegetables such as daikon, carrots and burdock; and round vegetables, preferably cabbage, onions and squash.
5% - 10% Legumes and Beans: Chickpeas, aduki, lentils, white and black soybeans, tofu or tempeh.
3% -5% Sea Vegetables: Nori, wakame, dulse and sweet water algae daily. Arame, hiziki and kombu three times per week.
Small volume of locally grown fruits, seeds, nuts, homemade pickled vegetables and raw foods like vegetable juices and salads.
Very small volume of seasonings and condiments such as sea salt, miso, soy sauce, gomasio, umeboshi vinegar and plums.
Why do people choose to eat this way?
Millions of people on this planet are actively practicing macrobiotic principles, and its dietary benefits have been published in numerous scientific and medical journals. Because the macrobiotic diet prevents and protects against degenerative disease, it may be the best diet to follow in this time of high cancer rates, heart disease, obesity, allergies, AIDS and the hazards of environmental pollution. These conditions are considered to be a result of our imbalanced modern way of life.
Macrobiotic benefits for the body
Research about the macrobiotic diet indicates that because of its low-fat and high-fiber content, it benefits people by: reducing high cholesterol, preventing heart disease, reducing cancer risks, assisting with weight management and strengthening the immune system.
Macrobiotic benefits the environment
Macrobiotics supports organic, natural agriculture and natural food processing and production. It raises environmental awareness, while preserving a clean, natural environment and respecting natural and animal life. Macrobiotics promotes natural water conservation as well as natural technologies to purify contaminated water.
Nutritional information about the macrobiotic diet
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study by Dr. Specker that points out that some sea vegetables provide sufficient sources of Vitamin B-12 within a macrobiotic diet (Specker, 1988). It is, however, important to eat balanced meals with all food groups in order to obtain the nutrients the body needs.
If for some reason a person cannot always follow a balanced diet, vitamin and mineral supplementation is recommended. Since very few people can make a radical transition from a diet of primarily meat and sugar to a diet based on grains and vegetables, most people make the transition to macrobiotics step-by-healthy-step.
About the Author:
GABRIELE KUSHI, BFA, MEA the founder of Kushi’s Kitchen, and author of “Embracing Menopause Naturally” is dedicated to excellence in teaching macrobiotics to support a healthy and peaceful world.
For more than thirty years, Gabriele has taught people from all over the world and all walks of life how to become healthier and more self-reliant by choosing natural foods and sustainable lifestyles. She has published numerous articles on healing with natural foods and has spoken about macrobiotics on radio talk shows. Gabriele is a certified Macrobiotic Category One Teacher and Counselor for all Health Conditions. She holds a BFA summa cum laude in Photography and Native American studies, and apprentices with Native American medicine women.
About the Book:
Embracing Menopause Naturally
Menopause triggers physical changes and emotional and spiritual issues that call for a redefinition of the feminine self. Gabriele Kushi’s book Embracing Menopause Naturally offers insight for this passage through courageous stories and stunning images of women from different cultural backgrounds. Supported by research, macrobiotic guidelines, and deliciously healthful recipes, this book is a true companion for any woman who wants to nurture her own spiritual growth, adopt natural foods diet, and enjoy good health throughout the midlife years and beyond,
Embracing Menopause Naturally
• Stories, Portraits and Recipes
A Guide to balancing your Midlife Transition with Macrobiotics
by Gabriele Kushi
Macrobiotic Health Expert Gabriele Kushi presents a Guide to Menopause That Can Help Women Maintain Balance in Their Lives—Mind, Body, & Soul.
Embracing Menopause Naturally offers insight for this important life passage through courageous stories and stunning images of women from different cultural backgrounds.
Embracing Menopause Naturally is a true companion for any woman who wants to nurture her own spiritual growth, adopt a natural foods diet, and enjoy good health throughout the midlife years and beyond.
Gabriele Kushi is a certified macrobiotic health educator, counselor, and cooking teacher. For more than thirty years, she has helped people from all over the world and all walks of life become healthier and more self-reliant by choosing natural foods and sustainable lifestyles.
Order Embracing Menopause Naturally in our Bookshop
A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook
Paperback by Patricia Telesco. 384 pp. Provides step-by-step instruction for transforming meals into manifestations of your magical life.
More than a collection of recipes, A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook weds modern ingredients and utensils with potent traditional preparations for a truly magical resource.
From food preparation to mealtime presentation, the goal of this book is to make your world more magical. You'll learn measurement conversions, alternative ingredients, magical correspondences with foods, and appropriate dishes for a wide variety of rituals, celebrations, and festivals.
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Food as Medicine
- digital download
MP3 digital download - Phyllis D. Light. - 4th Annual Natural Health Conference 2005.
Run time 1:14:22.
Digestive problems are one of the most frequently reported health issues in the United States today. Join Phyllis as she reviews the basic anatomy and workings of the digestive tract, herbs for digestive health and the use of supplements, probiotics, enzymes and fermented foods to ease digestive problems. Signs, symptoms and herbal remedies for specific digestive complaints such as IBS, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, etc. will be covered.
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Food as Medicine in our Bookshop