Macrobiotics

30 years of a semi-macrobiotic lifestyle

Of all the body-mind-spirit interests, enthusiasms and obsessions I have had over the years, macrobiotics has probably made the biggest impact. My initial encounter with it through a rather extreme paperback book in 1975 was the beginning of a journey of personal transformation that continues to this day, December 2006 at the time of writing.

That first book I read talked about (amongst other things) personal freedom, universal compassion, everyday eating as preventative medicine, living long and happily and embracing misfortune, having all your dreams come true, regular sex until an old age, yin and yang in all of life and applied to the cooking of whole grains and vegetables.

In retrospect rather curiously for a 14 year old, I was hooked and immediately began experimenting with the ideas and recipes in the book. My father and stepmother had to put up with rather a lot as I began my first culinary experiments, including burnt saucepans and flatulence! Both these problems were gradually resolved...

What is macrobiotics?

Like many of the social and cultural ideas that began to be popularized in what could be called the Western world during the 1960s and 1970s, much of the macrobiotic approach to life is now being accepted as "common sense" e.g. an increasing consumer preference for organically grown food, the benefits of eating less or no meat, the importance of regular exercise, the economic and environmental sense of eating locally grown food. Even the Carol Vorderman Detox Diet, which has received so much publicity in the UK in recent years, has a striking resemblance to the macrobiotic diet. Well that's probably put a few people off reading further here for a start...

Craig Sams, founder of the hugely successful Whole Earth Foods company and chairman of the Soil Association, has summed up macrobiotics with one word. Balance. It is a highly practical approach to life, with the emphasis on taking full responsibility for your own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare. Diet plays an important part in the macrobiotic lifestyle, but to become "macroneurotic" about food is to miss the point completely. My approach has been to follow a semi-macrobiotic lifestyle, taking it all with a pinch of salt, pun intended!

A brief history

The term "macrobiotics" was first popularized by George Ohsawa, the Japanese visionary who initially brought his ideas of wholefoods and fasting to the West. He wrote many books, including the paperback that was my introduction. As a young man Ohsawa successfully cured himself of tuberculosis by eating natural foods, and he went on to spread his practical philosophy of life in many countries. Others, such as Michio Kushi in America, went on to continue Ohsawa's work. Kushi has been quoted as saying that "one day future generations will look back at the cult of our modern civilization's artificial food as a fad... under many names and forms macrobiotics will continue as long as human life continues to exist".

Yin & Yang

The Eastern concepts of yin and yang are essential to macrobiotic understanding. Nowadays, the increasing numbers of practitioners of complementary medicine and martial arts in Western countries are familiar with these terms. They represent opposing and simultaneously complementary energies, attracting and repelling, with a tendency to turn in to each other. The whole dance of creation can be seen as a dynamic evolution of yin and yang forms. Yin/yang polarities include: female/male, night/day, Moon/Sun, cold/hot, acid/alkali, spiritual/material. Applied to diet, eating organically grown foods that are native to your environment is recommended, as is eating in harmony with the seasons.

Is it a vegetarian diet?

Macrobiotics is not necessarily vegetarian or vegan, although it can be. Anyone living near the North Pole for example, would need a very yang diet of meat and fish to balance the extreme yin (cold and dark) environment. On the other hand, in much more yang hotter climates near the equator, it is natural to eat sweeter, juicier and softer food (yin) such as fruit. For those of us in a more temperate zone, such as Europe or much of America, whole grains (wheat, rice, oats, barley, millet, buckwheat and so on) are the balanced traditional staple, packed with goodness and life force. Beans such as blackeye, red kidney (very nice if cooked with a strip of kombu seaweed) aduki, chick peas go well with whole grains. Fried tofu sprinkled liberally with natural soya sauce is my macro (and non-macro) favourite.

Naturally leavened bread is preferred to yeasted bread, but this can be a bit heavy going sometimes. Selected vegetables, maybe some fish, dairy products in moderation, fruits in season can all be added. Most of the "no-no" foods (although Ohsawa stressed that a free man can eat anything) are now in line with foods to avoid for healthy eating in much of the West. Red meat and all forms of refined sugar are out, as are the large numbers of commercially produced foods that contain large amounts of sugar e.g. chocolate, sweets, cakes, tomato sauce. Herb teas and coffee substitutes such as Barleycup are preferred to tea or coffee. However, living in Brighton with a coffee shop on every corner, I like my Fair Trade caffeine hit most days! Use of other drugs such as alcohol, cigarettes or even television is best avoided or kept to the very minimum but the macrobiotic approach to life is flexible.

Practically speaking, it can be difficult, expensive, or even tedious to maintain a strictly macrobiotic diet over long periods of time. My personal compromise for the last thirty years has been to eat macro whenever possible, and a generally healthy vegetarian diet at other times. The literal translation of 'Great Life' has often struck me as being more important than being too obsessed with what you eat.

'Think for yourself - question authority', including macrobiotic authority!

As Ohsawa continually stressed, the point is to think for yourself with all of this, rather than replace one set of mechanical behaviours with another one, however healthy they might be. Take regular exercise if you can. Take back your power from the food industry, the drug companies and the medical profession (our body-mind-spirit has remarkable self-healing powers if we give ourselves a chance) and others whose only interests often appear to be profit. Many forms of complementary medicine and therapy have far more in keeping with the macrobiotic approach to life than a visit to the local GP for a prescription, something I have kept clear of for the last 30 years. There may be times when Western medicine can also play a part in the healing process, but the macrobiotic approach to life empowers you to be your own preventative doctor on a daily basis - living a long, healthy and happy life with gratitude. It's certainly worth a crack at it anyway...

The bigger the front the bigger the back

The philosophy of yin and yang can be applied to many areas of life other than food. "The bigger the front the bigger the back" is one of Ohsawa's aphorisms. The rich and beautiful who appear to have everything are often deeply unhappy. Modern civilization's obsession with all things external has led to an inner emptiness for many. Advanced capitalism and technology has brought many benefits to some, but badly damaged the planet and given poorer countries huge debts. These are examples of a big front and a big back, whereas a more macrobiotic approach would be to achieve a better balance.

Similarly, many people come to macrobiotics as a result of chronic physical illnesses. There are many documented cases of conditions such as multiple sclerosis and cancer being significantly improved or controlled by a macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. I was not in poor health when I began macrobiotics myself however. Over the years I've had no major illnesses, run many half-marathons and two full marathons and am generally in good shape. Of course there is no way of telling how much of this is due to macrobiotics, good luck, genetics, astrological indicators, or anything else you can think of!

One Peaceful World

For those interested in further reading, there are a number of books on macrobiotics available. Have a look at the excellent www.macrobiotics.co.uk or www.kushiinstitute.org or www.macroamerica.com and the www.soilassociation.org where all the above themes are explored in more detail.

Images taken from Practically Macrobiotic by Keith Michell.