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When I first moved to Tokyo, I was 40 pounds overweight and anxious to understand why Japanese women were so slim despite eating a wide variety of foods. In my quest for understanding more about the Eastern way of thinking about diet, I came across a Japanese holistic healing diet called Macrobiotics.
I found diagrams of foods and portions in books that looked exactly like how I had been eating since arriving in Japan, with explanations of how this method of eating was supposed to bring “balance” to the body. The diet seemed to suggest that our health was directly affected and guided by nature, and that eating and living in a way that harmonizes with nature would create balance and harmony within our bodies.
Huh. Interesting.
I had nothing to lose (except my butt) so I decided to give it a try. As a result, I discovered more emotional and physical fulfillment from this way of eating than anything I had ever come across before.
So, what is Macrobiotics?
Macrobiotics is a diet concept promoted to the world by Japanese George Ohsawa as a way of eating a variety of whole foods that are energetically balanced between yin and yang. According to Eastern beliefs, in nature, everything is made up of energy described as having “yin” or “yang” characteristics in varying proportions.
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4 Comments
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kohakuebisu
Macrobiotics are mostly vegetable-based so it will be low calorie and quite high in dietary fibre. That should be enough for most people to lose weight. It would be higher in dietary fibre if they ate wholemeal bread instead of brown rice, but the movement started in Japan and brown rice is what they worship.
Macrobiotics comes with a lot of anti-scientific baggage about foods being yin and yang and you can't eat nightshades (tomatoes, peppers etc.) and random musings like not eating summer vegetables outside of summer because they "cool the body". Like the joke
"What do you call alternative medicine that's been proven to work?
"Medicine."
many of these claims rest on people believing them and nothing else.
The food itself is very healthy thanks to large amount of veggies. It would also be healthy if you put some chopped tomato on the top or didn't precisely manage your yings and your yangs.
Klara LeVine
So sorry to see such negative comments. Like many other worthy philosophies, mb is also about attitude, of being grateful. I love the food and the philosophy, but have wondered about the differences between the Japanese way of practicing and the Western way. I found in Japan a lot of fried foods, not much variety in the grains beyond rice, and not much in the way of beans beyond tofu. I plan on coming in a couple weeks, tho we will be staying mostly in Kyoto. I hope to make it to Tokyo so I can join you. The classes sound lovely.