By Bess Hochstein
When the macrobiotic diet first gained attention in the U.S. in the 1960s, it was largely ridiculed as the province of brown-rice-eating hippies. This low-fat, high-fiber regimen is the diametric opposite of the current fad diet du jour, the Atkins diet, and other high-protein, high-fat schemes.
Yet today macrobiotics is finally gaining some respect. In 2002, the Kushi Institute – the world’s leading center for macrobiotic education – presented the medical histories of six cancer survivors before the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Advisory Panel on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAPCAM). The presentations detailed how individuals who had been diagnosed with IVth-stage metastasized cancer were able to rid their bodies of disease after adopting the macrobiotic lifestyle. After thoroughly reviewing the case studies and hearing testimonies from members of the medical community as well as survivors, the fifteen physicians on the panel voted unanimously to recommend government funding for a full study on macrobiotics and cancer.
Judy MacKenney was among those who testified before CAPCAM. At age forty-nine, a vibrant woman with a thriving business, MacKenney began to experience unexplainable pains. She was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy and a series of hospitalizations. MacKenney’s health continued to deteriorate and her doctors told her she had no hope for survival.
Today, at age sixty-two, MacKenney is free from cancer, a development she attributes to her strict adherence to macrobiotics. She shares the story of how she took responsibility for her health into her own hands as well as her knowledge of macrobiotics during the week-long “Way to Health” program at the Kushi Institute in Becket, Massachusetts.
The program is designed to teach people facing immediate health concerns the basic tenets of the macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. The Kushi Institute defines macrobiotics as “The art and science of health and longevity through the study and understanding of the relation and interactions between ourselves, the food we eat, the lifestyles we choose to lead, and the environments in which we live.” Founder Michio Kushi joined the macrobiotic community in Japan after World War II as a proponent of world peace, believing that a harmonious diet and lifestyle naturally lead to harmony among people. But many hopeful people who enroll in the “Way to Health” program view macrobiotics as their last chance to cure a disease that their doctors have told them is incurable. While their ailments run the gamut from Crohn’s disease to diabetes, today the majority come with hopes of beating cancer.
The macrobiotic diet is based on unprocessed, natural, mostly organic foods. It emphasizes whole grains (particularly brown rice), vegetables, beans, tofu, and sea vegetables, with modest amounts of fruits, nuts, seeds, and sometimes fish. It excludes meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, sugars, and processed foods. Naturally fermented foods, such as miso, pickled vegetables, and tempeh are included.
Underlying that simple summary, however, is a complex dietary system that bridges the principles of Western nutrition with Eastern philosophy. The goal is not only to bring the body into balance by eschewing animal products, fatty foods, sugar, and excess salt but to also create harmonious meals that combine complementary elements.
The “Way to Health” program provides an introduction to the qualities of “yin” (expanding outward) and “yang” (contracting inward). Macrobiotics ascribes these qualities to different foods, climates, cooking methods, and even biological functions and diseases. The macrobiotic diet promotes harmony between yin and yang. For example, fruit is classified as very yin while salt is very yang; macrobiotics advocates only moderate consumption of fruit, preferably lightly cooked and with a bit of sea salt for balance.
The “Way to Health” program teaches a “healing” diet for the temperate climactic zone of the continental U.S. It advocates eating locally-grown food and precludes tropical fruit such as bananas, mangos, and most citrus. The healing diet is the most restrictive, but as healing proceeds, the diet broadens.
Despite such restrictions, the course stresses the importance of variety in diet. Making sure the plate includes vegetables of many colors – green, yellow, white, and orange – is key to getting all the nutrients the body needs from a plant-based diet. The daily diet includes miso soup, usually at breakfast, and often another soup. Mild sweets are included to prevent cravings. Food choices and cooking methods vary with the seasons. Moderate use of such Asian condiments as sesame seed-based gomashio, shiso leaf powder, nori flakes, and tekka completes the diet. Kushi provides complete nutritional analysis of the diet in several of his books including The Macrobiotic Way (Avery Penguin Putnam, 1993).
The life stories of the many teachers and presenters at the “Way to Health” program provide credence to the healing potential of the macrobiotic diet. Whether in a cooking demonstration or a theoretical lecture, the enthusiastic presenter may well have been diagnosed with a terminal disease and given a life expectancy that was surpassed many years ago. These proud survivors claim to owe their lives to the macrobiotic lifestyle.
Further understanding of macrobiotics requires much more than a week-long course. While there are copious books on the subject, those seeking greater knowledge of the practice attend month-long Career Training classes. “Way to Health” participants, however, leave the Institute armed with enough knowledge to put all they’ve learned to use in an attempt to heal themselves. And many appear to have done just that.
Like Judy MacKenney, Stephen Littenberg of Moganville, New Jersey, was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 1995. His doctors gave him a seven-year life expectancy and he underwent a battery of aggressive treatments to combat the slow-growing cancer. “After five years of treatments, I started looking for something else.” His wife Lori had heard about macrobiotics and they both enrolled in the “Way to Health” program. At the time, Littenberg had visible tumors in his neck. “My doctor told me he didn’t think it would work, and neither did I,” he says.
It wasn’t easy for Littenberg, a financial planner who ate burgers, pizza, and sugar everyday. Mealtime was difficult. “I hated the food. The only thing I could stomach was brown rice, beans, and some tofu.” But he stuck with it. “I was in a place where I didn’t think I’d be alive in a year. I had no alternative.”
While his energy level initially dropped, in five months it returned. After six months of adhering to macrobiotics, Littenberg returned to his doctor. “He told me, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep on doing it.'” Later, a CAT scan found no trace of cancer in Littenberg’s body. “There’s nothing else I’ve done. I never thought that changing my diet would save my life. While I do think there’s a place for Western medicine, I think people have to understand how important it is to take care of your body.”
Beyond diet
Macrobiotics is more than just a diet; it’s a lifestyle meant to promote health in body, mind, and spirit. Here are a few of the many daily recommendations for living the macrobiotic way:• Scrub your body with a hot, damp wash cloth, apart from your bathing routine, to stimulate circulation and open skin pores.
• Avoid long hot baths and showers. Use natural, vegetable-based soaps, shampoos, and cosmetics; minimize exposure to heavily perfumed and chemically produced bodycare products.
• Engage in light exercise every morning. Begin the day with “do-in,” a series of easy stretches and movements as well as a full-body self-massage to stimulate the muscles, organs, and chi meridians.
• Walk outside for a half-hour every day, preferably right after morning exercises, to aid digestion and circulation, burn fat, tone muscles, and take in fresh air.
• Maintain a consistent schedule of exercise, meals, and sleep. Avoid eating three hours before you go to bed. Get adequate sleep; go to bed earlier and start your day early in the morning.
• Chew every mouthful of food well, at least 50 times, so that the enzymes in your saliva will aid in digestion. Take all meals sitting down and undistracted. Eat and drink only when hungry and thirsty.
• Choose cotton fabric for all items that come in direct contact with your skin such as undergarments and linens; replace synthetic clothes, blankets, and rugs with natural fiber products.
• Maintain a bright, clean, uncluttered home. Keep it well ventilated, and open the windows for a while every day to get fresh air. Bring oxygen into your home with houseplants.
• Minimize use of electric appliances, such as television, computers, and microwave ovens to reduce energy-sapping positive ions and/or low levels of radiation.
• Create a positive environment; be grateful for your family, friends, and food. Avoid dwelling on your health concerns or other problems. Sing a happy song out loud, a simple, fail-safe method to improve your mood.
address book
The Way to Health program is held at the Kushi Institute, Becket, Massachusetts. The program costs $2,150 per person, including all meals and a private consultation. Accommodation prices start at $250 per week. (800) 975-8744, www.kushiinstitute.org
March/April 2004
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