MACRO TALK

My topic for this very first issue of "MACRO TALK" is which macrobiotic web sites or blogs do I think give a better-than typical answer to the question, "What is macrobiotics?" By typical, I mean just giving a dictionary's definition of the word "macrobiotics" — big or large for "macro" and life for "bios" — without saying anything more about it. So...

What is Macrobiotics?

• Leslie at Macro808.blogspot.com (Naturally!) gave a really good answer in a February 9, 2005 posting that is worthy of inclusion here.

She begins by saying, "Someone left a comment asking, 'What is macrobiotics, anyway?' It is good practice for me to try and answer this question. To me, 'macrobiotic' means several things. From my experience, it is a diet, a philosophy, and a lifestyle."

And then she continues to do a really good job of explaining her statement. In fact, I thought her answer was so good that I decided to read the whole rest of the blog all the way up to the present day!

• From Leslie's Naturally! blog, I followed a link to Hawaiian Chef and Restaurateur, Alan Wong, and watched an interesting video of him explaining their "Farmer Series Dinner." What a great idea! To interact with the farmer from field to dining table... I like it.

Back to looking for people's better-than-typical answers to the question, "What is macrobiotics?"...

• Sharlene at "Macrobiotics and Me" has a wonderful blog dedicated to macrobiotics. She says in answer to the question, "What is macrobiotics?":

"For me, macrobiotics is so many things but essentially it is about reaching our full potential in life. It’s about becoming more balanced in all areas of our lives and gaining insights into one’s health (and when I talk about health I mean it in a holistic sense so that includes everything about a person basically – mental, emotional, spiritual, energetic and physical). It’s also about understanding how the universe operates, the natural laws and eating and living according to all of this."

Sharlene's macrobiotic blog continues to give a unique overview of how one person chooses to eat and live while practicing macrobiotics. Very enlightening. She also provides some interesting links to other macrobiotic web sites, including the following link:

• The International Macrobiotic School in the U.K. where they provide professional training courses and a Cookery Class Programme.

"What is Macrobiotics? ...Macrobiotics is an art of life in which you become more and more conscious.... conscious of the responsibility you have to give your life shape. The search for our deep nature is the first step in the greater search for our true self. Who am I? What am I doing here in this lifetime?" — Marijke De Coninck, What is Macrobiotics?

• The web site, "The Macrobiotic Guide," founded by James W. Trevana, says this in answer to the question, "What is Macrobiotics?":

"Macrobiotics is an approach to physical and emotional wellness through consuming foods that are balanced energetically (between yin and yang) and nutritionally. It is typically a well-balanced diet with high fibre, low fat, lots of vegetables and grains, vegetable protein, and limited meat, with an emphasis on eating seasonal organic food."

The web site is a collection of macrobiotic information written by different people. They have a special features section called "What People Say About Macrobiotics" that is a drop-down list of about a hundred people's names, linking to articles interviewing them. Each article asks them questions like, "How did you start macrobiotics?" and "How has macrobiotics helped you?"

A lot to talk about. A lot to think about. Much food for thought!

Related blog articles:
What Is Macrobiotics? (January 2, 2011)
What Is Macrobiotics? (January 23, 2011)
Lessons From A Coyote (March 8, 2011)

Organic Farmers and SOS-Earth

Organic, safe, healthy food is important for all of us.

I just watched a short video on youtube.com of Phiya Kushi (son of Michio and Aveline Kushi) talking about the effects of the earthquake and nuclear powerplant problems in Japan on organic farmers and sea harvesters. He is going to start a new charity organization called SOS-Earth (Save Organic Suppliers), which will help organic farmers everywhere in the world, starting with Japan. I think that's excellent.

On youtube.com: Phiya Kushi Talking About Japan's Earthquake And SOS (about 8 1/2 minutes long)

I also think that even if we may not have the money to spare for a donation to SOS-Earth, we can still help the organic farmers, the Earth, and ourselves by buying organic food. The more we increase the demand for organic foods, the greater the public awareness and support will become, and the better it will be for the farmers.

So far, being organic means that the food cannot be contaminated by GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), and so the term "organic" can protect us. The George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation website has a pdf article about GMOs by Dennis Willmont that's called "The Brave New World Of Genetic Chaos."

Note: Phiya Kushi has since started the organization "SOS-Earth" and its web site is currently under construction (as of 8/12/2011). Here is a link to the About page: SOS-Earth — About, Who We Are.

Related Articles:
Adapting Our Diets To The Situation
South American Quinoa And Potatoes

The Color Classifications Of Food

Red apple, purple eggplant. Golden brown grains. Orange squash, green kale, white daikon radish. Red-blooded (hemoglobin) animals, green-blooded (chlorophyll) vegetables. All the beautiful colors of the rainbow are food for your heart and soul! You can classify all foods by their colors in terms of yin and yang to help you create a balance and become more centered.

Starting at one end of the color spectrum (or rainbow), the warm color RED is the most yang of all the colors. The colors then progressively become less yang and more yin, until you reach the other end of the rainbow with the cool color PURPLE or INDIGO, which is the most yin of all the colors. DARK SHADES of color are more yang than LIGHT SHADES of color, which are more yin.

Other factors — such as size, shape, and weight of the food, the direction that it grows (and whether its above the ground or below), the length of growing time, and the season, region, and climate of where it grew — can also be classified as mostly yin or mostly yang. By using all of these factors to determine whether a particular food is mostly yin or mostly yang, you can then use this information to balance it with other foods, and your current condition, and with the current situation around you.

Many foods have already been classified for you in such books as Zen Macrobiotics — enough to get you started on a macrobiotic diet of health and understanding. (See "Macrobiotic Table of Foods and Beverages" on page 115, Zen Macrobiotics, by George Ohsawa.)

But to really understand and practice the theory of macrobiotics, you need to study and apply your own Yin/Yang classifications to food, as well as to yourself and the world around you. George Ohsawa's book, Philosophy of Oriental Medicine: Key to Your Personal Judging Ability, explains how.

Related Articles:
My Notes On The Macrobiotic Centering Diet
Guidelines For Classifying In Terms Of Yin And Yang
Re-Reading Zen Macrobiotics

Kokkoh — A Special Grain Milk Powder

What is this mysterious grain-milk powder, "Kokkoh," that I've been reading about and where can I get some?

According to George Ohsawa in Zen Macrobiotics, it is a mixture of roasted rice, sweet rice, oatmeal, soybeans, and sesame seeds that have been ground together into a powder. You use 1 heaping tablespoon of powder to 11 ounces of water, stir and boil for 10 minutes, and then you drink! But he doesn't explain the proportions to use for the powder, only that it's easiest to use the factory-made product. (305. Kokkoh, page 91, Zen Macrobiotics).

He says that "Kokkoh is recommended for everyone and may be used as the breakfast for an adult. It can also be used to make a large variety of cakes, drinks and deserts." (page 150, Zen Macrobiotics).

In Zen Cookery (formerly The First Macrobiotic Cookbook), by George Ohsawa, Cornellia Aihara, and friends, I found three recipes for a hot breakfast cereal, a soup, and a beverage, but again, no explanation for how to make the grain milk powder itself:

40. Grain Milk Cereal

1 cup grain milk powder (kokkoh)
5 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oil (optional)

Saute grain milk powder in oil or roast in a dry pan until there is a nut-like fragrance. Cool. Add water gradually to prevent lumping. Add salt. Bring to a boil. Lower flame and simmer until thickened. Cook about 30 to 45 minutes. Serve with sesame salt or soy sauce.
— From page 23 of Zen Cookery (The First Macrobiotic Cookbook)

41. Grain Milk Soup

1 cup grain milk powder (kokkoh)
10 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oil
Soy sauce

Saute grain milk powder in oil. Cool. Add water gradually to prevent lumping. Add salt and bring to a boil. Lower flame and simmer until thickened. Stir occasionally. Add soy sauce to taste. Variations: Serve with any whole grain noodle or macaroni. Garnish with chopped scallion.
— From page 24 of Zen Cookery (The First Macrobiotic Cookbook)

291. Grain Milk (Kokkoh)

This is a finely ground combination of roasted rice, sweet rice, oats, and sesame seeds, often used as a milk substitute. Use 1 heaping tablespoon grain milk to 1 1/2 cups of water. Stir and boil for 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold. It is a delicious snack time pick-me-up.
— From page 124 of Zen Cookery (The First Macrobiotic Cookbook)

And then finally, I found a recipe for the grain milk powder in Julia Ferre's cookbook, Basic Macrobiotic Cooking, 20th Anniversary Edition (page 246):

Kokkoh — Roast separately, page 62 [dry roasting directions]
Cool and mix together. Yield: 2 1/2 cups
1 cup brown rice, roasted
1/2 cup sweet brown rice, roasted
1/2 cup whole oats, roasted
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds, roasted
2 Tbsp. azuki beans, roasted

She uses azuki beans in her recipe rather than soybeans as mentioned in Zen Macrobiotics, but I suppose any type of bean could be used depending on how yang you want it to be.

Thanks, Julia. I think I'll try making some!

Related Blog Articles:
The Benefits of Whole Foods
What Is The Macrobiotic Centering Diet?
My Notes On The Macrobiotic Centering Diet

Other Waves Of Grain

As I was doing a web search for "polenta," thinking that the term does not necessarily have to mean corn, I came across some interesting information about grains I've never heard of before.

Polenta evidently has been made from corn, chestnuts, semolina (using part of the wheat berry), farina (using another part of the wheat berry), and even crushed barley (which is where the Latin word, polenta, originated from). Polenta is a sort of "mush" or stiff "porridge" that holds its shape. When it's made from corn, you're getting the whole grain. I wonder if I could make a polenta with buckwheat groats? I don't think the groats are small enough for the right consistency, so I'd probably have to grind them up a little in my coffee grinder or flour mill first.

From reading about Polenta (according to wikipedia.org), my web search led me on to include various types of wheat berries:

Varieties of Wheat Berries

Durum — or Durum Wheat — The hardest of the winter wheats. Semolina flour from durum wheat is used for pasta—the yellow endosperm is what gives semolina its unique color.

Einkorn — or Einkorn Wheat — This type of "ancient" wheat is being revived and even has its own web site, einkorn.com!

Emmer — or Emmer Wheat, also known as farro or faro in Italy — This is another type of heirloom wheat that is being revived. You can get organic, whole-grain Emmer Farro on the Bluebird Grain Farms website.

Kamut — or Khorasan Wheat — has its own trademark and official website (kamut.com). You can buy organic kamut berries from Bob's Red Mill company, as well as other whole grains.

Red Wheat (hard, soft, winter, or spring wheat) — Here is a web page from Dr. Jim Beuerlein at Ohio State University that explains the different types of red, white, soft, hard, winter, and spring wheats grown in the United States: "Classes and Uses of Wheat."

Sorghum (wikipedia.org) — also, Sweet Sorghum — This small grain reminds me of amaranth in appearance, only larger. I'm familiar with sorghum syrup, or molasses, but I didn't know that the grain is eaten whole, mostly in other countries and especially in Africa. Here in the U.S., sorghum is used mainly for food or alcohol products and animal feed. According to the U.S. Grains Council, "Grain sorghum is the third most important cereal crop grown in the United States and the fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world." The council was established in 1960 to develop export markets for U.S. barley, corn, grain sorghum and related products. Purdue University has a Factsheet on grain sorghum, and there's more interesting info on the National Sorghum Growers website.

Spelt — also known as "dinkel" or "faro" or "farro" — Here is an article from "The New York Times" about the differences between spelt and farro: The Night Of The Big Spelt-Screw-Up

Triticale (hybrid of wheat and rye) — Here's an article about "what is triticale" in a food blog called "Chef In You, Making Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes Easy."

White Wheat (hard or soft winter wheat) — There is a Whole Grains Council that's dedicated entirely to whole grains and whole grain products. Here's what they have to say about white wheat: Whole White Wheat FAQ

There also is a website called the Wheat Foods Council that's dedicated entirely to wheat and wheat products (not necessarily whole grain products, however). In the FAQ section of their Grain Talk Blog, they talk about "What is Durum Wheat?" (September 2010), which is grown mostly in North Dakota because of the particular growing conditions required for this type of wheat.

Arrowhead Mills produces several whole grain products, including organic whole wheat berries.

As so there you have it — lots of information about grains!

Related Articles
• Whole Grains For Centering
• Whole Grains In Restaurants
• Lunch At P.F. Chang's

Parsnip, The Exotic Root Vegetable

Parsnips help you get centered. Parsnips, which grow vertically under the ground, are another root vegetable from the most yang category of vegetables. In addition to a regular basic macrobiotic diet, they are included in the restricted list of vegetables for a macrobiotic centering diet. And they are delicious.

You can cook them like you would a carrot, or whip them up into a light and fluffy puree. And then there's my favorite, the parsnip chip. Julia Ferre has a good recipe for cooking baked parsnip chips in her cookbook, Basic Macrobiotic Cooking.

The first time I ever tasted a parsnip chip was in a bag of TERRA's Original Exotic Vegetable Chips from the grocery store. They taste lighter and more delicate than a potato chip, I think.

I like to cut parsnips up real small and cook them nitsuke style. And it's nice to know that I won't ever suffer from deprivation of tasty, delicious foods even when I'm on a centering diet!

Notes:
• TERRA's Exotic Vegetable Chips has an interesting web site, especially the page about how the company got started ("Our History").
• You can get Basic Macrobiotic Cooking by Julia Ferre from the George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation's web site.

Related articles:
What Is The Macrobiotic Centering Diet?
Vegetables For Centering
My Notes Of The Macrobiotic Centering Diet

Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit

Most beans and bean products are extremely yin compared to other vegetables, with the exceptions of aduki beans, miso, and natural soy sauce. For this reason, these last three are included along with chickpeas and lentils (smaller, rounder, less yin than other beans) in the more restrictive macrobiotic centering diet.

And so my notes continue on the subject of beans in the beginning basic and centering macrobiotic diets, according to Pocket Guide To Macrobiotics (now revised and renamed Essential Guide To Macrobiotics), by Carl Ferre.

Beans fall into the category of yin, acid-forming foods, as opposed to vegetables, which are in the yin, alkaline-forming group of foods. (See Acid and Alkaline, by Herman Aihara and Acid Alkaline Companion, by Carl Ferre.) This is another reason why most beans/bean products are not eaten during a macrobiotic centering diet.

Beans and Bean Products in a Macrobiotic Centering Diet (3% to 10% daily):
• Miso 
• Natural soy sauce 
• Aduki beans
• Lentils 
• Chickpeas/garbanzo beans

Beans and Bean Products in a Basic Macrobiotic Diet (10% to 25% daily): (listed alphabetically for convenience)

Group 1: "Extremely Yin" 
• Bean sprouts 
• Black soybeans
• Blackeyed peas 
• Lima beans
• Natto 
• Soybeans 
• Soy milk 
• Split peas
• Tofu 
• White Northern beans 
• whole dried peas

Group 2: "More Yin" 
• Anasazi beans 
• Black beans 
• Black turtle beans 
• Bolita beans 
• Broad beans 
• Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• Kidney beans 
• Mung beans 
• Pinto beans 
• Red lentils
• Tempeh

Group 3: "Less Yin" 
• Aduki beans

Group 4: "More Yang" 
• Miso 
• Natural soy sauce

For information on how to prepare beans for your meals, see Basic Macrobiotic Cooking, by Julia Ferre.

Related Articles:
Whole Grain Barley Miso
What Is The Macrobiotic Centering Diet?

My Notes On The Macrobiotic Centering Diet

According to Carl Ferre in his book, Essential Guide to Macrobiotics (formerly Pocket Guide to Macrobiotics), a Macrobiotic Centering Diet is:
1) A restricted basic macrobiotic diet
2) Eating and drinking only what is necessary for your life
3) Eating and drinking toward the center of yin and yang balance

This centering approach allows your body to heal from within in a natural way.

Usually when we are out of balance, we are too yin or too acidic or both, and so we eat foods that are normally too yang or too alkaline by themselves, until we are centered and back in balance. Then we can go back to eating a more normally balanced diet, such as the basic macrobiotic diet. I guess it’s pretty rare to be too yang or too alkaline, unless we never stopped being on the centering diet? I don’t know. Anyway, the best advice is to follow it for a couple of weeks and stop the centering diet when it no longer benefits you.

Specific foods in a macrobiotic centering diet include:

12 whole grains
44 vegetables
5 beans
3 sea vegetables
soup
beverages
cooking oil and seasonings
table condiments

Everything else is avoided until you are finished with the centering diet.

Three things are very important to do while you’re on a macrobiotic centering diet to help your body in the healing process:

1) Eat and drink the best quality foods and beverages possible — organic, fresh, untainted.
2) Chew your food as much as possible — at least 100 times and more.
3) Avoid overeating and over-drinking — eat just until your stomach is not-quite full and drink only when you are thirsty, and after you have finished eating.

By doing these three things, you’ll free up your body so that it can focus on healing.

Notes:
• See Essential Guide To Macrobiotics by Carl Ferre for information about the macrobiotic centering and basic macrobiotic diets.
• See Basic Macrobiotic Cooking by Julia Ferre for information on how to prepare these foods for your meals.

Related articles:
What Is The Macrobiotic Centering Diet?
The Importance of Chewing
“Fatso”

Whole Grains for Centering

I can think of at least twelve different kinds of whole grains, more if you count all the different varieties and grain-like seeds. Any and all of these grains are eaten in a macrobiotic centering diet in their whole state (without grinding into flour, or rolled into flakes, for example) — See page 86 and then page 18 in Pocket Guide To Macrobiotics, by Carl Ferre (now revised and renamed Essential Guide To Macrobiotics).

Most of the grains benefit from soaking in water overnight, some of which need to be rinsed prior to soaking while others are rinsed after soaking. Toasting or roasting the grains in a dry pan prior to boiling in water is another way of making them more digestible and more yang. Julia Ferre's cookbook, Basic Macrobiotic Cooking, is an excellent guide for preparing and cooking these grains.

If you're not used to eating whole grains or you have trouble digesting them, brown rice cream or whole wheat cream goes down much easier for breakfast in the morning. Also, the tougher grains like Barley, Rye, and Wheat, get softer the longer you cook them (and presoaking for overnight helps make them more tender). Recipes are included in Zen Macrobiotics by George Ohsawa and in Basic Macrobiotic Cooking, by Julia Ferre.

The more you chew whole grains, the better they taste — this is for real!

I've tried each of these whole grains at least once, and some are my favorites. I've listed them alphabetically here for convenience:
 
Amaranth*
Barley — Whole, dehulled, also known as "pot barley"
Buckwheat — Whole, groats*
Corn (maize)
Millet
Oat — Whole, groats
Quinoa* (eaten like a grain, but it really is a seed)
Rice — Brown, short-grain
Rice — Brown, medium-grain
Rice — Brown, long-grain
Rice — Brown, sweet
Rice — Brown, Basmati (basmati means "fragrant")
Rye — Whole, berries
Teff
Wheat — Whole, berries
Wild Rice*

* Note: Amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa seeds are technically not cereals/grains since they're not from the grass family. Whereas wild rice is a member of the grass family and therefore a cereal/grain, but it is not a "true rice" because it is not directly related to Asian rice. (And wild rice is the official state grain for Minnesota.) Amaranth is a relative of spinach, buckwheat is a relative of rhubarb, and quinoa is from the goosefoot family.

Here's what wikipedia says about: amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, wild rice, and cereals/grains in general.

Related Blog Articles:
Vegetables For Centering

What Is A Macrobiotic Centering Diet?
South American Quinoa And Potatoes
Hot Cream Of Rice Cereal
Diet #7 by George Ohsawa
Diet #6 by George Ohsawa (What Is Nitsuke?) 
The Importance Of Chewing

Turnips For Centering

I think I already mentioned that I didn't like very many vegetables when I was a kid. But, fortunately, there were occasions when I was introduced to a new vegetable and I liked it very much. One such vegetable was the turnip. One winter evening, I was having dinner over at a friend's house and her mom cooked us an old family recipe -- I forget what it was called -- with browned, crumbly hamburger, onions, and diced turnips, all wrapped up in a pie crust. I had never heard of having pie for dinner before! Because of the novelty of eating pie, I was willing to try this new, mysterious vegetable -- the turnip. It tasted so good, I loved it! And I was forever sold on it.

Turnips are in the very most yang category of vegetables. They grow vertically underneath the ground, are round in shape, and have red or purple on the parts of the skin that protrudes above the ground and is touched by sunlight.

George Ohsawa has a soup recipe that includes turnips that I haven't tried before. It's called "72. Au polenta" (See page 70 in Zen Macrobiotics, by George Ohsawa.) It has turnips, carrots, onions, cabbage, and coarsely ground cornmeal. Sounds yummy!

Turnips are part of a macrobiotic centering diet because of their yang qualities, which help you balance out any overly yin qualities you may have. Their yang qualities are also good for balancing with the yin qualities of cold, wet weather, winters, or climates.

Notes:
• According to Carl Ferre in his book, Pocket Guide To Macrobiotics, there are 44 different vegetables in a macrobiotic centering diet. For the whole list, see my article, "Vegetables For Centering."
• You can get both books, Pocket Guide To Macrobiotics and Zen Macrobiotics, from the George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation website.

What Is The Macrobiotic Centering Diet?

The above question was asked by someone on the Web even though he said that he had Carl Ferre's book, Pocket Guide To Macrobiotics (now revised and renamed Essential Guide To Macrobiotics). How could he have that book and not know what a macrobiotic centering diet is? What answer was he looking for that he didn't see in those pages? I decided to take a closer look at the book.

I realized that as I started to answer the question, I was actually learning something more than I might have learned if Carl Ferre had spelled everything out for me — more than he had already spelled out in his book. That's good. Finding your own answers to things is very good for you. It makes you think. And that lets you keep control over your own life.

A macrobiotic centering diet is usually followed for 10 days to 2 weeks or longer, as long as you are still benefiting from it. It corresponds to George Ohsawa's Diet #3, Diet #4, and Diet #5 — all three diets are ways to health and happiness. You decide which ones to follow and for how long. From Zen Macrobiotics, by George Ohsawa:

Diet #3 = 60% whole grains, 30% vegetable nitsuke, and 10% soup
Diet #4 = 70% whole grains, 20% vegetable nitsuke, and 10% soup
Diet #5 = 80% whole grains, and 20% vegetable nitsuke (no soup)

We're talking about whole grains here, with no processing done any more than to remove the husks from the grains. That means no flour, no pasta, etc. Vegetable nitsuke and soup also mean something specific in these diets.

Components of a macrobiotic centering diet:
12 Whole Grains
44 Vegetables 
5 Beans
3 Sea Vegetables
Soup
Beverages
Cooking oil and seasonings
Table condiments

Notes:
You can get the books, Essential Guide To Macrobiotics, by Carl Ferre, and Zen Macrobiotics, by George Ohsawa, from the George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation.


Related Blog Articles:
My Notes About The Macrobiotic Centering Diet
Ten Macrobiotic Diets By George Ohsawa
Diet #7 by George Ohsawa  
Diet #6 by George Ohsawa (What Is Nitsuke?)
What Is True Fasting?