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”
