Macrobiotic Diet

To understand how this diet works, you must first understand what is meant by the yin and yang. Yin refers to foods that are cold, sweet, or passive. Yang refers to foods that are hot, salty, or aggressive in flavor. Foods that are considered either extremely yin or yang should be avoided in this diet because it would throw off the balance.

Whole grains such as brown rice, corn, oats, whole wheat, and barley should compose approximately 50-60% of your daily food consumption. These foods are categorized as extremely balanced. Fresh vegetables, specifically cabbage broccoli, kale, turnips, cauliflower, squash, onions, and bok choy should composes 25-30% of your food consumption. Vegetables should be prepared steamed or sautéed with sesame or corn oil. All produce should be local and organic.

Beans and Sea vegetables should make up 5-10% of the diet. This includes miso, soy, and other beans. For needed fat a few servings per week of fish and nuts are acceptable. For beverages, only teas from roasted grains, soba noodle cooking water, or purified water is allowed. Also, all cooking water must be purified.

Foods to be avoided at all times include all dairy and egg products, refined sugars, chocolate, tropical fruits, coffee, hot spices, artificial colors, and all preservatives.

In order to fully adhere to this diet, one would have to undergo a fairly drastic lifestyle change. The extremely stringent food requirements and restrictions will be difficult to follow especially for picky eaters or those who must eat out often for business. Additionally, using purified water to cook and buying all organic ingredients may prove to be too expensive for people on limited budgets. This lifestyle is simply not practical for some.

• Restricts the consumption of refined sugars
• Does not require the purchase of expensive prepackaged meal replacements
• Foods may be purchased at most local supermarkets

• Extremely restrictive food restrictions
• Some of the recommended foods may be expensive or difficult to find
• Some required foods may be too exotic for the typical American palate
• Little modern scientific evidence backing the effectiveness of this diet

The macrobiotic diet has gained somewhat of a following in holistic medicine circles, and concept of balancing the yin and yang is appealing to some. Too many, however, this diet may prove to be far too restrictive to be worthwhile.

Many of the recommended foods may be too exotic for picky eaters, and these cost of using all organic foods and using purified water at all times may also prove to be too expensive for many. It may not be worthwhile to make these types of sacrifices for a diet that that appears to be more based on holistic traditions, and less on modern science. Still for weight loss with any diet a capsule with proven ingredients is always recommended.