Going Macro.

"Macrobiotics is not just a diet," writes Loulie Gillen of Vanderbilt University, "but a holistic approach to living that takes into account all aspects of human life, including the inter-relationship between body, mind and spirit. Macrobiotics stresses the importance of a balanced diet because one's diet creates the foundation for a happy, healthy and harmonious life. Macrobiotic philosophy teaches practitioners to lead a balanced lifestyle based on the Chinese yin-yang principles. The actual macrobiotic diet closely resembles a vegan-like food pattern with virtually no animal food consumed. Practitioners also avoid "nonorganic" or "processed" foods."

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I had been seeking a better way of life my whole life. Coming from the family that I did, one with poor lifestyle habits, including eating disorders, I have for decades been on the search for the right way to live. I have studied with psychologists, theologians, vegetarians, poets and God, through writings and teachings and into the depths of my soul in my quest for harmony, balance and authenticity in living.

I first learned about a healthier way of eating when I was in my early 30s, living with a macrobiotic roommate.  Holly ate brown rice with gomasio (toasted sesame seeds and salt), a Jello-like substance called kanten, beans, sea vegetables, leafy green vegetables and beans. I'd eat along with her when we were home together. But I didn't think much about the diet, or of it. A few years later, I learned about vegetarianism from a friend, and read "Diet for a New America" about the problems with meat consumption. A few years after that, as a newspaper reporter working on the status of the American family farm, I spent some nights at a hog farm. I was horrified by the sights -- and the breakfast platter put before me the next morning, which smelled like the hog slop I'd stepped through earlier that day. Soon after that experience, I quit meat altogether. For one year, even, I was vegan.

But I was always confused. Why do we have incisors? Maybe humans are supposed to eat meat? What about dairy? Isn't dairy the best source of calcium? I was confused about the way we approach our bodies in general in this country, particularly regarding medicine. When I would go to a doctor with an ache, all I would want to know was if there was something life-threateningly wrong with me. All the doctor wanted to do was medicate me. I began to find other ways to heal myself -- hot baths for sore muscles instead of Ibupropen. Miso soup when I had a cold or a stomach ache. Dietary changes for irritable bowel syndrome. I began to rethink food, not as a fun thing to focus on all the time, but as nourishment, as the very lifeblood of our bodies and souls. My intake continued to evolve and devolve meanwhile. Although a pure vegan for a year with no processed foods, no sugar, no dairy, no meat (which bought my cholesterol down 60 points), at some point, after 15 years of vegetarianism, I became concerned I wasn't getting enough protein or calcium. Confused again, not sure what I was doing, I added salmon, tuna and the occasional chicken. I also consumed yogurt, chocolate, wine, ice cream and way too much cheese, and I chewed copious amounts of gum, sometimes sugar free, sometimes sugar -- all the while feeling concerned and absolutely confused.

When, 2.5 years ago, I was diagnosed with a blood condition, I had no choice but to step up my quest for the right way to live, and eat. At first I was more overwhelmed than ever. People told me to  take chlorophyll. Drink wheat grass juice. Eat shark cartilage. Drink raw milk. Don't drink milk at all. Go homeopathic. Eat mushrooms. I steered clear; none of these spoke to me. They seemed extreme, faddish.

I kept coming back to the idea of food as medicine. But what food? What was going to help me? What was going to bring me harmony, balance and truth? All I knew was that water figured prominently in my understanding of life, that I hated the idea of chemicals in food, and that I felt better, psychologically, when I was not weighed down by meat or cheese or the after-effects of too much wine or caffeine.

A year and a half ago, I began asking my friend, Sheila, who is a macrobiotic counselor in Kent, Ohio, about sea vegetables. Sheila suggested I contact Larch Hanson"the seaweed guy" in Maine. I emailed him. He sent me a long, impassioned email back, saying if he were me, he would, among other things, contact Warren Kramer a macrobiotic counselor in Boston. That was January 2011. I immediately emailed Warren. Yes, he said, he does consultations in different cities throughout the U.S., but nowhere near me. He told me he would do a Skype appointment with me. But I wanted to experience him in person. We tried a couple more times to hook up, once in Boston, but it didn't pan out. 

I struggled anew, and next went to a naturopath, looking for what I thought would be a nutritional approach. She instead wanted me to take supplements, and to charge me twice the online price if I bought them from her. A shrewd businesswoman hiding behind a "naturopath" sign, she told me from her snarky little office in downtown Chagrin Falls: "No wonder you have a blood condition. Look at the way you've lived." It took me weeks to get over what she said and to come back to what was emerging even stronger: Food, nutrition. Simple. Basic.


A couple of months ago, I checked on Warren's schedule again. He was going to be in Washington, D.C., where my son lives, in May. And so I did it. It took some finagling of my schedule and my son's. But I made arrangements to drive six hours to meet him. Warren was no-frills, down to basics. He spent 90 minutes listening to me, studying me and then talking to me about my specific condition, and teaching. He reminded me that we get calcium from greens. Everything has protein it. One cup of brown rice, the staple of the macro diet, has five grams of protein, a cup of Azuki beans, 20 grams. Everything he said made perfect sense. It fit for me, and that is the perhaps single-most important part of any approach to life. It has to fit.

I've been 10 days now on macro. While I already was in the habit of eating a lot of the foods on the macro diet, I have added a tremendous amount of veggies, sea vegetables, miso and brown rice to my diet: The basic macro diet is  50 percent whole grains: brown rice, wheat, barley, oats, corn, etc.;
25 percent seasonal vegetables like brocolli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, mustard greens, onion, kale, radishes, turnip greens; 10 percent protein foods - soy products, fish, legumes, etc.; and 5 percent fruits, nuts, seeds, and drinks, Also, miso, sea vegetables and mild green teas such as bancha.

I have also cut out all meat, all dairy, all sugar, alcohol, raw oil and caffeine I do a twice-daily full body rub to stimulate the lymph and get rid of toxins. I spend lots more time outside with plants (chlorophyll and oxygen produce strong blood) and have brought more plants inside the house, as well. I walk more (the recommendation is 30 minutes per day, but not for exercise, just because our bodies want to move.) I find ways to exercise my body as part of daily living. As important as anything, I chew my food to liquified form (I try to do 50 per mouthful) and sit while I eat. This is half the philosophy: Sitting without distraction while eating. I feel this so profoundly in my soul when I practice this. I am also working on developing regular eating times, which is another important part of the philosophy. If indeed it is food that nourishes our bodies more than anything else, and if we sit still and quiet while we are doing this thing to ourselves, well, that is sacred and pure and honoring and whole. Not only that, but the very preparation of so many vegetables and fresh food every day slows me down, brings me into life with the food I put in my body.

Ten days later, I feel the best I've ever  consciously felt for any sustained period in my life. Part of it is psychological, I know. I feel I have found the answer for my life. I feel lighter, healthier and at peace with my choice.  Part of it is unmistakably physical. I've lost a couple of pounds. My skin looks clearer, my eyes brighter. An acquaintance who doesn't know I went macro came up to me after yoga class yesterday and said "I looked over at you today and I said, 'Wow, Debra-Lynn looks kick-ass.' Your skin. Your body.You look radiant."

There are some who would say this diet is no different than any other vegan way of life. No sugar, no dairy, no meat, no processed foods. Duh. That may be true, except that the macro way of life is not just about what you cut out. It is also about the riches that you add, like sea vegetables, which are full of an inordinate amount of vitamins and minerals, and miso, which is a natural probiotic that keeps the gut making good disease-fighting bacteria. It is very much about balance, balancing different kinds of cooking energies, balancing root vegetables with leafy green and round vegetables, just for starters. Just as important as the food itself, there is, too, a philosophy that makes absolute sense to me: harmony, balance, calm. I make no promises that I will completely heal myself from everything that ails now and forever. Although this could very well happen, the best that I can promise myself is a better life today.

What I ate today:

Breakfast: broccoli soup (vegetables with every meal), which is pureed, cooked broccoli, mixed with a teaspoon of miso and a lot of millet. (Grain is 50 percent of every meal.)

Lunch: Azuki beans cooked with miso and carrots. Rye berries (YUMMMM for real) cooked with a piece of kelp seaweed. Kale sautéed with a tiny bit of sesame oil and onion.

Dinner: Miso soup made with seaweed, onion, cauliflower, quinoa pasta. More rye berries. More azuki beans. Fresh green salad with a salad dressing of miso and lemon.

Here is a link to a lot of resources from my friend Sheila, who is a macro counselor.