I found Macrobiotics in 1998. To say the least, it changed my life! I aligned myself with the farm to plate idea of slow food and eating with the seasons, not to mention the intoxicating theory of energetics. I dedicated myself to teaching others how to prepare delicious and healthy foods within this concept and guided many clients from illness to health. So when I became sick myself and found that I needed to break out of the strong box I lived in, I found that Paleo had the similar foundations. One of the main differences is grain. Paleo's premise is that our genetics are set up for hunter gatherer type foods and Macrobiotics is adamant that grains changed the course of man when fire and salt came in to our evolution, developing ancient man into civilized, intellectual man. I can see both sides of this debate, so my philosophical jury is still out, but in the mean time, I'm watching my experience. Feeling how my body feels when I eat one way or the other for an extended period of time. ~Mici 4/2015
Does change in view mean Hypocrisy?
Philosophy is an important part of learning any new lifestyle. Understanding the ideas behind a culture or history or even scientific basis for diet is valuable. But after being vegan macrobiotic for 14 years and becoming so weak that it was hard to get out of bed, and having developed Hashimoto's and hypogycymia, I made a pact with my body to listen to its innate wisdom and to take experience over philosophy before making an intellectual opinion about any thing that might be right for me at any given time. Because we all change and grow and have different cycles where we need different things at different times. So I embarked on the higher teachings of macrobiotics and became my own doctor using food.
In the summer of 2013, after being macro for almost 20 years, I had a visit with a chiropractor that I really trust and he suggested a "sugar control" diet to help correct some conditions that I had. Over the years, he had suggested doing this, but my "sugar circuits" had always been strong, and I already ate so clean being macro, that it was only in frustration over my hypoglycemia making me anxious that we looked a little closer at the diet aspect of my health. He gave me an outline of what to do for 2 weeks to "re-set my autonomic systems" and it looked very close to what I knew of as Paleo. I surrendered to the experience and boy was I shocked at the quick results!
|
I've always advocated sugar-free. Now that means a whole different thing being off grain and natural sweeteners! Not all sugars are created equal, nor do we need to have many of them to survive.
The sugar control diet, as well as paleo, both send your body into ketosis. This basically means that your body begins to look for its energy from fats as opposed to carbohydrates to feed your cells. The first 3-4 days are rough as you make the transition. You kind of feel like you have the flu. But I noticed after 2 weeks that my hypoglycemia was all but gone! I don't even notice symptoms of my thyroid condition anymore! I decided that if i wanted a real experience I would have to give my cells 4 months to regenerate and change all my blood. Then I could better determine how I felt about this new way of eating. "Will there be longer term side-effects that just replaced the ones I corrected?" I wondered. This is the tricky part of any change in diet, because as you change and notice the changes immediately, you can mistakingly think the new way is the best way to eat. But my experience and macro understanding would lead me to have compassion for the place that I'm in and to remember that our needs change with age, activity, life situations and exposures to environment. It took 20 years for me to figure out that fat and the quality of fat makes for a satisfying and healthy life! I'm in the tweeking stage of figuring out the small movements that make my food choices optimal from day to day for me and the seasons of my life. But I've decided that for now, if and until my innate wisdom leads me back to grains, I'm off of them happily! Sugar is the devil, I've always said! I know that's true more every day. If I eat even a few tortillas or a sandwich I get loopy like I had chocolate and become bloated within an 20min. I feel lethargic and slow. The only sugar I take in is fresh fruit, yams and yukon golds and on the holidays or special occasions. Occationally I experiment to see if anything has changed with brown rice pasta or gluten free bread. (It still hasn't and it's now been 2 years!) I remember being at the Kushi Institute and eating large quantities of macro calorie and nutrient dense foods, and being hungry all the time.My Fat intake is high (about 30-40%) and I finally feel like I can back off to less now that I've adjusted to this way of eating. I have found after 20 years of being dairy free, that my body does VERY well on some raw goat's cheese and yogurt. Eating fat is a great way to get lots of veggies in as well. Half or more of my plate has greens like: kale, arugula, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc... I don't really miss anything because meals are so satisfying... I do want to experiment with wild rice and plantains for tortillas as they make meals fun! (I LOVE tacos). -PS. Wild rice and quinoa are actually seeds not grain so look out for them in my recipes! Happy Garden, Happy Eating, Happy Life! |