It's been a challenging few months health-wise. One of my biggest problems in dealing with bipolar disorder is having the strength to cook complete macrobiotic meals. I tend towards sloth when in depression and that is most of the time.
I have, however, found a source of greater strength. I ordered Barbara Jurecki-Humphrey's book on congee featured in a recent issue of Macrobiotics Today. Some of the recipes are printed in the magazine, but I felt I needed a greater understanding of what she calls "Longevity Soup." She combines different whole grains and beans with  kombu and vegetables with a whole lot of water and cooks it in a crock pot overnight. The next morning a nice, fresh breakfast is ready to go and one can eat the congee for all three meals with different vegatables added, etc.
I realize it is not considered a macro-Godsend to cook in a crock pot, but I know for myself that I have slowly gained strength since beginning to make congee almost daily. Surely it is a blessing to those who have no inclination to cook. I like to cook, but for quite awhile I would get light-headed and feel faint when I stood for any stretch of time.
At any rate, I still have been battling manias. I did decide to eat a vegan macro diet for Lent--that meant no animal-based foods at all. For a long time, if I started into a manic episode with its racing thoughts and excess energy, I would eat an egg or two for their yangness. That may not have been wise since part of my problem is a pancreas that isn't up to par and eggs are supposed to contributed to making the pancreas imbalanced, as in the case of hypoglycemia,which I have.
Having the congee there for me all day helps the low blood sugar so I can have some good macro fare at my fingertips. All in all, I feel the seventeen-some-odd dollars I spent on the crock pot were one of the best uses of money I myself have ever spent.
MacroPeace,
Caroline Ritter
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I noticed one person is using macrobiotics to combat or to live with a diagnosis of "bi-polar depression." I wish to say that I was diagnosed with such a thing in the early 1970's, and that today I am completely free of such a thing, and have been since the early 1990's, when I finally found a talk therapist, a social worker, NOT a psychiatrist, who was willing to look at ME and not my "file," which said I was "bi-polar."
I very much believe that "bi-polar" is a made-up diagnosis that is applied willy-nilly to all kinds of people who have behavioral and emotional problems. My own family was NUTS, and, to make a long story short, I "coped" with their lunacy by becoming "bi-polar." Once a person is diagnosed "bi-polar," he carries that label with him wherever he goes. He "buys into" the diagnosis, is even grateful for "finally being diagnosed!" His family buys into the diagnosis, and his friends do, too. After a while, he is so convinced, by himself and by his doctors, his family and friends, that he will have a "breakdown" if he doesn't take his "medication," that he is trapped into remaining "bi-polar" for the rest of his life.
I NEVER fully believed in the "bi-polar" diagnosis. I always kept looking for a different answer, and I finally found it in the ONE therapist who LOOKED AT ME, and who WORKED WITH ME, NOT my "file." Together, we identified and alleviated the conceptual and emotional problems that were causing me to have "breakdowns."
In essence, there IS a way OUT of the misdiagnosis of "bi-polar" disorder. If you are on "medication" for it, I DO NOT suggest you stop taking your "medication" today or tomorrow. I am only saying that there is a better way, a real way, to conquer the behaviors that have caused you to receive such a diagnosis. If you want to know more, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please note that I will NOT try to sell you ANYTHING, nor try to make ANY money off you. Mine is purely a humanitarian gesture.