[Bruce Paine]

(Mr., Ms., Mrs., Miss) lighthouse25,

The site is called Cybermacro because it is for persons new and old to macrobiotics looking for help on the Internet can come here and ask others for help with their practice of the macrobiotic dietary principles, philosophy, and maybe also to socialize.

There is no prescribed "Macrobiotic Diet" (though we sometimes use the term as a form of short hand), cookie cutter, one diet fits all approach and to get help from macrobiotic people, here, one needs to provide some:

basic facts

like age, sex, height, weight, condition, constitution, diet (the way you've been eating to cause your present condition), the diet that you ate most of your life that contributed to your constitution, what climate you live in, the season (where you are), what your daily activity is (do you work indoors or outdoors, do you do physical or mental tasks mostly [light, medium, or heavy]?). are you using medication, supplements, what is bothering you, and, what changes you are trying to cause and why(?).

Vegan macrobiotic food protein sources include whole grains (especially seitan [wheat gluten], mochi, and natural leavened bread), beans (icluding aduki, lentils, garbanzos, black soy beans) soy products (including miso, shoyu and tamari, tempeh, tofu, and natto), nuts, seeds (including nut and seed butters and some sea vegetables.

One needs to read some macrobiotic books to discover all the foods, how they are prepared and eaten plus the (yin/yang) philosophy that guides one to choose the various different foods as well as make certain other decisions in one's life.

If you don't already have a book on macrobiotics, there are several good books to start off with including:

"The Macrobiotic Way" by Michio Kushi,

"Pocket Guide to Macrobiotics" by Carl Ferre,

"Macrobiotic Diet" by Michio & Aveline Kushi,

and the most comprehensive:

"Book of Macrobiotics" by Michio Kushi & Alex Jack.

Good cookbooks for beginners and old timers alike include:

"Self Healing Cookbook" by Kristina Turner

"Introducing Macrobiotic Cooking" by Wendy Esko

"Basic Macrobiotic Cooking" by Julia Ferré

and the most comprehensive:

"Complete Guide to Macrobiotic Cooking" by Aveline Kushi & Alex Jack


If you are poor, or want to start off simply, pick a book on macrobiotics and one on macrobiotic cooking and thoroughly immerse yourself in each book until you have a good sense of what's in it.

Many of the questions that you and other's often ask here will be answered if you just immerse yourself in a macrobiotic book, first.

If you are wishing to lose a lot of weight because you are grossly overweight, then you need to proceed cautiously and not get into any lose weight quicly programs or you risk hurting yourself in some way.

There are two books that are useful for adressing obesity and weight control in macrobitics and macrobiotic cooking and they are:

Obesity, Weight Loss and Eating Disorders (Macrobiotic Health Education Series) by Michio Kushi, & John D. Mann

and:

Obesity, Weight Loss and Eating Disorders: Cooking for Health (Macrobiotic Food and Cooking Series) by by Aveline Kushi and Helaine Honig

If you are really young and hearty and can endure a lot of stress and discomfort, yes, then you might be able to lose a lot of weight quickly

(I lost nearly one hundred pounds hitchhiking thoughout the mid-Southern United States [from L.A. to N.C.] carrying an 80 pound backpack and drinking lots of unfiltered juices back in the Spring and Summer of 1973 but then again I was 24, 84" tall and started out weighing 300 pounds)

but if you are medium to light in the strength and endurance area, then you might proceed a bit more cautiously and start off taking baby steps with trying to lose weight.

One thing is almost certain, and that is if you are cooking and eating a properly balanced macrobiotic diet, and you start off being overweight, sometime within 10 days to six months, your metabolism will change and you will start losing weight.

If you gained your weight by eating a lot of refined carbohydrates and fats while sitting around watching tv or on the computer or doing something else, then you will certainly need to do a lot more exercise to help your metabolism to speed up somewhat.

But again, you need to initially take baby steps until you firmly establish your footing in your next endeavor or major change.

So, maybe, you can either start reading and then come back with some better macrobiotic questions or you can just post your basic facts and someone here can give you a rudimentary diagnosis and help you find some viable solutions.

Does this help?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine