[miltonkeynesmum]

Hi, I'm pretty new to macrobiotic cooking and eating so here comes a load of questions!

I am also doing food combining to maximise nutritional uptake/ease digestion and am trying to avoid wheat and yeast and sugar wherever possible. Of course this knocks out bread straight away. I know wheat can be an allergen (although to my knowledge I don't have an allergy to it) - should I be avoiding bread totally (I really miss it!!) or does anyone know of recipes for risen bread/flat breads which avoid wheat flour altogether (I just got some buckwheat flour this week but the only recipe on the pack is for blinis - any ideas what I can put with blinis?).

Also, re miso soup. I have some instant packs but I have to say, I really really don't like the taste (I thought I would). Any other way to get the good things from seaweed without drinking miso (ie any recipies where you can't actually taste it very much?!!).

Noodles - I know of rice noodles, but are there other kinds of noodles that you can get which again don't have wheat in them? How would I make them myself (ie what kind of flour would I need and would I need a pasta maker or some kind of special noodle maker?!).

What about juicing, is there going to be a massive loss of enzymes if I use the PowerJuicer (as seen on a TV shopping channel) or do I have to buy a £400 machine which says it is better because it slowly 'masticates' the fruit/veg and therefore loses nothing?

If doing food combining, I can't eat meat with carbs, can I eat fish with carbs or only with veggies?

Re sprouting, do I sprout the dried mung beans that I buy in a big bag or when people talk of sprouted beans do they mean the beans are fresh off the plant or are they using mung bean seeds and sprouting them? Help, very confused!!!

Anyone know of recipe books for macrobiotic recipes for kids such as healthy burgers, nut roasts that kind of thing??? Any recommendations about where I should look?

Any help gratefully received, thanks a lot. Am enjoying looking through the forum but am finding lots of things which I don't know what they are and can't purchase locally - not in a big city so lack of ethnic food shops! Thanks, look forward to hearing back from you!