[mmtc]

Hello Nancy and Bruce,

One of the things the universe has been trying to teach me is that I need some help and support in going the macrobiotic way, and I'm very glad that you both responded to my question right away.

Bruce, you are absolutely right about lifestyle being a major factor in metabolism. I have moved from location to location, job to job, partner to partner, more times than I care to count, due to my own ignorance about how life works, and I think it has produced an overall rushed, hurried feeling in my body. That feeling alternates with a completely stuck, stagnant, don't want to get out of bed feeling in which I end up doing short brown rice porridge (and maybe some umeboshi) fasts for 1-3 days until I can think about eating and moving again. I've been working hard to stabilize my life and lifestyle. I end up feeling that macrobiotic food is the core from which to build the rest of my life. Otherwise, when I'm eating non-macro food, life for me becomes a tedious, painful business to be endured but not enjoyed.

Nancy, you mentioned eating lightly fried tempura, and it got me thinking about it with more focus. I grew up in the Southeast U.S. and there were many times the only thing available to eat was something deep fried. I ate deep fried potatoes, corn-meal balls, okra, chicken, etc... because it was either that or fast. I think somewhere along the way, I think I promised myself that, "when I grow up, I never have to eat anything deep fried again." I have this incredible mental block against making tempura: I feel like I'll turn into a little pool of grease and slip down the drain.

Somehow, I think sharing this will help me to release it.

Also, Nancy, I wasn't trying to say that I know everything there is about yin and yang. I was trying to say that my sensitivity to energy is much greater than you would expect if all you knew about me was that I had been interested in macrobiotics for two years. In other words, I'm sensitive to energy, bordering and often crossing the border into hyper-sensitive, and so eating centering foods and not get a lot of "noise" from eating junk is really important for me.

Thank you both,
mmtc