[Nancy]

Hello Alice,

You are describing symptoms that I am well familiar with. You are eating Too Yang, for you. Too Yang meaning...to alkaline, too salty. Grumpiness and neck aches, and tiredness, are all symptoms of a too yang diet, for you, individually. Ease off any salty foods immediately. Balance with more yin foods (fruit), until the neck aches go away, as well as the irritability.

This condition is not from brown rice, which is one of the most perfectly balanced foods. You might be putting too much sea salt in your rice when cooking it. The amount of sea salt should only be 1/8 tsp. per cup of uncooked rice, never more than that. I wouldn't advise attempting the macrobiotic diet using table salt, because this will severely throw you off balance. Get the best quality natural sea salt you can find from your local natural foods store. You can order online from the Cybermacro Natural Foods Store (click above). The best salt I have ever used, and it has an incredibly delicious taste, is the brand "Si Salt", naturally sun dried in Baja, Mexico. Many macrobiotic people use this brand of salt. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I had the same problem you are describing at one time, especially tightness in the upper back and neck. After eating macro for some time, for me it was 4-6 months, I had sufficiently yangized from a rather yin condition (previously on dairy foods like most of the USA). The aching neck indicated I needed to ease up on the amount of yang and salty foods in my diet and add more yin foods. I added some fruits, etc., and cut down drastically on shoyu/soy sauce. No problems, after that.

I would like to know if you are flying by the seat of your pants cooking for yourself, or if you are using a cookbook. If using a cookbook, what book, what author? Although I love Aveline Kushi's creativity, I find her recipes, as written, far too yang for me. Thus, I use her recipes but cut the yang aspects and saltiness to be more balanced for me.

Remedy: To relieve salty symptoms fast, take a hot bath and soak for as long as desired. Drink more water.

Avoid the use of shoyu and soy sauce...and never sprinkle soy sauce directly on foods, uncooked. Shoyu/soy sauce should be sparingly sprinkled into food, while cooking, not consumed raw. I had to switch to low sodium, organic, tamari soy sauce, because I simply find it exceedingly difficult to have more than the minutest quantities of soy sauce. I like -light- soy sauce best, if at all, and add some yin ingredients to whatever dish I use -light soy sauce- in.

Eating too yang will also cause symptoms of tiredness. Usually, at the beginning of a macrobiotic practice you will experience a very pleasant tiredness/sleepiness. This is the change in your diet from yin to yang. I remember, the first month I was macro was in August, and after eating miso soup for lunch, with Wakame, I wanted to lay down and snooze. It was very pleasantly sedative. So, I took a Siesta on the patio, in my hammock. I loved it, though. After one month, your body will adjust to the yang of sea vegetables (nothing could be more healthy) and this sedating effect will pass. Use only a
-postage stamp size- piece of Kombu and ease off too much Wakame, if you are using too much. I love Wakame. I soak it, lay it on a cutting board in layers, roll it up and cut it with a scissors into my soup, like long, thin, green noodles.

2-3 cups of brown rice is more than you need per day. I think 1/2 cup, lunch and dinner, is more than enough. Americans are outlandish with their portion sizes. For breakfast have some Oats. You can have 1/4 - 1/2 c. oats, add some raisins or fruit, and have Bancha tea. This is a nicely balanced, slightly yin breakfast.

Make sure your cabbage salad isn't sauerkraut or extremely salty, pressed salad. If too salty, rinse the pressed salad under cold water, rinsing off the excess salt. Any overuse of sauerkraut will make one immediately grouchy, for 3-4 days, as it is VERY salty!

Also make sure your own homemade vegetable soups do not contain too much salt...salt your soup to taste, at the very lowest level of salt you can get away with -- to not be too bland. Never oversalt soup. You will only do yourself a disservice, having to later balance it with more yin foods.

If you are thinking of quitting after only two days, you might not need the macrobiotic way as much as you previously thought. Also, because your husband does not share your interest and dedication regarding this way of eating...do not let him pull you off track.

My Testimony: There is no healthier way of life, or mode of eating, than Macrobiotics, that I've ever found. Macrobiotics is beyond simple vegetarianism. Gaining an understanding of yin and yang, and using these tools to live your life, are literally the .........................

Keys to the Kingdom.

Nancy