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Hi Bo. You're right, but not just coffee, cigarette smoking and carbonated beverages too!
Based strictly on observations of the natural world we can see that not all animal species eat fish or eggs in order to have strong bones. Deer, caribou, and gorilla for instance have very strong bones and eat grass, tree bark, moss, lichen, twigs, berries, herbs, nuts and leaves. Also many species of fish do not eat fish but rather plankton and other algae, etc. and maintain strong bones. Domestic cows eat no meat or fish but lots of grass and have strong bones, etc. For thousands of years vegetarians living around the globe and especially adherents of the religions of Jainism, Buddhism, Hindu forbid the eating of animal food. There is no widespread incidence of osteoporosis found in these groups.
In children world-wide osteoporosis is very rare, and those isolated cases of adolescent osteoporosis is usually due to absorption problems and/or result from use of steroid drugs for malfunctioning thyroid/parathyroid or other diseases. Osteoporosis is therefore a by-product of these diseases – most which occur in children who eat an omnivorious diet. In addition, the wonderful research work by Dr. Takuo Fujita on calcium shows evidence of calcium loss due to high levels of parathyroid hormone, or PTH: “since excess PTH remioves calcium from bone…bone mass decreases leading to osteoporosis.” (Fujita developed a high heat refining process on oyster shell and combined it with seaweed that has proven effective in preventing osteoporosis and can actually reverse bone loss….the product is all natural and is called AAACa – check with health food store…)
Based on this evidence we can ascertain that neither fish nor other animal food is a requirement for strong bones.
The problem with osteoporosis is more of absorption problem and hormonal problem than anything else. This can be proven from research that centers on poor calcium take-up from supplementation and from increased dairy consumption. Also we know estrogen hormone loss in women during menopause also leads to calcium absorption problems. In addition it has been proven that more calcium is absorbed by the body when less calcium is consumed!
Here is where it becomes important to eat a wide variety of land and sea vegetables, along with cultured soy products to make calcium more bioavailable for the body. I agree that a “little more” omega 3 oil from fish can aid in more calcium uptake to the body of the consumer but even the Fish Foundation of the UK agrees that fish need only to be eaten “once or twice weekly” to provide this. Flax is nature’s richest source of Omega-3 fatty acid but they also abundant in canola, sunflower and safflower oil. I believe that wild purslane is also a good source of Omega-3 fatty acid (Evening promrose and Borage oil are higher in Omega-6 ).
Eggs really do not fit prominately in the macrobiotic diet as they are too protein rich as well as too yang. Like with oil, more salt is needed to properly digest eggs. Very extreme food. If more protein is needed you can add more wild rice to the diet which has twice the protein as brown rice and also more whole soybeans which has more protein than beef. Fermented soy foods also increase calcium intake and help level estrogen levels. Flax seeds ground in a suribachi with dulse and a little spirolina algae makes a wonderful condiment and helps with Omega 3, B12 and protein and vitamin deficiencies.
I recently developed a delicious “Macro Milkshake” that utilizes cultured soy and brown rice which helps to increase natural bacterial and enzymatic actions in the intestine and increases uptake of calcium, protein and vitamins from whole food sources. I will post an article on how to culture soy within a few days. I feel this is an important addition to the macrobiotic diet for people who do not wish to eat too much animal food.
When choosing animal food the dictates of the environment and season need always to be considered. Generally speaking, more is used in the cold climates and less in the warm. Eating too much fish and eggs in a hot climate produces excess heat, protein and stores of urea which can lead to arthritis and heart problems. Eggs and dairy should be eating only on occasion as pleasure foods. They really are too extreme for daily consumption by any macrobiotic standard and are responsible for a multitude of mucous/fat/tumor related diseases.
It is important to realize that our bodies and needs have evolved over millions of years and throuh time these needs have changed dratically. In the modern era our bodies have attempted to adjust to various environmental and climatic changes and by making change over to macrobiotic food it is sometime difficult to properly process overly cooked/salted food. So making transition to macro diet requires a wider choice of vegetable, salads, fish and fruits, and more fermented soy -- especially miso, but also small amounts of daikon pickle as well. Chewing also should be more sustained to inheane more enzymatic action for proper digestion.
Many of us have come to macroworld with very damaged intestines and have weakend ability to absorb nutrients. Ginger compresses can also be benficial as an aid to help correct this. A rigid macro diet should only be used for extreme health problems and that should only be continued for a short period. I think the "standard macrobiotic diet" is suitable for most people inthe temperate climate but modification is always required depending on where one lives, their age, length of macro practice, physical constitution, work and leisure habits, etc.
Readers should note that Bo Enborg is the director of the macrobiotic association in Stockholm, Sweden. It is always nice to hear from you and to share your views. If possible please give us more information about he hand and foot acupuncture practice that you specialize in.
In peace, Roy
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