Thanks for the response Manymoons, but perhaps you can be more exact. What do you mean by a very "yang" diet - that they were consuming mainly meat? or heavy amounts of grains? it's just unusual that this caused a problem because many people in the general population indulge in meat & then alcohol/drugs in cycles and no spotlight has been shed on their diets.

Was the macrobiotic diet unfairly blamed - could there have been other factors, or is this something really delicate about this diet that needs to be mastered carefully to be sucessful?

I'm worried simply because I'm entering this diet without any guidance or any support from my peers or family. I'm trying to figure it out on my own and have been making some blunders and found some really surprising changes in my mood. It's not that I do alcohol or drugs, I'm just surprised at how much my intake of food can affect me and I want to get an idea of what I'm dealing with, what's worked in the past, and where other people have found problems.

Also, do you think these individuals were intentionally abusing the system, because the extremity of yang/yin doesnt seem to make much sense as a workable theory... or was it just they were misinformed? and do you have any details on what they died of?

I've also had a LOT of trouble sleeping lately. Is this normal for a beginner?

Thanks for all of your help and advice.
-Curious