Hi Kitty,
Do NOT do anything that would feel overwhelming. Brown rice and vegetables is an excellent start -try once a week to experiment with one of her recipes that appeals the most to you, and then buy just those ingredients you need for that recipe. Soon enough you'll have built up quite a full pantry of mb foods.
What happened to the cooking class? That would be a nice way, as someone can hopefully introduce you slowly and with guidance to all your questions.
btw, I thank you for saying I helped, but even I do have the right to change my advice (and make you even crazier??!!). There's a wonderful site called The Macrobiotic Guide and today's newsletter featured Mina Dobic
Mina Dobic Macrobiotic Counselor Have a look at the presentation of the film she is making.
One of the people in the film said they started by reading and using a book, but then went to Mina for consultation and found she was doing it not correctly from just the book. I don't know exactly what she meant by that, but there are alot of little points that someone new can miss by being self taught - and it's hard to know without someone guiding you.
I remember reading in one of the books a person thought he was doing everything right - so they asked him what he eats and he told them, it sounded good, til they discovered that the soup he made, he ate from all week!!!!!! And he had no idea that that was what was preventing him from improving his condition.
Anyway, there are all sorts of roads to get there, and EVERYONE will make mistakes, so don't worry about yours.
I think the first "strange" ingredients I would buy is sea salt and miso - and then be careful, not to oversalt - a pinch is usually enough for the grains or for the vegetables. For the miso soup I use about 1/2 tsp per cup of liquid - and just a little vegetables, maybe 1/2 an onion, 1/2 small carrot and 2-3 kale leaves - it should be a light soup in the mornings.
I'd have to look again in the book, but I'm sure her recipes are well written - maybe let us know which you tried and how it came out.
Klara