Wow, to read an entire book online - this age of computers still amazes me. Thank you Bruce.
On a different discussion group, I referred people to The Macrobiotic Guide for an article on juicing -
The Macrobiotic Health Benefits of Juicing (if that doesn't work, let me know)
and in response, here's a thoughtful reply about why some mb support juicing and others don't from Phiya Kushi, one of Michio's sons:
Hi BIll,
From my perspective/ experience, the opinions do not differ and both are correct to a certain degree. Even though they can clearly be viewed as contradictory they are talking about two different things.
Anything taken in excess can be harmful and that is what the Kushi Institute instructor was talking about, although I personally would have not qualified "yin" as "bad" and I would have added many disclaimers because all life is relative. What is "bad" for one may "good" for another and what is "bad" for one now may be "good" for the same person at a later time.
Juicing does have remedial qualities for many depending on where they came from or what they have been eating. Many people have a habit of chronically eating too yang in the form of baked breads, excessive animal foods and salt and oil, all of which do tend to clog up the liver and the quick and dirty remedy is to take hot spices and/or alcohol. Juicing with ordinary vegetables is a much better way to clean things out and many times in macrobiotics juice made from leafy greens is recommended for persons with liver problems (also shiitake tea - why do you think this?). Fresh grated daikon and carrots are also recommended for a host of troubles. So for people like that then juicing or going on a raw foods diet for a while can work wonders. But ultimately we also need to eat cooked food and we need to have minerals and we need quality fermented foods. Discover your own bodily needs. Try things out, experiment, discover yourself.
What is more valuable is to understand the principle and mechanism behind all of this. Why does it help? How does it work? Why do these contradiction seem to appear (like the one about soy)? What is the principle behind it all? Is there one that can logically explain it all?
Phiya