Feeling Unfocused and Unmotivated Since Beginning Macrobiotic Diet

[omotosando]

I am entirely new to macrobiotics - have been trying to follow a macrobiotic diet for about six weeks. I have limited time for cooking, but try to do the best I can and am lucky to have a macrobiotic restaurant not too far away where I have been dining a couple times a week and then taking some food to go for the next day.

The chief advantage for me since starting a macrobiotic diet is that it seems to be helping me conquer a lifelong binge eating problem (when I would get stressed, I would binge on foods containing a sugar/flour combo). So long as I eat macrobiotically, I have not had any urge to binge. This feels like a miracle to me given my longstanding problem.

What is not so wonderful is that I feel my mental focus has declined since I have started eating macrobiotically. Instead of being able to focus on the task at hand, my mind just wanders and I basically feel relaxed, but unmotivated. Several years ago, I tried the supplement 5-HTTP and the same thing happened - 5-HTTP makes more brain serotonin; I am wondering if all the grains I am eating are making too much brain serotonin and if I need to eat more protein for my particular constitution? As an experiment, I made myself two eggs for dinner this evening and I do think I felt more focused afterwards.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I also have two other questions.

Kuikicha tea - I love green tea, but I cannot stand the taste of brown kuikicha tea. To me, the taste is somewhat reminiscent of coffee (I think it is the roasted robustness of it), and I hate coffee. I recently bought some green kuikicha tea from Japan and I liked it much better than the standard macrobiotic tea. Is it okay to drink green kuickicha tea, or would I be better off sticking to water?

Pressure cooking rice -- I have been trying to pressure cook brown rice in my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker. It is supposed to be a top of the line pressure cooker, but each time I have tried, I have ended up with gummy inedible rice, which I have had to throw away. Sometimes it is overcooked and sometimes undercooked, but it is always gummy and inedible. I have several macrobiotic cookbooks and I have followed the directions (each of the cookbooks seems to slightly vary the process), but always the same result. Interestly, the pressure cooker itself says to cook brown rice for 20-25 minutes after bringing it up to pressure, as opposed to the 50 minutes or so called for by my macrobiotic cookbooks. I am wondering if I would be better served following the directions on the pressure cooker than the recipes in my cookbooks.

Rice Cooker-- Since I can't seem to make edible brown rice, I don't eat it unless I get it at the macrobiotic restaurant. I know that macrobiotics frowns on rice cookers, but I am thinking about giving up and getting one on the theory that it is better to eat rice cooker brown rice than no brown rice at all.

Thanks for any guidance and insight on these issues.

[gyla]

Hi, I'm so new to mb I hesitate to say anything...but I found that when I transitioned to mb and gave up carbs/sugar, there was a withdrawal effect. It definitely felt a little reminiscent of depression. be gentle to yourself, and know it will pass.

I don't know what to say about your teas, have you played around with brewing times? I have a friend who "schooled" me on brewing tea, he's a tea merchant of sorts. he says on the first brew, if it's loose tea, you should only brew most teas about 90 seconds. don't squeeze bag, if there is one. I'm not sure if there are mb recommendations for brewing, I could be talking crazy here....see if that helps, though. you can use the same tea/bag for successive brews, but just steep longer. also, the water is usually not at a boil, a little under.

re: rice. I found the first few times I made brown rice in the pressure cooker it was pretty gummy, too. It helped me to decrease the amount of water. I only use a little over 1.5C of water per cup of rice. Are you using the traditional 2C/cup of rice? Are you soaking and then using the same amount of water? If you soak it will take a little less water, as the grains will have already absorbed some. I also use a method Aveline Kushi talks about in her cookbook, in which you bring the rice and water a little more slowly to a boil (lid off) and add your salt after the simmer occurs. Place lid, bring to boil. I usually then drop it right down to very low, put it on a flame deflector, and time it for 50 minutes. Something about the natural sweetness of the grain takes 50 minutes. I know the pressure cooker is usually looked at as saving time, but in this instance it's really useful for keeping all the minerals in.

good luck in your mb journey! I wish there was a restaurant close to home so I could indulge when I don't feel like cooking!

peace and blessings,
Holly

[gyla]

whoops, I just saw that kukicha is boiled and simmered. sorry 'bout that.

but if it'll help you get some kukicha in your life, perhaps just steep it?

guess I'm off to try the boiled method!

Holly

[Klara]

Holly, and everyone

I'm so glad to see responses to old discussions, as these topics are always of interest to someone, especially people new to mb.

A very good reminder that Bruce had posted on another site, take advantage of the search button and find what others have written in the past - there's a gold mine of advice here on this site, in the forum section you're now in, but also wonderful articles, good advice in the blog section, and very eye opening chats - do be careful, as you can get lost in time with them all, but for those looking for information, there really is alot here. Also recipes, and most important, support for this site by buying at the shop here, for those living in the States.

omotosando, I'm so sorry you felt the rice was inedible and had to be thrown out. Know that you can always do other things if it seems too gummy for you:
add vegetables and more liquid and seasoning (a little miso goes a long way) to make a great warming soup, add cooked vegetables and a binder (flour, bread crumbs, tofu, or perhaps if rice is sticky enough it doesn't need any binder) and lots of wonderful parsley and fry yourself up some patties, saute chinese vegetables and add the rice for a stir fry. The other day I'd planned on making ojiya (soft rice with sweet vegetables) - the recipe as taught to us started with cooked rice, then we added water - I was impatient, I started with the usual ratio that I cook, 1 cup rice to 1 1/4 cups water, but then I thought why bother, and after it had started to cook, I just added more water - and I loved how it turned out. Now I've been practicing for almost 12 years, and would never ever dare cook a grain without measuring the liquid and the amount of time - so it's taken me a long time to break out and be more daring. I'm so in love with rice that I can't even imagine any rice I wouldn't like, unless as you say it isn't really cooked. also if you find it tasteless, there are a lot of condiments that can be added. Again, if you're in the States, I highly recommend that you start by checking out the shop here on this site - my favorite condiment is natto miso chutney by Mitoku - I don't have the technical skills to save this post and go look at the shop to find you the right page, but I hope you can do it - when you get more advanced, you can start preparing alot of pickles and condiments, especially gomasio. Since these are old posts we're continuing, perhaps you are already doing that. Definitely learn, either from classes or from mb cookbooks, especially the classical ones.

so for your specific questions - I believe there is a very extensive post here on the different teas and their qualities - for now I would worry less about which you choose, and I would defintiely NOT drink anything you find unenjoyable. Again, it's all a process - I used to drink at the beginning quite a bit of apple juice - now it's totally foreign, and so so so very sweet to me - the stage I'm at now I hardly drink - every now and then I will make myself tea, and find tho I enjoy it, alot of it just sits and I don't drink more than a small cup. I've been tryng to get more in the habit of drinking sweet vegetable drink - again I make it, drink the first cup, and have to remind myself it's there afterwards - it's all a process!!!!!!!!

Are you geographically where spring is beginning?? I would put the attempts for pressure cooking on a shelf as warm weather comes in - especially if it's frustrating you. My pressure cooker, WMF Perfect Plus, also works as a regular cooker. I'm only guessing other pc's do the same, I don't know. Pressure cooking is very yang - as we enter warmer weather, we lighten up our foods and cooking styles - so just boiling is fine (simmering). also softer rice is fine. also try different rices, sweet rice or whole basmati rice or rice combinations with other grains or beans (also took me a long time to do, but now love it - I'll add 1/4 cup barley or rye to 1 cup rice - makes it much more interesting).

don't bother with the rice cooker - true, mb does not encourage the use of electricity as it is considered more chaotic energy - but also I'd follow the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Sweetie - too much equipment in the kitchen imho is also conducive to more chaos.

Enjoy the ride. Hope since Oct of last year, you have already learned much.

Klara

[Bruce Paine]

omotosando,

Hi!

Welcome to Cybermacro Forums!

Yes, as Klara mentioned, you can find almost anything that has been talked about if you use the Search engine (using your web browser at Cybermacro forums, the second dark blue horizontal bar down, six menu items from the left, click, Search box opens, click in the box and cursor blink, then type in the word kukicha, and press the "enter" or "return" key on your computer's keyboard and you should find a whole bunch of items at Cybermacro Forums on kukicha)!

From my extensive experience making kukicha, using a transparent cooking vessel is superior than a metal pot but if all you have is a metal pot then that will do.

Do not use unanodized aluminum to cook any foods including beverages!

If all you have is tap water cook it for a few minutes to release the chlorine gas and some of the chemical, then let cool before starting.

Best water to use is purified (filtered), artesian well, or spring water.

Start out with cool water.

Add kukicha.

Bring to a boil.

Turn off heat and let steep.

At the color that you like pour into cup or bowl to drink!

If you are a person who cannot enjoy a yin tea or one that is not bitter, then boil the tea and cook it till it reaches the bitterness than you enjoy.

I work outdoors often in subfreezing weather and as a guy in my fifties, I have had no more than five cups of coffee in my whole life (and none of them were black!) and I like my beverages to be either neutral or slightly sweet.

Of course it is hard to tell what color it is if you are cooking it in a metal pot.

Unfortunately, Simply Natural has not started carrying glass or glass infuser teapots, yet, so you have to go else where to get them, here's a company that has some in stock!

Otherwise if you want a cast iron teapot, Simply Natural has plenty!


Regarding cooking rice in a pressure cooker.

Don't follow all the instructions that come with pressure cookers!

They also have instructions for cooking meat, chicken, and potatoes.

Are you going to cook and eat those foods, too?

Though macrobiotics did not invent and no macrobiotic person I know of in involved in the manufacture of pressure cookers, there are many who know how to use them.

I have a Kuhn Rikon (KR) and I love it!

When cooking brown rice in a pressure cooker, we use 1 1/2 cups of water per cup of rice and use a little bit less water when cooking gallons or more of it!

If you are using an Ohsawa Pot (within a pressure cooker in several to four cups of water), then you use 1 1/4 cups of water per cup of rice.

The reason we soak rice or beans is to soften it so when it cooks it will be soft enough to easily eat and digest.

Rice can be cooked without soaking but if soaking let soak between one hour and eight (overnight is okay).

If you are in a hurry when cooking, you can put the rice, water and seasoning (use a pinch of sea salt per cup of rice but you can include kombu and a small piece of ginger, if you wish) in the pot, cover and bring up to a fast boil, when the pressure cooker valve on your KR shoots up to full extention (two red bars) and a loud hissing sound (check around the pot to make sure there is no seal leak and if then is none transfer the pot to a fire that has a heated flame tamer on it.

This fire should be as low as possible and if you are using a timer, set it for 50 minutes to an hour if it is winter, and as little as 45 minutes during the hot summer.

Pressure cooker manufacturers do not eat whole grains and because white enriched rice does not require much cooking time to get fluffy in a pressure cooker, then the manufacturer assumes that the same is true for brown rice.

How many times do carnivores chew meat much before swallowing?

Macrobiotic counselors, teachers, and educators suggest chewing foods, especially whole grains until it becomes totally liquid like maybe 50 to a hundred times per mouthful.

Imagine someone chewing a piece of meat 50 to one hundred times.

I don't think so!

The intense flavor disappears before 10 chews and carnivores wolf down their food!

So much of the food that carnivores eat is not broken down before swallowing!

So can you imagine how they approach brown rice?

Yes, you can cook brown rice in 20 to 25 minutes but from a macrobiotic point of view that is only half cooked!

Do you understand what I am saying?


Everything is yin and yang!

Meat, eggs, poultry, fish, and, yes, some dairy is yang!

Eat it and you will become more yang, focused attacking the task at hand.

The problem is that much of this yang is too intense and after a while the body start to feel uncomfortable and need yin, lots of it (fish, though yang is less than most of the other animal foods).

Initially it is yin vegetables but later yin fruits, liquids, alcohol, drugs, etcetera, just to release and relax this intense yang.

So even though eggs for instance give us this yang focused energy, it is hard to balance (we need alcohol, drugs, or some strong release at the end of the day)

Most people who eat animal food have a great difficulty waking up in the morning, so they drink coffee and orange juice which releases the stored and added yang (stored from the day before, and added like bacon and eggs in the morning!).

We macrobiotics, who are vegan most or all of the time, can drink coffee but for those of us that don't we must find other ways to stay awake, be alert and focused so that we can proceed with the tasks at hand.

Yes, undisciplined humans can use food to motivate themselves but with often unforeseen negative results.

Take up a discipline like a martial art, jogging, exercise, meditation, chanting, or something.

What I use as my mental coffee or motivator is:

The Ultimate Secret to Getting Everything You Want

A Principle:

In order to accomplish something you must be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish it

A Key:

Willingness (a definition-a frame of mind that is open to every demand without judgment, reservation or refusal)

The Steps:

Take responsibility for creating things the way they are

Assume responsibility for changing them

Take control

What You Need:

1. A clear idea of what you want (an objective)

2. A feeling of confidence that you'll continue to pursue whatever you want, no matter what happens (commitment)

How the Principle Works:

1. The Concept Of Thoughts As Things
2. The Law Of Attraction
3. The Phenomenon Of Accelerating Acceleration
4. The Power Of The Open Mind

What keeps the Principle from working: Unwillingness

The Ultimate Secret is what gets me going and helps me stay focused on the tasks at hand, accomplishing goals, pursuing my dream.


I suggest that you decide what you want.

If you want food to have control over you, eat animal protein, then use all the modifiers you can to try to make balance and suffer the consequence, be it excessive weight gain, sicknesses (colds and influenza), cysts (if you are a woman) tumors, cancer, heart disease, you name the disease and you can find the foods that have contributed to it's development.

Or you can have control over the food and eat the foods that bring you into a natural comfortable equilibrium, whole grains and vegetables, and use other things to help you accomplish the things you want in your life!

It's all up to you.

You are in the driver's seat!

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

Originally Posted by omotosando

I am entirely new to macrobiotics - have been trying to follow a macrobiotic diet for about six weeks. I have limited time for cooking, but try to do the best I can and am lucky to have a macrobiotic restaurant not too far away where I have been dining a couple times a week and then taking some food to go for the next day.

The chief advantage for me since starting a macrobiotic diet is that it seems to be helping me conquer a lifelong binge eating problem (when I would get stressed, I would binge on foods containing a sugar/flour combo). So long as I eat macrobiotically, I have not had any urge to binge. This feels like a miracle to me given my longstanding problem.

What is not so wonderful is that I feel my mental focus has declined since I have started eating macrobiotically. Instead of being able to focus on the task at hand, my mind just wanders and I basically feel relaxed, but unmotivated. Several years ago, I tried the supplement 5-HTTP and the same thing happened - 5-HTTP makes more brain serotonin; I am wondering if all the grains I am eating are making too much brain serotonin and if I need to eat more protein for my particular constitution? As an experiment, I made myself two eggs for dinner this evening and I do think I felt more focused afterwards.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I also have two other questions.

Kuikicha tea - I love green tea, but I cannot stand the taste of brown kuikicha tea. To me, the taste is somewhat reminiscent of coffee (I think it is the roasted robustness of it), and I hate coffee. I recently bought some green kuikicha tea from Japan and I liked it much better than the standard macrobiotic tea. Is it okay to drink green kuickicha tea, or would I be better off sticking to water?

Pressure cooking rice -- I have been trying to pressure cook brown rice in my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker. It is supposed to be a top of the line pressure cooker, but each time I have tried, I have ended up with gummy inedible rice, which I have had to throw away. Sometimes it is overcooked and sometimes undercooked, but it is always gummy and inedible. I have several macrobiotic cookbooks and I have followed the directions (each of the cookbooks seems to slightly vary the process), but always the same result. Interestly, the pressure cooker itself says to cook brown rice for 20-25 minutes after bringing it up to pressure, as opposed to the 50 minutes or so called for by my macrobiotic cookbooks. I am wondering if I would be better served following the directions on the pressure cooker than the recipes in my cookbooks.

Rice Cooker-- Since I can't seem to make edible brown rice, I don't eat it unless I get it at the macrobiotic restaurant. I know that macrobiotics frowns on rice cookers, but I am thinking about giving up and getting one on the theory that it is better to eat rice cooker brown rice than no brown rice at all.

Thanks for any guidance and insight on these issues.

[azulparsnip]

Alot of Great advice Klara and Bruce - last week I surprised myself - I was hungry and warmed up a bowl of rice , dusted it with gomashio & it was soo satisfying - it has taken a long time to get to this little moment .

How different mb is from all other diets - you get into it gradually and work with your body, learning to sense responses & warnings.