Beginner questions/doubts

[RicardoFSA]

Hello! i'm a usual reader of this forum, but now i need some help too.

I'm from Portugal and i started eating macrobiotics about 4 monhs ago.
i already was a vegetarian for about 8 years. and also passed through a phase of almost a year in vegan diet.

For this 4 months have been eating most brown rice and millet and sometimes noodles or whole spaghetti. but 4/5 days of the week i eat rice, the rest i eat what i have mentioned. About vegetables, i eat broccoli, carrot, onion, pumpkin/squash, leek, turnip or daikon, cabbage, cauli flower. Some roots that macros use to eat are not easy to find here in portugal.
Also eat seaweeds. including kombu and wakame, for soups, for example.

i think i'm eating in a good way. i usually do more nitukes. and my rice is always presser cooked with salt and kombu, sometimes soy sauce too.

i stopped eating nightshades, and don't eat any sugar. sometimes also eat flour cookies, without sugar but yeast. :/ i'm reducing this...
i usually drank soy milk and fruits. i'm trying to eat less of this now, and substituting it for other things.

I eat at breakfast (sometimes muesli with soy milk, sometimes a slice of bread with miso and a tea, sometimes a porridge with cereal and vegetables.)

between breakfast and lunch i need to eat cause my stomach really start making noises (i normally eat 2 pieces of fruit, separately. i'm starting to reduce this too. but i don't know what else i can take to work to eat.)

for luch normally eat the same thing of the previous day dinner.
cereal + vegetables, it can have seaweeds, beans etc, depending on what i prepared.

again, between lunch and dinner i need to eat something, sometimes soy yogurts, or puffed cereals tortillas....

and for luch the usual, cereal + vegetables, sometimes seitan or tofu, or soup. the usual...

for this 4 months i have also been drinking hojicha tea (similiar to kukicha or bancha) after lunch and dinner.

now that i have introduce myself i have several questions/doubts:

1 - during this 4 months i lost about 19lb i was already a thin person, and i entered this only for the health part, i didn't wanted to loose neither 1lb...i'm 1.78m, had 165lb before i started this. now i have 146lb.
i think i'm eating enough, and wonder why is this. I have been experiencing a small hunger about 45m/1h after i eat. and this only stopped when i stop drinking the tea. that's why i think maybe the reason i lost so many weight was from the tea. i have stopped it now. or i drink water in small amounts, or other kind of tea. what do you think about this?

2 - if you have read my introduction you know i eat fruits daily. i wonder if i should try to eat as least as possible. and why. i'm a yang person, i already make some small tests that are in the internet. and it seems that i'm a yang person. mainly dued to my nervous system. i'm a nervous person, with anxiety. so i wonder isn't good for me to eat fuits, since they're yin. anyway i'm already starting reduce the fruits. for the rest, i think i'm a healthy person. only have some allergies every once in a while.

3 - i also have a doubt about bread machines. anyone has ever made a good bread without yeast on a machine? is it that bad to use a small amount of baker yeast in the bread, cause i don't know if it will rise enough inside the machine without yeast.

Many thanks for you time reading this long text!! hope i get some answers from you!

Ricardo

[Klara]

Ricardo,

I send you BIG appreciation for writing - I was almost afraid to see if there were any REAL posts as opposed to the garbage. Thanks Gary for cleaning all that out - shame a few have to spoil for the many.

Ricardo, for 4 months, you sound like you're eating FANTASTIC!!!! Of course, there's always room for improvement, for the rest of our lives - so don't worry too much.

But to your specifics - if you are ready - and that's an important point!!!!

If you wish to continue with fruit, perhaps you can cook them, put them into couscous cake which is easy to take, and easy to have as a snack, put them dried into granola (home made) which is also easy as a taking item and as a snack, blend them up and use as a sauce over any dessert - the important thing with mb (and I too need to be more conscious of it) is to have as great a variety as you can. Yes, fruit is quite yin (is it very warm now in Portugal?) and has it's place, but you can bring it more to a balanced place with fire, salt and time (btw, sometimes just putting a pinch of salt, like on watermelon, also yangizes it) (can even pickle watermelon rinds)

Are you the same Ricardo that's on moderndaymacrobiotics?? Melanie posts there alot about specifics for people's food requirements. Seems to me more oil, even deep fried would be ok for you, but then I'm not a counselor.

As for the bread - also you can deep fry, delicious or even make croutons and toss them on your food - as I said you're doing great for 4 months, but when you're ready you may find you no longer wish to use alot of those electric appliances, including bread machine. And it's not really a case of bad/good, it's what does yeasted foods do for you - for me personally, if I do eat bread, just for the taste alone I so much more love the denseness and richness of unyeasted. Again, when you're ready.

also if you want to gain weight, seems to be it's ok for you to include more toasted nuts and seeds - also good for snacking - but wonderful sprinkled on or cooked in different foods.

and again, when you're ready, perhaps have miso soup included in your breakfasts, or another kind of soup - and maybe let go of having so much soy and other processed foods such as the soymilk.

Another great drink is sweet vegetable tea - includes carrots, onions, cabbage and sweet squash - sure the recipe is someplace, if not I'll cc it from another site.

So besides the weight loss, how are you feeling???

Klara

[RicardoFSA]

hello klara! thanks a lot for replying, i wondered how many time i would have to wait for an answer, but it was fast. thanks!

Here in portugal the weather is starting to cool down... the summer time ended about 15days or something, but it's alçready very cold in th morning and night. during day not as cold...
i knew how to balance fruits, with salt and cooking time, etc. but i don't usually do it. why? i don't know...maybe just for being lazy.

No, i'm not the same person. eheh

about the bread, it was supposed to substitute some of the fruits, and yeasted flour cookies. i already read some articles about unyestead bread recipes, but i think doing it on a machine is easier and cheaper too (it's not a good reason to apply to our foods, but the truth is that the difference is very big, and i can't afford some stuff macrobiotics defend...)
but, would it be possible to make a good bread in the machine without yeast? i didn't have the machine yet, but i was thinking in buying it.

i eat rostaed sesame seeds sometimes, over rice, or vegetables... also a few roasted sunflower seeds...

i also eat miso soup in brekafast, not so regulary as i could, but i allways try to eat miso in other forms, in bread, in sauces, just mixed into the cooked vegetables.

i already have read about the sweet vegetable drink, but never tried it.

Another thing i forgot to mention is that i eat every night before going to bed...again, my stomach speaks if i don't eat nothing before i go to bed. but i don't have difficulty in sleeping at all. i fall asleep very fast.
now, i'm drinking a cup of tea...sometimes also add to it a puffed cereal tortilla.

besides the weight loss i'm feeling healthy,felling ok, no problems at all, no weakness at all too. just the normal lazyness, wich i think this terrible computers are guilty of.

what about my weight loss being related with the hojicha tea daily intake? i'm pretty sure it was the tea, but i'm not an expert. anyone else has a opinion?

Ricardo

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just
> popping it into our mouths. It's not so easy as you think. It's
> important to know how and when to eat.
> What is the correct way of eating fruits?
> IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! * FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON
> AN EMPTY STOMACH.
>
> If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your
> system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and
> other life activities.
>
> FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD.
> Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice
> of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines,
> but it is prevented from doing so.
>
> In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The
> minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and
> digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.
>
> So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You
> have heard people complaining - every time I eat water-melon I burp, when
> I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat banana I feel like running
> to the toilet etc - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit
> on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and
> produces gas and hence you will bloat!
> Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes
> all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
>
> There is no such thing as some fruits like orange and lemon are acidic
> because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert
> Shelton who did research on this matter.
> If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret
> of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.
>
> When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT
> From the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat
> Cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to
> taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
>
> But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you Should
> drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must
> Let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.
> You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and
> drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will Be surprised when
> your friends tell you how radiant you look!

[Klara]

to Anonymous, I do wish you would identify yourself,

You have posted on a macrobiotic site. You obviously do not subscribe to mb philosophy, or perhaps you are not even familiar with it.

Before mb, I followed Fit For Life, which is similar to many of your ideas - however I found mb to be much deeper, with many more awarenesses of how food affects a body.

There are so many facets, that I can't even begin to get into it all. I do hope maybe someone else can join in and help clarify alot of the ideas.

If not, there are alot of mb sites on the computer that a person can go read and do more research.

Ricardo, how are you doing? I was thinking more about the bread, and do remember being told how just the making of it (sorry, by hand) is also an excellent exercise, a form of meditation - and that you're putting your energy into the bread which is better energy than that of a machine.

But again, all that might come to you later, when you are ready for it.

Sorry no one's answered about the tea, I haven't a clue.

But about eating at night, ALL the sources say not a good idea - but that's one I'm still struggling with, tho not as strong as it used to be. I think it has to do with how well you eat/chew/digest the food during the day. also has to do with going to bed earlier - which I still don't do :<(

so I should go to bed now - g'night.

Klara