hi, i'm new here

[zenhousewife]

I've tried macrobiotics twice in the past and fallen back into my old ways. With the new year coming up I am going to apply myself to making the change again. I'm overweight and 36 years old, with two children, I'm just starting to notice that my body isn't liking being as heavy as it is, and I'm not bouncing back the way I used to do in my twenties. It's time for a big change.

[Klara]

With a name like zenhousewife, how can you not succeed??!!!!!

How old are your kids? Are they open to this kind of foods??

My own challenge was (and is) to overcome the easiness of the other foods which are around (and there's plenty) - it's taken a long long time not to be attracted to the other foods - but it is harder when it's available.

The best thing would be if your family supports you in your path - but if not, don't try to butt heads with them - if the challenge of their foods is too strong, try to find something else to do while they eat (fold laundry, do dishes, be close but not too close) and the harder challenge, if there's leftovers of their foods, don't even start - once I start, it's downhill for me. If you can sit and eat your food while they eat theirs, even better - but at the beginning it might be more than you can stand up to.

If you can find foods that everyone loves and is good for you, that's the best!!!!

Enjoy the ride - the ups and downs. Are you near others who eat this way??

Klara

[Manymoons]

zenhouewife and Klara

Best new year wishes to you both and all others as well.

Doing this food can be very challenging to say the least. There is a lot of information available on this list (and others) as well as books that present recipes etc. These are useful tools to help on the journey.

I would like to emphasize a point that I hope will be of use in maintaining a working relationship with this food. Too often it appears that macrobiotics is separate and exclusive to all else. The struggles of newbies, for which I often suffer great empathy, is rooted in not fully grasping the the tenants of "The Unique Principle." (The seven universal principles of the infinite universe.) It suggests that all things are one and part of a single whole. Therefore there is no thing which is not Macrobiotic. We are half way there as we begin. Easy enough, huh?

The tricky part is to balance and be in accord with the universe as whole. Macrobiotics is the conscious effort to use the yin/yang aspect of food as a guide/tool toward balancing. Food is not all there is to the matter of living, however. The food as presented by Macrobiotics is a great exercise in becoming more attuned to the yin/yang nature of things that can then extend into every aspect of one's existence. To this end it is golden.

Being Macrobiotic or not, is actually not the question. We are already experiencing the yin/yang universe. The question is to be conscious or not. We can eat or not what ever we choose. Discerning the consequences of what we do is the realm of judgment. After smashing one's finger with a hammer often enough, one will eventually figure out how not to do it. With nine other fingers (if the carpentry Gods have been with you) and ten toes, it my take awhile.

I have been dealing with this food for a very long time and no longer have any problems with what others choose to eat. I am aware of what other's eating does to them, and I can only deal with them accordingly. It does not, however, alter the way I eat. I have accepted that their limitations are not my own. I must relate to them as they are. My own limitations are the only thing I can be responsible for. Even at that, I am human and there is a long way to go. It would be great if every one was more balanced and living from their own deepest centers, but that is not the case. There is a kind of beauty and balance in that, as well. I must acknowledge the blessing of my wife as we are in accord with the food, but only after long arduous effort.

At the risk of "blowing" any mystique that my have developed about me,(ya-right) I am including my wed site.( JD Huth Company - home.) to illustrate my efforts to integrate yin/yang. I design and build furniture: a process of bring the yin into the yang--an idea into physical form. This is a never ending process. Not only to accommodate the desires and wishes of a client as rooted in their own balance, but to go more deeply into myself and reflect my own sense of the best that can be done. This entire procedure rarely precipitates perfection. but it does induce growth. All limitation (costs, time, tastes) mitigate the final result. The challenge is to transmute "givens" into something of worth.

The food is great and living is great, but with the food, can be as much as anyone could possibly ask. What could be better then finding more of one's self and depth.
A grain of rice is planted and grows in an almost straight line to become a grain of rice again. I strive to live and design my works with this same direct elegant beauty. I have successes and failures. The process is what matters.

We are all Macrobiotic already. How deep can we go?

Manymoons

[zenhousewife]

Hi Klara and Manymoons,

Thank you for your welcome.

To answer your questions Klara, my children are aged 12 and 3, and they are happy to eat healthy food, but they will continue to eat dairy products and occasional treats too. So the biggest test of my willpower will be avoiding the cheese and chocolate, which has always been my downfall. I don't know anyone else who follows macrobiotics, so I'm finding the internet to be an invaluable resource.

Thanks for your words of wisdom Manymoons, I see what you are saying and I believe that my consciousness will bloom with a more balanced diet. Part of the reason for me coming back to macrobiotics is a feeling that this is what I need for my meditation practice. I am feeling far more conscious of what my body wants, and it wants balance (and less weight).

I look forward to learning here with you and others.

[Manymoons]

zenhousewife

Cheese and chocolate are certainly worthy of down fall. They are tasty for sure!

Perhaps you could use a small amount of cheese as a condiment on dishes served in order to satisfy your desire without eating excessive quantity. Use a small amount that is just enough to give that yin/mother energy taste. As you develop more of your own yin, the compulsion toward taking such a yin from the outside could diminish. Other sources of yin can be drawn from color, rest, music, altering routine, breathing exercise and even meditating,etc. As a clue, our compulsions toward excess yin/yang is a signal that we are deficient in that particular yin/yang. Not just in the body but in the spirit as well. The body and spirit are intimately connected, so one effects/reflects the other. This is the ultimate adventure--to discover and develop our deeper selves. Enjoy the search.

As far as chocolate is concerned, YOU ARE DOOMED. There is NO HOPE!

I'm kidding of coarse!!! My wife uses roasted dandelion root tea and/or some such coffee substitute as a chocolate flavor in making creamy (yin texture) pudding and pie filling as well as cakes and cookies. Experimentation and practice could produce a chocolate like treat that is as tasty as a more balanced and sensitive pallet could want.

Ever one wants the yin. It is our birth right. A problem develops when we consume excess yin in an attempt to satisfy that need, because those elements that are yin producing can also be yang depleting. As the yang diminishes, so does the yin. Yin and yang justify each other and are dependent on the other. Can't have one without the other. Therefore, a yang condition is prerequisite to containing the yin. Your own happiness as an example.

It may appear a "catch 22" exists. Welcome to the yin/yang adventure. Western pragmatic thinking can render this an insurmountable puzzle, and yet it's almost so simple it becomes illusive. At the heart of yin is yang. At the heart of yang is yin.

If this is as clear as mud, ad some roasted dandelion and make it chocolaty.

You can make your condition more yang (strong) with this food. You can also make your condition excessively yang with this food to the point of annihilation of the yin. Go slowly and observe what you experience. There is no usefulness is moving so quickly that you loose control and abandon the journey. It is all there in you and around you. Connect and participate as you are able. Be assured it is always there and take the time to see and feel it.

Still traveling as though it is my first day,
Manymoons