New neeeding help

[lexiderock]

Hello hello,
Well I am brand new and was wondering if people had suggestions for a 1st time macro shopper, Im starting Monday and Shopping Sunday. Between now and then any hints would be great..Thanks

[garymill]

Hello,

Welcome to CyberMacro!

Are you wondering what would be good purchases to get started with for a someone that is new to macrobiotics?

I am happy to try to help.

Gary

[lexiderock]

Yes! Very much so..Thank you. I don't eat meat so that's not causing me any trouble..I do eat a lot of dairy, and I'm looking for things that are simple to prepare so that I don't get discouraged early on and quit..any suggestions you might have would be wonderful

[garymill]

Well first off you would not go wrong in having a good macrobiotic cookbook. The Self Healing Cookbook is a classic. I also really like the new The Hip Chick's Guide To Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter, review is right here,

Are you able to shop at a natural foods market like whole foods, or Wild Harvest. Even if you could not get one of the above books, almost any macrobiotic cookbook would be very helpful. You would get many recipes to start with and a good sense of what dishes to cook together as a meal. Also you would get a good sense of which vegetables are considered the best to use, while which ones you may want to avoid like nightshades.

Having a beginners guide to get started is something that we hope to have up in the future.

For now, can you tell me if you currently use whole grains at all like brown rice, or millet. Grains if you already did not know make up a large portion of what one will eat. Do you currently have good quality sea salt? Another important seasoning that you will use often is shoyu, which is naturally brewed and aged for 18 months or more unlike what is often called soy sauce which is often made in a much quicker chemical process and is not considered healthy. Both these items are important, and you may have to eventually get them from another source, we do sell them online here, just to let you know, but as much as possible I am gearing this so you can get as much locally. You may already have good quality oil, high quality sesame oil, and also olive oil are good to start with, hopefully you already have a good knife to use too.

Tofu and Temph are other items that you would want these are bean products, and many stores which one would not consider health food stores carry them today. Other things that you would want to pick would be kukicha twig tea, some basic sea vegetables like nori, kombu, and wakame, eventually you may want other ones like arame and hijiki too. Miso is something you may be able to get locally too, Miso Master Miso, by Great Eastern Sun. Also various beans to get started like lentils, aduki, are good to have too. It would be good too if you can find a thickening agent used often in macrobiotics called kuzu. Some vinegars used often are umeboshi, then to a lesser degree brown rice vinegar.

Once again it would be a great idea to have a cookbook as these are just the raw ingredients one would use in cooking, but the cookbooks would provide the recipes. We do have some recipes online, but they are not put together to make up a meal. Most of the ingredients I have listed, I could find at a Whole Foods Market, except for the sea salt or shoyu. Then once again consider mail order and online sources for ingredients such as us as you can often obtain a higher quality product through them. Hopefully I have given you most of the most common ingredients. Some of the more common vegetables you would want to get would be leafy greens, like kale, collards, napa, bok choy. Then things like cabbage, winter squash which should be plentiful soon, carrots, cabbage, celery, onions, broccoli, scallions, string beans, Brussel sprouts, parsnips, and turnips. Obviously you may not want to get all these at once, but I am just giving some sense of the vegetables to typically buy.

Other sources of recipes I see online are here http://www.macrobioticmeals.com/macrobiotic_recipes.html and a great source of them at the Kushi Institute web site, http://www.kushiinstitute.org/community/recipes.html

I am sure that you can find more looking, but mind you once again that you will find that a good cookbook is your best source.

Hope this helps,

Gary

[lexiderock]

I do have a Whole foods near me, but I prefer to use my local co-op, I'm hoping that they will have many of the things I'm going to need. Also I was thinking that there might be a lot of things that I could find at the Asian Food Market near me, Provided I can figure out what they all are...
I do have a book called Macrobiotic Diet That gives a general overview of What foods to eat and in what proportions..A cookbook would be very helpful especially in putting meals together. I do use some whole grains but not probably as many as a should. I use a number of tufu and soy based products and sesame or olive oil are my cooking oils of choice, however I don't really use a lot of oil in my cooking. Knowing which fruits and veggies not to use will probably be something I'll have to learn.
Also I'm not really clear on what Miso actuallly is. But from what I've read it seems fairly important to the diet so I should find out. Also, do you know what lambsquarters are?

[garymill]

Here is a miso recipe, and within it, it gives a good definition of it too.

The thing to keep in mind about Asian markets, is that items are often not as good quality as you would find in a co-op or whole foods market. For example you want to buy sea vegetables from Japan, not those that come from China which often can be high in mercury. Also for example miso is sold in Asian markets but it would not be the same as that in a health food store, soy sauce too.

One wants to typically buy fruit in season that is particular to ones own climate, so right now, I would eat water mellon for example, in the winter time I would not. Fruits like oranges and pinapple for example would not be something that would be considered locally grown, and are considered to be tropical . Other fruits that are considered local are apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries.

Don't worry about trying to learn and do everything at once, there are going to be a lot of both large and small changes that you will have to make. Besides cookboks, eventually taking cooking classes is a good idea too.

[Nancy]

Hi Gary and Lexi,

Gary, that is some very good advice. My favorite macrobiotic cookbooks are anything by Aveline Kushi, Kristina Turner's, The Self-Healing Cookbook, and Julia Ferre's, Basic Macrobiotic Cooking. I think Aveline is just tops. I love the format of her cookbooks and recipes done by meal plans for the whole day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for Whole Meals (every aspect of the meal, all percentages of foods that should be consumed in a whole meal).

Here is a link to former Cybermacro Administrator Bill Neall's article, "Ignoramus in the Kitchen". The first part of the article goes in-depth about macrobiotic philosophy, the latter part of the article is practical about how to outfit your kitchen, utensils, etc. etc....

"Ignoramus in the Kitchen":
http://www.rosanna.com/newsletters/2.../ignoramus.htm

Welcome to the Macrobiotic Way...

Nancy

[garymill]

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for pointing out that wonderful article written by Bill. Those are all great cookbooks that you gave as suggestions too. I wonder on average the amount of cookbooks that a typical macrobiotic person owns. I know that I acquired quite a few when I started out.

Gary

[skipperkey]

Am male, age 74, need info on foods to reduce cholesterol levels(mostly ldl), have had bad results from zocor and crestor. new drug prescribed (possible after effects-facial swellilng, tongue thickening and breathing difficulty.Diaabetic since 1980, taking glucophage and amaryl.Thanks

[lexiderock]

Thanks for that recipe, I still am not quite clear on what Miso is though. Is it simple a name of a type of dish? Or is it an actual kind of ingredient that is put into food. Is Miso a veggie or type of grain? Will it be labeled as such? Thanks for the web links too. Lexi

[Nancy]

Hi Lexi,

Miso is soybean paste. It is used to flavor foods such as soups, vegetable stews, beans, etc. It has a slightly salty taste. It comes in many varieties. The most healing miso for the body is barley miso, aged over 2 years. Genmai miso is brown rice miso. There are various brands of white, yellow, and red miso. All differing in taste regarding how long the miso is aged and what ingredients it is made of. It is recommended to buy organic brands of miso made with non GMO (genetically engineered) soybeans. Also be sure that the brand you buy is not pasturized or treated with preservatives.

To use miso in a dish: Take some hot water from the dish you are making (soup, beans, stew) puree 1 tsp. of miso (per cup of soup or other dish) in the hot water. Remove dish from heat if boiling (boiling will destroy miso's active enzyme qualities). Miso is an excellent food for optimal digestion. Add pureed miso to your hot dish and stir, after removing food from heat.

Miso used this way is very fresh tasting and delicious. Do not cook miso.

Nancy

[cybertova]

i enjoy the Mugi miso. That soup recipe IS delicious. I also dilute it in the water as suggested in the last reply, and pur it over a veggie (like yellow summer squash that is cut into 1 inch pieces ) then I bake it covered for about 10 min. Don't know if this is medicinal but it is yummy