Shoyu Sauce

[leodenn]

I have Cirrhosis of the Liver and was suprise that after reading many of Michio Kushi's books and the recommended recipes for liver diseases that Shoyu was one of the condiments. My concern is that when I went to purchase it the ingredients included Alcohol. Prior to that I had been by passing all other Tamari Sauces for this same reason just to find out that Shoyu, although a better quality uses alcohol as perservative. Having Cirrhosis one would never think of touching anything with alcohol. Does anyone have any feedback on this issue?

[Bruce Paine]

Correction, leodenn, shoyu and tamari are both seasonings, that is you use them for cooking, not for adding uncooked to your food.

If you use it as a condiment, then it is highly likely that it will make you feel exceptionally thirsty, and drinking much additional liquids interfers with both digestion and a proper lympathetic balance in your body.

Look at these shoyu and tamari seasonings http://www.qualitynaturalfoods.com/s...yu&tamari.html and you will find them to be alcohol-free.

We use the alcohol-free Johsen Shoyu most of the time in our cooking in our house.

By the way, you know that the tamari is wheat-free and therefore is a stronger taste, and most macrobiotic people use it sparingly, choosing a good quality shoyu for much of their main cooking.

Also, after one has acclimated themselves to macrobiotic cooking and have become more sensitive to the food, one does not need to use that much seasoning or salt, but instead lightly.

If you are not following the counseling of a trained macrobiotic who has been keeping up with the current macrobiotic dietary trends then I suggest that you get a copy of Michio Kushi and Alex Jack's The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health: A Complete Guide to Preventing and Relieving More Than 200 Chronic Conditions and Disorders Naturally
( Ballantine Books hardcover/546 pages ISBN: 0345439872 )
http://www.randomhouse.com/BB/catalo...345439872#desc http://www.randomhouse.com/BB/catalo...&view=excerpt3 which you can buy at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...75939?v=glance both in new and used editions, via Yahoo Groups Macro: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...325535-4075939 or at the Kushi Institute Store: http://www.kushistore.com/acatalog/Food___Health.html .

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[garymill]

On our Quality Natural Foods web site you can see all the Various Tamari's and Shoyu's we sell. http://www.qualitynaturalfoods.com/s...yu&tamari.html

This question has come before from those with health problems wishing to avoid Alcohol. All shoyu's or tarmari's need some type of perservative. Some of the more commercially made ones which we do not sell, like kikoman, use a chemical perservative. The more natural ones which San J sort of fits into use added alcohol. Johsen Shoyu which we sell does not have any added alcohol as a small amount is produced naturally in the fermentation process, but for someone that it ill, it is hard to say if this will not still present a problem for them.

Hope this helps.

Gary