discharging!

Hello: I am very new to macrobiotics, and very afraid of the discharge process. I'd love it if people could give their opinions on discharging: is it necessary to have horrible discharges in order to heal? Is it thus necessary to eat VERY strictly in order to heal, or might people heal slowly and discharge more "comfortably" if they ate wider over a long period of time? Thanks to all.
--Meeso

[Blue Dolfin]

If your previous diet was loaded with junk - excess protein, fat, sugar, liquid - and/or if your body is in a very weakened condition, discharges can become uncomfortable when you try to follow too narrow of a regimen, but you can always widen your diet if the process gets too difficult to manage.

Hi BD: Okay, but if you widen the diet are you still "healing," albeit more slowly? and how long before one might expect to see discharges? Thanks.

[Blue Dolfin]

Of course you're still healing if your blood quality is improving. Much of your discharging will go unnoticed unless you're really full of junk, in which case any number of strange things might happen - a "cold" with a lot of mucus is the most common. Some people get skin eruptions and other phenomena. Nothing to really worry about. In my case I had one very heavy menstrual period with a lot of old (black) clots coming out. You might get headaches coming off of a lot of coffee. It just depends what you did before you changed your diet.

Thanks for the info. Can you direct me to a specific book that would discuss "blood quality" and what that means? It's a vague term--in chinese medicine there's the term "blood deficiency' which in a way, sort of, corresponds to western "anemia." I'm not quite sure what is meant by "blood quality" in Japanese macrobiotics, and how improving it might, say, help heal tumors, etc. who/what might I read on this?
Thanks yet again.
--meeso

[Blue Dolfin]

Blood quality is explained in most basic macrobiotic books. Your blood plasma is completely regenerated within ten days. It is made in the small intestines, from the food you consume. (Western people have been sold a bill of goods when they believe blood is made by the bone marrow. See the book Biological Transmutation by L. Kervran for specifics.) Within 120 days all your red bloods cells have been made anew. Old cells die and are replaced with new ones made from different food. Hopefully without flaw and not all clogged with fats.

The blood circulates through the whole body and nourishes the organs. The cells of the body are gradually replaced by new ones, nourished by your "new blood". That is the nuts and bolts of how healing happens.

Interesting. thanks very much.

There are many forms of discharge. My wife and I have had various types of discharges - her more strongly than me. My immediate family members have also had various discharges when they have come to visit for several weeks and having to eat our food.
The most common first discharge symtoms that I have noticed are mucus discharge. Lots of mucus coming out of the body via the nose. Two sweating and almost fever-like conditions. These have been obvious in my circle of friends and family. My wife has had more severe ones such as dark patches on her skin, scaly skin, rashes etc., though none too serious and all have more or less disappeared after a while.
Discharging is an individual phenomenon. We own a restaurant and do cooking lessons, all on macrobiotics, www.naturalgarden.ca check it out.
Many of our customers and clients have had discharges too, of various magnitude and kind.
Let your body guide you. Be strict if you want to be, don't be if you don't want to be strict with your diet. Do what you can do and don't push it. Do what you are comfortable with and nature will take care of itself.