Fat/Muscle Loss ?

[Gustav]

I have had the problem of loosing what I think may be too much weight on the Macrobiotic diet. I am also concerned about the loss of Muscle mass. How do we as Macrobiotic people maintain a good balance of fat to muscle ratio? Is there a direct link between fat loss and muscle mass loss ? My Naturopath has recommended adding more fatty foods such as Chicken, Fish, eggs, Avacado, nuts. Is this necessary ?

Thanks,

Gustav...

[Roy Collins]

Hi Gustav. A strict macrobiotic practice may be too "yangizing" for most people, especially women who need slightly more fat for proper hormone regualtion. Quite often a very yang diet will interrupt a woman's menstrual cycle and cause bone loss as well as other problems. Occassional use of good quality cooking oil,
cold water fish, along with good portions of roasted nuts and seeds should help retain body/muscle fat to a high degree. Of course physical exercise keeps muscle tone and cardiovascular system in good shape as well. Free weights, tai chi, yoga,
mountain climbing, swimming, bike riding, etc. are all excellent.
Tofu and mochi are two other products that help to keep weight on without taxing cholesterol levels. Eat slow, chew well and
be relaxed as much as possible. This aids digestive process and increases absorption of nutirents/fats because metabolism is
slowed down. Once you get nervous and stressed and start running around like chicken without a head then you make metabolism speed up and digestive apparatus does not function properly. If you are eating more animal food then it would also be helpful to eat a little more dessert as well. Most desserts
will have added fat as well. Just don't overdue it, especially when the weather is warm.

In peace, Roy

[Gustav]

Roy,
Once again, thanks for the info/input. You are the man...


All my Best,

Gustav...

[Roy Collins]

Hi Gustav. Sure, no problem. When choosing animal products one needs always to take into consideration his/her environmental factors, season, and personal needs. In general it is best to eat animals that are further away from us on the evolutionay scale and ones that small enough to be eaten
singularly in its most whole form. Although wild fowl tend to fit this picture I think that domestic chickens have developed more aggressive behavior patterns that appear to be spurred on by the dictates of larger flocks and a larger hierarchy (pecking order).
Many domestic chickens are violent and often kill their kin in penned environments. City pigeons have also developed a similar pattern of behavior as both groups are highly dependent on humans. Best to avoid these as well.

I think chicken eggs are way too yang for regular use but maybe
OK when used in baking deserts on "occassion." I think their yang form and high protein/fat composition are largely responsible for female reproductive and breast disorders (especially egg mayonaise). Micho says chicken eaters like to pick on people (he makes a pecking motion when explaining). Although yang form, chicken eggs tend to make blood acid which also can compromise immune system and weaken red blood cells.
Eating a whole chicken is not an easy thing to do and bones are
difficult to soften and digest. Even if made into chicken soup
which I love to eat on the Passover. With small fish, like sardines, etc. you can all parts -- same with Chirimen Iriko, even
small "minnows" you can gather in a net by the ocean. Sometimes you can eat these without cooking, while still alive.
Vey nice taste -- crunchy (sorry vegetarians....) Anyway you get the idea, no?

In peace, Roy

[bckiceman]

Originally Posted by Roy Collins

Hi Gustav. A strict macrobiotic practice may be too "yangizing" for most people, especially women who need slightly more fat for proper hormone regualtion. Quite often a very yang diet will interrupt a woman's menstrual cycle and cause bone loss as well as other problems. Occassional use of good quality cooking oil,
cold water fish, along with good portions of roasted nuts and seeds should help retain body/muscle fat to a high degree. Of course physical exercise keeps muscle tone and cardiovascular system in good shape as well. Free weights, tai chi, yoga,
mountain climbing, swimming, bike riding, etc. are all excellent.
Tofu and mochi are two other products that help to keep weight on without taxing cholesterol levels. Eat slow, chew well and
be relaxed as much as possible. This aids digestive process and increases absorption of nutirents/fats because metabolism is
slowed down. Once you get nervous and stressed and start running around like chicken without a head then you make metabolism speed up and digestive apparatus does not function properly. If you are eating more animal food then it would also be helpful to eat a little more dessert as well. Most desserts
will have added fat as well. Just don't overdue it, especially when the weather is warm.

In peace, Roy

Not bad advice Roy, especially the comment about higher fat levels for proper hormone regulation. Men also require higher fat levels for proper tesotsterone level. Also keeping in mind that testosterone is a hormone that requires saturated fat to be created in the body. However I would strongly recommend the recommendations of soy for two reasons. One, protien from vegetable sources is generally absorbed at a rate of only 15%. This means if you consumed 100g of soybean protien, your body would only be able to absorb and assimilate 15g. Most of which would be oxidized in the process of digestion and as a result of the themic effect of protien. Aside from that fact the wonderful isoflavones in soy have been shown to mimic estrogen (very bad for a man, unless you want to be a woman) and cause necrosis of sperm cells in-vitro (very very bad, unless you want to be sterile). You may want to do some research and look on the web for "Poison Protein, Kaayla T. Daniel, Ph.D. Exposes the Whole Soy Story". This is just one of a few resources that will point to the perils of soy. You can also search Entrez Med, the online physicians research guide. This has all of the medical research. If you are looking for a high quality protien source that provides health benefits you may want to check out the immune enhancing activity of high quality whey protiens. Very few companies process the way in the correct manner which preserves these immuen enhancing fractions and it is very expensive, however if you are only consuming a small amount you should be fine. This will aid in maintaining a normal bodyweight while on a macrobiotic diet.