Losing weight & female troubles

[Carla]

Hello everybody,

It's the first time I join a forum. I'm eating macrobiotic for a while now.
This because I love whole grains, vegetables, seitan, hijiki and so on and also because of an ecologic point of view.
Now, I have amenhorrea (suppressed menses). I had this since I stopped taking the pill, which is a year ago, but it is getting worse, I'm now 3 months over due and not pregnant.
Also I'm overweight, I want to lose 25 kg (55 lbs I think), I'm 1m58 and 81 kg.
Is there anybody who can think something I should pay extra attention to in my diet or lifestyle? I think both problems have something to do with each other (maybe I'm too yin or too yang?)
I know this probably is a difficult question, but I don't now where to turn to (I'm from Belgium - Europe).

Thanks,
Carla

[Roy Collins]

Hi Carla. I think you are too yang. Many people with more yang center tend to attract more yin (fat) to body and hold on tight to it. I think you need to eat more steamed vegetables, use a little more liquid and cooked fruit in diet and eat hardly any salt at all.
Also eat less proportion of whole grains now and begin to regulate hormones by using either 1. dong quai root, 2. Vitex (CHaste Tree Berry) or 3. Black Cohosh Root (all are teas) a couple of times per day. You will see period come within 3 months or sooner if follow this. If you need more help please write me again.

In peace, Roy

[Carla]

Thank you so much for the advice!
Now I have some more questions if you don't mind.

How many whole grains can I eat? Now I eat 2 slices of sourdough bread in the morning and 2 cups of whole rice (or something similar) for lunch and in the evening.

How many vegetables can I eat, because I eat quite a lot I think, also 2 cups for lunch and dinner.

What about oil should I avoid this completely?

What about yang products like tofu, seitan, tempeh, beans and seaweed? Should I avoid these? Or how much can I eat of them? I thought seaweed, shiitake mushrooms and adzuki beans were good to lose weight.

Avoiding salt will not be a problem, but does that include shoyu, tamari and miso?

With using more liquid, do you mean drink more water, tea, grain coffee and soup?

Thank you for the tips of teas also, I try to look for them! Should I try to use all of them like twice a day?

I found an interesting article that sees the things from a different side, what do you think about it?

I eat every day some ginger (in my soup), is this advisable and would umeboshi plums help me?

Thank you so much, you really made my day!

Carla

[Roy Collins]

Hi Carla. For your condition you need to eat only 1 cup of whole grain per day but plenty of cooked vegetables without oil and only small bit of salt. Two large meals. But exercise daily too.

Use light miso once every other day. A little yin tofu in it is ok. Seitan is too yang right now. Ok for the ginger. I would use no more than 1 slice of sour dough bread in the day. CHew well.

Tempeh ok, beans too yin/bloating. Black beans OK but only a few times a week. ADuki, lentils are oK but not too much. Seaweed all the time is good, but soak first and throw off salty soaking water. Shiitake is good, you can use frequently.

Drink only of the suggested teas I gave in the list. Try DOng Quai tea bags. Two times daily. Eat more cooked fruit and a little salad if you like. Do not use umeboshi plums, Too yang will make you retain water! No good for you. If you like sour taste and benefit from umeboshi you can get the green plum extract with no salt and put a little in your tea. Drink more liqid all around. When you cook grains make very wet, not dry. Better to cook in a stainless steel pot and not under pressure (for now).

I hope this helps.

In peace, Roy

[ees]

Hi,
I have been wondering: When you talk about eating only one cupwhole grains daily, do you mean one cup drie, uncooked grains or one cup wet, cooked grains?
I would be very happy to know, since I too needs to loose some weight.

[Carla]

Hello,

In the meanwhile I found out what was my problem.
I have pcos which is an endocryn syndrome, 7-10% of women have this, and 60% of them are overweight.
You can find a lot of information on the internet about it.

Also I'm pregnant now and I don't find the energy to cook macrobiotic now. Fortunately we have a lot of macrobiotic restaurants in the neighbourhood. So we take out a lot.

I wish you succes with losing some weight,
Carla