breastfeeding and detox

[nisha]

Hi everyone,

I have a question for all of you wise macro experts and practioners out there. While I was pregnant and for some time since I have widened my eating practises to include fruit, and animal food. My daughter is now 9 months old and I am still breastfeeding and I am trying to go back to my old more narrow (more central, balanced, simple) eating habits.

The hard part is that I feel terrible. I am really tired, have feelings of nausea, have aches and pains (in my pelvic area) and weak and sore joints (esp. my wrists). In addition, my lips are really chapped, dry and burning hot. I figure I am detoxing but that can't be good for my babe. Is there any way to return to my normal diet without negatively impacting her. I am too far into the detox to go back (it's been about a week, and I am still eating fish - prior to that I was eating dairy and eggs and even chicken pretty infrequently and fruit a little more often)?

I would really appreciate your feedback.
Thanks,
Nisha

[Roy Collins]

Nisha. Your diet needs to be slightly more yang but also your salt intake needs to drastically reduced. Back off on tamari and use only a small amount of miso in soup a couple of times per week.

As Spring gets underway most of us are beginning to discharge some of the excess we ate during the cold season. This will not affect your baby in any way. "Detox" may be too strong of a word. A little fresh, shredded daikon during meals can help you as well.

It is the excess yin in plant and animal food that is making the joint and pelvic pain. Try to stay away from flour products for some time as well. Exercise in moderation, especially walk with 3-5 lb. free weights moving wrists and arms in a slightly exaggerated motion.

I don't know how much liquid you are drinking per day but the dry and cracked lips may be an indication of too little liquid (as well as too much salt). If your baby seems irritated and has red face alot you are probably eating too much salt. If baby is too passive with white face and oozing liquid from eyes, nose and mouth then you have too much liquid. Do not use dairy or sweetners.

In peace, Roy

[nisha]

Roy, thanks for the reply. You have given me some very helpful suggestions to begin implmenting.

I have some follow up questions for you. What is it about yin that causes joint and especially pelvic pain. How did you establish that I needed less salt? And finally how does one establish that they are getting too much liquid?

Thanks so much,
I really appreciated your feedback.
Nisha

[Roy Collins]

Nisha. In the macrobiotic paradigm of understanding disease causation and cure, the physical yin/yang system is used as the main factor of determination. Quite simply put, excess yin in the body causes expansion and expansion within the joints, especially in the cells and synovial fluid (a clear fluid in the joint capsule that facilitates movement) and the pressure from expansion on nerves, muscles, etc. causes pain.

Now, you know that salt is a yang constrictive, correct? Yes, that is why people with heart disease and high blood pressure cannot tolerate too much. Yang salt attracts yin and holds it in its center. That is why many overweight people have problems losing weight because too much salt in body cells and tissue is making water/fat to be retained. Bloating from water is yin but cause is yang salt! So you need to use less salt and water will be repelled from the body. Raw daikon radish helps this process along…

If you hold your hands straight down against your sides you will see that the WRISTS are level with the PELVIS region. The same yin in the wrist joints is also occurring in the pelvis region – maybe not the joints of the pelvis but possibly a mild case of Peritonitis (a form of pelvic inflammatory disease) due to excess bacteria in that region. Bacteria are attracted to yin, environments that contain pathogens, excess mucous from dairy, fat, sugars and refined carbs. You therefore need to take more yang food forms and only a slight amount of salt in the diet to solve this problem, coupled with more exercise and less liquid.

Excess liquid can be determined by the number of times you urinate during a sunny day. For women in general no more than 4 times and for men no more than 3. Dark yellow urine is more yang sign and pale white is more yin sign.

Please monitor your pelvic problem very closely and if problems persist after 10 days of dietary changes you should see your GYN for a check up.

I hope this helps.

In peace, Roy

[Nancy]

Hi Nisha,

I'm looking at your initial post and Roy's comments, which are always very knowledgable. I would add these thoughts and observations:

If you felt you needed to widen to include fruit and animal protein for your baby's sake, I'd say that's being a concerned and loving mother. No fault there.

Once we widen from a narrow and healing macrobiotic practice, it seems hard to get back on track, even though we want to and our desires and intentions are sincere. This has to do with how eager our bodies are to slip into easy, comfortable, (sloppy), and even food addictive habits. Sometimes it feels as though our bodies are fighting us for control over our own wise decisions (evidence: "the battle of the bulge").

Spring into Summer is a good time to consider doing a long or short #7 (anywhere from 3-10 days). The #7 is the most narrow of Ohsawa's numbered diets consisting of whole natural cereal grains and limited liquid (bancha or water). Just a few days of this regimen will definately "detox" your body of the previous months of animal foods and other foods from your widened eating. Each day the body aches and pains will lessen. You might feel a slight weakness, mild pain in certain body areas, --these are your weak areas. Toxins from our food (and the environment) gravitate to the weak areas of our bodies. For women, it is often the breasts that will accumulate unexcreted excesses that the body cannot efficiently remove. As one continues with the #7 pain eases from all these areas. Stagnant, stuck, emotions also clear. There might be some initial melancholy, depression, sad memories that will clear within a couple of days, if examined and allowed to clear. The result within a short time, is easy, free, balanced, happy emotions and a light and buoyant body, soon free of all aches and pains. It is a short period of rest and detoxification. It soon feels like body bliss and is an important health practice to rid ourselves of accumulated toxins.

Results are: the good feeling of well being and cleansing, more energy, freedom from the former food addictions that were hard to shake, and you/yourself are squarely in charge of your own decisions again, regarding food choices or anything else. Fasting is one of the spiritual disciplines and is a tremendous tool to regain self control. In the case of a #7, it is not fasting, --one is freely able to nourish themselves when needed, with your own choice of whole grains: oats, barley, brown rice, your choice. Bancha tea brewed to your liking seems to be the best drink and is a blood purifier.

If one feels confident in proceeding with a #7, without being unwise or excessive (continuing more days than recommended), it is a very healing practice.

Nancy

[nisha]

Dear Roy and Nancy,
I am so grateful to both of you for all the time and thought you put into responding to me. Your messages have certainly helped me to figure out how to work through these changes. Support like this is so so wonderful. I really can't thank you enough. For years I have been haphazardly trying to follow a macro diet and I feel that it is only since I have started discussing on this forum that I am really understanding macrobiotics.

I have a question for each of you.

Roy you wrote about how

"If you hold your hands straight down against your sides you will see that the WRISTS are level with the PELVIS region."

and I am wondering why that is relevant and how these two ailments can be linked?

Nancy, in my initial message I asked about the impact of detoxing on my nursing baby. The idea of following diet #7 makes me fearful for that reason and especially because you wrote,

"For women, it is often the breasts that will accumulate unexcreted excesses that the body cannot efficiently remove."

I am also concerned that you said that I may feel weak, sad and low on energy and I wonder how that might impact my milk production.

I want you both to know that my pelvic pain has lessened considerably since I have tried to eat less yin and less salt. What I think has made a big difference is giving up tofu.

Thank you again for you energy,
Nisha :p

[Roy Collins]

You go, girl! Sometimes all we need is a sounding board and friendly advice from other like-minded individuals to make it all
happen. None of us has all the answers, although some of us think we know it all. That is where problems begin. An empty cup can be filled but a full cup can accept no more and must be emptied first to accept more liquid (ideas).

You wrote:

>Roy you wrote about how

>"If you hold your hands straight down against your sides you >will see that the WRISTS are level with the PELVIS region."

In the world of ENERGETICS, you have to see the body from more than just one side and one dimension. The energy and density of food and liquid is being pulled to a region of the body that is at hip-level. This lower area of the body is the water region (kidney, bladder, and in sore respects the intestines). Salt is yang and is doing the down-pulling. All external regions of the body are related to the internal. Biceps are related to the level of the lungs, etc. All of these relationships are based on yin/yang (interior/exterior) and usually are formed within the womb during gestation (in fetal position). I believe there are some macrobiotic books, or at least articles in macro magazines that discuss this.

In peace, Roy

[Nancy]

Nisha,

If you are in pain, I know how very fast a #7 works to detox and eliminate pain. In your case, do not think of it as a 10-day fast. I would not recommend that you do a 10-day fast, while nursing your baby. Think of it as how you can incorporate a limited #7 in your own special circumstances.

This might be letting your body rest and recoup for a morning and afternoon, by having some plain oatmeal and tea for breakfast and nothing else. No fruit, no sweet topping, no salt and plain bancha tea. This combination is incredibly balancing, with just a little yin, as oatmeal is a slightly yin grain on the balance scale. This means, it will give you light, good, energy and a pleasant uplift to your emotions. It will also do an incredible job of detoxing in just one day. You could have a well balanced, pure, macrobiotic meal in the evening. By this I mean, plain steamed veggies and plain grains. When we have aches and pains, go to town eliminating the unneeded salt and sodium or unnecessary fruits and acids. Certainly no foods with additives, colorings, or chemicals. Plain tea (bancha is great) helps also. In other words, simplify, simplify, simplify. This is the way to truly be kind to our bodies, -eat simple nourishing food-, and our bodies will take great care of us.

Nancy

Roy, Cool empty/full cup analogy regarding learning from others.

[nisha]

Hi Roy and Nancy,
Thanks again for all your encouragement and the answers to my questions. You two rock!

Nancy, your morning meal suggestions sound great to me. I can definately manage to implement them into my life. I will start tomorrow. I have only one question for you - your suggestions made no mention of a protein source. Do you not think it is important that I have one each day given that I am nursing? I suspect I may be getting to much protein right now - how much do you think is an adequate amount for a nursing mom?

Roy, I really appreciated your answer to my question below. Earlier I asked you about liquid and how to determine how much is too much. You wrote,

Excess liquid can be determined by the number of times you urinate during a sunny day. For women in general no more than 4 times and for men no more than 3. Dark yellow urine is more yang sign and pale white is more yin sign.

Why on a sunny day?

Thanks so much,
Nisha :p

[Roy Collins]

Hi Nisha. Thanks for your kind words. Regarding the "sunny day" theory of peeing: On a rainy day the body naturally tends to eliminate more urine in order to compensate for the excess wate in the atmosphere. In macrobiotic terms we say yin repels yin. In this case the rain is the big yin and the pee in the bladder is the smaller yin. Hence you need less water on rainy days.

On the contrary, when it is sunny out and hot you perspire and lose water (and salt) from the body making you more yang and in turn you need to replace the water by taking in more liquid. So on sunny days you can drink say 4-5 and maybe cups of liquid per day (which will be eliminated druing the day) but on rainy days you can do with less. You need to be more yang on rainy days and slightly more yin on sunny days. This is yin/yang balance in the order of the universe.

Ever have a craving for a beer or a slice of cold watermelon on a really hot day? In the winter and/or on rainy day you have that attraction less.

I hope this helps.

In peace, Roy

[Nancy]

Nisha,

"Whole grains and vegetables" is just the short hand way of describing the macrobiotic diet. It is best to have the entire balanced meal of: whole grains, vegetables, soup, beans, sea vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds, and other in the percentages recommended. For those interested in weight loss, the balanced meal, with the recommended percentages, can be served on a smaller plate with smaller portions (i.e. a salad plate rather than a dinner plate). This is the optimum way to eat for health the macrobiotic way.

The beans/legumes provide abundant protein. The recommended percentage of beans/legumes per plate is 5%. Americans get far away and above more protein than is needed, through all the meat and dairy consumed. Japanese people, even meat eaters, eat more whole grains with small bites of meat (stir fry). This is a more reasonable picture of the protein needs of human beings.

Whole grains, beans/legumes, fish, nuts and seeds, nut butters, are all excellent protein sources.

Nancy

[nisha]

Thanks Roy,
That makes a lot of sense to me. Though I can't say I ever crave beer. Yuck! Watermelon, however, is wonderful on a hot summer day.

I appreciate your time,
Nisha

:p

[nisha]

Hi Nancy,
Thanks for your reply. Thanks for reminding me that protein needs to be such a small portion of ones daily diet..

Nisha