17yr old interested in macrobiotics for skin care..

[petertaylor]

Howdy I'm a 17 year old white guy and I first started looking into macrobiotics after I bought the book You are all Sanpuku by G. Ohsawa. Ever since I've been very interested in macrobiotics as opposed to carelessness in diet and reliance on western medicine. I pretty much make my own food, and have been following what I think is close to a macrobiotic diet the past two weeks: I eat soy milk + cereals like oats and kashi; a couple bowls of rice; and one or two bowls of miso and vegetable soup; and every once in a while a fruit or something light. I was wondering if this was pretty good for a transition into macrobiotics? I've got the conviction part of it down pat and I can eat anything without craving crap foods... except for Miso straight, I can't eat miso straight, that's just too much.

Also, being a high-schooler in college-level classes I've got a lot of stress and have occasional acne forming, along with left-over scars. I was wondering what treatment you would recommend for getting clear skin? I've been on accutane three whole 5-month courses, and I still get acne, not just from stress though, from touching and whatnot. And my scars are pretty heavy--thinking about getting scar surgery of some sort.

Thanks a lot,
I'm hoping to make this forum a part of my life in time,
Peter

[Johnnyzen]

Yes, that is a good start. More veggies is needed. Eat 50 per-cent whole grains, mostly brown rice. The veggies should be around 30 per-cent of the diet, mostly root veggies, dark green, and some good squashes. Miso soup every day, and small portions of beans. eat fruit a few times a week for variety. Avoid all processed foods, especially white flour, sugar, etc. Soy milk is ok in moderation. Drink mostly good water, teas like bancha. good luck!

Read Kushi books. they are a bit more up to date than Ohsawa. CHANGING SEASONS is a great cook book.

[Nancy]

Hi Peter,

It might be a good idea to try Ohsawa's #7 regimen, in your case, to clear your system of the previous causes of acne. #7 is brown rice and limited amounts of bancha tea only, some say to add nuka bran pickled daikon to aid digestion. I have found this unnecessary, and if you see a list of Ohsawa's regimens, he lists #7 as cereal grains only and limited liquid. This regimen will clear skin.

For a teenager, you have the high hormone levels working against you. But, there's a lot you can do to help your skin condition. There can't be acne without an overabundance of fats and oils in the diet. The fats and oils keep the hormone machine output at excessive levels. As a regular macrobiotic diet, after a #7 (recommended for only 10 days) your percentages should be 70% grains, 10% vegetables, 5% soups, 5% beans, 5% sea vegetables and macrobiotic condiments, 5% occasional white fish, fruit, and macrobiotic desserts. Include daily 1 tsp. of barley miso (aged over 2 years) in soup, and stick to the healing beans; aduki, lentils, and garbanzos only. Also recommended is a high quality natural sea salt (like Si Salt), not in excessive quanities. This is the healing macrobiotic diet, for disease conditions. It will help balance any condition. The higher percentage of grains, the more healing the diet.

Also recommended is a natural cleansing cream for facial cleansing. All the drying agents marketed to teens are very irritating to the skin. I will send you some more info about cream recommendations in private. Check you private messages, next time you log on.

Blessings,

Nancy

[petertaylor]

Thank you very, very much! I was looking for concise, to-the-point information and I got it! I'll have to start regimen #7 tomorrow, since I've already "cheated" and had some vegetables and fruits with my rice hehe. I'd never heard of Bancha tea before, thanks much for the recommendations. Good day.

[Johnnyzen]

Peter, my macro counsellor told me to stay on the traditional macro diet awhile before going to and all rice fast. Also, when you do the all grain diet, do not exceed 10 days, as is recommended by most macro counsellors.

You need to develop discipline on a macro diet before you go to all grains, which requires immensly more discipline.

[Leenie]

Hi, I had been battling with cyctic acne for almost 15 years (ovo-lacto-vegetarian for 26 yrs). Once I eliminated all sources of artificial flavors/colors/preservatives from my diet (son is sensitive) prior to beginning MB, I noticed my break outs were much less frequent and less intense. After beginning MB (about a year ago) my skin got worse for the first few months (purging all that dairy) then cleared up beautifully. I still get some occasional flares up just before my period (only symptom of PMS...thank you MB!).

Christina Pirello has a great recipe for Hato Mugi stew (from Avaline Kushi) that is great for the skin and it nourishes all the organs.

1-1 inch peice Kombu
1/2 c. dried Daikon soakd until tender
2 dried shitake mushrooms, soakd until tender
2or3 slices dried lotus root, soaked until tender
2 cups Hato Mugi (job's tears), sorted and rinsed well
1 small onion, diced
spring water
soy sauce
2 or 3 celery stalks.

Place kombu in bottom of pressure cooker. Reserving all soaking waters, place daikon, mushrooms, lotus root, hato mugi and onion on top of kombu. Measure soaking water and add more until you have 4 cups. Add to pressure cooker. Add a little soy sauce , seal, and bring up to pressure. Place over fame deflector, reduce heat, and cook 35 mins. Remove pot from heat and let it reduce pressure naturally before opening. Stir celery into cooked grain and transfer to a serving bowl. Serve hot. makes 6-8 servings.

You can get the dried ingredients on this website. I buy the Hato Mugi by the 5 lb bag. My 4 year old just loves it!

Good luck to you.
Thanks,
Leenie