Ohsawa

[Johnnyzen]

Is there a biography of George Ohsawa? Did he follow Macrobiotics strictly? I read taht he often deviated greatly from MAcrobiotics. Just curious.

[MJS]

Hi Johnnyzen! There is a really good, thick, & comprehensive book called "Macrobiotics: Yesterday and Today" which gives a biography of Ohsawa, Kushi and other people prominent in the movement. It is also a great look at macrobiotics in history, going back to Greek and Biblical times. It is by Ronald E. Kotsch, Ph.D. There are several used copies available cheap on Amazon.com, right now, I just checked.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

There may be others, but this is the only one I have read and can therefore recommend!

[Bruce Paine]

Johnnyzen (and MJS),

That all depends on what you define as macrobiotics.

If you define macrobiotics as eating a diet consisting only of whole grains, temperate climate vegetables, legumes, sea vegetables, nuts/seed, fermented foods, maybe including some fish and fruits, etc, sticking within a simple yin and yang balance, then, yes, he deviated from macrobiotics.

But if you include the ability to eat almost anything and find a way to find eqilibrium according to a broader understanding of The Order of The Universe and The Unique Principle http://www.cybermacro.com/pages/userpages/ohmacro.html, then George Ohsawa (Nygoiti Sakurazwa) was always practicing macrobiotics.

By the way, http://www.bookfinder.com has a larger selection of used copies of Macrobiotics: Yesterday and Today and as a smaller fish in the ocean that is the Internet, maybe is more deserving of our attention than the multi-billion dollar Amazon.com.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[MJS]

Hey Bruce.

It seems it is impossible to be strict macro & an intrepid explorer of global human culture at the same time? I guess- like Ohsawa - I just value adventure too highly to adhere to any diet so strictly once I totally recover my health.

Thanks for pointing out Bookfinder, by the way. I hadn't ever heard of it.

P.S. You can always call me Mara if you like.

[Johnnyzen]

thanks, Bruce. I just ordered it from where you suggested.

What I read was that Ohsawa often ate cheesecake, chocolate, and other rich foods, but this was on a website that was very critical or Macrobiotics. The article also claimed that many Macros, in a particular study, were deficient in many nutrients. I am not sure I trust the sources of this article.

I hear that Kushi follows the standard diet, for the most part, but not strictly.

[Bruce Paine]

Johnnyzen,

It is quite posiible that many macros were deficient of nutrients at time , not fully understanding how to practice macrobiotics.

I, for instance, when living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, during the mid to late 1970s, ate too yang, and too rigid of a diet with little variation.

Given my understanding today, I would have boiled more grain, ate more greens, and steamed more food and ate very little baked products (and been very careful in consuming juices and sugars)

Michio, Like Georges Ohsawa, is an adventurous student/teacher/philosopher, and needs to find out how to cure sickness through experience as well as studying what the masters have taught.

If one always eats perfectly, then maybe one doesn't learn much from food.

After living a year in a study house in Boston and eating perfectly cooked and healing food, I went to a non-macrobiotic community in North Carolina and for 6 months ate S.A.D. and then got very sick when I thought I was going to die and then experienced my second macrobiotic rebirth through cooking for myself, eating healing food (albeit somewhat yang over the several years that Ilived there).

And I have fallen from the path several times since and experienced several more macrobiotic rebirths, healing myself in different and new ways, so it does not surprise me that much when I hear of these teachers dietary adventurism.

I don't see a double standard in their lifestyle.

They never say one can eat anything without ill effect.

And if one does not know how to heal a certain ill effect, then how can one help others to heal their ill iffects?

One of the problems with many of us student macros, is that before we are willing to try to study and practice macrobiotics, we think that we need for our teachers and leaders to live perfect exemplary macrobiotic lives, whereas, what we really need is the faith and conviction, that no matter what others do and what results they get (like dying before their expected time), we can practice and get the results we need from our practice and understanding.

Let's be responsible for ourselves and not be troubled or swayed by what others do, no matter how much we love or care for them.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine