Macrobiotic treatment/cure for diabetes?

[Brent]

Hi
In George Ohswawa's book Zen Macrobiotics: the art of rejuvination and longevity he has a cure for diabetes. it is as follows:
level 7 diet (brown rice only) with 100 grams of potimarron (japanese pumpkin?)
with 50 grams azuki beans daily.
it doesnt say for how long this should continue.
has anyone heard of someone trying this ? my best mate is diabetic and if this works i bet he would try it.
what is potimarron? does it have a more common name in the states?
thanks for any info
love,
brent

[Nancy]

Brent,

Yes, Ohsawa's prescription for reversing Diabetes is very effective. However, the #7 diet is not brown rice only, it is cereal grains only and reduced liquid, if necessary. On a #7 urination should only be necessary 3 times a day, and never at night while sleeping. Thus, this opens up all the variety of possible whole grains (organic). Kukicha tea is usually the beverage. By varying the grains, the therapeutic effect of the #7 can be extended over a longer period than 10 days. If unable to sustain the #7 at any time, switch from #6 to #7 and back again. A #6 is whole cereal grains, vegetables, and liquid. This provides one immense variety and nutrition from various sources.

Potimarron is Hokkaido Pumpkin, generally available in the U.S. in any grocery store produce section, but more available in fall, when squashes are harvested. Fresh pumpkin can be cut in sections, steamed, mashed, and the mash frozen. Or, pumpkin can be cut in sections and the sections frozen in the freezer. Canned pumpkin is even an option, usually 100% pure canned pumpkin can be bought in a large can for $.99. Pumpkin can be added to a lot of foods, one delicious way is to add it to cornbread. Also, puddings and custards can be made with it.

Several studies have shown the incredible healing effect of pumpkin on Diabetics. This healing effect is even more pronounced in men, than women. Ohsawa mentions Hokkaido pumpkin, but regular orange pumpkins are very effective. Part of the reason, might be the high level of beta carotene. Pumpkin effectively balances glucose and insulin levels in Diabetics.

Diabetics should consume millet and pumpkin, daily.

If any overweight is involved, a great effort should be made to shed the excess weight, as soon as possible. Diabetes is a deadly disease, that can degenerate and erode one's whole life and existence, including failure of many organ systems. For those with Diabetes II, strive to reverse this disease, asap.

Nancy

[Bruce Paine]

Brent and Nancy,

Hokkaido pumpkin is an old term used for Kabocha which according to Dianne Onstad in her Whole Foods Companion: A Guide for Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers, & Lovers of Natural Foods http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books, "is a genitic grouping for many strains of Japanese pumpkin and winter squash of both Cucubita maxima and Cucubita moschata species."

Rebecca Wood in her 1988 edition of The Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Shopper's Guide http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books says that the "kabucha (her spelling in that edition) has the highest sugar content of any squash," and "though it originated in the United States, it was reintroduced to us by the Japanese who named it after their northernmost province."

My point, being that, though Ohsawa may have called it a "Potimarron" http://www.rainbow-taichi.org.uk/pot...ease_let_m.htm and for many years it may have been referred to as a Hokkaido or Japanese pumpkin http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch10.html, I think that you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is selling it anywhere in the U.S.A. as anything but kabocha squash, in case you are planning on buying any Hokkaido pumpkin on your next excursion to the vegetable section of your favorite market.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[Nancy]

Bruce,

Hokkaido Pumpkin is not the same as Kabocha Squash. They are not even the same color. Hokkaido is an aqua or sea foam color and Kabocha is dark green, the color of evergreens. I have a comprehensive encyclopedia of squash, "Squash: A Country Garden Cookbook". It includes pictures of twenty-five varieties of squash, pumpkin, and recipes.

As a squash lover, in fall when prices go down, I stock up on squash for the winter. Often I purchase Hokkaido and Kabocha on the same shopping trip in fall. They are two different squashes. I purchased one Hokkaido Pumpkin at Rainbow Market in Oakland, while I was visiting the Bay Area. Thus, it is sold under the name Ohsawa calls it. There are interesting varieties en masse when the harvest comes in, (i.e. Sweet Dumplings, Cucuzza, etc.) unnamed in the supermarket. I like to know what I am buying.

For Brent, advising his friend on Diabetes, I've seen several references in macrobiotic literature for "pumpkin" as the most useful food to reverse Diabetes. It is not necessary to use only Hokkaido Pumpkin, but according to Ohsawa, this variety must be especially effective.

Squash and Pumpkins are wonderful foods, colorful, whole, healthy, nutritious, and deeply satisfying foods. They keep a long time, as another advantage.

Raley's is a big supermarket chain, where I buy Hokkaido Pumpkin in the West. They are admirably continuing to expand their organic produce.

Nancy

[karnul]

Dear Brent,
I suggest that you read the chapter about Diabetes in the recent book "The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health" by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack.
It has special reccommendation and healing diet for diabetes. Furthermore, you have to know which type of diabetes and what is the underlying cause in that specific case. Diabetes is usually created by over consumption of refined sugars of any kind (including refined grains), however, sometimes a contributing factor can be that the spleen/pancreas is too tight because the person has also consumed extreme yang - like many salty, baked foods, meat, eggs and hard cheese.
As far as I know, most counselors today will consider a rice fast to be quite extreme. It is no longer a standard macrobiotic practice, and most people agree that a gradual transition is more beneficial and gives the person time to adjust to the diet, and to deal with discharges and other discomforts in a more balanced way.

Things that are helpful for diabetes are: sweete vegetable drink (see recipe in the same book), sweet vegetable dishes (like nishime and kinpira cooking styles), whole cooked grains and aduki beans.
Things to avoid: sugar and sweeteners of any kind (including artificial sweeteners, honey, maple syrup, and fruit juices), fruit and fruit juices (at least in the beginning), refined grains and white flour products, baked food (if the person really desires bread then have 1 slice of steamed sourdough bread), eggs, meat. try not to eat too salty - grains and vegetables should taste naturally sweet.
Chew well (50-100 times each mouthful) to bring out the natural sweetness of you food.

If your mate is seirous about healing with macrobiotics, I would also suggest to direct him to an experienced macrobiotic counselor in your area.

Regards,

Karny

[anniek]

Diabetes is a complex and life threatening disease. Type II, usually brought on by poor diet and excess weight is definitely reversible, not only through macrobiotics, but with a change to any no sugar, low-fat, whole grain diet, along with exercise and weight reduction.

Type I is much more complex issue, and it is vital not to discontinue the use of insulin to manage the condition. With macrobiotics, the insulin use should become less and less.

Will he be totally cured? I don't know, but I feel that stating diabetes can be cured by macrobiotics, gives the whole movement a negative reputation. I cannot even mention macro to my mother-in-law because her friend died of lymphoma despite following an exacting macrobiotic diet.

Macrobiotics is not just a diet. It is a way of changing your life, avoiding electric cooking, getting outside with your feet in the grass, relaxing, exercising, meditating. Get a book and read more.

I feel macrobiotics pushes its movement based on miracle cures through macrobitics, when in fact people following macrobiotics do die of diseases like cancer. Perhaps it could be would gain a more popular following if it sold itself as a diet and lifestyle to improve the quality of everyday life. Annie

[Bruce Paine]

anniek,

One thing that I've learned from these forums over the years is that cure is the wrong word to use for any excellent results we get when dealing with a disease or condition.

I didn't get involved in macrobiotics because of any "cure" but because it did improve my quality of life and I felt significantly better when eating the food.

I do feel as I've stated elsewhere recently that it appears to me that the body can heal itself and that the macrobiotic diet can facilitate that healing, but so can many other things, as well.

Nancy,

You apparently are correct to distinguish between the Kabocha and the Japanese Pumpkin.

I contacted Regina Schrambling author of Squash: A Country Garden Cookbook http://www.popula.com/items_fp/item_..._fp_ID=2264571 http://www.gastropoda.com/bio/index.html

and she said:


"Bruce:

You've done so much good homework I hate to break it to you. Hokkaido and kabocha are different squash. At least two farmers sell them every fall at the Union Square Greenmarket here, and I buy both. Kabocha has really gone mainstream since I did my research, and Hokkaido remains more of a farmers' market oddity.

There are photos of both in my book (Deborah Jones is one hell of a photographer). It's out of print now, but it's all over the internet on sites like alibris (and although my publisher has never informed me or paid me, it is still selling like crazy in Denmark and Austria and other countries).

The two types do look similar but the skin color is different, and the flesh is as well.

Glad to hear from another squash aficionado. And happy to know you found my web site.

all the best,

regina"


So, apparently, Boston doesn't sell Japanese Pumpkin (our loss) and that is why I thought that Kabocha and Japanese Pumpkin are the same.

I called Rainbow Market (which is not associated with Rainbow Grocery http://www.rainbowgrocery.org/ of San Francisco) and found out that they don't have any Japanese Pumpkin in stock nor do they have a website, yet.

When is Japanese Pumpkin in season, and would anyone who has any Japanese Pumpkin be willing to ship me a good qualty (organic?) one or two, if I pay for everything?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[Nancy]

Bruce,

Wow, what a wonderful, witty, and informative (to writers) little bio Regina Shrambling did on her website! Very nice little gem you found there, Bruce. Yes, the book is beautiful. Gracious of you to concede that Kabocha and Hokkaido are indeed, two different kinds of squash/pumpkin. Hubbard squash is also a sea foam color and can be purchased as big as a Halloween Pumpkin. It has a sweet, pudding like texture. A piece of this, and no need for some concocted dessert! Since squash season is coming, I think you will be able to find both kinds of squash/pumpkin in the Boston area -- check out the farmer's markets.

Regina has a wonderful and witty sense of humor, which shows great personal balance.

I bought my Regina Shrambling, Squash: A Country Garden Cookbook at Barnes and Noble on the bargain racks. Favorite place to shop for books locally, nice ambience.

Squash/Pumpkin Lover,

Nancy

[gregcat]

Georges Ohsawa confused me when he said that "potimarron" was his nickname for a squash grown on Hokkaido. There is a European squash called "Potimarron" and it is neither kobocha nor Hokkaido pumpkin. This may be because Ohsawa encountered this "potimarron" when he was in France, and liked the name and decided to hijack it.

And speaking of cures, I understand that Ohsawa died of a massive heart attack at age 73, a relatively young age for Japanese--so "lifestyle" is probably a better phrase for macrobiotics than "cure".

Chad

[Bruce Paine]

Chad,

Here is another page that suggests that potimarron is from Hokkaido.

Had Ohsawa lived an ordinary, relatively pain-free life, one could consider 73 years to be too short of a time spent among the rest of us.

Yukikazu Sakurazawa who changed his name (just try saying
Yukikazu Sakurazawa, fast, 3 times! ) to Georges Ohsawa the same year that Shoku-Yo was renamed macrobiotics (1947 [he was 54]), almost died of tuberculosis at age 18 (and heals himself using a diet of whole grain brown rice, fresh vegetables, sea salt, and oil, a year later).

Ohsawa was imprisoned by the Japanese government in 1945 following his years of anti-war activities, and forced to live on a diet of potatoes for several months, losing 80% of his eyesight and almost dying but survives on foods sent his wife, Lima, and others.

Trying to convince Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1955) in the Congo to use macrobiotics in healing his patients, Ohsawa puposely contract a previously considered fatal disease, tropical ulcers, and heals himself in 10 days.

Read Essential Ohsawa to find out more about his life!

It was rumoured that Ohsawa was trying to develop a macrobiotic Coca Cola around the time that he passed away (there are photographs of him sharing a bottle of whiskey with motocycle gang members so it is quite possible that he like living a dangerous life).

Lima, his wife, on the other hand, lived a relatively safe life and lived past 100 years (she was given a physical in her last years and it is reported that her condition was that of a young girl!).

My perception is that Ohsawa might have been a bit arrogant at times and not that eloquent so maybe when he used the word "cure" he didn't mean it in the permanent sense.

Many of us in macrobiotics have learned to rephrase things and instead of saying that macrobiotics cures disease, we might use words like healing or alleviating conditions.

I've healed or alleviated many unsatifactory conditions in myself, using macrobiotics, so I would be hard pressed to relegate it to just a healthy lifestyle, but I must admit that a healthy lifestyle is part of it.


By the way, in the poll of what things brought us to macrobiotics, the one thing that was not included was, "Because it feels good!"

I didn't get involved in macrobiotics because I was seeking a healthy lifestyle, or because I was trying to alleveviate a condition, nor any of the reasons included.

I experimented with various foods and styles of eating over a bunch of years before I discovered that miso soup, whole grains, temperate climate vegetables, beans, etc., made me feel good and clear headed.


Thank you, very much.

Be well.

Bruce Paine

I developed diabetes 2 after seven years on a balanced macro diet. This condition "runs" in my family. The difference for me is that I was older at onset. My body does not know the difference between white rice or brown rice--the sugar level will spike about the same. I have had to change to a lower carb way of eating and had to add protein--more soy and some animal. This had me "bummed" about macrobiotics for awhile, but I am O.K. with it now.

A macro friend of mine was "treating" his mother macrobioically for diabetes and for awhile it seemed to work. One day he found her in a diabetic coma with sugars of nearly 800. She did not recover.

I think that we all need to be cautious here and not be touting macrobiotics too much nor
blaming the patient. There is a point at which a person may become too arrogant. Teachers can be too arrogant, macro followers may become arrogant. Herman Aihara warned us all to guard against this trait.