A wee bit of confusion over 10 day rice diet

[Kismetwolf]

Hello everybody! I just started my Macrobiotic 10 day rice diet (I hope! been 5 days so far!) and I was wondering if I am doing this correctly???
Am I just suppose to eat brown rice for 10 days straight - or can I sneak some veggies/tofu in there?
Please keep in mind that I have never attended a Macro cooking class or spoken to anyone else who is Macro, I am just getting my info from the 3 books I purchased.
Okay so here is the big confusion part - the 10 day rice diet... what I have is a bit vague, just people talking about their experiences on it, but not necessarily a "guide" if you will to what you eat 3 times a day for 10 days, (I am assuming it is not just brown rice and nothing else, but I may be wrong??? I have no idea?).
This is just an example of some of what I have been eating, so please any help, advice, info, guidance, mentoring, is most appreciated!!!

Breakfast:
organic oatmeal w/ 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
miso soup w/ aprox 6 small cubes (1/4" inch) of tofu
green tea

Lunch:
Brown rice
Veggies (carrots, snap peas/string beans, broccoli, mushrooms, onion/garlic) either steamed, stir fry (in sunflower oil), or a fresh salad (no toms or peps).
a little tofu and shoyu thrown in

Snack:
organic crunchy oat cereal (1/4 cup) dry
-or-
a banana, apple, or peach with 2 tablespoons soya yogurt
green tea

Dinner:
Quinoa mixed with steamed or lightly boiled veggies, corn, carrots, etc. over watercress salad and cucumbers with 1/2 tsp olive oil.
Baked Summer squash with miso/ginger dressing.

After 8:PM:
Decaf Green tea


Am I doing this right? Or am I suppose to be eating just the grains/brown rice for the full 10 days? If so, can I eat a variety of grains or just brown rice?

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this!

[Kismetwolf]

Progress... Well I decided to start my "rice fast" over as I was indeed doing it wrong. I was eating macrobiotically, I was just not doing the "rice fast" by eating just grains and rice and as I had no prior knowledge of this, and have just been referring to my macro books that are a bit vague on the rice fast, so it was a simple mistake.
I hope that this doesn't come off as sounding "self-centered" and sincerest apologies if it does, but seeing as over 40 people have read this thread, it would have been most appreciated if one person would have replied to inform me that I was doing it wrong.
I mainly joined this site in hopes of having a little bit of support as where I am living is virtually macro free to my knowledge, and with me being new to going macro and all, I was hoping to have a little guidance.

I still wish to be able to both benefit and contribute within the macro community and any advice is most appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[Manymoons]

Kismetwolf

I'll be 1 of 40 so you don't feel so alone!
I too live in a predomonately Macro free area, but after 39 years at dealing with this food, being a lone-wolf is not a serious a problem for me.
Do not feel cocerned for sounding "self-centered". You do in fact exist and therefore must have some yang (and yin also) and if you do not look-out for it, who will?
You state that you are new to the Macro way of eating and this concerns me because you are jumping into "the 10 day rice fast". This is powerful medicine and I recomend caution. I personally have done rice fasts for up to 6 weeks but not without about 6 mounths of slow care easing into it, and then out of it again. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you are not fully prepared you could do as much harm as potentially good. Remember that there is a front and back to everything.
I may be more able to support your efforts if you would answer a question or two.
What is it that you expect from this fast? What do you expect from the food generally?
My intention is not to put you on the "spot". If you wish to answer these question privately to yourself. I understand. I would like to Know more of who you are - especially - are you yin or yang (male or female). My answers or coments are not directly influenced by your gender but if I am to give you my best I at least want know you as fully as you are comfortable with.
I hope this small input is of use. I Know that doing this food can be difficult, espeacilly when done alone. I wish you the best and certainly incourage you to persist. It is worth it!!!!!
I will continue to watch this list regularly as I do and will respond as you wish. I have been going over the posts on this list for some time to get a feel for where others are at. I am cautious about responding, to be sure my coments relate properly.
I will state that you are not alone and I will be here to the degree that you wish.

In full support
Manymoons

[Kismetwolf]

Dear Manymoons, Thank you so very much for replying and for the valuable information that you shared. It's good to not feel so alone in the vastness of the macro universe!
I will certainly give you as much info as necessary, no worries!
I am female, age 32, in fine health, ate healthful my whole life and was vegetarian for around 3 years. Then still ate healthy but introduced fish back into my diet - (I am a sucker for fresh fish and sushi so being strictly vegan was a bit difficult at times).
Upon moving to the UK I fell off the turnip truck big time - began eating foods that I never ate before like deep fried chips (fries), sausages, potatoes, bread, cookies, etc., I found the stress of moving, new job not going so well, making new friends all a bit difficult, (I was also dealing with some bigoted people I worked with out here because I am American and I quit a good job because of it too), so I started losing myself in doubt and sadness, my hair starting falling out in small patches, and I gained almost 30 lbs, became very sluggish, spacey, no energy, sick all the time, colds that wouldn't go away... I went to the Dr. got full blood work done (I thought I was Diabetic due to my symptoms), I got a clean bill of health back so I was both confused and happy.
I decided to turn it around to take charge of my life again and have been eating predominately vegetarian food for the past 3 months (occasionally fish so not a full-on vegetarian), began exercising 20 to 30 mins a day, and I started eating "macro" for around 2 1/2 weeks now. It seems quite an easy adjustment for me as it is similar to a vegetarian diet - and cutting out sugar and white flour has been very easy for me to do.
I began my rice fast yesterday and I generally feel fine, no spaceyness or cravings, lots of energy actually! Down side is my skin is breaking out a bit, I know it is part of the detox process and it will pass. I am still drinking green tea and bancha twig tea around 2x's per day. I'm also doing a variety of grains one meal is a bowl of brown rice, another meal is oats, or maybe some barely to mix it up as I don't want to become sick of brown rice.

What I expect from the fast right now is to help to detox my system from a year of bad eating and use it as a springboard back into my healthful lifestyle again. I feel fantastic since eating better and I hope that a predominately macro diet will be a life-long life style for me, (I have been introducing brown rice and veggies into my husbands daily diet and he loves it, so that's good too!).

What do you think? Any and all advice good or bad I can take it!
:-)

Many thanks to you again.

[Manymoons]

Kisnetwolf

It will be a great honor to exchange communications with you on this subject of Macro living. I consider this understanding to be my most valuable possession. I would not give it up for anything! There is much to be spoken of and I will do my best to be appropriate.

Macrobiotics is so much more than food. Food is the key that opens the door but will not pass you through. To go through the door requires a price to be paid. The price is more then worth it!!!!!

The goal is to reach a balance. Balance continually changes however so the trick is to find the current and go with the flow. This food has yin/yang that is close together, not separated far apart like meat and sugar, therefore having a more neutral nature which imposes nothing on you. This opens the door to the opportunity to balance without interference. The balance as a human being must be created by each of us. The food does not do it by itself but is critical to allowing and affording balance. There are certainly many ways to create balance but this way is the most simple and direct--in my opinion, but some people seem to need the extreme drama in their lives and they eat for it.

Be very aware of the power of this food. Its facility to heal carries with it an equal capacity to damage (yin/yang). Make no sudden changes. Always progress gradually. When things move too fast, it is hard to see what is happening and control is lost. This is very dangerous, with this food especially. Remember it is neutral and can easily go either way.

The balance that my wife and I have established could not have happened without this food. We each had more than enough imbalance that only this food could have opened the door for us. It would have been virtually impossible on meat and sugar.

The rice fast, in itself does not detoxify but reduces interference so the body can detox itself. If you want a quick detox, put some olive oil on your body (for protection) and soak in a hot tub of sea salt water. Rinse it off with tepid water when you are done.

That your husband is enjoying the food that you are introducing him to is a blessing of immeasurable proportion. He is very much a part of your balance
( and you of his). What you go through as husband and wife is a "macro" -cosim of the yin/yang of the entire universe. Between you, is where the price is paid. With the advantage of the food, one can only speculate as to how far it can go.

so much for now

Manymoons

[Kismetwolf]

Dear Manymoons. What a beautifully eloquent post, and you summed up exactly what attracted me to Macrobiotics once I began reading literature on it. Thank you so much for highlighting that.

I'm into 3 days now of *my* version of a "rice fast", and I feel good. I've been having some other grains other than brown rice to mix it up so that is why I say *my* version, and although I don't know if this is correct, it feels good. I hope I can last the 10 days - I'm not craving anything major but I do miss flavorful vegetable dishes and tofu with rice. I made my husband some chicken, sweet corn, mushrooms stuffed with oat stuffing today and I didn't feel tempted to eat it - although it did smell really nice and the hubby said the mushrooms were really yummy.

I've noticed that oats give me energy, where brown rice keeps me a bit mellow, so if I have loads to do in a day, I will sub one brown rice meal for oats and I feel like I can get through the task at hand.

I have realised that I am not a big fan of barley although I may have overcooked it, is it suppose to be a bit mushy and double in size? I always thought barley was a bit dryer? Do you have any advice on what barley is suppose to taste like, look like when cooked, and are there any good recipes with barley.

Thank you again Manymoons for your lovely post.

Namaste,
Kismetwolf

[Manymoons]

Kismetwolf

Greetings

Barley is not a food that I (we -my wife and I) use very often as a main ingredient. Mostly it is used as a secondary element to create a particularly creamy text. I believe we have used it in soup as well, but not for quite some time. Early on we devised all sorts of concoctions to help satisfy cravings for previously familiar foods. Now we are perfectly content with simple straight forward dishes that this food lends itself to. With 8,000 verities of rice to explore, barley was perhaps the forgotten child. Our primary main cereal dishes are made with rice, millet, oats, buckwheat, corn and whole semolina pastas.

Your version of the rice fast is totally legitimate. The universe is infinite and there really is no right or wrong. All becomes a matter of balance only. The balance that you want becomes the premise of what is correct.

I will add here that becuase this food is of a more neutral nature, it lends itslf to much creativity and the varity of dishes can far exceed that of basic western traditional food.

There are three important elements to living and macrobiotcs
1. balance
2. balance
3. balance

Learning to identify the nature of things (yin/yang) keeps this life from being anything but boring.

Manymoons