Sunday March 26th 2006 ,

Macrobiotic Food Related Issues. A Chat Hosted by Ginat Rice. To find out more about her, click here .

Ginat: Greetings everyone. Let's start with yin and yang and what's your favorite food....and what it says about you. Are you a salty dog, or a cream puff?

Jana(Comment) My fave is tabouli

Bob(C) Probably nuts and seeds

Bob(C) Probably a cream puff

Jana(C) Both, but more so creamy

Ginat Cream puffs--more yin; nuts and seeds--more yang. Does that suit your personalities?

LInda(Question) Just a Hello and Good Bye from the Pacific Macrobiotic Conference (PMC) in San Francisco; see you at the next chat!

Ginat(Answer) Great to hear from you! All my love and best regards to you all!

Ginat So let's go on. What is difficult about food for you?

Bob(C) I have a condition that's keeps me rather careful about snacking. And yes, cream puff suits my personality

Jana(C) Can you elaborate please, Ginat?

Ginat Yes. Do you have cravings? Do you eat something and then regret it? Do you "binge" (so-called). What's going on?

Bob(Q) I like too many yin foods.

Ginat(A) What does this mean? And do you know why?

Ginat Attraction to yin foods means what--that you are too yin, or too yang? Do you know? Tell me about yourself. Are you a big person or small? Do you like physical activities or more mental? What's your favorite food?

Bob(C) My guess is that I'm too yin

Jana(Q) I postpone eating until I have time to prepare food -- then I get so hungry, I binge.

Ginat(A) What suggestions can anyone give here? I have some ideas that work for me...

Jana(C) Too yang, I believe

Bob(C) I'm tall and thin, and I'm a pianist so I've spent a good deal of my time sitting at the piano, more mental activity.

Jana(C) As for me, I am average height, 50 lbs too much -- like mental activities better, but if I was a better weight, I'd prob like more physical activities than I do now

Ginat OK, good descriptions. Both Bob and Jana sound more on the yin side. Bob craves yin. So is he balanced, or un-? What could help him?

CPB Hello, Joining in from frosty Rhode Island.

Bob(Q) Ok, here's the topper, I've been diagnosed with a low grade prostate cancer, a yang cancer

Ginat(A) Any cancer can be either yin or yang. For example, breast cancer can be yan. So we need to look further into it. Tell us more about your habits, likes and dislikes, food patterns, etc.

Bob(Q) I've adopted a fairly rigid Macrobiotic diet, but I've been a vegetarian for years. I do like yin, chocolate, maple syrup and such but I've cut them out of my diet.

Ginat(A) When you use the word "rigid" it sets off alarms in my mind. Are you managing on will power? How do you control your cravings? Anyone else on will power and cravings control?

Bob(Q) That is a problem. I don't have any cravings in general other than I'm hungry a lot. I am under the guidance of a macrobiotic counselor.

Ginat(A) I'm glad you have a counselor. I hope you feel good with each other. Hunger is a sign of wanting yin. How do you get good quality yin foods?

Bob(C) I do snack on pumpkin and sunflower seeds, apple butter, apples…

Jana(Q) That does not work, I find. The macro foods are filling so that, if you have the time for regular meals, you should never be hungry.

Ginat(A) Is this the case for you--are you sometimes hungry, or unsatisfied?

Vana it seems to have much to do with balance in daily life , activities, and lifestyle in an inclusive way, and how it is gone about.

Ginat Yes, Vana, I agree--"macro" biotics definitely includes our life style as a whole, our thinking and point of view. How do you stay relaxed and centered?

Bob(Q) I don't know. I enjoy sweet vegetables a lot and I enjoy macrobiotic cooking and the results.

Ginat(A) Where do you fall off?

Bob(Q) I'm satisfied after a meal, but I soon become hungry again, maybe in an hour or so.

Ginat(A) Ah, this is a good hint. Can you give us a typical meal? How much grain? How much beans? Are you a chewer--50x per mouthful?

Jana(Q) With me, it's definitely the time factor that’s difficult.

Ginat(A) How do you manage when you do it well, Jana?

Jana(C) Actually - it's more like having too little time to cook.

Vana When I am relaxed and centered I give myself a lot--morning stretching, bathing or body scrub, meditation, walk, even more. It takes a lot of finding a routine for myself.

Ginat There was a question before about being too hungry to cook....in those times I prepare a dish of noodles in broth, and then I continue to cook after I eat it. It calms me down and lets me relax into the rest of the cooking. Having a routine definitely helps, and being flexible with it is important.

Ginat When you are not relaxed and centered, do you have less time, Vana, or does it just seem like it?

Bob(Q) I don't really fall off except I'm probably eating too many seeds. I'm eating about the right portions and chew well. I do eat beans, 3 or 4 times a week. My counselor says to eat more protein, tofu, tempeh, etc.

Ginat(A) My first impression is that you may need more proteins, like beans and bean products. We eat them 2x a day, one at lunch, the other at dinner. If you are craving seeds, it could means lack of protein or oil. Beans often help with this.

Bob(Q) Is there a problem with snacking in general?

Ginat(A) The way to know whether any activity serves you well is what it signifies. Snacking means you’re too yang--you're looking for ways to expand and relax. If you are truly free, you can snack, and you can not snack, and feel good either way.

Bob(Q) Does being hungry mean that one is too yang?

Ginat(A) Yes, being hungry means one is yang (sometimes too much so, sometimes naturally so). SVD, sweet vegetable drink, is an excellent way to balance cravings, relax and get centered. It's everyone's best remedy.

LA(Q) Hello, Ginat, It's not on the topic you are on now, but I have been cooking macrobiotically for a long time. I still wonder whether to rinse rice or not. I buy bulk from bins, so feel it needs rinsing, but does that or does that not lower vitamin content? If that is too off topic, no problem. Just throwing that out there. Thanks, LouAnn

Ginat(A) Fine question, LouAnn. I always rinse rice. Vitamins do not disappear with washing. The rice tastes much better when it is not dirty!

Ginat What foods help with fatigue and exhaustion?

vana Sweet Vegetable Juice

Ginat We can also deal with fatigue by chewing well, eating less (!) and, yes, resting.

Bob(Q) Can you describe the sweet vegetable

Ginat(A) SVD is a combination of 4 specific vegetables, cooked in boiling water in this order--onion, carrot, squash and cabbage. 1/4 cup each in 4 cups of water, no salt. Cook it covered for 30 minutes, strain and drink warm. You can make enough for about 3 days.

Ginat Who has dreams? Do you see a connection to what you've eaten? Anyone dream they are flying? Any dreamers out there?

gxpark1234 i have crazy dreams, and i think i am sanpaku

CPB(Q) Does a dream that reoccurs that involves an unsual house with secret rooms always near water have anything to do with what one eats?

Ginat(A) Wow! What's your own take on it? Everything has to do with food.

LA(Q) I dream I'm flying very often. What does that mean?

Ginat(A) Aha! Flying means too much fruit, too yin. You're up in the clouds! Come back down to earth! Anyone have dreams that they are falling? That would be a yang symptom.

Bob(C) Thanks, Ginat. You've been very helpful. I'm signing off. Bob

Ginat What about you working stiffs? How do you 9 to 5'ers manage with slow-food preparation? What are your best tips?

CPB Food preparation is difficult when work keeps you away from a kitchen for at least 10 hours a day. That is why eating properly can be a real challenge. I have not figured out how to deal with it yet.

Jana(Q) I'm not managing well ... I'm good for about a week, then fall back into "easy" mode.

Ginat(A) Let's think how to make Easy = Good and handle work demands. They are real, whether it’s a job or children, or life in general. One idea is to cook once a day for two meals, then make something quick to supplement the second meal. Cook enough grain for 24 hours, enough beans for 3 meals, long-cooked veggies for two meals, and a fresh veg at every meal. Remember to make desserts. They are essential!

vana(Q) what kind of desserts?

Ginat(A) Dessert by definition means something relaxing. So soft and creamy is best; never hard and crunchy--that is not a dessert. We love amasake, kanten, chestnuts, compote.....what other favorites are there out there?

Joana Sometimes it takes me two hours to prepare lunch, and I do it together with my sister. I don't know how we can be so slow preparing food; its like we don't even realize that time elapses so fast.

Ginat Sometimes meal preparation can be long and involved, and sometimes short and sweet. This is flexibility.

CPB(Q) How do you make food that you can carry to work for your lunch that does not have to be heated up or prepared in some way that would not be available at work?

Ginat(A) I find no need to heat up food, even in the winter. Room temperature is fine. I don't eat it-refrigerator cold. We make lunches to go whenever we need to, putting an entire meal in a lunch box and packing it up with our chopsticks. We are macros on the go, any time, any where.

Vana (C) ok, good plan

Ginat How about....gas? Everyone ok on that end?

Joana One question

Ginat Yes, Joana?

Joana Besides rice syrup and barley malt, what other grain syrups are good for making desserts? It seems that they have run out here in Lisbon. I have been waiting for 2 weeks without cooking desserts.

Ginat Those are the two grain syrups I use most. I also use fruit juices often, or eat fruit cooked with a pinch of salt. You have good quality North Atlantic sea salt in Lisbon!

Jana(C) Stewed apples are helpful.

joana yes I make apple sauce because that does not need to be sweetened.

Ginat How about late night snacking? Who does it, when and why? How do you feel with it? About it?

Joana lately I’ve been feeling hungry at night so I snack. For me the reason is that i have been waking up late in the morning...

Ginat Better not to snack--it helps you stay up late. Better to listen to your body and sleep when it's tired. Staying up late makes you yang, and that's why you want to eat. It's a non-natural cycle.

Jana(Q) I always grab the wrong, but easy thing -- and load up like there's no tomorrow

Ginat(A) Jana, there is always a tomorrow. That's number one. Remember that you know this. Then look for a good quality food. Prepare it in advance so you won't get caught. Most of all, make a choice about what you want, how you want to live, what you want for your life.

Jana(C) Interesting, I didn't know that, Ginat.

CPB(Q) I just read an interesting article addressing an idea that many long time macrobiotic eaters are eating too close. The suggestion is that fish, foul, yogurt and certain cheese be added to the diet on a regular basis. Any thoughts on this?

Ginat(A) By “close” do you mean too narrow? I find that variety is perhaps the #1 most important factor in being a satisfied macro (or any other person!) I do not find that foul, yogurt or cheese serve me. They mess up my health, and don't give me anything. They are too extreme to easily balance. I get variety from cooking styles, food choices, cutting techniques, ingredients ...

gxpark1234 Ms. Rice, I have a question. About 2 years ago while I was smoking marijuana and thinking very hard about money, my right eye started to make subtle cracking noises; then my left eye started to make the same type of noise.. I later looked in the mirror and noticed my right eye had been pulled up and was bigger/expanded while my left eye got shifted down. Doctors aren’t able to help me. I feel so imbalanced. Any advice?

Ginat Gxpark1234, your condition is clearly too yin, as you know from the mind-expanding "food" you were taking. Your body is responding rather naturally to it with a yin discharge. Make sense?

gxpark1234 I think so..

Ginat Right side--more upward flowing energy; left side, more downward. This is natural, universal, and unknown to doctors. We need to teach them.

gxpark1234 How can i fix this imbalance with my eyes? More yang foods or a balanced diet?

Ginat You need to become more centered, which for you would be balance. Stay close to the center with food, thought, activity...

gxpark1234 Ginat, do u think this is curable? Will I become balanced again.. sorry for all the questions but it’s destroyed my life.

Ginat Gx--everything is curable, because everything changes. It's easy to become balanced--it requires a decision, and then some knowledge. You can do it!

gxpark1234 thank u Ginat, do u have a personal website or consultation service for a more detailed advice and help on my condition? An email perhaps?

Ginat Gx--Everyone can always write me with any questions. My email is Shelgin@netvision.net.il.

gxpark1234 Great.. thank u

vana(C) Give the marijuana a rest for your best interest. It takes a long time to release the THC from the herb to get it out of the brain.

gxpark1234 I’ve quit over 1 year ago.

Vana What helps a frail long time sick person with no contractive power to eliminate? I’m cooking for an ill person; she eats only good quality food but has declined and doesn’t digest

Ginat Vana, that person need some good quality food, and perhaps some umeshokuzu. What is he holding on to in his thoughts? Does he have the spiritual power to eliminate it? An older person may need softer cooked rice cream, and umeshokuzu to get her strength back.

Ginat Last topics for tonight--eating out, traveling, or excretion: Choose your favorite one!

LA(Q) Eating out, please!

Ginat(A) OK, the most yang person is the one who is first to answer. How do you manage to eat out and stay well?

Jana(C) Eating out is tough, unless your dining partner is on board with your choice of restaurants/foods

LA(Q) Ginat, my problem eating out is, even thought I can get good macrobiotic-type food, at restaurants such as Pei Wei--brown rice, veggies with tofu--it always is so, so salty, even if I ask for less salty. I need to eat out pretty often, but it is hard to get good macrobiotic-type food anywhere. Any suggestions?

Ginat(A) Do you need to eat out for work? Socially? For convenience? There is always a better way if you look for it. Can you bring your own rice with you?

Jana(Q) Good Earth is good for whole foods.

Ginat(A) Yet there's nothing like home cooking.

CPB We eat regularly at an Asian Place that now carries brown rice on the menu. All it took was asking them to do it and they were glad to make it happen.

Ginat Any other comments, or shall we say good night? I don't know what time it is in Australia, but Klara knows that it's 11:18 here in Israel.

Klara(C) I’m just barely keeping my eyes open.

Jana(C) Thank you, Ginat-- hope to chat with you again in the near future.

CPB Thank you for the chat as I have learned plenty and it is so nice to share ideas.

Gary Thanks so much for the wonderful and helpful chat Ginat!

joana good night , and thanks Ginat.

Klara(Q) You didn't go further about gas…

Ginat(A) Guess we'll have to hold back on this one till next time!

Jana(C) Nice to have fellow macrobiotic'ers to chat with

Ginat Good night everyone, and a million thanks. It's great fun being together this way! Let's do it again next month, and meanwhile enjoy your chats next week.