Macrobiotic Diet Cure

17. Macrobiotic Diet Cure

The macrobiotic diet consists of 60 to 100% grains. These include brown rice, buckwheat, wheat, corn, barley, and millet. They are eaten raw, cooked, creamed, with or without water, fried, or baked. A maximum of 30% of the diet may consist of vegetables. These vegetables that are considered permissible include: carrots, onions, pumpkin (a fruit), radish, cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce.

Grain is considered “Principal Food” and is eaten at every meal. The principle behind this diet is based on the same Yin-Yang theory as for acupuncture. Yin and Yang are antagonistic but complementary forces. Certain foods are considered Yang foods and others are Yin foods. There must be a certain balance between Yin and Yang.

When a person becomes ill, it is recommended that he/she eat 100% grains. In addition to this, certain specific beverages and/or foods are used for specific ailments—all based on the superstitious Yin-Yang theory.

This type of diet not only cannot produce health but it can be very harmful if persisted in over a period of time. Humans are not grain eaters—we are frugivores. We are not biologically equipped to digest, assimilate, and utilize large amounts of grains. Fruits contain plenty of sugar, but little or no starch, whereas the cereals are largely starch. Starch requires much more time and energy to digest than fruit. Cereals are among the most difficult of foodstuffs to digest. The protein of most cereals are inadequate. They also contain an excess of acid due to the absence of certain base minerals, especially calcium. The need for calcium of most cereal plants is relatively small so they do not draw much of this mineral from the soil. In the human organism, on the other hand, the need for calcium is very great. Cereals, are therefore, inadequate to support growth.

Oats are deficient in many basic salts. Wheat is deficient in sodium and calcium. Rice is deficient in salts, and especially in calcium. It is also deficient in sodium and chlorine. They are all lacking in iodine. What does this mean when we consume large amounts of cereals? Since cereals are acid forming, they must draw on base minerals from the body to neutralize these acids so as not to create a condition of acidosis within the body. These base salts are withdrawn from the tissues, bones, and teeth, eventually resulting in various pathological disorders such as osteoporosis and dental caries.

Dr. Shelton says, “We have learned that all cereals have certain defects which may be looked upon as characteristic of these nutriments. As regards organic salts, they are deficient in sodium and calcium; they are also poorly supplied with organically-combined sulfur and with bases generally; but they contain a superabundance of acid-formers and of potassium. The cereals are also poor in vitamins A, B, and C. Finally, the proteins of the cereals are always inadequate; they are lacking in essential amino acids, and are especially poor in lysin and cystin.”

A study of the human anatomy and physiology will clearly demonstrate which food humans are best suited to eat. For optimum health, we should stick with our biologically-correct fruitarian diet.