Why eat seawed?

The reasons to eat seaweed, apart from enjoying their delicious taste and recovering an ingredient now forgotten in the West but that used to be present in our traditional gastronomy, are mainly three. First, they help us get rid of toxic metals, radioactivity and pollution thanks to the alginic acid they contain. Secondly, due to their high content of minerals, they have an alkalizing effect in the blood that can help balance the acidifying effect of modern diets. 

Also, they can help dissolve fat and mucus deposits in the body resulting from an excessive consumption of dairy and meat. 

I highly recommend introducing them in your diet. There is a big variety, from the mild taste of the wakame to the salty and very tasty hijiki. You need to know how to use each type- some need only to be soaked and are ready for consumption while others have to be cooked -  and maybe start following some recipes and then follow your own intuition and add them to your favorite dishes or create new ones.

Is macrobiotics all about exotic Asian foods?

I have realized when talking to people about macrobiotics that a significant number of them have the belief that a macrobiotic diet is based on exotic Asian ingredients. This belief unfortunately establishes a prejudice against it and they miss the chance to improve their health and well being greatly.

Among the principles of Macrobiotics, I will mention only two that will make you understand how ill founded this belief is. One is eating according to our geographical situation. When we eat foods that grow in the climate we live in, it is easier to be in harmony with nature. It is better to consume local fruits and vegetables than those imported from distant countries. The second one has to do with eating according to the season, and the reason is the same: eating according to nature’s changing cycles will make us flow with the flow of nature.

If you look at macrobiotics recipe books, you will find such ingredients as miso, shoyu, tofu or different kinds of seaweed. Being George Ohsawa, the father of Macrobiotics, and his pupil Michio Kushi  Japanese, this was only  to be expected. However, the two principles stated above and which, in my opinion, should apply to any sensible approach to eating point at the fact that in our everyday diet the main ingredients have to be those that have fed our ancestors for centuries: local seasonal vegetables and fruits, grains, pulses, seeds and meat, eggs and fish from animals that have been raised and fed properly. Tradition is another principle of Macrobiotics.

There are some “superfoods” such as umeboshi plums, miso, Daikon which are very useful to restore health, but the staple diet that will make us healthy and vital should be made of the local foods we can easily find around us.