Autumn is here

Although the days are still quite hot in Cyprus, we have been able to feel the change of the season for some weeks now.  Our routines have also changed:  we are back to work or school.  We need to adapt to these changes and get ready for the autumn months. If we fail to do so and continue with the same rhythm of activity we had in the summer and go on eating daily raw salads and fruits, having cold drinks what will most probably happen is that, as soon as we have the first cold days of the season, we will catch a cold or even the flu.  So it is the time to strengthen our immune system and balance all the Yin excesses of the summer.   

 Some tips to go with the new energy around us:

• Increase salty condiments such as sea salt, miso, soyu, umeboshi.  I know the days are still quite hot in Cyprus, but we can start eating our miso soup in the evenings.

• Reduce  macerated, pressed and raw  preparations and introduce cooking techniques such as steaming, sauteing, stewing, pressure cooking, tempura.

 

• Favour the beans, grains and vegetables that have  autumn colors and a sweeter taste: millet,  chick peas, pumpkins, onions.

Enjoy the autumn!

Inspiration: healing success stories

Click on the link below to read 

some healing success stories

from people who adopted 

the Macrobiotic diet and lifestyle.

 

Healing success stories
 

Fruit in the summer

Summer offers a wide variety of delicious fruits with a high content of water  and  refreshing energy. However, a diet consisting only of fruit or with  an excess of it  will make us feel very tired after some weeks and with little energy. Some ways to compensate the intake of raw fruit:

• fruit salads with one or more kinds of fruit macerated for about half an hour with syrup and a pinch of salt.
•  mousses
• jellies with agar agar.  

Macerated peaches

Peel 4 peaches and cut them into pieces. Put them in a bowl and add a pich of salt, 2 table spoons of raisins, 1 table spoon of concentrated apple juice, 2 table spoons of rice syrup and  the juice of one orange. Mix and let macerate in the fridge for one hour.

Everything in one dish: whole quinoa salad

This salad contains carbohydrates, protein, minerals, vitamins and  is specially rich in iron, calcium and omega 3 and 6. It is an excellent option to take with us when we eat out.

Ingredients for two people:

·         1 cup of quinoa

·         A pinch of turmeric

·         Tofu cheese or smoked tofu cut into small cubes

·         4 broccoli sprouts

·         1 grated carrot

·         3 radishes

·         4 table spoons of roasted sesame sedes

·         1/2 avocado in small cubes and macerated in lemon juice

·         2 strips of dulse seaweed  

·         Sesame or olive oil

·         Umeboshi vinegar

·         Soja sauce

·         The juice of half a lemon

·         Sea salt

Directions:

1.    Cook the quinoa in a pan with 2 cups of water, a pinch of salt and  the turmeric for 15 minutes.

2.    Boil the broccoli for 1 minute. Chop it finely and season it with the vinegar and the oil. Blanch the radishes and macerate them with some vinegar.

3.    Place the quinoa in a strainer and rinse it under the tap with cold water . Season it with the lemon juice.

4.    Mix all the ingredients: quinoa, tofu, broccoli, avocado, radishes, grated carrot, sesame seeds and   seaweed.

5.    Season with some oil and soja sauce.

Salads

According to the recommendations of the World Health Organisation, from a 25% to a 35% of our diet should consist of vegetables. In the summer it is hot and there is a lot of energy in the environment around us, energy that nurtures our body and therefore we have a smaller appetite than in colder seasons. A refreshing salad is therefore an ideal dish now.  

In traditionally vegetarian countries such as China, Vietnam or Japan, the raw salad as such does not exist. Are raw salads bad for you? No , they are not.  But for sure they are not the best way to to benefit from the vitamins in the vegetables either. It is much better to cook the vegetables for a short time since, although we lose a small percentage of vitamins, we save a lot of digestive energy. When people eat too much raw food, their digestive energy usually diminishes a lot: their belly bloats, they suffer from reflux, flatulence, heavy digestions and tiredness. 

On the other hand,  cooking  the vegetables for a very short time preserves from 80% to 90% of their vitamins. This is  a sufficiently high percentage and specially so if we bear in mind that the digestive weakness that an excessive consumption of raw food can bring about would prevent our bodies from absorbing  correctly the  vitamins in the vegetables. In conclusion, as a general rule, when we eat vegetables, we will cook them slightly in order to increase their digestibility and we will spare  raw salads for occasions such as  after doing a lot of physical exercise, when we eat fish or sea food and in the hot days of the summer.

For our summer salads,  we will use light cooking methods such as  blanching, pressing, macerating,  boiling for a  very short time or sprouting. 

Find here a delicious recipe of a pressed salad.

Eating pulses in the summer

In the summer, a refreshing and appetizing way to eat pulses is in salads. Here you have the recipe of a delicious lentils salad with slightly boiled vegetables and alfalfa sprouts. 

One important thing to take into account is that sprouted foods (germinated grains, seeds and beans) should not be eaten raw because when raw, they have certain substances - substances which  are produced by the sprouts themselves as a way of protection again the infestation of microorganisms-  that prevent the body from absorbing a big amount of the vitamins and minerals they contain. Therefore, before eating sprouts, you have to saute or slightly boil them.  

Lentils salad with  thyme dressing 

Ingredients for two people:

200 grams of boiled lentils

A zucchini cut into matchsticks

1 carrot cut into small cubes

4 table spoons of boiled corn

2 radishes cut into small cubes

Sprouted alfalfa seeds (previously blanched)

Ingredients for  the dressing:

3 table spoons of sesame oil

1 table spoon of roasted sesame oil

3 table spoons of Umeboshi vinegar

A pinch of ground cumin

Dried thyme

Directions:

Mix well all the ingredients of the dressing with a bit of water. Mix the lentils with the dressing and let it macerate for at least three hours. Boil  the carrot and the zucchini for 1 minute and rinse with cold water. Mix all the ingredients and serve.

Summer energy and food

Needless to say, we do not eat in the same way throughout the year. In summer we feel more open  and lively. We become  more sociable and feel like doing activities outdoors. We need energy to cope with this more active rhythm and to be in tune with the energy around us. Our food should be light, colorful, with refreshing flavors and crunchy textures. We  should eat simple and appetizing dishes that, at the same time,   nurture our bodies.

What foods 
should we favor
in the summer?  

• Grains: long grain rice or Basmati rice, barley, quinoa, bulgur, cous-cous, polenta and whole grain pasta.
• Soups: Cold soups and  vegetable creams.
• Proteins: pulses in salads and patés and also fish.
• Vegetables: All kinds of seasonal vegetables.  
• Seasonings and flavors: try different seasonings to enhance your colorful salads. Use fresh herbs, umeboshi or rice vinegar, mustard, garlic, ginger, citrus, good quality olive oil, etc. 
• Seaweed: Dulse, Wakame, Nori.
• Fruit: seasonal fruits in fruit salads, jellies, sherbets and mousses. 

In the summer we need a light, active, refreshing energy that opens us up while nurturing us at the same time. We will reduce the cooking time, pressure and fire in our preparations as well as flours and baked foods.