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.  

Yoga and macrobiotics

I have been practicing yoga for  about 15 years and. Both the practice of yoga and following a macrobiotic lifestyle  have changed my life for the very best and I see them as complementary in my search for health, balance, happiness and greater awareness. 

Both are precious tools to reach the harmonization of the yin and yang energies, ida and pingala as they are known in yoga, which together regulate the various glands and organs of the body influencing the emotions and states of consciousness.

This is post intends to be some food for thought for people that like me practice yoga or some other kind of exercise that helps them find balance and enhance life force such as Tai Chi, Chi Kung, etc., but have not yet become aware that the  energetic and healing  work they are doing with such practices can be enhanced or diminished depending on the way they feed themselves. My point is that whatever practice you choose, it would be contradictory to feed yourself in such a way that would create in your organism the contrary effects to those you are looking for. Just a very simple example: it would not make sense to do breathing exercises to open and clean your lungs and eat foods that would contract or generate fat and mucus deposits in these organs.

So I invite you to discover the energetics of food, how they affect your physical, emotional and mental bodies and how they will help you reach the goals you have set for you with your yoga practice.

Here is a link to an  article of yogi Swami Gaurishankara Saraswati  talking about the common  features  of yoga and macrobiotics.

Sweetness and emotions

When  emotionally out of balance, many people resort to the chocolate bar, ice-cream or any other very sweet "treat" looking for the comfort they are missing. The effect they create is the contrary of what they were looking for: a sudden rise of the glucose levels in the blood unavoidably followed by a sudden fall which  makes you crave for the next sugar shot in a never-ending cycle of  euphoria and misery that creates a lot of unhappiness. Let alone the fact that sugar demineralizes you, makes you lose the strength, brightness, mental clarity and magnetism you need to attract the affection you are looking for when looking for that sweet taste.

It is important to stop and reflect on the way we create sweetness in our lives, whether it be through food, life style or mental attitude. We need sweetness for our brain to work well and our emotions to be balanced and the best way to get it through food is with whole grains, sweet vegetables and seasonal local fruits.

And now that cauliflower, red cabbage and apples are in season, here you have  the link to a delicious millet and cauliflower pie with red cabbage and apple recipe that will satisfy your body' s need for sweetness.

Cook and enjoy!

A pinch of salt

There is a lot confusion regarding the consumption of salt. We have heard plenty of times that salt is no good for our health and there are people that take pride in not using salt at all. Probable this confusion has to do with both the quality and the quantity of what we consume.

Unrefined sea salt has been a source of life and health from the beginning of times. It was considered so precious that people were paid in salt- hence the word salary. It is simply the result of the evaporation of seawater. Its composition is almost up to a 90% chloride and sodium, the rest being sulfate, magnesium, calcium and potassium also elements of extraordinary qualitative importance.  

But this   excellent ally to our health can become poison if refined and processed with chemicals and additives. Commercial sea salts available on the market today might vary in their chemical composition, but none has the same composition and proportion of elements found in sea water. Common refined table salt is 99,99% sodium chloride plus added iodine and dextrose (a kind of sugar). So we should take only unrefined sea salt  and avoid the refined ,  iodized one.

Another thing to bear in mind is that we have to use salt in cooking, never raw and that we can add the salt to our recipes using shoyu  or  tamari (see my blog on shoyu and tamari http://www.macrobioticscyprus.com/uncategorized/soy-sauce-shoyu-or-tamari/) , which also need to be cooked.

About the quantity, about half tea spoon a day is sufficient. We need to take salt because it contributes to a good drainage of toxins, allows life energy to flow and so boosts our vitality, improves our sexuality, favors concentration and stimulates digestion among other benefits. However, an excess of salt provokes stagnation of our life energy which manifests in hardening and contraction of the blood vessels, premature white hair, pain in the knees and kidneys, menstrual cramps, dry skin, liquid retention, hypertension, impatience, short temper, tension and mental rigidity. 

Salt?  Yes, unrefined and in moderation. 

Burgers

VEGGIE BURGERS

Burgers are an excellent idea to use left over grains or beans and give variety to our meals. Rice, millet, buckwheat,  barley or oats will make very nice burgers as well as beans such as lentils, chickpeas, black, white or red beans. It is important to use  some vegetables to add color and taste. Other ingredients that will improve the aroma and taste are  fresh herbs such as coriander, basil or parsley and pickles such as olives, capers or gherkins. While the fresh herbs   will provide  a characteristic and gentle  flavor, the pickles will give the necessary salty and acid taste to ensure our burgers do not come out too sweet.

Millet burgers

Ingredients: 1 cup of millet, 2 1/2 cups of water, one onion finely chopped, one clove of garlic finely chopped, one small carrot finely grated, fresh coriander, one tablespoon of capers,black sesame seeds, olive oil, salt.

Directions: Sautee the onion, garlic with some olive oil and a pinch of salt until the onion is soft. Add the millet and water. Bring it to the boil and the lower the heat to a very low flame. Cook for about 20 minutes (until there is no liquid left). Let it cool down. Add the capers, black sesame seeds and fresh coriander and make the burgers. Grill them some minutes per side on a hot grill or frying pan.

Lime, lemon and mint petit four with red berries syrup

The acid flavor is very refreshing and it helps avoid cravings for sweets. It is ideal for the spring time.

Ingredients: 

For the base: 150 gr  wholemeal flour, 100 gr almond flour, 40 gr sunflower oil, 70 gr rice syrup, lemon zest, water.
For the lime, lemon and mint sweet: liter rice milk, the juice of two lemons and one lime, the zest of one lime and half lemon, some mint leaves, rice or agave syrup to taste, 2 1/2 table spoons of arrowroot, 1,5 gr of agar agar for each 100 ml of liquid.
For the red berries syrup: 200 gr of red berries, 200 gr of water or apple juice, 1 tablespoon of arrowroot, rice syrup to taste.

Directions: 

Put all the ingredients for the base in a bowl, mix and spread on a baking pan (15 x cm). Bake at 170º for 10/15 minutes.

Heat the rice milk, add the citrus  zests, the arrowroot (previously dissolved in a  bit of rice milk), the lemon  and lime juice, the agar agar and  boil for 5/7 minutes.  When you remove it from the hob, add the mint leaves and let them infuse for some minutes. Sieve and pour on top of the baked base, put in the fridge until it thickens.

Put the red berries in a pan with the water or apple juice, add the arrowroot and the rice syrup. Boil for about 5 minutes.

Cut the pie in small symmetrical pieces like the ones in the photograph and decorate with the red berries syrup.

Enjoy!