How to Balance Your Act of Eating Foods – Macrobiotic Diet

A Japanese instructor named George Ohsawa, who believed that minimalism was the solution to the problems of obtaining the best health levels, developed the macrobiotic diet. It is a low fat, high-fiber diet, which is principally a vegetarian diet. It emphasizes on vegetables and whole grains. It also encourages the consumption of soy products because they are rich in phytoestrogens. It is highly recommended for people who suffer from cancer and other persistent diseases.

The macrobiotic diet emphasizes the consumption of the following food types:

macrobiotic

Whole grains include whole-wheat berries, millet, barley, rye, buckwheat, brown rice, and corn. They constitute fifty to sixty percent of each meal.

  • One to two cups or bowls of soup every day is also advisable.
  • Vegetables that must be eaten in their raw form otherwise, they can be boiled, baked and sautéed. These constitute twenty-five to thirty percent of every meal.
  • Cooked beans or bean products make up ten percent of the meal per day.
  • Small portions of fish or seafood may be eaten several times a week. They may be eaten with ginger, wasabi or mustard to aid the body to detoxify whatever effects the fish and seafood may cause. Poultry eggs, dairy, and meat are prohibited.
  • Nuts and seeds must be eaten in moderation. They can be salted or lightly roasted.
  • Local fruits such as pears, peaches, apples, grapes, melons can be eaten a few times a week. You must pass up on eating tropical fruits.
  • Desserts can be taken two to three times a week. These desserts should include naturally sweet foods and sugar, chocolate and honey must be avoided.
  • Substitute cooking oil with refined ones such as dark sesame oil, mustard oil, and corn oil.

Macrobiotics can offer so many advantages. Changing your food preferences is worth it. It can make you lose weight dramatically if you do it and pair it with exercise. It can also lessen the risks of fat-associated diseases.

Planetary Health Series

Macrobiotic Diet – The Anti Aging Benefits

Learning the ins and outs of the macrobiotic diet might seem overwhelming when you first begin eating this way, but as with any other way of eating, it soon becomes natural for its followers.

Proponents say that people who eat a macrobiotic diet are less likely to get cancer and other diseases, will live longer lives and usually have more energy and vitality, even as they age.

macrobiotic diet

The basis of the macrobiotic diet is that followers focus on natural foods that are produced locally. They eat largely vegetarian, but also eat fish and seafood and sometimes meat that been raised naturally or is organic.

An additional cornerstone of this diet is that when you eat this way, you eat with the seasons. So, for example, you don’t eat corn in the winter. If you are eating corn, it means that either that corn was not produced locally (if it’s winter in your neck of the woods, it is summer somewhere else but that means your food was shipped a distance to get to you) or you’re eating frozen corn. Both are not recommended.

So getting a true idea of a day in the life of a macrobiotic diet follower is tough. Much depends on where you live (what locally grown foods are available at any given time?), what season it is and your personal preferences.

Each meal should ideally contain the following:

  • A grain
  • A protein
  • A sea vegetable
  • Vegetables (both cooked for a time and those that are raw)
  • Pickles
  • Dessert (optional and only sometimes)

There should also be a mix of crunchy, soft, sticky, smooth and other textures and tastes in the meal. This provides the “yin and yang” contrast that macrobiotic eating is founded on.

Let’s look at a sample menu. Let’s assume it’s winter where you live. Here’s what you might eat for dinner one night:

  • For your grain – Sticky rice
  • For your protein – Fried fish with ginger for flavor
  • For your sea vegetable – Shio Kombu
  • For your vegetable – Sweet/sour beets
  • For your pickles – A Takuan pickle
  • For dessert? How about winter squash pudding?

Now, let’s look at a summer menu. Most people who eat a macrobiotic diet find that summer is the easiest of seasons in which to plan menus. The produce is plentiful and it’s easy to find locally raised protein sources and locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Here’s a sample summer menu:

  • For your grain – Polenta made with fresh corn
  • For your protein – Red lentils that are made creamy and rich
  • For your sea vegetable – Arame made with sunflower seeds and diced chives
  • For your vegetable – Green salad with carrots
  • For your pickle – Chinese cabbage with lemons and red radishes
  • For your dessert – Lemon pudding

Do you see how the daily meals combine creamy, sweet, sour, crunchy and other textures and tastes? This is the hallmark of the macrobiotic diet, other than the emphasis on fresh, whole foods and finding the proper “yin and yang” of food.

It might take a little planning and effort to purchase and prepare the food, but if the benefits are worth it to you, it’s worth giving the macrobiotic diet a try.

Planetary Health Series

The Macrobiotic Diet

In your search for the latest diets and trends, you have surely uncovered many different programs, which assuredly provided varying levels of success and legitimacy. Standing apart from these is the macrobiotic diet, a nutritional plan that has actually been around for a very long time.

The diet once included strict regulations and restrictions, but has since been infused with the knowledge of nutritional needs and body health. The result is an exciting program which sticks to the basic fundamentals of the original while ensuring your body gets a full range of nutrients and healthy, essential foods.

macrobiotic diet

To begin with, the macrobiotic diet is actually just a specific kind of vegetarian diet. It’s going to focus on a few specific food groups and areas and like basic vegetarian programs, you will not be able to eat any dairy or meat. Many vegans also utilize the macrobiotic system, however that is an additional, unnecessary step if it’s not to your liking.

The largest element of your diet is going to consist of nutritious and healthy whole grains. You’ll essentially be cutting out all of the junk from your diet, which includes processed foods and white pieces of bread which provide little to no nutritional value. You will be able to occasionally indulge in some pasta or something of that nature but only once a week or so to keep your body as healthy as possible. Whole grains will account for 50%-60% of your total calories.

Following whole grains is fresh vegetables. Vegetables are of course a major part of any health or diet program. In the macrobiotic diet, it’s important to cook the vegetables in a healthy way, meaning you boil or steam them or even sauté using a minimal amount of oil or dressing. The key is to avoid adding extra calories that frying or dressing provides. Adding to your vegetable intake will be beans, soy products and fish, which provides both essential omega 3 fatty acids and protein.

You’ll also be eating a lot of soup in the macrobiotic diet. Soup is extremely healthy because it can pack a potent nutritional punch but it can also fill you up easily with only a small amount of calories. Broth based soups are used rather than creamy or thick soups, and miso soup is the most popular choice for its nutrient rich soy base.

Despite how many vegetables you’ll be eating you won’t be eating that much fruit. Fruit actually contains a lot of carbohydrates and sugars. When you do eat fruit, you should avoid choices such as mangos or pineapples, instead opting for less exotic local fruits. Have fruit as a sweet desert or treat and avoid other sweeteners such as sugar or honey which provide the calories without the nutrients.

All together, the macrobiotic diet should significantly decrease the total number of calories you eat every day without making you feel as if you’re cutting back. The diet will be very high in fiber and very low in fat. You’ll shed excess flab and you’re body will feel much better from head to toe. You’ll be helping to combat not just your weight but also a large variety of symptoms and separate problems that can affect you, from cardiovascular disease to blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and much more.

The macrobiotic diet is an extremely effective nutritional program to increase how your body, spirit and mind feels. The all natural, nutrient rich ingredients will replace the processed, unhealthy foods that we eat and the results will be significant.

Planetary Health Series

Mісrоbіоtіс Diet – A Low Fаt Way of Dіеtіng

There аrе mаnу dіеtѕ tо consider whеn уоu wіѕh tо change уоur еаtіng hаbіtѕ, lifestyle, health, аnd wеіght. Gеоrgе Ohsawa, whо promoted thаt a simple lifestyle рrоduсеd роѕіtіvе hеаlth bеnеfіtѕ, created the mісrоbіоtіс dіеt. Thе dіеt was соmрrіѕеd оf tеn rеѕtrісtіvе ѕtерѕ, fоrсіng the dіеtеr tо еxhіbіt a grеаt deal оf self-control.

Fоr еxаmрlе, thе last ѕtаgе оf the mісrоbіоtіс dіеt іnvоlvеѕ the dіеtеr соnѕumіng only brоwn rice аnd wаtеr. Dіеt рlаnnеrѕ, due to іtѕ excessive restriction no lоngеr ѕuggеѕt this fіrѕt version of thе microbiotic dіеt.

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Planetary Health Series

Basics of The Macrobiotic Diet

People who follow the macrobiotic diet seek a healthy way to eat by integrating the spiritual, physical and planetary health. This is a high fiber and at the same time a low-fat diet that is basically vegetarian focusing on the consumption of vegetables and whole grains.

The following are the basics of the diet program:

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Planetary Health Series

Some Interesting Tips on Losing Weight

It’s a truth that individuals check out the net more often for diets and diet pills than for fitness and exercise. It should truly be the other way around but individuals typically try and find a short cut to losing their extra body fat. Though much money is spent on weight loss yearly the chief thing individuals are losing is their income, not their weight. Let’s look at some interesting tips on losing weight.

There are no shortcuts alas to getting into better shape. If the pills and diets worked for sure we wouldn’t have a planetary health problem with a lot of the population-heavy or obese.

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Weight Loss Advice

Losing Weight Fast, But Healthy

Even though losing weight rapidly is almost always a bad idea, sometimes you have an event like a wedding nearing and have no other option but to embrace the techniques of losing weight fast.

Thankfully, the best tips for weight loss can help you slim down quickly while still remaining healthy. Check out 5 of them below.

weight loss

1. Stay Hydrated

Keeping the body hydrated is one of the best tips for weight loss. Drinking water not only helps when it comes to getting rid of toxins, but it’s also useful when it comes to speeding up digestion and metabolism. Though it may seem unlikely, drinking enough water can actually prevent your body from retaining water. It can also lower cravings, and drinking one glass before every meal can help you eat less calories by making you feel full faster.

2. Avoid Processed Carbohydrates and Sugars

Refined carbohydrates like processed grains, white sugar, and white rice should be avoided when you want to lose weight in general, but if you want to lose weight fast you might want to avoid all carbohydrates completely. Eating less carbohydrates makes it more likely for your body to burn fat stores and it also reduces intense cravings, which are usually caused by spikes in blood sugar from eating sweets. If you simply can’t live without carbohydrates and sweets make sure you at least stick to whole grains and fruits.

3. Get Some Exercise

When it comes to the best tips for weight loss, exercising can also help with those extra pounds from water retention. In the long run, it can help you build muscle, improving your bodies fat burning potential. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn by default, making rapid weight loss a breeze. Try to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, and be sure to vary your workout routine from week to week.

4. Try a Raw Food Diet

If you’ve got at least two weeks until your deadline, try eating only fresh fruits and vegetables. If rapid weight loss is your goal, this is possibly the most effective of the best tips for weight loss. However, if extreme is not something you can cope with, just try replacing as many of your calories as you can with fruits and veggies. Among the 5 best tips for weight loss, this one is perhaps the hardest, but also the most rewarding.

5. Get Enough Sleep

The body works extra hard during sleep to get rid of harmful toxins and balance hormone levels. So when you don’t get enough sleep every night you really cripple yourself in many ways. When it comes to losing weight, research shows that not getting enough sleep can slow your metabolism and throw hormones that control your appetite off balance. So one of the best tips for weight loss is to always get at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night in conjunction with all your other weight loss activities.

Weight Loss Advice

What Every Dieter Needs to Know (Weight Loss Tips)

Weight loss is definitely not on the list of easy things to do in life. It takes hard work and it can even get frustrating from time to time. No doubt there are times when you feel like you are at your wits’ end when it comes to losing weight.

While you know that exercise and eating right are part of the deal, it is easy to hit a slump. What you really need are some helpful diet tips for weight loss. Many people have found tips that have helped them find what they were missing in their weight loss plan. Here are three to get you started.

Tip #1 – Start a Food Diary

Sure, you already know that eating right is important but you may not actually realize what you are eating every day. One of the most effective diet tips for weight loss is to keep a food diary every day. You simply write down everything you eat all day … even that little taste of batter you eat while baking cookies. At the end of the day you may be surprised what you ate throughout the day. Taking a look at your diary will help you see where you need to make some changes in your diet.

Tip #2 – Focus on Health Not on Thin

Okay, so you want to lose weight but too many people, women especially, focus on being thin and not on being healthy. You want to make sure that you are eating foods that will improve the health of your body not just on eating what you think may make you thin. If you focus on health then the weight loss is sure to follow.

Tip #3 – Don’t Go Hungry

If you are trying to lose weight it is important that you never let your body go hungry. Sounds counterproductive, right? Not really. You see, when you eat something small every few hours, you keep your body from feeling extreme hunger. When you feel really hungry you are more likely to sit down and eat a lot. So instead just eat a small healthy snack in between meals to keep hunger at bay.

Finding great diet tips that work can help you along your weight loss journey. Even if you are feeling like you have hit a plateau, remember that there are excellent tips available that can help you get out of your rut and back on your way to losing weight.

Weight Loss Advice

5 Quick and Easy Diet Tips For Weight Loss That Never Change and Always Work

The diet tips for weight loss that never change are the ones that work, the challenge is that we are bombarded with tips and suggestions from every direction.

This article cuts through all the gimmicks and tricks and shares 5 quick and easy diet tips for weight loss that have stood the test of time and even adds one that will help you speed up your weight loss.

weight loss

1. Eat 5 to 6 small meals a day.

Not very exciting I know but it works because it gives the body just what it needs so there is no need to create stored fat.

2. Eat your vegetables.

You heard it growing up and it is still a great lesson. Vegetables fill you up with fiber and they keep your digestive system functioning properly.

3. Protein with every meal.

This one might not be as familiar but it needs to be added because protein is often overlooked in this fast-paced “eat-on-the-go” society we live in. Protein is a good friend to the dieter because it digests slowly staying in your system longer and it also helps you keep your muscle mass which keeps your metabolism humming along.

4. Calories need to come from food, not drinks.

Drinks with calories provide little or no nutrient value yet they add a ton of calories.

5. Eat carbs early.

This tip is added to help you accelerate your weight loss. By finishing eating carbohydrates by lunchtime you do two things, first you allow the body to flush excess water that it is holding and second you remove the body’s quick energy source (carbs) and force it to burn body fat for energy.

When you are serious about losing weight you want to stick with diet tips for weight loss that have stood the test of time and work for everyone.

Weight Loss Advice

Why Exercise is So Important to Lose Weight

People all over the world are rising to a new dawn; albeit a less pleasant one. Fat people on the streets, and fat people behind the curtains, looking at fat mean people walking down the pavements, entering coffee shops. Imagine the scene.

Does it not create tremors; yet people all over the globe are keeping up with their intensely flat routine and moving towards the catastrophe of obesity.

exercise

It is not that they do not want a sound health for themselves. It is just that they do not want the fun element of their lives to be robbed away. Few exercise tips for weight loss make one live on the road which they desire for themselves;

No banishment from society, no prohibition on limited indulgence and no rigorous exercise regimen. – Those which we fondly call “back-breaking, belly shaking” regimens. Exercise tips for weight loss include many disciplines. Let’s take them up one by one.

When we exercise we send our brain a signal. We tell it that we are heating up the body. It responds by enhancing the metabolism. Metabolism thus increased, results in burning down calories. This burns all fat from the body. Many moderate exercises help us in burning down body fat.

Walking

Brisk walking, when done without drooping down shoulder, is a great way to burn fat. One must always emphasize on moving as much part of the body as possible. It is also important to take short strides while walking very briskly. This is a great exercise tip for weight loss as it entails a regimen which the entire world might find easiest to follow.

Cycling and swimming

Both these also help in shaping our muscle density. It can be done rigorously or even in a relaxed way. The end result should help in heating the body greatly there by allowing it to burn calorie

Cardio

Cardiovascular exercises help us in releasing a lot of body fat, it can be done anytime, but it is advisable not to do it prior to weight training regimen as it then makes the body spent forces before ushering into weight training. Imagine a simple squatting exercise, practiced the Hindu way. It is a great exercise tip for weight loss.

Weight training regimen and strength training

These are the toughest of the lot, they are great weight burning measures, but at the same time need a lot of will- power and an absolute disregard for failure.