introductio1[1] macro depression

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. How This Book is Organized 6

3. Playing with Yin and Yang 84. The Standard Macrobiotic Diet 13

5. Some Ideas that Have Helped Me 15

6. Outfitting the Macrobiotic Kitchen 167. Omega-3 Fatty Acids 18

8. The Link Between Allergies and Depression 23

9. Women and Hormones 28

10. Normalize Your Blood Sugar Levels 3111. Strengthening Your Adrenal Glands 33

12. The Importance of Sleep 36

13. Nutritional Advice 43

14. Macrobiotic Techniques for Healing Difficult Emotions 4615. Non-Dietary Methods for Treating Depression, Part I: Exercise 50

16. Non-Dietary Methods for Treating Depression, Part II: 53Putting Your Feelings into Words

17. Non-Dietary Methods for Treating Depression, Part III: 54

Escaping from Words

18. Medication 54

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wiser choice to make eating a macrobiotic diet the first priority on my life because the

other areas of my life would have proceeded more smoothly.

I also erred, I believe, in failing to gain a firm grasp of macrobiotic theory. Since no one

can live indefinitely on only brown rice and a few vegetables, I eventually broadened my

diet but did it incorrectly. If I had taken the time to learn the theory underlying the diet, Icould have broadened my diet and still maintained optimum health. One mistake I made

was in believing, correctly, that I should not eat sugar but failing to recognize that meat

was just as unbalanced but in a different way. If I had understood macrobiotic theoryproperly, I would have fared better.

I have learned through decades of trial and error and many mistakes that if I put my health

first by following a macrobiotic diet, the other areas of my life fall into line. I have madethe decision to give up undisciplined eating and have gained in return a higher energy level,

better sleep, an improved mood, and greater happiness. When I follow the diet, I am more

focused and make fewer mistakes. I learn new material more quickly and retain it better.

It is hard to give up old foods. I love pizza, brie cheese, and Thai food, but I cant eat them

if I want to be healthy. However, I have also found that when I follow this diet, I enjoy afar higher level of happiness than I would have if I simply popped a few pills to mask the

symptoms of depression.

Research has shown that diet works together with our genetic inheritance to make us

healthy or unhealthy. Consider the example of breast cancer. There is quite clearly a

genetic predisposition to develop the disease. Scientists have located genes and women can

be tested for them. It is equally certain that lifestyle plays a role. Japanese women who eata traditional Japanese diet rarely get breast cancer but when they immigrate to the United

States and adopt an American diet, their breast cancer rates increase dramatically. Their

genes didnt change. Their diets did. I believe depression and other psychiatric illnesses arealso the result of both genetics and diet and that the course of this illness can be altered by

changing our diet.

When I studied macrobiotics at the Kushi Institute, a Japanese student gave a talk. He

began by placing Japanese characters on the board. He translated them to mean that body

and mind are not two, they are one.

Until very recently, we in the West saw our minds as something distinct from our bodies.

This led us to neglect the role that diet plays in our emotional health. I believe that our

soaring rates of depression will eventually be linked to our diet in the same way that heartdisease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer have been linked to diet. We have stopped

nourishing our brains with the whole grains, vegetables, natural oils and fish that nature

meant for us to eat and have glutted our bodies with sugar, white flour, hydrogenated fats,and artificial foods of all kinds. The result is a plague of depression, anxiety, phobias, and

the host of other ills that are on the rise in spite of our unprecedented prosperity.

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The macrobiotic message is one of hope. Even if you have a strong genetic predisposition

to depression, you do not have to suffer. Genes are not fetters imprisoning us. They work

together with our environment to produce traits. By changing our internal, physiologicalenvironment, we can alter how are genes are expressed. By eating in harmony with nature,

we can find a freedom and happiness that years of struggle have taught us to believe are

impossible. We can, finally, realize our dreams.

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How this book is organized.

The first two chapters on this book lay the background for what follows. They explain key

ideas in macrobiotic theory. The ideas may seem odd at first but they have been used

successfully by traditional Japanese and Chinese healers for thousands of years. If you arenot comfortable with these ideas, you can skip the first chapter and go on to the others.

The second chapter outlines what a standard macrobiotic diet is.

Once you have acquired the background, the next two chapters give practical

recommendations. The first recommendation is to add more omega-3 fatty acids to your

diet. The second chapter explains the connection between allergies and depression and tellsyou how to eliminate allergens from your diet.

These two steps, adding omega-3 fatty acids and removing allergens from your diet,

require minimal energy and commitment. Because depressed people are often exhaustedand have great difficulty accomplishing day-to-day tasks, it is often wiser to start with the

easiest, least effortful steps first. Yet, these easy steps can have a profound effect on yourmood and make it easier for you to go on to other, more involved, steps.

Changing ones diet is a difficult undertaking. I have learned from my own experience notto set impossible demands. American culture actually encourages bad eating. It is easier,

more convenient, and less expensive to eat junk than it is to eat healthy foods. It costs less

to eat at McDonalds than it does to buy fresh vegetables and whole grainsand

McDonalds does the cooking and cleaning for you too. Nobody eats the perfectmacrobiotic diet. I dont. You will not. Just do your best. When you go off the diet, dont

berate yourself. Ask why it happened and see how you can resolve the problem.

It will help you stay on the diet if you always have a pot of cooked rice ready for you to

eat. Some tofu in the refrigerator is good too. Otherwise, if there is nothing prepared to eat

and cooking will take an hour, it is too tempting to stop at a fast food restaurant. Dont letyourself get too hungry. Have fruit several times a week. We all crave the sweet taste and

satisfying it with whole fruit will prevent you from getting a pint of ice cream.

A word of warning: if you have been on a macrobiotic diet for a while, your body willbecome very sensitive to junk food. Eating rich foods, especially meat, will make you feel

sick for a while. Once your body is accustomed to good food, it will reject unhealthy foods.

If you do make this mistake, correct it by eating less food for a few days and make the food

you eat very simple: some brown rice, miso soup and lots of steamed green leafy

vegetables.

Even if you dont follow all the recommendations set forth in this book perfectly, you will

benefit if you follow some of them.

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A central point about any health issue is that we are all biologically unique and a diet or

practice that benefits one person enormously may have little or no benefit for someone

else. Some of the recommendations in this book will benefit you more than others.Experiment with this diet. Find what helps you the most. Those are the steps that you

should concentrate on.

In other words, use this book as a learning tool, not as a rigid prescription. Read. Study.

Experiment by observing the effects your diet has on you. Only you can find the right

balance that will give you the best health you can possibly have.

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Playing with Yin and Yang

To understand the ideas underlying traditional Chinese and Japanese medicineon which

macrobiotics is based-- think of the old (sexist!) rhyme that says:

What are little boys made of? Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails. What are little girls

made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice.

Intuitively, the originator of this verse summarized certain aspects of traditional eastern

medicine perfectly. We think of boys and girls as opposites and we think of meat like

frogs and snails- as being the opposite of foods like sugar and spice. If you understand the

idea of opposites, then you will understand most of this chapter.

In macrobiotic theory, there are special words to describe these opposites. These words

originated in an ancient philosophical and religious system called Taoism. The word

yang is used to describe masculine qualities. The word yin is used to describe femininequalities.

Traditional eastern medicine, which emphasizes energy, differs from western medicine

which emphasizes biochemistry. Therefore, macrobiotic teachers speak about yin energy

and yang energy. You may be familiar with this idea of energy if you know somethingabout acupuncture. Acupuncturists insert needles in meridians. Meridians are not

anatomical organs but pathways through which the bodys energy flows.

Eastern medicine teaches that everything in the universe is created by the interaction of yinand yang energy. Nothing has equal parts of yin and yang energies. Everything is either

more yin or more yang. Everything strives to find its own proper balance between yin and

yang energies. If human beings achieve a proper balance of yin and yang energies, theywill be healthy.

If we were to draw a diagram showing the relative yin and yang qualities of the items in thenursery rhyme, it might look like this:

Yang foods ---------------------------------------------------------------------Yin foods

Puppy Frogs Snails Spice SugarDog

Tails

Puppy dog tails are on the extreme yang end of the continuum. Animal foods except dairy

products are all considered yang but foods from active mammals, like puppies, are the most

yang. Meat from animals that are not mammals, like frogs, are still yang but less yang thanmeat from mammals. Salt is also yang.

Sugar and spice are yin foods. Sugar is extremely yin as it is a highly refined, concentrated

form of sweetness. Spices are yin but less so than sugar because spices are generally

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unrefined. Water is also yin as are watery vegetables like cucumbers. Most recreational

drugs are extremely yin.

Physical qualities can be yin or yang also. Heat is yang. Pressure is yang. Cold is yin.

In another bit of instinctive wisdom, notice that yin foods like sugar and spice are generallygrown in tropical climates. This illustrates the balance found in

Hot climates are yang but produce yin foods like sugar, spices, chocolate and tropical

fruits. Cold climates are yin but produce more yang foods like grains and root vegetables.The coldest climates produce almost no vegetables at all but have only animals, which are

yang.

Generally, we tend to eat foods that are opposite of the climate we live in so that we cancreate balance. Eskimos live in an extremely yin climate and eat a lot of meat, which is

yang. People living in the tropics, which have a yang climate, tend to eat a lot of yin fruits

like sweets.

You might notice that in the drawing above, the large, middle section of the line is blank.

What does go between snails and spice? The answer is vegetable quality foods grown intemperate climates. Grains are considered the most balanced foods. Nothing contains an

equal amount of both yin and yang energy but grains are the most nearly balanced.

Vegetables in general are more yin than grains. Green leafy vegetables, which areexpansive and grow upward, are relatively more yin. Root vegetables like onions and

carrots are relatively more contracted and yang. Round, non-root vegetables like cabbage

and squash are somewhere in the middle. Nightshades like potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes,

and peppers are among the most yin of vegetables because they are acidic and acidic foodsare considered yin. Nightshades are generally avoided in macrobiotic cuisine. Spices are

generally avoided too because they too are very yin as most foods originating in the tropics

are. Fish is yang but far less yang than meat from mammals.

A more complete yin-yang foods line might look like this.

Yang----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yin Salt Mammal Poultry Fish Grain Beans Vegetables Oil Whole Juices Spice Sugar Most Drugs

Meat Fruit

Like everything else, all food contains a mixture of yin and yang energies. No food is

perfectly balanced between the two. It will either be more yin or more yang.

Meat, fish, and eggs are all yang. Generally, food that is high in salt, compact in structure,

and grows in colder climates will be yang.

Food that is of vegetable quality, is high in water or natural sugars and has an expansive

structure, is yin. Milk is very yin as it contains a natural sugar called lactose and its role is

to promote rapid growth in offspring. Rapid growth is another way of describing

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expansion, which is yin. Both cucumbers and carrots are vegetables and are therefore yin

but cucumber is more yin because it contains more water and has a more expanded shape.

Both blueberries and oranges are yin but of the two, blueberries are relatively more yangwhile oranges are relatively more yin. Both are rich in natural sugars, which is a yin

characteristic, but blueberries are more compact, are less sweet than oranges, and grow in

colder climates, which makes them relatively yang. Oranges on the other hand areexpanded, grow in warmer climates, and contain high levels of natural sugars. This makes

them more yin than blueberries.

Grains are relatively yin compared to meat but some grains are more yang than others,

Buckwheat is an especially yang grain because it grows in very cold climates. Millet is

somewhat less yang than buckwheat but is still a very yang grain because the individual

grains are very small and contracted. If we want to eat buckwheat or millet, it would bebetter to eat them during colder weather and to balance them with watery or sweet-tasting

vegetables or fruits. If we eat too much buckwheat, especially if we live in warmer

climates, we will feel tense, tight, and irritable.

Rice is the grain most nearly balanced in its yin and yang energies. Barley and wheat are

also fairly balanced.

Corn is the most yin of grains because it grows in warmer climates than other grains will,

the kernels are more expanded than most grains, and it is sweeter. We would eat corn moreduring hot summer months.

Cooking methods can be considered yin or yang also. Generally, the more heat, time,

pressure, and salt are used to prepare food, the more yang it is. Perhaps the most yangfoods are grilled or barbecued. Baked foods are less yang than grilled foods. Raw foods are

extremely yin while foods that have been steamed, poached or boiled are intermediate.

Microwave cooking is extremely yin and is avoided in macrobiotics as is cooking on anelectric stove because of health concerns about electromagnetic fields. Generally,

macrobiotic cooks will use gas stoves.

We instinctively eat to create a balance between yin and yang. If you look at the American

diet, you will see that when we use yang methods of cooking, almost all the other foods on

the menu are extremely yin. On Thanksgiving when we eat turkey, which is yang to begin

with and has been made even more yang by roasting for hours, nearly all the other foods onthe table are extremely yin: mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweetened gelatin and sugar-

rich desserts. When eating barbecued foods, we balance them with potato salad, soft

drinks, and pies. However, if we eat grain-based foods like pasta, we tend to eat fewerdesserts.

The trouble with the American way of balancing yin and yang is that we are swingingbetween dietary extremes, consuming sugar and fat, and stressing our bodies in the process.

This leads to obesity, diabetes, cancer and a whole host of other diseases.

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The heart of macrobiotics is that we should balance yin and yang in the easiest and least

extreme way possible by eating balanced foods like grains and vegetables. When we eat

this way, we are feeding our bodies what they need and we can heal from all the illnessesresulting from improper diets.

To use another analogy from childhood, think of trying to balance a seesaw in mid-air.Imagine that you and a friend from childhood have balanced the seesaw and that an older

and much larger friend suddenly sits on the end opposite yours. You will go swinging

sharply into the air. At first, you might enjoy this but after hitting the ground with a thudwhen the friend jumps off, you might not enjoy it too much.

Balancing yin and yang is analogous to balancing on a seesaw. We all enjoy foods like

meat, salty snacks, and sweets but they cause is to swing to extremes that can might us feelweak and unwell without being specifically sick. If we stress our bodies like this too often,

we eventually do become ill.

In addition to eating whole grains and vegetables, we attain balance by avoiding refinesfoods of any kind including white flour, white rice, artificial sweeteners, preservatives and

dyes. Refining whole wheat into white flour makes it more yin and unbalanced. Addingartificial dyes, preservatives and sweeteners makes food more unbalanced too.

Achieving a proper dietary balance also requires you to vary your diet according to theclimate in which you live. If you are living in Alaska in January, you will need more yang

animal foods in your diet to balance the cold but if you are living in Florida, you will need

less animal food and more fruit. Whale blubber is a macrobiotic food for people living

north of the Arctic Circle but would be deadly for people living in Florida. Similarly,oranges are appropriate for Floridians but inappropriate for people in Nome, Alaska in

January.

Each climate and season produces the foods that are appropriate to it. Therefore, we should

strive as much as possible to eat food that is locally grown and in-season. Another reason

for avoiding foods that are not locally grown or not in season is that such foods can only begrown and transported if they are preserved using artificial means that would alter the

natural balance of the foods.

You can also balance the diet according your goals in life. If you are an athlete, doingheavy physical labor, or are a pregnant or nursing woman, you will want to eat more yang

foods including fish. If you are artistic, eating more fruit will give your mind an

expansiveness that will help your creativity.

If you are encountering yin-yang theory for the first time, it must seem exotic, foreign or

just plain silly. Some people are so enchanted by this idea that they go on to develop anentire lifes philosophy around it. I prefer to regard these ideas as conceptual tools, not as

dogma. While I do find these ancient ideas to be useful in balancing my diet, I use them the

same way I would use the Pythagorean Theorem if I were doing surveying or building a

house. I havent made a religion out of the Pythagorean Theorem and I havent become a

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The Standard Macrobiotic Diet

Twenty-three hundred years ago, the Greek philosopher Socrates described the ideal diet

centered on grains and vegetables and containing few animal products. Describing a

hypothetical ideal city, he said of its residents:

And for their nourishment they will provide meal from their barley and

flour from their wheat, and kneading and cooking these they will servenoble cakes and loavesthey will feast with their children, drinking of their

wine thereto, garlanded and singing hymns to the gods in pleasant

fellowship, not begetting offspring beyond their means lest they fall into

poverty or war.

A companion, Glaucon, asked if men would have side dishes which, in the translation I am

using, are called relishes.

True, said I, I forgot that they will also have relishessalt, of course, and olives andcheese, and onions and greens, the sort of things they boil in the country,

they will boil up together. But for dessert, we will serve them figs and

chick-peas and beans, and they will toast myrtle berries and acorns before

the fire, washing them down with moderate potations. And so, living in

peace and health, they will probably die in old age and hand on a like life to

their offspring.

Glaucon is not pleased and asks If you were founding a city of pigs, Socrates,

what other fodder than this would you provide? People must have the dishes

and sweetmeats such as are now in use.

Socrates replies that men would then need the services of doctors, that territory

that had once been adequate would become too small to provide a more

luxurious diet. Men would start taking land from their neighbors and ultimatelygo to war.

If we want to avoid illness and conflict that have their origins in an improperdiet, we must wean ourselves away from the diet of prosperity and return to the

diet our bodies have evolved to eat. Because we in the West have been eating

the diet of prosperity for generations, we have lost sight of what a traditional

diet is. Macrobiotic teachers have formulated the following guidelines todescribe it.

50% by volume whole grains and products made from whole grains. These

include brown rice, whole barley, whole wheat, millet, whole oats, oatmeal and

items such as noodles and breads made from whole grain flour. The more you

emphasize whole grains and minimize the use of flour products, the better your

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Macrobiotics works best if you chew well. Try chewing each mouthful 50 times

each. You may not be able to do this at breakfast but you can probably do it at

lunch and dinner. You will feel full on less food. You will be less hungry. Bychewing thoroughly, you are making your intestines work less hard than they

would otherwise. You are making the food more absorbable.

Macrobiotic teachers also recommend physical exercise everyday. Exercise

need not be strenuous. A walk everydayparticularly in a natural setting such

as the woods, a beach or a grassy field is sufficient. If weather permits, walkbarefoot on grass or sand to be in closer contact with nature. Many macrobiotic

people also do gentle stretching exercises. Michio Kushi has written The Book

of Do-In, which contains meridian exercises and a series of 20 exercises to do

before falling asleep.

If you follow these basic macrobiotic guidelineseating natural food, chewing

well and getting moderate exercise dailyyou will see a noticeable

improvement in your health within ten days.

Some Ideas That Have Helped Me

Generally, it is good to have complete protein by combining a grain and bean

products for breakfast. Sauting the vegetables used in the miso soup is good ifyou arent on a rigorously low-fat diet. The complete protein and the oil will

keep you from getting too hungry during the day and getting a honey bun from

the office vending machine.

Lunch, especially if you are taking it with you to work, should taste good and

be visually appealing. If you look at a plate containing only plain boiled brown

rice every day, you will quickly head off to the nearest restaurant. Make lunch ameal you will want to eat.

Dinner can be a smaller meal if you like. If you find yourself waking up in themiddle of the night, try eating your last meal after sundown. Dont go to bed

with a full stomach, though, as you will not sleep well.

It saves time to cook enough dinner so that the leftovers can be used for thenext days lunch.

Since macrobiotic cooking is time-consuming and labor-intensive, I have foundit helpful to have something cooking while I am eating dinner. I frequently boil

the next days rice or beans. These are foods that one doesnt have to watch too

carefully but because I eat next to the kitchen, I can always keep an eye onthem. By planning ahead this way, you can cut down on the amount of time

that is actually spent standing in the kitchen and those staple foods are ready for

you when you need them the next day.

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Some macrobiotic cooks recommend starting dinner during breakfast time by, for example,

partially cooking the beans then turning off the stove before leaving the day and finishing

the cooking when you come home. I go nuts at work wondering if I remembered to turn offthe stove. However, this might work for you.

Be sure to vary the diet. Use different grains every day. Eat differentvegetables. Vary your cooking style. Dont try to eat plain brown rice and

steamed vegetables every single day. You will quickly get bored and go off the

diet.

Learn to make about a dozen macrobiotic dishes that are not too time-

consuming or expensive and that you really like. This will keep you interested

in the food.

Put different vegetables in the miso soup. For example, one day I will use

mushrooms and daikon radish. Another day, I will use carrots or corn.

Try to find someone to eat the food with you. One reason I often go off the diet

is that I want to eat with someone and other people want to eat something else.

Outfitting the Macrobiotic Kitchen

Here are some of the basic foods you will need to keep in the kitchen if youwant to eat macrobiotically.

Organic Brown Rice

Whole oat groats

Millet

Whole wheat noodles

Tofu

Other grains like barley, whole wheat berries, and buckwheat.

High-quality sea salt. This salt should not contain iodine or anyother additives. Which salt to use is a highly controversial topic among

macrobiotic adherents. Many prefer a brand called Si Salt, which is

recommended by many macrobiotic counselors. Others use celtic gray sea salt.

Soy Sauce. This should be made from organic soybeans and shouldnot contain sugar or preservatives.

Brown, unhulled sesame seeds

A selection of vegetables. If possible, they should be organically

grown.

Miso that has been made from organic soybeans and isunpasteurized.

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A selection of seaweeds. Kombu and wakame are the most

commonly used. Nori, the seaweed used to make sushi rolls, is alsorecommended. Note: if you have cancer of the prostrate or, if you are a woman,

cancer of the uterus or ovaries, do not use kombu.

A good source of water. Water from untreated wells or springs is

best. Most of us will have to buy a water filter to remove chlorine, heavy metal,and chemicals from our water. Try to avoid distilled water, which has had

beneficial minerals removed, and water bottled in plastic or filtered by devices

made of plastic.

Umeboshi vinegar. Umeboshi is a Japanese plum. These plums are

pickled in a mixture of salt water and shiso leaves. This brine is sold as

umeboshi vinegar.

Unrefined sesame oil. You may also use unrefined corn or walnut

oil. In summer or in warm climates, you may use olive oil occasionally.

You will also need the following kitchen utensils.

Several heavy pots with lids. Most macrobiotic cooks prefer

enamel cookware but these pots are expensive and must be carefully handled if

you want to avoid chipping the enamel. If enamel pots are too expensive, usestainless steel of cast iron. NEVER use aluminum or non-stick cookware.

A good pressure cooker.

Several sharp knives of various sizes and a sharpener.

A cutting board

A Japanese grinder called a suribachi. You can buy these in

many health food stores or Asian food stores. There are two parts to asuribachi. The first part is a bowl with ridges in the bottom. The second part is a

pestle used to grind food by stirring it against the ridges.

A grater, preferably a ceramic one. If not, use stainless steel.

Never use aluminum kitchen utensils.

A fine mesh strainer for washing grains and seeds

A Foley food mill. This is used in place of a blender to mix

foods.

A gas stove. If you have an electric stove, buy a camp stove and

some gas cylinders.

Cheesecloth

As your cooking skills improve, you will want to add other foods and utensils

but these are enough to get you started.

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DHA and EPA. The efficiency of this process varies from individual to individual.

Some people convert a high proportion of LNA to the longer chain fatty acids like EPA

and DHA while others convert very little. I personally find that flax oil works very wellfor me but I have to take at least 2 tablespoons per day.

A diet high in omega-6 fatty acids will actually block the conversion of LNA to DHAso if you are relying on flax or walnut oil to supply needed omega-3s, you will want to

reduce your intake of omega-6 fatty acids. Meats and nearly all vegetable oils except

flax and walnut oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids. Hence, you will want to reduceyour consumption of meats, especially if they are processed, and fried foods. Always

avoid hydrogenated fats like margarines and shortening.

If you want to add long-chain fatty acids without relying on fish, you can usesupplements made from algae. In fact, fish have high levels of DHA and EPA because

they eat algae or they eat smaller fish that have eaten the algae. There are several

brands on the market. Because algae are lower on the food chain, their mercury levels

will be lower, too.

Another way to boost omega-3 consumption is to eat dark green leafy vegetables,which have high levels of LNA, the precursor to EPA and DHA. These are also

important sources of calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C.

I do not want to leave you with the impression that omega-3 fatty acids are good and

omega-6 fatty acids are bad. In fact, both are crucial to our well-being. For example,

both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are used to produce substances called

eicosanoids (eye KOSS uh-noids). The eicosanoids produced by omega-6 fatty acidstend to perform opposite functions in the body than eicosanoids produced by omega-3

fatty acids. Eicosanoids from omega-6 fatty acids tend to boost your immune system. If

you are fighting off an infection, this is precisely what you want. However, you needomega-3s to bring prevent your immune system from being too active and increasing

your risk of allergies and other inflammatory diseases. In addition, you want to keep

intake of all fats, whether omega-3 or omega-6 within limits.

Remember the macrobiotic ideal of balance.

Here are some practical suggestions for adding omega-3 fatty acids to your diet.

For breakfast, eat a bowl of oatmeal and pour a few teaspoons of flax oil on top of

it. Use flax oil in place of margarine on breads and vegetables.

When using an oil and vinegar salad dressing, use walnut oil. Flax oil is too strong

for this purpose.

Eat salmon, preferably if it is wild and not farmed. If fresh salmon is too expensive,

try canned Alaskan salmon.

Buy bread at the health food store that has added flax seeds. Dont eat too muchbread, though, because crushing the grain into flour destroys some of the nutrients.

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Sprinkle flax meal over cereals or grains.

Eat lots of leafy green vegetables. These have LNA which can be converted into

EPA and DHA.

Some brands of margarine in the health food store are made with flax oil. The

better brands also contain no trans fatty acids. Canola oil is also high in omega-3

fatty acids but macrobiotic people tend to avoid canola oil because the plant fromwhich the oil is produced is hybridized.

Eat walnuts or use walnut oil in cooking.

Never use flax oil for frying or heat it above 300o F. This destroys the omega-3

fatty acids.

Add soy foods, which contain some omega-3 fatty acids, to your diet. The ratio of

omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids is not ideal but soy is better in this regard than mostwestern foods.

Never take flax oil or fish oil on an empty stomach. Always take it with food.

Traditionally, the macrobiotic diet is extremely low in fat. I am departing from traditional

macrobiotic principles in recommending this high fat consumption. This is a temporarymeasure designed to correct a terrible imbalance in the standard American diet. As youpractice macrobiotics for a longer period of time, you will need less added fat because the

standard macrobiotic diet has a favorable ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

Common macrobiotic foods like ocean fish, green vegetables, and soy products containhigh levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Furthermore, because the diet is low in all fats,

macrobiotic people eat very little omega-6 fatty acids which block the conversion of LNA

into EPA and DHA.

One of the advantages of the macrobiotic diet is that it is low-fat yet manages to

provide a decent balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Since mostbut

admittedly not allresearch indicates a link between depression and a deficiency ofomega-3 fatty acids, it seems that one of the easiest and least expensive ways you have

of elevating your mood is increasing the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

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If You Really Want to Know

To better understand how to use fats to improve our health, it is useful to recall a few

basic facts about fats and the fatty acids comprise them.

All fats are composed of long chains of carbon atoms that have hydrogen atoms and

oxygen atoms attached to them.

Fatsor fatty acidscan be subdivided into three general categories: saturated,

monounsaturated, and poly-unsaturated.

If we say a sponge is saturated, it means that it already has so much water that it

couldnt possibly absorb any more. When we say that fats are saturated, it means that

they already have so many hydrogen atoms that we couldnt possibly add any more

hydrogen atoms to them.

If a fat is monounsaturated, it means the fat has one place in its structure where morehydrogen atoms could be added. Olive oil and canola oil are monounsaturated fatty

acids.

If the fat is polyunsaturated, there are several places in its structure where hydrogenatoms could be added. Most of the cooking oils we are familiar withcorn oil,

safflower oil, soybean oil, walnut oilare poly-unsaturated.

What determines whether more hydrogen atoms can be added to a fatty acid or not

depends on how the carbons in the fat are joined.

If all the carbons are joined together by single bonds, we cant add any more

hydrogen atoms and the fatty acid is saturated.

If there is one double bond between two carbons, we could theoretically break one ofthe double bonds and attach hydrogen atoms at that place. That fatty acid would be

monounsaturated.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids can be subdivided into two categories: omega-3 and

omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have their first double bond between the

third and fourth carbon atoms. A crude drawing to illustrate the bonds in an omega-3fatty acid would look like this:

C-C-C=C-C-C=C-C

An omega-6 fatty acid has its first double bond between its sixth and sevenths

carbons.

C-C-C-C-C-C=C-C-C-C=C-C

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Of course, this is an incomplete representation. These fats would also have hydrogen and

oxygen atoms, but those are not shown.

The primary fatty acid in the omega-3 family of oils is alpha-linolenic acid, which is often

abbreviated LNA. The primary fat in the omega-6 family is linoleic acid.

If alpha-linolenic acid goes through a few chemical changeslosing some hydrogen

atoms and gaining some carbon atoms-- it becomes Eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA. TheEPA itself is changed into docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. Sometimes, EPA and DHA

are referred to as long-chain fatty acids.

Linoleic acid, in contrast, first becomes gamma-linolenic acid or GLA and then becomesarachidonic acid or AA.

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The Link Between Allergies and Depression

There is a small but growing body of research linking allergies and depression. Thecommon denominator is a group of chemicals your body releases in response to allergens.

These chemicals are cytokines. Recent studies have shown that cytokines are linked to both

depression and fatigue.

There is a significant overlap between allergies and depression. If you are depressed, you

are probably allergic to something.1 Men with mild to moderate symptoms of depressionshowed higher levels of monocyte-associated proinflammatory cytokines and

chemokines.2Another study compared allergy patients allergic to ragweed with non-allergic

controls and found that the allergy sufferers reported greater fatigue and sadness during hay

fever season.3

Swedish researchers studied self-reported health and the levels of circulating cytokines.

Factors associated with poor self-rated health are pain, daily discomforts, and low energy

and fitness. Female patients (but not male patients) with poor self-rated health had higherlevels of circulating cytokines than other women. Because self-rated health is a better

predictor of illness and death than even physician-rated health, the finding is important. 4

An instructive overview of the relationship between depression and cytokines was

presented at a symposium at McMaster University in Canada. Researchers presentedevidence that administering cytokines to humans produces behavior consistent with

depression including depressed mood, fatigue, anorexia, sleep changes, decreased

concentration, and confusion. Because these symptoms appear shortly after cytokine

treatment and disappear after the treatment is terminated, there is probably a causal linkbetween cytokines and depression. Incidentally, immune activation is also associated with

impaired learning and memory and reduced visuo-spatial ability.5

According to an article in NeuroPsychiatry, cytokines cause serotonin depletion, possibly

by activating an enzyme that breaks down the amino acid tryptophan,6 which is the

precursor to serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a critical role in regulating mood.Since serotonin is the precursor to melatonin, which is necessary for sleep, it is possible

that allergic reactions may impair the quality of sleep as well.

Incidentally, not only allergies but other inflammatory processes provoke cytokine release.Asthma and rheumatoid arthritis are two such illnesses.

If you want to break free from depression, you want to minimize allergic reactions.

The obvious first step is to figure out what you are allergic to and avoid it. To figure out

what you are allergic to, you have two options. You can have allergy tests done by anallergist. The advantage to this is that he or she can test you for many potential allergens in

a short time. Also, it is easy to explain to others why you wont eat certain foods if you

have an official diagnosis from a REAL doctor. An allergist can also test you for

allergens to molds and pollens, which is hard to do by yourself.

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The disadvantages are that being exposed to lots of allergens at the same time can be pretty

miserable. When I had my testing done, I was allergic to nearly every spice they tested,about 30, I think. Exposure to 30 allergens all at once made me feel pretty sick. My chest

was so tight I had a hard time breathing and I lost coordination in my left leg and it dragged

on the ground as I walked. I was achingly exhausted and depressed for a week.

Incidentally, spices are common allergens7 and are especially common in people with

allergic tension-fatigue syndrome. If you are both tense and tired all the time, you mayhave allergies to spices. When I was doing macrobiotic training at the Kushi Institute in

Beckett, Massachusetts, the instructors taught us that nightshade vegetables like potatoes,

peppers, tomatoes and eggplant are known for their depressive effects. According to the

instructors, Hungary has a particularly high suicide rate which they attributed to the use ofpaprikaa pepper from the nightshade familyin cooking. Try eliminating paprika as

well as other nightshade vegetables and see if this helps.

The second method of allergy testing, which only works with foods, is to eat only brownricea food to which almost no one is allergicand then add one food at a time to your

diet and notice how you react. Obviously, you have to be sure that you are adding one foodat a time instead of a combination of foods and seasonings. Otherwise, you will never be

sure what you are allergic to.

Obviously, you want to avoid what you are allergic to but you want to do more than that,

you want to improve your health so that you no longer have to worry about developing new

allergies and, it is to be hoped, cure the allergies you already have.

From a macrobiotic point of view, allergies are caused primarily by the consumption of

dairy foods. According to this perspective, human beings were meant to consume human

breast milk as babies. When fed cows milk, the babys immune system recognizes it asforeign. This priming of the immature immune system sets the stage for allergies.

There is actually some support for this in the medical literature. A German researcher, F.Haschke, published in paper in which he reported that mothers who avoid common

allergenic foods (milk was one of them) during their whole pregnancy and while

breastfeeding had infants with far lower rats of eczema, which is a common allergic

symptom.8

Another study showed that prolonged breast feeding, avoidance of hydrolyzed milk and

delayed introduction of dairy food, eggs, fish, nuts and soybeans are linked to reducedincidence of allergic symptoms in children. The protective affects lasted into puberty.9

A Swedish study compared children in an Anthroposophic school with children in a stateschool. The Anthroposophic school children ate more natural foods including pickled

vegetables, were less likely to be immunized, and had used only half as many antibiotics as

children in the control group. The children raised on natural foods were significantly less

likely to develop allergies than the control group children.10

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1. Hurwitz EL, Morgenstern H. Cross-sectional associations of asthma, hayfever, and other allergies with major depression and low-back pain amongadults aged 20-39 years in the United States.Am J Epidemiol1999 Nov 15;

150(10):1107-16

2. Suarez, E.C., Krishnan, R., & Lewish, (2003) J.G. The relation of severity ofdepressive symptoms to monocyte-associated proinflammatory cytokines and

chemokines in apparently healthy men.Psychosomatic Medicine 65: 362-368

3. Marshall, P.S., OHara, C. & Steinberg, P. (2002) Effects of seasonal allergic

Rhinitis on Fatigue Levels and Mood.Psychosomatic Medicine 64: 684-691.

4. Lekander, M., Elofsson, S, Neve, I., Hansson, L. & Unden, A. (2004) Self-ratedhealth is related to levels of circulating cytokines. Psychosomatic medicine 66: 559-

563

5. http://www.mcmaster.ca/inabis98/anisman/yirmiya0194/two.html

6. http://www.neuropsychiatryreviews.com/sep04/sep04_npr_inflammatory.html

7. (Van Toorenenbergen AW & Dieges, P. H. (1987) Demonstration of spice-

specific IgE in patients with suspected food allergies. J Allergy Clin Immunol. Jan;

79(1): 108-13.

8. Haschke, F. et al.,(1990). Does breast feeding protect from atopic diseases?

Padiatr Padol;25(6) 415-20.

9. R.K. Chandra (2000). Food Allergy and Nutrition in Early life: Implications for

Health, Proc Nutr Soc May 2000 (59) 2: 273-7.

10. J.S. Alm et al., Atopy in Children of Families with an Anthroposophic

Lifestyle: Lancet 353: 1457-8, 1999.

11. Rogers, S. (1996) Improvement in Chemical Sensitivity with the Macrobiotic

Diet, Journal of Applied Nutrition 48: 85-92.

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Women and Hormones

Any woman with PMS or baby blues will tell you that hormones affect mood. Hormonesare one of the main reasons that women are far more prone to depression than men.

Women may also be more prone to depression because they are statistically more likely to

be living in poverty, to have been sexually abused, or to be the primary caretaker for smallchildrenall situations that are correlated with depression.

The first thing to understand is that sex hormones like estrogen are synthesized fromcholesterol. The second thing to understand is that there are several different types of

estrogens. From a macrobiotic perspective, estriol is the least yin of the estrogens while

estradiol and estrone are the most yin and also the most likely to promote breast cancer.

To relieve depression that is hormonally related, stop putting artificial hormones into your

body. If you rely on hormonally-based birth control, you may want to consider changing

methods. This is a difficult issue and this choice should only be made after careful

research.

Reducing your meat consumption will help too. Not only is meat a rich source ofcholesterol, which is the building block of sex hormones, factory-farmed animals are often

given hormones to help them gain weight. Small traces of these may pass through to you.

Europeans are so concerned about this issue that most American meat cannot be sold inEurope.

There is a theory that plastics contain xeno-estrogens, substances that are not really

estrogens but that produce similar effects in the body. A common source of xenoestrogensis plastics. Not everyone accepts this theory but it cant hurt to avoid foods and beverages

sold in plastic containers.

At this point, what I am going to recommend is contrary to what the latest research in peer-

reviewed medical journals is showing. I recommend eating soy foods like miso, tempeh

and tofu to regulate hormones. Most of the recent articles suggest that eating soy foods hasalmost no effect on the symptoms of menopause, some of which are depression and mood

swings. Soy does not, according to these articles, reduce hot flashes or moderate mood

swings.

I can only point out that in many of these studies, women were not given whole soy foods

but were given capsules containing phytoestrogens derived from soy.

My own interpretation is that perhaps the plant estrogens work together with other

substances in soy food and that this effect is lost when phytoestrogens are consumed alone.

Soy, for example, is a good source of tryptophan, the amino acid that the body uses tosynthesize serotonin. Later, the body uses serotonin to synthesize melatonin. Perhaps the

precursors to serotonin and melatonin provide part of the effects that are so beneficial.

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In any case, whole foods often produce different effects than the substances isolated from

them. People eating *foods* that are rich in beta carotene and vitamin E often show health

benefits but taking supplements often produces no effect or even negative effects. This ispuzzling but a reminder of the wisdom of macrobiotic principles: foods should be whole

and not partial. A supplement is a partial food and not a whole one. Ultimately, it will not

have the same effects as a whole food.

If you do want to try soy products to achieve hormonal balance, be aware that there is a

right way and a wrong way to eat soy foods. The wrong way is to eat soy protein powderand any pre-packaged food that contains soy flour. If you eat soy this way, you risk taking

too much. Excessive consumption of unfermented soy products can lead to mild

hypothyroidism and weight gain. This can happen because soy beans contain a substance

called phytic acid which can bind with nutrients and make them unavailable to the body.Soy products should be handled as carefully as salt. No one is afraid of salt. We know that

salt is essential for lifewithout it, we would dieyet we also know that too much is

unhealthy.

The right way to eat soy foods is the way the Japanese have eaten them for centuries. Most

of the soy foods they eat are fermented. Fermenting neutralizes phytic acid and makes soyfoods safer. Miso is a fermented food. An Indonesian soy food called tempeh is also

fermented. Natto is the Japanese equivalent of Limburger cheese. This fermented food is

pungent but reputed to nourish the skin and increase vaginal lubrication. Tofu is notfermented but the Japanese typically eat tofu in small amounts. Often, tofu is served in

miso soup which contains seaweed and often, dried fish flakes. These mineral-rich foods

compensate for tofus propensity to bind with nutrients. Tofu is a good food. We just have

to remember the macrobiotic idea of balance and not succumb to the American idea that ifa little is good, more is better.

Most soybeans are tan but there is a black variety also. Black soybeans are harder to findbut are rich in nutrients and have a milder taste than regular soy beans. They contain lower

amounts of phytic acid. Therefore, they can be used on a regular basis.

Two recipes are commonly used to treat hormonal imbalances. The first is black soybean

tea.

To make black soybean tea, you will need black soybeans and a strip of kombu. Soak thekombu in water and chop finely. Place the seaweed and one cup of black soybeans in a

heavy pot. Add four cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the flame and simmer for 3-

to 45 minutes. Drink while the liquid is hot.

The second recipe is called Yuki Nabe. This dish requires tofu and a type of white Japanese

radish called Daikon (pronounced DIE-con)

To prepare yuki nabe,

1. Grate 1 cups of fresh daikon.

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2. Place grated daikon in a heavy pot, add a small pinch of salt, cover and cook over a

medium flame for 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Slice 1/3 cup of tofu into cubes. Place tofu in pot with grated daikon. Cover andcook for another 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Remove cover and serve.

Of course, a big problem for women is irritability during the pre-menstrual phase.

From a macrobiotic point of view, anger and irritability are caused by an overworkedliver. The idea is that it is the liver that breaks down the hormones produced elsewhere

in your body. If your liver cannot properly break down these hormones, you will have

an imbalance that will lead to painful mood changes.

To help yourself in this area, try the following:

Eat lots of leafy green vegetables. These lighter foods are far better for your

liver than foods that are high in protein and fat. Drink roasted barley tea. In China and Japan, traditional healers have taught

that barley is good for the liver. If you are really tense, add a teaspoonful ofbarley malt to the roasted barley tea. Twenty minutes later, you will feel much

more calm.

Do some meridian stretching exercises that focus specifically on the liver. Siton the floor with your legs spread apart. Raise your arms over your head then

bend over and grab your toes on your right footor as close to your foot as you

can get. Breathe deeply twice. Sit up. Then reach down and grab the toes onyour left foot. Hold while breathing deeply. Repeat six or twelve times.

There are a total of six meridian stretches. They work best when done together.

These stretches are discussed in The Book of Do-In by Michio Kushi. A more expensive remedy is ume plum concentrate. This is a salt-free extract of

umeboshi plums, a fruit that traditional healers believe is very good at balancing

the liver. If your health food store doesnt stock it, they can usually order it. Put

about an eighth of a teaspoon into warm water and drink this beverage.

Avoid baked flour products during the week before your menstrual period.

There is something about grinding grains and subjecting them to high heat

during baking that changes them. These foods will make you irritable duringthe premenstrual period. Of course, you can have small amounts of these foods

during other times.

Avoid sugar, caffeine, and meat. It is especially important to avoid too much

sugar, even natural sugar, during the first half of your menstrual cycle. Avoidmeat and salt during the second half.

It is natural to crave sweets premenstrually but try to satisfy your sweet toothwith natural sweeteners like barley malt or whole fruit.

Reduce salt intake during the week before and the week during menstruation.

Omit miso soup during this week or use smaller amounts of white miso, which

is lower in salt.

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As unusual as these recommendations must sound to someone who is new to macrobiotics,

they really do work.

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Normalize Your Blood Sugar Levels

Your brain uses the glucose in your bloodstream as fuel. If blood sugar levels fallbelow certain critical levels, severe alterations in brain functions occur.

If you have ever been close to someone whose diabetes is not well-controlled, youare aware of how blood sugar levels can affect moods. Mothers of diabetic children

will say that they can tell whether their childs blood sugar level is too high or too

low by the childs emotions.

One goal of treating depression macrobiotically is to keep blood sugar levels

balanced. From a macrobiotic point of view, hypoglycemia is not caused by too

much sugarthe sugar only provokes the symptomsbut rather from too manyyang foods like meat, salt, eggs, hard cheeses, and baked goods. These yang foods

cause the pancreas to become yang. In macrobiotic parlance, people often say the

pancreas becomes tight. When you eat sugar, this tight pancreas over secretes

insulin. Because too much insulin has been released, blood sugar plummets. Torespond to this low blood sugar level, the adrenal glands secrete cortisol which

causes glycogen in the liver to be converted into glucose.

Thus, when you have hypoglycemia, both your pancreas and your adrenal glands

are working overtime and your brain will not get a consistent supply of the glucoseit needs to function.

The macrobiotic solution to this problem is to eat balanced foods, ones found in the

center of the yin-yang continuum. Obviously, this means grains, beans, vegetablesand small amounts of whole fruits, seaweeds and fish.

Hypoglycemic people will benefit from limiting consumption of fish, meat, eggs,salt, and baked goods like breads, cakes and pastries.

There are two drinks that are helpful for hypoglycemic patients.

The first is sweet vegetable drink.

cup of carrots, cut into matchsticks. cup of hard winter squash, also cut into matchsticks

cup of finely diced onion

of finely chopped cabbage.

Combine all of these ingredients with 4 cups of water and simmer for 30 minutes.

This beverage is one of the few macrobiotic foods that is not seasoned with salt.

This beverage should always be warm.

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The second remedy is ame kuzu. Ame is a Japanese word for rice syrup. Brown rice

syrup is available in the health food store.

Dissolve one teaspoon of kuzu with 1 teaspoon of brown rice syrup. Kuzu tends to

lump so always dissolve it in cold water.

Heat the kuzu and brown rice syrup until it is almost boiling. Stir often to prevent

lumping. When the mixture has come to a boil, lower the flame and cook for 5 or

10 more minutes. Stir continuously.

Obviously, you want to avoid triggering hypoglycemic reactions by eating sugar.

Avoiding sugar is harder than it sounds because it is added to so many foods. Every

sauce or dressing you are likely to buy in a grocery store or eat in a restaurantprobably has added sugar. Sugar is added to French fries to give them that golden

brown color. Nearly all American bread has sugar or fructose in it. Iodized salt has

dextrose, another sugar, added to it.

One way to avoid sugar is to avoid anything in a can, bottle, or jar or that has been

sold in a restaurant. Or you can develop the habit of reading labels and avoid anyproduct that has ingredients like sugar, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, sucrose,

molasses, or brown sugar.

Dehydrated cane juice is controversial among health food proponents. While it is

less refined than regular sugar, it is still a very concentrated form of sugar. If you

have problems metabolizing sugar, you should probably avoid it.

Honey is not an especially good sweetener for a hypoglycemic. It is just sucrose

the same chemical in table sugar--that has been predigested by bees into glucose

and fructose. My own experience is that honey makes me feel worse than regularsugar.

Fruit juice is another item to avoid. The fact that the sugar is naturally occurringand not added by man does not mean that it wont affect your pancreas and adrenal

glands. If you crave something sweet, cook some whole fruit, peel and all with a

little salt to bring out the sweetness.

Artificial sweeteners are not recommended either. This is because macrobiotics

avoids any industrialized food. While the government insists that aspartame is

sweet, many people find they have health problems that vanish after they eliminateartificial sweeteners. Since it takes decades to know the full impact of a substance

on human health, avoid this stuff. Dont make yourself a guinea pig for a

manufacturing company.

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Strengthening Your Adrenal Glands

In addition to regulating blood sugar, the adrenal glands are known to play animportant role in both depression1 and allergic response2.

The hypothalamusa part of the brain regulating eating, sleeping, and moodamong other thingsworks together with the pituitary gland and the adrenal

glands. When one of these three body parts is not working correctly, depression

often results. Scientists do not seem to be sure of the exact mechanism but they doknow that the brain is sensitive to adrenal hormones. In fact, there are receptors for

glucocorticoids (adrenal hormones like cortisol) in the hypothalamus, a part of the

brain strongly implicated in depression. Furthermore, recent research has shown

that glucocorticoids interact with serotonin, the neurotransmitter often linked todepression.1 Most of the newer antidepressants act to increase the availability of

serotonin in the brain.

Patients suffering from Cushings disease, in which too much cortisol is secreted,often suffer from depression and get better when cortisol levels return to normal.

Furthermore, recent research has shown that an adrenal hormone called DHEA canoften treat mild to moderate depression successfully.

Because the adrenal glands and its hormones are so clearly involved in depression,you will want to do everything you can to strengthen those glands.

Begin by avoiding caffeine, sugar and alcohol. Remember that caffeine is found not

only in coffee and tea but also in some herbs used in energy drinks and tablets.Caffeine is also found in over-the-counter medicines, especially those used for

headache relief.

Many depressed and chronically fatigued people prop themselves up on caffeine

and become dependant on it. If you are, it can be tough to quit. Try quitting on a

three day weekend and plan activities that will keep you distracted and that dontrequire a lot of energy. Sleeping on the beach and going to the movies sound like

good options. Prepare to feel restless and irritable.

Macrobiotic people often drink kukicha tea, which is made from the twigs of the teabush. Kukicha tea contains very little caffeine but is relaxing. Drinking this may

help ease you off of the harder stuff.

People kicking caffeine often get severe headaches. A good headache remedy is to

place 1 teaspoon of soy sauce in a cup and pour hot kukicha tea over it. Drink hot.

My brother has severe headachesboth migraine and sinus headaches. I made thisremedy for him and he felt better almost instantly. However, honesty requires me to

tell you that he did not especially enjoy the taste.

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In addition to avoiding caffeine, sugar and alcohol, there are several foods you can

eat to support your adrenal glands.

The first of these is nori seaweed, the seaweed used to make sushi rolls. In its

untoasted form, it is purple but when it is toasted, it becomes bright green. Eat to

1 sheet per day. It is rich in trace minerals that strengthen the adrenal glands.

A second remedy is azuki bean tea. Azuki beans are small reddish beans grown in

Japan. The best azuki beans for medicinal purposes are those grown in Hokkaido,Japan. The soil is especially fertile there and the azuki beans are rich in minerals.

To make azuki bean tea, you will need 1 cup of azuki beans and a two-inch strip of

kombu that has been soaked and finely chopped. Boil one cup of azuki beans infour cups of water. After the water comes to a boil, low the flame and simmer for

one-half hour. Drink the hot liquid.

This is also good for the kidneys and helpful for smooth bowel movements.

Another way of using mineral-rich azuki beans is to cook them together withsquash and kombu. Squash should be about 60% of the dish by volume while

kombu seaweed should be about 10% of the dish.

Wash and soak one-half cup of azuki beans with a one-inch piece of kombu. Soak

for several hours or overnight.

Put the kombu in the bottom of a heavy pot, then add the chopped hard wintersquash. Last, add the azuki beans on top of the squash. Add enough water to just

cover the squash. Cook uncovered for ten or fifteen minutes. After bringing the

liquid to a boil, cover and cook over low flame until the beans are about 80% done.This will take about an hour. As the water evaporates, add water along the sides of

the pot. This is called shocking the beans and it will help keep the water level

constant and will make the beans soft.

When the beans are about 80% done, add a pinch of salt. When cooking beans,

dont add salt until the beans are nearly done. If you add salt earlier, the salt will

draw the water out of the beans and make them hard. Cook for another fifteen tothirty minutes or until the beans are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated.

NOTES: It is better not to stir. If squash is unavailable, you may substitute onions,carrots, or parsnips.

Ginger compresses applied over the kidney area are good for soothing and strengthening

the kidneys and adrenal glands. To make a ginger compress, first boil a large pot of water.

While the water is coming to a boil, grate fresh raw ginger root until you have about 4 or 5

ounces of grated ginger. Put the grated ginger in a muslin or cheesecloth bag. When the

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water comes to a boil, lower the flame and put the grated ginger into the water. Never boil

the water once the ginger has been added because boiling will destroy the beneficial

compounds in the ginger. Let the ginger steep in the water for five minutes.

Dip a towel in the water and wring it out. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO BURN

YOURSELF. Apply the towels to the middle of your back. When the towel cools, dip it inthe warm ginger water again and reapply. Do this for 20 minutes to half an hour.

This heat soothes the kidneys and adrenal glands.

In macrobiotic medicine, the kidneys, adrenal glands and reproductive organs are

considered part of the same organ system. Macrobiotics teaches that your basic physical

strength and energy level come from the kidneys. When you improve this organ system,you will enjoy a higher level of energy and well-being.

Notes

1. http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/articles/behavior/depressn_5/

2. Teitelbaum, Jacob. From Fatigues to Fantastic. Avery Publishing Group. NewYork. 1996.

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The Importance of Sleep

Formerly, sleep disorders were thought of as a symptom of depression, a kind of side

effect. Recent research is changing that view and some studies suggest that sleep disorders

may play a causal role in depression. Sleep disorders often exist in patients before theydevelop an actual depressive episode. This new research has found that depressive patients

do much better if the insomnia is treated separately. Patients who received treatment for

both depression and insomnia responded more rapidly and had fewer relapses than others:

Of particular note, compared with subjects receiving placebo, those who received eszopiclone (the generic name forLunesta) in another study also were significantly more likely to be both responders and remitters in terms of overalldepression and had significantly lower HAM-D scores (excluding sleep items) from week 4 of treatment until the end of thestudy. These findings suggest that the coadministration of eszopiclone, a treatment for insomnia, not only addressed theinsomnia in these patients but also significantly augmented the antidepressant effect of fluoxetine. As such, this studyundermines the long-held view that insomnia in depressed patients is caused by the depression and should be treated notwith therapy directed at insomnia but through alleviating the depression with antidepressant therapy. It suggests analternative view that chronic insomnia may also have a causal role in the course of depression and motivates targetingtreatment specifically to insomnia in those with major depression associated with insomnia1.

Because the recent research indicates that sleep disorders play a causal role in depression,

normalizing your sleep patterns is of the utmost importance. If you are depressed, alwaysirritated, or have PMS, improving your sleep will result in a great improvement in these

symptoms

Of course, if you dont want to rely on medication, there are other methods to try.

The usual recommendation for sleep disorders is exercise. Exercise works spectacularly

well for some people but, alas, the latest research is showing that exercise does not workfor everyone. For example, a study of menopausal women that compared good sleepers

with poor sleepers found that good sleep hygiene, which was defined as regular exercise,avoidance of caffeine and alcohol, and regular sleep hours, accounted for less than 20% ofthe difference between good and poor sleepers. This study showed that exercise did help

but that its effects were modest.2

It is difficult to say anything definitive about the effects of exercise on sleep because of the

way studies have been conducted. For example, most sleep studies seem to involve either

men or middle-aged people of both sexes. There have been very few studies done on sleepdisorders in younger women. The only studies I found using younger women as subjects

were done in the late 1980s. Often, the studies showed no effect of exercise or only limited

effects. 3

My own personal experience with exercise was that when I ate a standard American diet,

exercise either did me no good or made me feel worse. When I began eating a more healthy

diet, exercise provided a small improvement.

Still, even though some people do not benefit from exercise, the majority of people do find

at least some benefit from it. Men and people of both sexes who develop sleep disorders

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later in life seem to benefit more than women and people who develop sleep disorders

earlier in life.

Find an exercise you enjoy. Dont try forcing yourself to do something you hate. If an

activity bores you to tears, dont do it. In the early stages of your recovery, going out and

doing something you enjoy may be more important than the specific type of exercise.

Most people, no matter how sedentary, can find some activity they find pleasant. Maybe

dancing would suit you. If you cant dance, take a course at a local community college. Ifyou are too shy to dance, walk in the park. Swim at a lake or ocean. Try to avoid swimming

pools because of all the chemicals. Think of some activity you have always wanted to try

and try it.

A good form of exercise is race walking. It is more strenuous than regular walking and it

uses the arms and hips more but is stresses the back and joints less. Also useful are

meridian stretches that can be found in many macrobiotic books.

There is an Asian system of exercise known as Do In (DOE EEN) that has a series of

exercises to be done in the evening. These work. I find that I can barely get through alltwenty of the exercises without feeling profoundly sleepy.

Another treatment that is especially useful for people who awaken too early in the morningis bright light treatment. If you have trouble falling asleep, expose yourself to bright light

early in the day. If you fall asleep easily but awaken in the middle of the night, expose

yourself to several hours of bright light in the early evening. Apparently, this treatment

does something to reset the circadian rhythm.

Omega-3 fatty acids may help also. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people taking them

show improved sleep. Animal experiments show that when animals deficient in omega-3fatty acids are given these compounds as supplements, their melatonin secretion

normalizes.4 Since melatonin plays an important role in sleep, this may benefit you.

If your insomnia is severe and you are desperate, try something called Diet Number 7,

which is to eat brown rice only for a few days. In the evening, make a drink called Shoyo

Ban. Take Kukicha twig tea, which has hardly any caffeine at all, and add 1 teaspoon of

natural soy sauce. This works quite well but should not be taken for more than three or fourdays in a row.

Herbs, if they work, work only temporarily, because your body will develop a tolerance tothem just like they do to drugs and, just like drugs, some of them can damage the liver if

they are taken in high doses for a long period of time. However, they can be useful in the

short term if you take them when beginning a macrobiotic diet because they will help yousleep until your body heals enough to sleep without them.

Many people have found that removing sugar from the diet leads to greatly improved sleep,

perhaps because the blood sugar drop that follows eating a lot of sugar leads to cortisol

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release. A study of poor sleepers found that they have higher nighttime cortisol levels than

good sleepers.5

If you have trouble sleeping, eliminate all caffeine and alcohol from your diet for a while

and see if this helps.

Removing allergens from your diet will help too. Allergic reactions result in the release of

cortisol. Also, as mentioned earlier, cytokines which are released as a response to allergens

seem to inhibit the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin, which plays an important rolein sleep.

Try eating foods that are high in tryptophan like brown rice, oatmeal and soy foods.

Oatmeal is high in tryptophan. Oatmeal and decaffeinated tea make an enjoyable breakfast.Since many breakfast places serve oatmeal, you can eat breakfast out if you have the time.

Having a carbohydrate snack before bed may promote sleep by increasing serotonin

synthesis. Be sure you are eating complex carbohydrates like brown rice and not simple

sugars which can cause your blood sugar levels to swing wildly and aggravate insomnia.

Because the macrobiotic diet is rich in whole grains and sea vegetables, you will probablyget more magnesium than you would if you ate the standard American diet. Foods that are

rich in magnesium promote sleep.

From a macrobiotic point of view, trouble falling asleep usually involves too much yin. If

you have trouble falling asleep, reduce your intake of sugar, alcohol, caffeine, fruits and

fruit juices. Trouble staying asleep is often the result of a yang condition. In that case,

eliminate meat and baked flour products like bread, bagels, rolls and cakes. Avoid toomuch salt. Emphasize yin vegetables, especially leafy greens.

Another, more unusual step to consider, is reducing your exposure to electromagneticfields. A Japanese researcher, Tetsuye Nakazawa, published a study in the American

Journal of Industrial Medicine showing that office workers who used computers for more

than five hours a day were far more prone to insomnia, depression, and irritability thanoffice workers who did not use computers.6

Other studies have shown that variable electromagnetic fields but not static ones in the

bedroom impair sleep.7 This effect seems to be stronger for women than for men. 8

A number of epidemiological studies show that people living closer to cell towers show

impaired sleep.9 Again, women seem to be more severely affected. Other studies ofexposure to cell phone radiation dont show this effect however.

If you are having trouble sleeping, try minimizing exposure to computers, televisions andcell phones. It cant hurt and it might help. Disconnect wireless baby monitors and smoke

detectors. If you have a wireless security system, you might have to remove batteries from

all the devices on doors and windows. Dont just disarm the system because the devices

will still emit wireless radiation.

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Stomach 7 AM to 9 AM

Spleen-Pancreas (considered as one organ

system in traditional Asian medicine.)

9 AM to 11 AM

Heart 11 AM to 1 PM

Small Intestine 1 PM to 3 PM

Bladder 3 PM to 5 PMKidney ( the adrenal glands and sex organs

are often grouped together with the kidneys)

5 PM to 7 PM

Gall Bladder 11 Am to 1 AM

Liver 1 AM to 3 AM

If you find yourself waking up between 1 AM and 3 AM, macrobiotic teachers might tellyou that there impaired liver function is disturbing your sleep. This is especially true if you

are frequently angry or irritable. You will recall from the discussion of 5-elements theory

that anger is the negative emotion associated with the liver. If you wake up between 3 and

5 AM, there might be a lung problem.

The kidneys are active between 7 and 9 PM. Most of us do not go to sleep then but this is

the time that we are winding down and our bodies are getting ready for sleep. A problemwith the kidneys (or the adrenal glands) will prevent your body from effectively preparing

for sleep. According to macrobiotic theory, difficulty sleeping is ultimately traced to

disordered kidney function. If the kidneys are too yang, you will be tense and have troublesettling into sleep. If the kidneys are too yin, you will be too nervous and hyper to sleep.

Sometimes, the kidneys interact with the liver to disturb sleep. From a macrobiotic point ofview, when the liver becomes active, energy will start flowing upward from the liver. The

energy from the kidney will anchor the energy from the liver and keep it from rising toorapidly. If the liver and kidneys are both healthy, the energy flow will be gradual and you

will sleep undisturbed. However, suppose your liver is too yang and your kidneys are tooyin. Energy will course out of the liver at a rapid rate and the weak kidney energy will be

unable to keep it in check. In this case, you will awake with a jolt, seemingly for no reason.

Incidentally, if you are ordinarily a peaceful person but sometimes you just lose it, the

reason may be a disordered liver. Great bursts of energy will suddenly rise from the liver

which the kidneys will be unable to balanceand you will experience this explosion ofenergy from the liver as anger.

Obviously, you will want to balance both your liver and kidneys to improve your sleep.

If your liver is tight and too yang, the best foods you can eat are leafy green vegetables.

Barley and wheat are excellent foods especially if you use the varieties that have been

planted in the fall and harvested in the spring. Roasted barley tea is an excellent beverage.If you are feeling especially tense, use small amounts of barley malt as a sweetener in the

tea. Avoid excessive salt and foods that are too yang like meat, eggs and baked flour

products. Choose lighter cooking methods like steaming. My personal experience was that

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(2002). Association between daily VDT use and subjective symptoms. American Journal of

Industrial Medicine, 42 (5), 421-426.

7. Cook, G.C. (1999). Human sleep in 60 Hz magnetic fields. Bioelectromagnetics, 20 (

277-83.

See also: .Akerstedt T,Arnetz B, Ficca G,Paulsson LE,Kallner A 50-Hz electromagnetic fiel

impairs sleep.J Sleep Res. 1999 Mar;8(1):77-81.

Related Articles,8. Graham, C., Sastre A., & Gerkovich N.M. (2000). Nocturanal magnetic filed exposure

gender-specific effects on heart rate variability and sleep. Clinical Neurophysiology,111(11) 1934-5.

9. Santini R,Santini P,Danze JM,Le Ruz P,Seigne M.. (2002). Investigation on the health ofpeople living near mobile telephone relay stations: I/Incidence according to distance and sex.Pathol. Biol. 50(10) 621.

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Nutritional Advice: Avoiding Deficiency

The broader macrobiotic diet that includes whole grains, fish, and generous servings ofvegetables is safe, far safer than the standard American diet. However, because most of us

were not raised eating this kind of food, we need to be aware of certain risks.

The most serious risk of a macrobiotic diet is Vitamin B-12 deficiency. If you are a fully

grown person who is not pregnant or breastfeeding and you are eating fish two or three

times per week, you probably have nothing to worry about.

However, if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or are a younger person who is still growing,

you will want to be especially careful to consume enough Vitamin B-12. Other persons

who may have problems with a B-12 deficiency are people with weak intestines who donot absorb the vitamin well or people taking medications that can block the absorption.

Symptoms of Vitamin B-12 deficiency are unusual fatigue, a red, irritated and shiny

tongue, a reduced sense of taste or touch, psychological symptoms and shortness of breath.If you have any symptoms like this, increase the amount of fish in your diet.

If the symptoms to not go away, eat small amounts of organically raised poultry.

If you have children, be especially careful. If the child is listless and lacking in energy,

check his B-12 status.

The only source of Vitamin B12 is animal food: fish, meat, milk and eggs. Vegetable foods

are not reliable sources of this vitamin. Sometimes, you will see packages of sea weed,

green algae and fermented foods like tempeh that list B-12 on the label. Be aware that thereare substances that show up as Vitamin B-12 on laboratory tests but that do not function

like B-12 in the body.

Many years ago, some macrobiotic children developed severe Vitamin B-12 deficiency.

They were breastfed. The mothers ate fish once a week. They ate seaweed and miso daily,

believing that these foods contained Vitamin B-12 and that their intake of this nutrient wasadequate.

The children became listless and showed delayed motor development. They wanted to

nurse more than eat solid foods. Th

introductio1[1] macro depression

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