What is macrobiotic nutrition? Macrobiotic nutrition according to Lebedev: recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Macrobiotics is a system of lifestyle and nutrition rules that regulate our psychophysical state. Doctors and philosophers from different parts of the world have used this term to define life in complete harmony with the surrounding nature. In this article, we will find out what macrobiotic nutrition is, what it is, the history of its origin, and also give a list of dishes that correspond to this system.

History

This food system has been used since ancient times in Japan in monasteries. There it is called shojin reri - "judgment-enhancing cuisine". The concept of "macrobiotic" is even in the writings of Hippocrates. Although this term officially appeared in the book of Christoph Hufeland (a German doctor) in 1796, the modern concept of the system was developed by Sagen Ichizuka (Japanese military doctor). In 1897 he published his enormous work "Chemic altheory of longevity and nutrition.”

A year later, he published his own nutrition textbook, which went through 23 editions. Ichizuka used macrobiotic nutrition for oncology and other diseases, prescribing brown rice, seaweed, and vegetables to patients. A group of his followers formed the Society for the Treatment of Food in 1908.

At some point, Ichizuki's book ended up in the hands of Yukikaza Sakurazawa, a young student who later became known in the West as George Osawa, a Japanese physician and philosopher. Having recovered from tuberculosis with the help of macrobiotics, he began to spread this teaching himself. Wrote about 100 books on this system, oriental medicine and philosophy; traveled to different countries with seminars and lectures; opened the "School for the Ignorant", where he taught Eastern philosophy and a single order.

In the West, macrobiotic nutrition (what it is, we will learn in the article below) began to spread in the sixties of the last century, after it was adapted to the European way of thinking. About 1,000 macrobiotic centers are currently operating in Canada, USA, Italy, Holland, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, France, Australia, South America, Switzerland, Japan, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Africa and Alaska.

The essence of the doctrine

It should be noted that modern macrobiotics is based on the system of philosophy of the East, based on the basic principles of the balance of Yang and Yin (famous for about 5000 years), as well as some aspects of Western medicine. He alth is the harmony of "yin" and "yang", as well as the balance between our external and internal environment, physical and mental activity, animal and vegetable food, raw and thermally processed food.

According to the doctrine of Yin-Yang balance, many diseases arise from the predominance of Yin or Yang energy in the human body. It depends on the climate, place of residence, physiology and intensity of activity of a particular person.

According to macrobiotics, this imbalance can be corrected using:

• selecting the necessary food;
• the way they are prepared;
• compliance with the rules of eating.

The system only recommends, it does not prohibit anything.

Food selection

Macrobiotics conditionally divides all diseases into "Yin" and "Yang". Yang diseases should be treated with Yin food, and vice versa. In such a diet, all foods:

• Yang-products - alkaline reaction;
• Yin foods are acidic.

Eating Yang or Yin foods, the body can maintain a dynamic balance of these energies, which is macrobiotic nutrition.

The menu includes only he althy products. Recommended to avoid:

• genetically, hormonally and chemically altered foods (all canned food, refined sugar, any drinks and food with chemical dyes;
• strong Yin and Yang foods (fruits, sugar, fish, berries, cheeses, meats). The imbalance they have brought tothe human body, can cause a feeling of hunger.

Too many unnatural foods and sugar creates a lack of energy, therefore, the body requires a lot of Yang energy, a craving for red meat, a need for proteins.

With a lack of protein, the body "eats" its own tissues, and this leads to weight loss over time. Too thin are prone to tuberculosis, infections, pneumonia, and other diseases. Which is followed by all kinds of atrophy:

• sclerosis;
• muscular atrophy;
• arthritis, etc.

Excess sugar, as well as a large amount of proteins, makes the body too full, and this entails a "bouquet" of other diseases, as macrobiotic nutrition speaks of.

The menu for the week includes dishes from vegetables and whole grains that have not been processed. In addition, sea plants, fish, various herbal spices, seeds and nuts, legumes, fruits are used.

Osawa developed ten therapeutic diets. So, the diet for seriously ill patients consists only of cereals that need to be consumed within 10 days (7 diet - medical or monastic). The diet changes as you recover, the percentage of cereals decreases, giving way to fruits, vegetables, soups, etc.

In macrobiotics, depending on the availability of the above foodstuffs, 10 modes are distinguished. Of these, you can choose for the "average", ordinary life, and for vegetarianism.

Cookingfood

Macrobiotic nutrition according to Lebedev involves proper cooking. This includes how to dry, store, replace sweet or sour foods, and add various seasonings.

The main rule in this case is to cook food for one meal, at most for a day.

Grains (whole unrefined grains) are used raw, infused, boiled, baked and pounded.

Eating Rules

Macrobiotic nutrition according to Lebedev involves thorough chewing of food, at least 60 times. What it will give:

• necessary for the body and good food will give pleasure, while harmful can only cause disgust;
• the amount of food absorbed will decrease, and its subsequent assimilation will also improve;
• chewing will become meditation, you will be able to quickly learn Eastern philosophy.

Use as little pure water as possible. It should be noted that macrobiotic food contains a lot of liquid. A large amount of water only overloads the kidneys, therefore, in macrobiotics, one should give preference to various cereals instead of soups beloved by many.

Tips

Do not forget about the systematic and prudence. Fluid restriction applies to people for whom macrobiotic nutrition has become the norm. At the same time, at the transitional stage, while the restructuring of our body is underway, you do not need to drastically limit yourself in drinking.

Initiallylimit your intake of sweets and meat products. It is better to replace meat products with legumes and fish. Replace sweets with dried and fresh sweet fruits (apricots, prunes, dates).

Then replace side dishes with boiled vegetables and cereals. But do this gradually, otherwise the balance of both minerals and vitamins will be disturbed in the body.

Effect of macrobiotic nutrition

Macrobiotic nutrition is the embodiment of the Law of Nature in human drinking and nutrition. If a person is in harmony with this Law, he is able to achieve mental, moral and physical he alth, which means:

• great appetite;
• lack of fatigue;
• good and deep sleep;
• good mood;
• good memory;
• life according to the order of Nature;
• clarity of deeds and thoughts.

The principles of macrobiotics, which follow from the laws of nature, make it possible to choose, eat and prepare exactly the food that suits a particular person. As a result, it makes it possible to achieve high energy potential and good he alth at low time and financial costs.

Macrobiotic Nutrition: He althy Porridge

The basis of such nutrition is grains of cereals and cereals, which before eating:

• washed;
• dry (fried) without oil in a pan;
• push in a mortar;
• healing herb in powder form is added to the treated remedy;
• diluted with water to a state of sour cream, afterwhat is already being eaten.

Macrobiotic nutrition is based on these principles of eating. "Samara He althy Man" is a cereal that can be safely eaten. When preparing them, whole grains of rice, wheat, millet, rye, corn, buckwheat are used as the main raw materials, processed in this way:

• grain is deep cleaned with further washing;
• then it is subjected to thermal short-term treatment;
• further crushed;
• after that, kelp, spirulina, flax, Jerusalem artichoke, wild rose, etc. are added to the grain in the form of powder (meals)

It should be noted that macrobiotic nutrition "Samara He althy" in Voronezh and many other Russian cities can be easily purchased at a pharmacy. The product prepared in this way is diluted with a liquid, the temperature of which is not more than 60 ˚С, before use. It can be broth, water, vegetable or fruit juices, fermented milk or dairy products. The grains should not be boiled, as the heat will destroy all the beneficial properties of the additives that this macrobiotic food contains. Zdorovyak porridge is also sold in many pharmacies and herbal pharmacies in Almaty.

The method of using such food for treatment is extremely simple: to get a healing effect, you need to use only it for 10 days or more.

Below, consider the most affordable recipes for such food.

Salad with gooseberries from rutabagas or carrots

Grate 400 g rutabaga or carrots on a coarse grater; toss with one glass of rhubarb compoteor gooseberries, season with May honey. You can also add greens.

Rhubarb and beetroot salad

Cut 2 stems of rhubarb crosswise, mix it with a couple of tablespoons of honey and put it in the cold for half an hour. Grate 2 raw beets, finely chop the parsley and dill, and toss everything together with the rhubarb.

Turnip salad

Take 2-3 peeled turnips, cut into strips or grate. Mash half a glass of cranberries or currants. Fill the mixture with honey. You can also sprinkle with chopped cumin or dill.

Cabbage with apples

Half a kilo of red cabbage should be chopped, put in a saucepan, add a couple of chopped onions, a little water and stew a little. Next, on top of the cabbage, you need to put 4 apples cut into slices. Bring the pan to readiness on fire, cover with a lid.

Raisin radish

Grate peeled and washed radish, add chopped onion, scalded and washed raisins, then season with honey or vegetable oil. Garnish the salad with carrot slices or green sprigs.

Soaked grain

Continuing to learn about the benefits of macrobiotic nutrition. His recipes are very interesting, including this one. Three tablespoons of oats (you can take grains of wheat or rye instead of oats) soak in the evening and put away at night. Drain the water in the morning and add dried apricots, peeled nuts and raisins or prunes to it.

Buckwheat with mushrooms

Cook 50 g of mushrooms into a broth with spices. Strain it, and chop the mushrooms very finely. TwoPour a glass of unground kernels with three glasses of this broth, add mushrooms, chopped small onions, mix everything and send to the fire. After the porridge boils, remove it from the heat and put it in the oven for an hour and a half.

Millet with pumpkin

Pumpkin pulp (200 g) finely chopped, put in boiling water and boil. Then add 1.5 cups of millet (it must first be soaked for several hours) and boil. 5 minutes before cooking, you can add washed dried apricots or raisins to the porridge.

Millet with cumin and onion

Studying further macrobiotic nutrition, the recipes of which are given in this article, one cannot but say about this interesting dish. One and a half cups of millet must be washed and soaked for 6 hours in cold water, then boiled. Add finely chopped greens, crushed garlic, chopped onion (green or onion), caraway seeds to the porridge. After that, place the pan in heat.

Homemade muesli

A tablespoon of hercules should be soaked for several hours in three tablespoons of water (preferably overnight). After the hercules swells, you need to grate 150 g of apples into it, stirring the mass all the time, and add 1 tablespoon of honey and grated nuts. You can use any dried fruits and berries.

Rice pilaf with dried fruits and vegetables

You need to rinse 1.5 rice, cut into small pieces a few apples and 0.5 kg of pumpkin, rinse a little dried apricots and raisins. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan, then put the pumpkin tothe pieces covered the bottom. Pour a layer of rice on top, then put a layer of apples, then rice again, a layer of dried fruits, rice again. Pour all this with a little s alted water so that it completely covers the last layer of rice. Put the prepared dish on the fire.

Millet soup with cheese

Pour a glass of millet into hot water and simmer for an hour, then add chopped feta cheese and stir until smooth. Sprinkle with dill and parsley.

Cucumber soup

Cut the cucumbers, onion and parsley root, chop the lettuce and simmer it all with water until cooked. Then pour boiling water, add some crushed crackers and cook until boiling. You can add parsley and lemon juice.

Pumpkin Soup

Chop the onion finely and fry it. Then put the chopped pumpkin (0.5 kg), add a little water to it, s alt to taste and simmer. Season with flour fried in butter (4 tablespoons), dilute with water and cook until thickened. You can also make soup with carrots, cauliflower, burdock root.

Chapati

Macrobiotic nutrition is very popular in the East. An indispensable food in this case is chapati, which can be made from buckwheat or wheat flour or millet, a mixture of various crushed grains.

So, we need:

• 150ml water;
• 250 g flour;
• 3 tbsp. l. oil;
• 1/2 tsp s alt.

Mix s alt and flour in a large bowl. Add water and knead to a soft dough. Spray it with water. Furthercover with a linen towel and set aside for an hour. Heat up a cast iron skillet. Divide the dough into fifteen parts, make balls out of them, kneading them all the time. Roll out fifteen balls. Then place them one by one in the pan. After small white bubbles appear on the surface of the donuts, and the edges begin to bend up, the cakes need to be turned over to the reverse side. Now carefully take the chapati with tongs by the edges so that the resulting cake does not tear. Bring it to the fire, where you hold it until brown spots appear. Brush one side with oil.

Restoring energy balance

We figured out what macrobiotic nutrition is and its main products. None of the edible constituents of the grain are discarded. Everything should go into action - embryos, bran, endosperm (this is the tissue of plant seeds, where the nutrients that are needed for the development of each embryo are deposited). Such a complex is able to meet the needs of the human body, in addition, helps to restore balance.

It should be noted that whole grains contain a set of substances that are very necessary for a person: proteins, complex carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins, fats, while in proportions that help us get the amount of energy we need.

In general, on your table should be desirable dishes of rice (brown), buckwheat, millet, oats, corn, wheat, etc. Eat them daily. You can eat porridge throughout the day. somethere is no specific set of dishes in this case. You can alternate them at will, only based on the above balance.

Criticism

It should be noted that all the needs of the body, especially in children, people with a number of chronic diseases or intense physical activity, cannot be covered by macrobiotic nutrition. Recipes, reviews of which are listed in the article below, of course, can be used, but there are opponents of such regular meals.

Studies have shown that the followers of this doctrine have cases of rickets, scurvy, and iron deficiency anemia. Such a diet in children can lead to a lack of vitamins D and B12, proteins, riboflavin and calcium, which leads to low muscle and fat content, stunting, and slow psychomotor development.

And the US Cancer Society has found no evidence that such a diet can be a quality treatment for cancer, as previously stated.

At the same time, the treatment of diseases of the digestive and cardiovascular systems can be effective if you combine medications and macrobiotic nutrition. Zdorovyak porridge, reviews of which attract the attention of a huge number of people to the product, in this case will significantly save your time by improving the condition of the body.

This cuisine differs from the usual way of eating with a high content of fiber, and this can cause an imbalance of minerals in the body. But a gradual transition to such a diet will help to avoid the main amount.these problems.

It should also be noted that different authors may differ in the division into Yang and Yin products.

Macrobiotic nutrition reviews

As more and more people today think about the need for a he althy lifestyle, you can find a huge amount of feedback on macrobiotic nutrition. Many talk about improving their well-being, rejoicing at how many dishes are offered in this cuisine. Others, on the contrary, note a deterioration in well-being, although for the most part this is due to a sharp transition to such a diet.