Macrobiotic Diet 101: What to Eat, What to Avoid and What the Research Says
The macrobiotic diet is a mostly plant-based way of eating that comes from Japan: about half of what you eat is whole grains, and the rest is vegetables, beans, sea vegetables and soups, with fish, fruit, nuts and seeds only now and then. It also has a philosophy behind it, built on yin and yang, chewing well and eating local, seasonal food. Below you’ll find the food list, how a macrobiotic plate looks, a sample day with recipes from the blog, the risks, and who shouldn’t follow it.
I first tried macrobiotics in 2013, and I started the hard way: 10 days of the Ohsawa diet, only grains. I lost weight, but today I wouldn’t do it again and I don’t recommend it (I explain why below). What stayed with me is the everyday part: brown rice with gomasio, a pot of soup on the stove, beans every week, seaweed in my miso soup. I don’t eat 100% macrobiotic anymore, but I come back to it for a few weeks whenever I feel I need simpler, warmer food.
The short version
- What it is: roughly half whole grains, the rest vegetables, beans, sea vegetables and soups.
- What’s good about it: the same things that make any diet healthy: whole grains, vegetables, legumes, little processed food.
- What’s not proven: yin and yang food rules, and any claim that it treats cancer or other diseases.
- Skip the brown-rice-only diet: that early version caused severe malnutrition and even deaths.
- Plan for B12, vitamin D and calcium, and go easy on salt (miso, tamari, umeboshi).
Table of Contents
- What Is the Macrobiotic Diet?
- The Macrobiotic Plate: How Much of Each Food
- Macrobiotic Food List: What to Eat and What to Limit
- Yin and Yang: The Philosophy Behind the Diet
- A Sample Macrobiotic Day
- The Ohsawa Diet (Diet No. 7): Why I Don’t Recommend It
- Risks and Who Shouldn’t Follow It
- What the Research Actually Says
- Books About the Macrobiotic Diet
- My Free Macrobiotic Meal Plans
- Macrobiotic Recipes on the Blog
- The Studies and Sources Behind This Guide
- FAQ
What Is the Macrobiotic Diet?
The macrobiotic diet is a whole-food, mostly vegetarian diet built around whole grains, inspired by traditional Japanese food and by a philosophy of balance. The word comes from Greek, makros (long, large) and bios (life), so “long life”. The German doctor Christoph Hufeland used it in the 1790s in a book about living longer.
The diet itself has its roots in late-19th-century Japan. Army doctor Sagen Ishizuka wrote about shokuyō, the idea that food and medicine have the same origin, and recommended the traditional Japanese diet: whole grains, vegetables and very little animal food. George Ohsawa took his ideas, called them macrobiotics and wrote numerous books about them, in Japanese and French. His students Michio and Aveline Kushi brought macrobiotics to the US in the 1960s and 70s and turned it into the “standard” macrobiotic diet most people follow today: more varied, with vegetables, beans, sea vegetables and sometimes fish.
The Macrobiotic Plate: How Much of Each Food
On a standard macrobiotic diet, about half of what you eat each day is whole grains; vegetables come next, then beans, sea vegetables and soups. Exact percentages differ from book to book, so take them as a guide, not a rule.
| Food group | Share of the day | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Whole grains | about half (40-60%) | brown rice, millet, barley, oats, buckwheat, corn (polenta), whole wheat; less often noodles and bread |
| Vegetables | about a quarter (20-30%) | leafy greens, round vegetables (cabbage, squash, onion), roots (carrot, parsnip, daikon); mostly cooked, some raw |
| Beans and bean products | 5-10% | adzuki beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh |
| Sea vegetables | small amounts | nori, wakame, kombu, arame |
| Soups | 1-2 bowls a day | miso soup, vegetable and bean soups |
| Occasionally | weekly | white fish, local fruit, nuts and seeds, desserts sweetened with rice syrup or barley malt |
| Rarely or not at all | red meat, eggs, poultry, dairy |
Macrobiotic Food List: What to Eat and What to Limit
The macrobiotic food list favors whole, local, seasonal and minimally processed foods, and limits sugar, dairy, meat, coffee and processed food.
| Eat regularly | Now and then | Avoid or limit (macrobiotic rules) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grains | brown rice, millet, barley, oats, buckwheat, polenta | whole-grain noodles (soba, udon), sourdough bread | white rice, white flour |
| Vegetables | cabbage, kale, broccoli, carrot, onion, squash, parsnip, daikon, leafy greens | raw salads | tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, spinach, beetroot (seen as “too yin”) |
| Protein | adzuki beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh | white fish | red meat, poultry, eggs, dairy |
| Fruit | local, in-season fruit (apples, pears, berries), cooked or dried | tropical fruit, fruit juice | |
| Seasonings | sea salt, miso, tamari, brown rice vinegar, gomasio, ginger | umeboshi, tahini, sesame oil | hot spices, refined oils |
| Sweeteners | rice syrup, barley malt, a little maple syrup | sugar, artificial sweeteners | |
| Drinks | bancha and other non-aromatic teas, roasted grain teas | coffee, alcohol, sugary drinks |
The last column is where I’m not strict. Tomatoes, potatoes and spinach are healthy vegetables, and there’s no research behind leaving them out. The same goes for fruit: I still eat some every day, avocados and bananas included.
Yin and Yang: The Philosophy Behind the Diet
Yin and yang are at the heart of macrobiotics: foods are classed as yin (expanding, cooling, light) or yang (contracting, warming, dense, salty), and the idea is to eat mostly foods in the middle, like whole grains. The terms are relative: a food is only yin or yang compared with another one. Very yin foods would be sugar, alcohol or tropical fruit; very yang ones, red meat, eggs and a lot of salt. If you’re curious, here’s a traditional yin and yang food chart.
I like yin and yang as a way of thinking about balance on the plate. But it’s good to know where it stands: the yin and yang classification of foods comes from macrobiotic philosophy. It isn’t a concept from nutrition science and it hasn’t been tested in studies, so I don’t use it to decide what’s “healthy” or what makes you ill.
The same goes for the macrobiotic principles. I see them as a philosophy of life, not as medical advice, and many of them are simply good habits:
- Enjoy your food and be thankful for your meals.
- Eat seasonal and local foods.
- Be mindful of quantity and quality, and avoid extremes.
- Chew your food well.
- Be generous, friendly and responsible, and respect all living beings.
- Be mindful of ecology and practice economy of life.
- Have a sense of humor and keep learning from your own experience.
A Sample Macrobiotic Day
A simple macrobiotic day has a warm grain breakfast, a bowl of soup, grains with beans and vegetables for lunch and dinner, and a small side of something fermented. Here’s what a day looks like in my kitchen, with recipes from the blog:
- Breakfast: a bowl of porridge made with water or plant milk, with grated apple and a few nuts.
- Lunch: miso soup with wakame and tofu, brown rice with gomasio, steamed greens.
- Dinner: a macrobiotic stir fry with brown rice or adzuki bean burgers with roasted cabbage and a spoonful of sauerkraut.
- Drinks: bancha tea or roasted barley tea.
For a whole week of meals and a grocery list, see how I eat macrobiotic the easy way.
The Ohsawa Diet (Diet No. 7): Why I Don’t Recommend It
The Ohsawa “brown rice diet”, eating only whole grains for 10 days or longer, is the strictest stage of George Ohsawa’s early diet (Diet No. 7), and it is not safe. Ohsawa’s early macrobiotic diet had ten stages, each one more restrictive, and the last one was only grains, mostly brown rice, with little to drink. In the 1960s it led to severe malnutrition, scurvy and deaths, and in 1971 the American Medical Association warned against it. Cancer Research UK still writes that these early grain-only versions “caused severe malnutrition and sometimes death”.
I did those 10 days in 2013, and I used to recommend them here. I don’t anymore. You may lose weight in the first days, but that’s mostly water, not fat: losing 1 kg of body fat takes a deficit of around 7,700 calories, more than most adults burn in a whole day. And grains alone don’t give you vitamin C, enough protein or many other nutrients. The modern macrobiotic diet is something else entirely: varied, with plenty of vegetables, beans and soups.
Risks and Who Shouldn’t Follow It
A varied macrobiotic diet can be healthy for adults, but it’s low in vitamin B12, vitamin D and calcium, and it can be very salty. Here’s what to watch:
- Vitamin B12. In a US macrobiotic community, half of the adults had low B12. Seaweed, miso and tempeh aren’t reliable sources, so take a B12 supplement or eat fortified foods.
- Vitamin D and calcium. Even the Kushi Institute’s own meal plan fell short on both. Without dairy, eat calcium-set tofu, unhulled sesame and tahini, greens like kale and broccoli, and talk to your doctor about vitamin D, especially in winter.
- Iron and protein. Eat beans or lentils every day; an adult needs around 0.8 g of protein per kg of body weight a day.
- Salt. Miso, tamari and umeboshi are very salty: 10 g of tamari has about 1.4 g of salt, and the WHO recommends less than 5 g a day. Use them as seasonings, not as sauces.
- Iodine and arsenic in seaweed. Kombu can have a lot of iodine, and hijiki is best avoided because of arsenic. If you have a thyroid condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, ask your doctor first.
Don’t follow a strict macrobiotic diet if:
- it’s for a child (in Dutch studies, babies on macrobiotic diets had high rates of rickets and slower growth, and some still had low B12 as teenagers);
- you’re pregnant or breastfeeding;
- you’re being treated for cancer (it doesn’t treat cancer, and cancer organizations advise against using it instead of treatment);
- you’re older, underweight, or have had an eating disorder.
If you want to eat macrobiotic long term, talk to a dietitian about B12, vitamin D, calcium and iron.
What the Research Actually Says
Most studies on macrobiotic diets are small, old and observational; the good parts of the diet are the ones it shares with any healthy diet.
| Question | What the studies found | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Does it treat or prevent cancer? | No evidence. In a trial with 1,542 women with breast cancer, a “macro-Mediterranean” diet didn’t lower the risk of recurrence | Cancer Research UK; Berrino 2024 |
| Does it help with type 2 diabetes? | A few small, short studies on an Italian version (Ma-Pi 2) showed better blood sugar after 21 days; larger, independent studies are needed | Soare 2014 |
| Is it nutritionally complete? | Adults: low B12 in half of a macrobiotic community. Kushi meal plan: short on vitamin D, B12 and calcium | Miller 1991; Harmon 2015 |
| Is it safe for children? | Rickets, slower growth and low B12 in Dutch macrobiotic children | Dagnelie 1990; Louwman 2000 |
| What about the brown rice diet? | Scurvy and deaths in the 1960s; the AMA warned against it in 1971 | Sherlock 1967; AMA 1971 |
| What does it get right? | People who eat the most fiber and whole grains have 15-30% fewer deaths and less heart disease, type 2 diabetes and colon cancer | Reynolds 2019 |
Books About the Macrobiotic Diet
These are the books I read when I started. Zen Macrobiotics by George Ohsawa is where it all began and it’s an interesting read for the history, but it’s also the book that describes the brown rice diet, so read it as history, not as a plan. The Macrobiotic Way by Michio Kushi is the practical one, about the standard diet and cooking. And Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford is more of an encyclopedia of whole foods and Asian food traditions; I loved it and kept going back to it. Like any book of this kind, it mixes tradition with nutrition, so I check the health claims against current research.
My Free Macrobiotic Meal Plans
I made two free one-week macrobiotic meal plans, with recipes and a shopping list: a gluten-free one and a vegan one. Leave your email below and I’ll send you the one you want.
Macrobiotic Recipes on the Blog
All my macrobiotic recipes are in the macrobiotic recipes category, and I also save them on my macrobiotic recipes Pinterest board. A few to start with:
- Vegan miso soup
- Gomasio (sesame salt)
- Macrobiotic stir fry with veggies and brown rice
- Soba noodles with mushrooms and miso-lime sauce
- Adzuki bean burgers
- Red lentil soup
- Mushroom rice pilaf
- Creamy carrot soup with ginger
For beans and legumes, see my lentil recipes and chickpea recipes. And if you also want to drop fish completely, my vegan diet guide covers the nutrients to watch.
The Studies and Sources Behind This Guide
- Cancer Research UK. Macrobiotic diet and cancer (reviewed 2022).
- CAM-Cancer. Macrobiotic diet (updated 2023).
- Council on Foods and Nutrition. Zen macrobiotic diets. JAMA 1971. PubMed
- Sherlock P, Rothschild EO. Scurvy produced by a Zen macrobiotic diet. JAMA 1967. PubMed
- Dagnelie PC et al. High prevalence of rickets in infants on macrobiotic diets. Am J Clin Nutr 1990. PubMed
- Louwman MW et al. Signs of impaired cognitive function in adolescents with marginal cobalamin status. Am J Clin Nutr 2000. PubMed
- Miller DR et al. Vitamin B-12 status in a macrobiotic community. Am J Clin Nutr 1991. PubMed
- Watanabe F et al. Vitamin B12-containing plant food sources for vegetarians. Nutrients 2014. PubMed
- Harmon BE et al. Nutrient composition and anti-inflammatory potential of a prescribed macrobiotic diet. Nutr Cancer 2015. PubMed
- Berrino F et al. DIANA-5 randomized trial. Clin Cancer Res 2024. PubMed
- Soare A et al. The effect of the macrobiotic Ma-Pi 2 diet vs. the recommended diet in type 2 diabetes. Nutr Metab 2014. PubMed
- Reynolds A et al. Carbohydrate quality and human health. Lancet 2019. PubMed
- Hall KD. What is the required energy deficit per unit weight loss? Int J Obes 2008. PubMed
- EFSA. Dietary Reference Values for nutrients (2017).
- World Health Organization. Sodium reduction (fact sheet).
FAQ
It’s a mostly plant-based diet from Japan where about half of what you eat is whole grains, and the rest is vegetables, beans, sea vegetables and soups, with fish, fruit, nuts and seeds only occasionally.
Not always: the standard macrobiotic diet allows a little white fish. It’s easy to make it vegan by leaving the fish out, but then a B12 supplement is a must.
Many people eat fewer calories on it because the food is filling and unprocessed, but it isn’t a weight-loss diet, and the fast weight loss on the brown-rice-only version is mostly water, not fat.
No. Eating only grains for 10 days or more caused malnutrition, scurvy and deaths in the 1960s, and medical associations have warned against it since 1971.
No. There is no evidence that it treats or prevents cancer, and cancer organizations advise against using it instead of medical treatment.
Macrobiotic tradition considers them “too yin”. That comes from the philosophy of the diet, not from research, so you can keep eating them if you like them.
Mostly water and non-aromatic teas like bancha, kukicha or roasted barley tea; coffee, alcohol and sugary drinks are left out.
I was macrobiotic for a few years and you do get thin
Just wanted to let everyone know that Michio Kushi’s grand daughter is now working on teaching how to cook macrobiotic foods with a modern twist to it. She has her own website if you google her, I highly recommend her!
Thanks, Anna! 🙂
What is her name I can’t seem to find her through google
Hi everyone,
I would like to share with you some of my Mom’s experiences in the past few years. First of all, we thanks one of her friends introduced her the “Oshawa diet method”. Otherwise, she would have died long time ago.
My Mom was really sick. She could not breath properly, exhausted all the time, so many symptom of which 6 doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her and they gave up. Finally, her friend recommended her to try Oshawa Diet Method. There are 7 diet levels that you should follow. The most difficult one was strictly eating only Brown Rice and sesame seeds with a little salt for at least 10 days, drink just a little pure water. We were so worried of seeing her kept losing weight….But miracle happened, on the 5th day she sit up slowly and walked around the house without help. The 10th day she talked and washed dishes …Now she is 84 yrs old living healthy.
Since then, we followed her diet method and it can cure almost any kind of diseases I believed so. For more information, please go on line searching for “Oshawa diet” it is part of Macrobiotics diet as well. Good luck !
Hi, Julie!
Thank you for sharing your mom’s story with us! 🙂 I am so happy the macrobiotic diet has helped your mom! It’s amazing! I used to keep the Ohsawa diet once a year but I stopped, don’t know why. Your story inspired me to do it again, as a prevention. Thank you!
@Julie, Wonderful inspiring story, so happy you shared with everyone, and even better that your Mother is healed. Can’t wait to start the diet very soon….
You are so awesome! I don’t think I’ve read through anything like that before. So wonderful to discover somebody with unique thoughts on this subject. Really.. thank you for starting this up. This web site is one thing that is required on the web, someone with some originality!
Thank you, Roxie! :*
I have lupus.liver disease.sceroderma and now pulmonary arterial hypertension.would this diet help
Hi, Elizabeth! Any healthy diet helps, but it’s best if you ask your doctor.
Great article!
Hello Ruxandra,
As a vegan I almost already follow the macrobiotic diet. But I have two issues with it: First, why are fruits so downplayed? Everywhere one goes, we are told how good they are for our health. So many phytochemicals!
Second, corn and soy oils, and other seed oils, being omega-6 oils, are inflammatory. The anti-inflammatory oils are omega 3, (fish oil, flax oils), as well as the nut oils, including coconut. The only exception is GLA, which is an omega-6 oil that is anti-inflammatory (found in borage, black current seed, and evening primrose oils). Inflammation is more and more found to be at the root of a whole host of diseases. So to intentionally eat omega-6 oils seems misguided to me.
By the way my arthritis pain left me when I cut out omega-6 oils and other inflammatory foods with arachidonic acid.
So, if I were advising someone, I would steer in favor of the ANTI-inflammatory fats/oils, not the inflammatory ones recommended by the macrobiotic diet.
And as for fruit, I would not advocate eating it in excess because of the fructose, to which some persons are intolerant; but I would think seriously before putting it so low on the priorities. Also, it is important that one not make up for the omission of fruit with less desirable foods.
Thank you for your informative site.
Hi, Lilac!
That’s my problem with the macrobiotic diet as well. I LOVE fruits! It’s something about their energy that’s not in line with the macrobiotic principles. Anyway, I don’t think that someone can have a 100% macrobiotic diet. That’s the diet for monks or really sick people who are on a treatment. If you still want to enjoy foods, a 50-60% macrobiotic diet should be enough.
What I found out is that it’s better to adapt a diet to your own needs. I can’t say my diet is macrobiotic but I learned a lot from this diet and still incorporate some macro principles into my lifestyle.
You should do the same. The macrobiotic diet has some really good principles. The ones that you feel are not suitable for you, you can modify as per your needs. So eat more fruits and only the kind of oils you like, but also eat a lot of fermented foods, whole grains and veggies. 🙂
Hi Ruxandra, I am 59 and only have 11 not too clever teeth left.
I am interested in losing weight and balancing yin/yang.
Do you know of any macro biotic liquid diets.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Susan
Hi Susan. You could try eating more macro soups and smoothies and maybe puddings as well. Unfortunately, I don’t have any recipes.
There are 2 helpful cookbooks: MUYUMI’S KITCHEN- Macrobiotic Cooking for Body and Soul which the author/chef calls her recipies “petit macro”. She provides easy recipies. Another excellent book to learn the basics to transition into macrobiotics is THE SELF-HEALING COOKBOOK-A Macrobiotic Primer for Healing the Body, Mind and Moods with Whole Natural Foods . Author- Kristina Turner
Thank you very much for your recommendations! 🙂
Thanks for the basics on macrobiotic as I’m very ill from Stage 3A GIST stomach Cancer, surgery and cytoxic Chemotherapy damage and have tried everything else already. Despite living a clean exercise filled life my genes caused me to get very ill from all this as MTHFR mutation makes it hard for my body to expel toxins. I Iive in chronic body wide musculoskeletal pain, GIST has a 20-54% 5 year survival rate and 90% recurrence (63% in liver), both are among top 5 most lethal forms of Cancer. My pain doctor says he had other Stage 4 (metastatic) Cancer with similar painful symptoms and now says he feels better than ever since being on macrobiotic diet. My neurological damage is spreading and I’m losing control of my GI tract that was badly damage by daily Chemo that nearly killed me in < 3 months then B12 mal-absorbtion caused by gastric resection surgery has made related biochemical Chemo brain damage and body wide musculoskeletal pain and neurological damage worse as cyanide in cheap cyanocobalamin B12 also poisoned me for a year before I did research and had test done to confirm I need weekly Methyl-B12 active methylcobalamin injections (I order as custom dose monthly via compounding lab) to fight off dementia and Cognitive impairment. Weekly acupuncture and chiropractic hear electrostim treatments and monthly deep tissue reflexology zone therapy massage help manage pain but last only day or two and gradually less time as my neurological damage spreads. Now my food passes thru me so quickly the acid is burning me on way out of my body! I'm coming up on 4 years since I was diagnosed with large 7.5 cm malignant tumor so I pray this macrobiotic diet, lifestyle will help or I'll likely pass from Early plane within 2 years if I can't stop my health decline!
I’m so sorry to hear this. I really hope the macrobiotic diet will help you. Have you tried other alternative methods as well? You should read the book “The Journey” by Brandon Bays. It really helped me a lot to heal some emotional problems which were manifesting themselves in the physical plane as well. I think you should fight this on many levels at once. The treatment, that you are currently on, the diet, and the spiritual-emotional level. You should check out the book and maybe it will help you too, as it helped me. It was pretty eye-opening. I’m sending good thoughts and prayers to you! Lots of love in your way and I relly hope you will get through this!
Hello, bless you for the path you walk. Here are a few resources you may find helpful and effective:
in addition to the brilliant book “the journey” ruxandra recommended.
– paida-lajin is a form of meridien energy activation to accelerate healing the body. Easy to find and there are affordable courses to self practice.
Pailala.org and many YouTube videos.
Wish you well and also hold you in prayer.
I like learning and reading about macrobiotics, a way of life, to eat healthy and nutritious foods. Eating healthy helps to keep our bodies healthy but it has to be done slowly with a macrobiotic counselor and your physician. If you are taking medication, you should not taking them until your doctor tells you that your ailment is gone and you no longer need them. You need to be patient with yourself, cook healthy meals and continue learning about macrobiotics.
Amazing!
too bad yin still is seen as bad..it has been a common thread of misconception with macrobiotics..for years..
I spent many years involved in macrobiotics but this aspect of it’s philosophy is incorrect and misleading..
good and bad are too limited..it was never meant to be interpreted in this way..
the dark, the feminine..are not bad..this needs to change..
Macrobiotic teaching needs to update it’s description of yin and yang..
I believe there are no bad foods..Michio Kushi himself said “you can eat anything..just know what it does to you”..He also said “No Credo”..don’t believe me..see for yourself..
There are foods which certain people need to avoid a t certain times..It is meant to be individualized according to your condition and constitution..
Good and bad are overly simplified concepts. Somethings take a greater subtlety to understand..I suggest you rethink your explanation.. Sincerely.. Lisa B.
I have just been told about this macrobiotic diet . I would like to get as much information as I can about this diet as I have a lot of health issues and I thin this diet may help me to better health . Thanks AnnA
Hello! I am currently creating a website which will be a gift to those who are interested in the macrobiotic diet. It will offer opportunities for people to sign up to attend webinars with a macrobiotic master offering lectures on the philosophy of the macrobiotic diet as well as cooking courses.
I plan to have as much fun with this as possible, so stay tuned!
themacrobioticdiet.org
Today it’s my 5th day and I only ate millet, buckwheat and brown rice an I might be gluten intolerant. I ate very little (some days only 200 gr of cereals a day and the maximum 300 gr cereals) only boiled cereals and I didn’t lose any weight. It is really weird to me since I am a little overweight. I am very disappointed although I know this is not a weight loss program. Can you detail us your daily regimen during this detox? How many meals/which quantity of cereals did you have everyday? thank you
What made you think you are gluten intolerant? Did you eat wheat as well? Millet, buckwheat and rice don’t contain gluten. Anyway, I do recommend to keep the Ohsawa diet GF. It’s better. I ate 3 meals per day and pretty small quantities. I actually noticed I felt full with less. About 1-2 handfuls / portion. If weight-loss is your main goal, I would strongly recommed to wither choose a raw diet, or alternatively, opt for a low carb – high fat (healthy fat) veg keto diet. I found that both were great for me.
Hey Ruxandra. Do you have any idea why am I not losing any weight? This is day 4 of 10 days Oshawa diet and the scale is stubbornly stuck at 64.9 (at 170cm height), not a centigram less than day 1, is this normal? Is driving me nuts, I am following the rules precisely. This totally questions the effects, even though there are 6 more days to go. Thank you
Hi Cyanilla,
First of all, the Ohsawa diet is not for losing weight, it’s for detoxing, cleansing your body and balance your energies. Yes, for some it may act as a weight loss diet as well (As it was the case for me) but for others it won’t work like that. Maybe you should eat smaller quantities? How much do you eat per day?
Just learning about this way of eating.. Would love tostart trying this and becoming healthier and more balanced
Hi Annie! I have 2 free macrobiotic meal plans. Maybe these will help: http://gourmandelle.com/category/meal-plans/macrobiotic-meal-plans/
Thank you.
Thanks for an inciteful read. My mum was recently diagnosed with heart disease. I read somewhere that heart disease could be reversed on a macrobiotic diet. Would you agree with that, and what type of diet plan would you suggest? Do you have recipes geared toward reversing heart disease? GLoria
Hi Gloria!
I’m very sorry to hear that. The macro lifestyle is truly wonderful. I’ve also heard about many healing cases from chronic diseases and even cancer! I agree that a healthy diet will always help your body heal itself. I don’t have a lot of experience in this particular field (heart diseases), but I can recommend you to check out my free meal plans and give them a try. Hope they help!
Sounds good ,I have been trying, to get away from bad foods for a while now. I eat no Pork, fresh everything if I can find it. No pop beverages ,I drink Tea and water. No bread ,white rice, Pasta practicly no dairy. My problem I ‘m a Diabetic. I must eat more protein per meal then anything else or my numbers go up way up. Any advice. Thankyou*
Hi Yvonne! A vegan macro diet is a great choice. Protein is no problem on a vegan diet. Everything has proteins, even fruits and vegetables. Nuts and seeds are very high in protein. Chia, hemp seeds, spirulin, chlorella (and other alge), nut butters, tofu and other soy products, beans, legumes, all of these are great protein sources. You should try to go vegan and see how you feel. Check out one of my free meal plans and test this diet for a week. 🙂
this is just so nuts!
Hi. Do you have any suggestions for someone like me who is allergic to most grains. They all pose a problem for me. Quinoa is ok but I dont digest it well. Thanks for input:)
Do you have any suggestions for me? I want to follow this way of life. But I cross react to most grains as if they’re gluten. Do I just up the veggies and beans?
Hi Angie!
I am gluten intolerant too, so I don’t eat any cereals containing gluten. However, I keep a mostly vegan diet with macrobiotic principles.
Are you able to eat grains like millet or rice? These two are my favorite grains I eat. I also eat quinoa and certified gluten-free oats. Other than this, I try to eat as many root veggies and greens as I can (these are very recommended in the macro diet). I also try to eat fermented foods daily (pickles, pickled veggies, tofu sometimes, etc.). All the other macro principles apply.
Don’t worry about not eating other cereals such as wheat, barley or rye. These are actually pretty poor in nutrients compared to the other gluten-free grains you can eat.
Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, let me know!
Hugs! 🙂
Sorry I ju st seen your reply. I cant tolerate rice. They cross react with gluten for me. I stay hungry trying to get enough calories from veggies. No fruit either here during to the sugar issues. Thanks for responding!
Hi Angie,
Sorry for the late response. My advice for you is to try a grain-free macro diet then. Eliminate all grains, but follow the rest of the principles. Eat lots of fermented foods daily and have a mostly vegan/vegetarian diet. Also eat lots of root veggies, beans, legumes and greens. How’s millet for you? If it’s ok, you can include millet in your diet too.
Hope this helps! 🙂 Let me know if you have any other questions. I will gladly answer.
Thank you for writing this article. I use to follow a macrobiotic way of eating, as I was constantly struggling between an overly yang and then ying eating patterns. When I ate in this more centered and cleaner way of eating and stuck to it most of the time, I felt much more centered and at peace with myself physically and mentally. I am definitely going to give your program a try and get back to a more balanced state of being. Thanks again!
Hi Margie!
Exactly! That’s the way I feel too when eating macro foods. This diet balances your energies and makes you feel Zen 😛 I’m so glad the macro diet helps you too.
I’ve been eating in the yin style for 4 years now and have heard that you can become to yin. I believe this is starting to happen. What are your thoughts?
Hi Brandy,
I incorporate macro principles in my diet, but I cannot say I am fully macrobiotic. As I understood, it is not recommended to eat only yin foods or only yang foods. The macro way is the balanced way. More balanced yin/yang foods are recommended in this diet.
Yes, you probably are to yin now. You should eat strong yang foods for a while and then switch to a macrobiotic diet, which in fact is a yin/yang balanced diet.
Hope you’ll feel better!
Hi – loved this article – very helpful. For the 10 day detox where all you ate were whole grains can I ask: how much and how often did you eat? Did you calorie count at all? Thanks – I want to give this a go but I want to do it right and have all the facts first!! 🙂
Thank you Ellie!
I ate as much as I needed. You’ll see that you’ll feel full with very little amounts of food, that’s because the cereals contain lots of fibers. I didn’t count calories. The calorie intake is relatively low anyway. I’ve tried this detox 2 times now. I recently discovered I am gluten intolerant, so the second time I ate only the GF cereals. I would recommend you to avoid wheat and eat only the other GF cereals, like rice, millet or buckwheat. You can also eat GF oats. That’s just a personal suggestion of course. 🙂
Hope this helps. Keep me updated on the detox process! 😀
I’ve been looking all over the internet for a good explanation and introduction to Macrobiotic diet and lifestyle, this is exactly what I was looking for! I’m sold, can’t wait to start trying it! Thanks so much, saving this in my favorites for reference.
I’m so glad you found the article useful. I spent a lot of time writing it and wanted to make it as simple to understand as possible. I am so happy I succeeded 😀
Macrobiotic products are enriched with nutrients and which we get from nature. But still people loves to eat junk food which can harm their body . So, be conscious about your diet and eat the organic food. We can also eat Non-veg but that should be roasted. Include some liquid like soups in your daily diet plan.
Thanks for your tips Ashley! Soups are a bit problematic for me..I know I should eat miso soups but I really don’t like miso paste. I think I’ll just stick to my creamy veggie soups 😀
Thank you very much! Glad you found it useful 🙂
Very nice, simple explanation and presentation of basic Macrobiotics…very well done!
Thank you! 🙂