It's a lifestyle not a diet

I was in the middle of bustling downtown Honolulu and decided to enact a little macro reflection into my lunch break :)

In addition to changing your food, macrobiotics encourages people to make lifestyle and environmental changes.  Macrobiotic way of life suggestions include:

• Develop a positive, optimistic attitude and visualize yourself the way you want to feel and be.
• Focus on your health and healing rather than your condition or disease.
• Cultivate an appreciation for everything you have, counting your blessings. Make the best of your present situation, while learning how to change your life for the better.
• Ask for support from your family and friends, as it is vitally important. Request assistance.
• Cook with a gas stove. Use a portable gas stove if necessary. Avoid electric or microwave cooking.
• Sing a happy song each day!
• Create peaceful and pleasant mealtimes.
• Finish eating dinner and all solid foods three hours before bedtime. Avoid lying down right after eating.
• Give thanks before and after each meal, remembering how fortunate you are to have this food and knowledge.
• Chewing very well is essential for proper assimilation to maximize energy and healing. 
• Try to wear items closest to your body (underwear) and dress your bed with 100% organic cotton.
• Avoid placing electric appliances (clock, radio, ceiling fan) above or around your bed.
• Stimulate your body daily with a hot towel body scrub, or at least massage your face, hands, and feet twice a day.
• Spend at least one hour outdoors daily, ideally two or three hours, avoiding the noon sun (10:00 am -2:00 pm).
• Several times a week, exercise moderately to the point of perspiring, as you dance, bicycle, garden, or perform any enjoyable activity.
• Take a daily walk outdoors at leas 5-10 minutes before breakfast and 20-30 minutes after evening dinner, preferably after each meal. When walking, breathe 3-5 steps inhaling and 3-5 steps exhaling, as comfortable.
• Communicate frequently with your parents, family, teachers, and friends, sharing your knowledge, experiences, and feelings.
• Go to bed early (ideally 10:30 pm) and rise early (ideally 6:30 am or at sunrise.)
• Put order in your home, car, and office by cleaning and organizing each area.
• Open up your house daily at least one half hour, to allow fresh air inside and stale air outdoors. Keep windows open whenever appropriate, while maintaining a pleasant temperature.
• Place live, green plants in each living area to enrich the oxygen content of your home.
• Avoid cosmetics and body care products that contain sugar, chemicals, heavy perfumes, or animal products.
• Use organic fertilizers and pesticides in your yard. Eat organic foods.
• Minimize television and computer viewing.
• Remove fluorescent lights from your home or office and replace them with "full spectrum" and energy efficient lights.
• Discover and utilize your talents and find a life-work that brings you satisfaction and joy!
• Love yourself!

What's the most macro bar out there?

This is my favorite flavor!  If you're lifting hard at the gym I suggest eating the Peanut Protein flavor within 15mins of your workout to help your muscles repair.

Jolanta Sonkin created MacroBars based on her own experience with macrobiotics and how it helped her mother's recovery from breast cancer.  These bars are macrobiotic, vegan, and made without any additives or preservatives, refined sugars, flours or dairy. This helps to create a pH-balanced environment in your body, leading to better absorption of minerals and other nutrients.  Because these bars are sweetened with grain-based sweeteners, the sweeteners take longer to digest, thus avoiding the blood-sugar spikes associated with refined sugars. The fats in GoMacro bars are healthy fats derived from nuts and seeds containing omega3 fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. Carbs are complex carbs from whole grains. These are slow-burning carbs that boost energy levels throughout the day. Protein comes from brown rice protein – a great high protein alternative to animal products and soy. 


You can find these in natural food stores or order them online in a pack of 15 at amazon.com.  These are great grab and go bars, perfect for pre and post workouts.  Choose from 10 awesome flavors like Tahini Date, Granola w/Coconut, and Almond Butter with Carob.

If you order a box of 15 on amazon it comes in this eco friendly sustainable box that you can replant ;)

Daikon

Daikon is high in vitamin C and folacin. Like its relatives broccoli, cabbage and kale, daikon is a cruciferous vegetable that offers cancer-protecting potential.

What is daikon?

Daikon is a long white radish that is used in many regular and medicinal preparations. It helps discharge fat and oil from the body. It is cooked fresh or dried and grated raw as a garnish for oily foods.  Raw daikon is used throughout Japan to complement the taste of oily or raw foods and, more importantly, to aid in their digestion. 

What are its benefits?

Laboratory analysis has shown that the juice of raw daikon is abundant in digestive enzymes similar to those found in the human digestive tract. These enzymes - diastase, amylase, and esterase - help transform complex carbohydrates, fats, and proteins into their readily assimilable components.  

Daikon juice actually inhibits the formation of dangerous chemicals in the body. Nitrosamines, a type of carcinogen, can form in the stomach from chemicals present in both natural and processed foods. Daikon juice contains substances identified as "phenolic compounds" that can block this potentially dangerous reaction. Thus, a diet including raw daikon may reduce the risk of cancer.

It also been shown to be effective as a diuretic and decongestant. As a diuretic, raw daikon promotes the discharge of excess water by the kidneys. The result is increased urination and gradual reduction of the swelling condition known as edema. As a decongestant, the enzymes in daikon juice seem to help dissolve mucus and phlegm in the respiratory system and facilitate their discharge from the body.  

How do you use daikon?

Traditional Japanese restaurants serve grated daikon in tempura dip to help digest oils, or shredded daikon with beans to help digest the protein. Grated daikon is a wonderful aid to people with a weak digestive system. It is important, however, to use grated daikon immediately. In just thirty minutes nearly 50 percent of its enzymes are lost.

A few drops of soy sauce and a tablespoon of grated daikon is a macrobiotic treatment for helping the body discharge old animal protein and fats. Cooking daikon with a kombu broth is said to help the body eliminate excess dairy products. A tea brewed from daikon, shiitake and kombu has been used as a folk remedy to reduce fever.

Daikon Drinks

I love using daikon in my nishime (like in my kabocha stewed veggies recipe) and stew it down till it is really soft and melts in your mouth.  However I find that using it in medicinal drinks is ideal.  Three excellent drinks can be made using daikon radish:

Daikon Drink #1:  

Helpful in reducing a fever by inducing perspiration.  

Mix 1/2 cup of freshly grated daikon with a tbsp of tamari soy sauce and one-quarter tsp of freshly grated ginger.  Pour hot bancha tea over the mixture and drink hot.

Daikon Drink #2:  

Used as a diuretic.  

Squeeze 2 tbsp of juice from grated daikon, using a clean cheesecloth.  Add a pinch of sea salt and 6 tbsp of water to the daikon juice, and boil.  Use this mixture only once a day and never for more than 3 consecutive days.  Do not drink the juice without first boiling it.

Daikon Drink #3:  

Helps dissolve excess fat and mucus in the body.  

Place 1 tbsp of freshly grated daikon and 10 drops of tamari into a cup.  Pour hot water over the mixture and drink.  The best time to use this drink is just before sleeping.  However, do not continue to use it for more than 7 days.

Tamari Kale Chips

So yummy you'll never want potato chips again!

Set oven to 350 degrees.  In a big bowl, massage the kale with the sesami tamari mixture.  You'll notice that the kale will begin to marinade and soften.  Evenly spread the kale on a baking pan without overlapping and bake for 20 mins.  When it's done I like to go in with my hands and take out the kale pieces that feel nice and crispy.  Then I bake ones that are still moist for another 5 mins.

If you want to buy your kale chips, Lydia's Organics makes great ones.  My favorite is the Herbs de Provence.  Although the ones you buy in the store are not as macro because it has additional ingredients that should not be consumed as often (e.g., nuts, nutritional yeast, etc), they are still good for you and occasionally enjoyed ;)

Where do you get your iron?

Lentils are a great source of iron!!!  Make a yummy lentil stew, lentil salad, or lentil pate.

A friend of mine went home for her first vegan holiday and was confronted by some family members on how pale she looked :S  She was wondering how iron played into this and how she could increase her iron intake as a macro veg.


Why is iron intake so important?
Iron is a part of all cells and does many things in our bodies like carrying oxygen from our lungs throughout our bodies and increasing enzymes to help our bodies digest foods.  When our bodies do not have enough iron, many parts of our bodies are affected and we can become anemic.  


What are some signs of anemia?
Symptoms of such iron deficiency includes fatigue, loss of energy, rapid heart beat, shortness of breath and headache, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, pale skin, leg cramps, insomnia, hunger for strange substances such as paper, ice or dirt, upward curvature of the nails, and soreness of the mouth with cracks at the corners.  


Where do I get my iron on a macro veg diet?
It is often assumed that meat is the best source of iron, however many green leafy veggies have three times more iron per calorie than that found in red meat!  For example, a sirloin steak has 1.9 mg of iron per 100 calories, whereas turnip greens have 6 mg of iron per 100 calories.  I went ahead and created a chart for easy reference on how much each basic vegan macro food category has iron:

What times should I increase my iron intake?
Times of high demand include during pregnancy, blood loss from excessive menstrual flow, and in some cases extreme workouts.  A handful of parsley, steamed and sauteed in sesame oil with dulse seaweed and a handful of pumpkin seeds eaten daily will help ;)

Restaurant Review: Down to Earth (Honolulu, HI)

I created a takeout from the salad and hot food bar composed of sesame kale (my favorite!), fresh steamed veggies, tabbouleh,  and hijiki salad.

Winter break is over!!!!  Heading back to Cali!!!  On my way back to Cali from Guam I always stop in Hawaii for a few days to help break up the jet lag :P  Pretty much the only place in Honolulu, HI that I eat at is Down to Earth, which has AMAZING vegan, macro, and gluten free selections!  They are an all vegetarian food market that has a hot foods bar, salad bar, soup/stew bar, grab and go items including vegan manapuas and pizza, and a delhi where you can order vegan milkshakes, juices, burgers, acai bowls, tacos, and other yummies :P They even have a pastry area where practically all of their breads, muffins, and cookies are vegan.  This place is very similar to Whole Foods but better with a lot more options.  Usually after I eat my meal I peruse their  grocery area where they have an abundance of local produce and a pharmacy area where they have all natural vitamins, bath and beauty, and a very good health and wellness staff that knows their stuff.  I highly recommend that you stop here when you take a trip to Hawaii.  Even my family loves it here!  Recommendation, get a nice take out box (like above) take it to the beach and enjoy the island.  You can even go around the island and stop at their other locations for a pit stop.  The location I always go to is located right by the University of Hawaii.  However because of this, the area has its busy high times at 11:30-1pm and 4-6pm.  There is parking up the ramp on the side of the building and you get 1 hour free with validation.

Spicy Sprouts and Shiitake Mushroom Stir Fry

Enjoy as a side dish, on top of whole baked tofu, stir fried whole wheat udon noodles, or make it a spicy soup and cook it in a miso broth :)

My dad always wants me to cook some macro dishes for him whenever I am back at home.  Tonight I made him this macro side dish.  He loves spicy food but macrobiotics highly advises to stay away from spices because it can be too stimulating for our body and hard to digest.  So I thought using Mitoku's hot and spicy sesame oil would be the best macro way for him to still enjoy it.

Spicy Sprouts and Shiitake Mushroom Stir Fry


1/2-1 tbsp Mitoku hot and spicy sesame oil
Bunch of sprouts
5 fresh shiitake mushrooms
Gomasio
Tamari

1. Heat the sesame oil in skillet and add the shiitake mushrooms.  Stir fry until golden brown.  
2. Place sprouts on top of mushrooms, add a little water, and cover skillet to steam for 2-3 mins.
3. Add tamari to taste, sprinkle with gomasio, and stir fry together until well cooked.

A great way to enjoy a little spice in your macro dish!