Category 01•
on August 17th, 2010•
JOHN KOZINSKI
John offers classes covering a wide range of topics. Classes may be tailored to meet specific interests. John is available to teach in the United States and internationally.
New York, New York
Time: 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM Lecture Cost: $25.00
Contact Information; 413-623-5925
Restaurant Opens at 11:30 AM
Learn the latest information on Macrobiotic lifestyles for health and healing through the experience of master teacher and health researcher, John Kozinski. John has taught and counseled thousands of students in his private practice and at the Kushi Institute for over 30 years.
September 12, 2010 What Your Face Reveals About Health
Learn the secrets of oriental diagnosis. Macrobiotic visual diagnosis of the face can see problems in your organs before serious illness arise. John has combined modern macrobiotic diagnosis methods with traditional diagnosis from oriental medicine, to make a more complete and accurate system of health evaluation.
October 3, 2010 Myths and Truths About Food and Health
Food has a powerful impact on health and healing. There are ,also, incredible ideas about health that can change your life. At the same time, there are misunderstandings about food regarding veganism, raw foods, supplements, cholesterol, fats and the four food groups . Many myths about health,also, abound. We will examine the myths and truths of food and health through the philosophy of balance, to sort out the real from the unreal.
October 24, 2010 The Eight Macrobiotic Healing Strategies
Discover the fundamental healing methods and strategies of healing according to the principles of balance. All natural methods can be a part of a macrobiotic healing approach but some are more important than others. Learn about a larger view of macrobiotic healing can embrace all methods of natural healing.
December 12, 2010 Extreme Foods That Weaken Vitality
Learn about the dangers to health of many modern foods that we eat. These foods can weaken our vitality and cause sickness. In this class John will explain which foods to limit or avoid to promote your best health. Learn about chemicals, sugars, stimulants and even natural foods that can weaken your health.
Category 01•
on June 3rd, 2010•
Macrobiotic Nutrition
JUNE 3, 2010
by phiyakushi
I decided to write this article to further clarify a point I brought up in a previous post, “Macrobiotics Is Not Nutritional Science“, in which I lamented how some macrobiotic teachers turn to nutritional science to justify and explain various claims when it is completely unnecessary and may furthermore lead to incorrect dietary conclusions that may even be dangerous. By using nutritional analytical science to justify macrobiotic conclusions those teachers throw away an opportunity to share the unique approach and way of thinking and view of life that macrobiotics has to offer.
Nutritional Analysis
As outlined by the Wikipedia: Nutritional science investigates the metabolic and physiological responses of the body to diet. This approach involves the study and analysis of nutrients that are used and excreted by the body. Essentially, nutritional science looks at two things: 1.) the analysis of nutrients and 2.) how those nutrients are used by the human body.
In addition to calories, nutrients are grouped into categories like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and so on. Based on these categories then recommendations include, for example, eliminating trans-fats, adding omega-3 fatty acids, eating foods with anti-oxidant properties and so on. Accordingly, one should incorporate a whole list of nutrients in order to maintain one’s health and avoid or prevent many diseases. Ongoing studies continue to reveal the benefits or dangers of various nutrients leading to new recommendations, policies and supplements. Generally speaking, according to the latest nutritional scientific findings we should be eating a plant based diet that contains all the essential nutrients. But recommendations to get these nutrients from which specific foods, how they should be prepared and other details are absent and if we aren’t getting enough essential nutrients then supplementation is recommended. This is fundamentally the extent of nutritional science.
Macrobiotic Nutrition
Macrobiotic Nutrition includes the full scope of Nutritional Analysis but also goes far beyond it. Not only is it concerned with nutrients and metabolic response but also how such nutrients came about, how they are prepared, processed, stored, transported, farmed or raised, the season they grew in, the climate and geography and the evolutionary development of the plant or animals species. from whence they came Regarding metabolic function, Macrobiotic Nutrition is not only concerned with the body but also a person’s dietary, medical and health history, their family history, their mental and emotional disposition, their aspirations and ambitions, lifestyle habits, work environment, cultural influences, genetic and ancestral influences, seasonal and climate influences, geographical influences and evolutionary development as a species and more.
Macrobiotic Nutrition also seeks to answer the fundamental questions of “why?”: Why do we eat the foods that we do? Why are we hungry? Why do we eat at all? It seeks to ask questions and solve problems from not only from a position of academic authority but also from a place of child-like naivete. In this way we can draft some basic nutritional guidelines that even a child can understand, for example:
- Don’t eat food from another planet unless you live there or unless you are an alien.
- It’s easier to eat plants since they don’t run away when you try to catch them.
- We are not fish so don’t eat a lot of fish food unless you want to become like a fish.
- To stay as a human being eat food that makes you human.
- When you are hungry then eat and when you are not hungry then don’t eat.
These sample basic Macrobiotic Nutritional principles can and have been further expanded upon by my father, Michio Kushi, into what he formulated as “Macrobiotic Dietary Recommendations.” Along with many other recommendations, he suggests that we , being human, should eat whole grains as our principle food since grain eating caused the evolutionary development of humans. The recommendations he suggests are not meant to be offered as a prescribed diet, but instead as a conclusion, based on Macrobiotic Nutrition, for what humans should be generally eating. Additional adjustments must be added and tailored to fit specific individual needs and circumstances.
Macrobiotic Nutrition is not only concerned with “macro” influences but “micro” influences as well. Where Nutritional Science stays primarily focused on the molecular level, Macrobiotic Nutrition is also concerned with the atomic level, the sub-atomic level, the electrical and energetic level and even with the empty spaces in between. In short, Macrobiotic Nutrition is concerned with every influence on every level.
Macrobiotic Nutrition vs. Nutritional Analysis
Without the larger context of Macrobiotic Nutrition, Nutritional Analysis will always present a distorted view of what we should be eating. A while ago it was found that eating the fiber from oats was beneficial for heart disease. This finding was then exploited by the food industry to promote oatmeal and adding extra fiber to foods. What was ignored was the fact that all whole grains contain fiber, not just oats.
Proponents of Nutritional Analysis will recommend, for example, to take omega 3 fatty acids with little concern about the source and whether it is from fish, krill, algae, seeds or nuts. Macrobiotic Nutrition, on the other hand, is not only concerned about the differences in the sources of omega 3 and but also how it is prepared and processed, what is ingested together with it, when it is ingested, how such a deficiency could occur in the first place, who is ingesting it and the condition and health history of the person and on and on. The fact that a nutrient like an omega 3 fatty acid comes from a fish as opposed to a seed is of a great significance in Macrobiotic Nutrition. The further we step back and include larger additional considerations and influences then the more significant these differences become.
Lycopene, is a nutrient found in tomatoes and in watermelons and while it may not matter from a analytical point of view where you get it from it makes a huge difference from a macrobiotic nutritional point of view. Not only is there the obvious difference between a tomato and watermelon, but also how the tomato was grown, how it is prepared and many other factors are significant when it comes to Macrobiotic Nutrition.
Beta-Carotene, the nutrient found in carrots that make them red-orange, was found to have beneficial health properties. Because of this companies that sell Nutritional Supplements created Beta-Carotene supplements. It was later discovered that those supplements were actually harmful. Beta-Carotene is only beneficial when it is eaten in the form of a carrot. Macrobiotic Nutrition always recommends eating nutrients in their whole original form first and foremost. This and the other examples mentioned above illustrate the differences between Nutritional Analysis and Macrobiotic Nutrition.
Macrobiotic Nutrition can also predict findings that Nutritional Analysis has yet to discover. Macrobiotic teachers have always promoted eating whole grains and plant-based foods for many decades while such foods are being recommended by Nutritional Analysis only more recently. In another example, it has been recently found that tomatoes are beneficial for cancer prevention. However, future studies by Nutritional Analysis will reveal that tomatoes are beneficial only for certain types of cancers and not all of them, where Macrobiotic Nutrition has already been recommending tomatoes for prostate cancer and not for breast cancer.
Same Universe, Different Paradigms
A simple way to better understand the difference behind the thought processes and logic between Nutritional Analysis and Macrobiotic Nutrition is by looking at the Japanese way of addressing a letter versus the American way doing the same thing. When a person addresses a letter in Japan, they start with the country first followed by the state, town, street, building, apartment, last name and, finally, the first name. The American way of addressing a letter begins with the addressee’s first name followed by the last name, street, town, state and lastly, the country. The focus, or emphasis is on the small toward the great or large where in the Japanese way, the emphasis is from the large to the small.
Although it really does not matter in which direction you write the address, since all the information provided is necessary to deliver the letter, what is important to note is where the emphasis is placed in terms of value. In the Japanese way of addressing the letter the country comes first. The emphasis is placed on the larger differences than the smaller ones whereas in the American way of addressing a letter the emphasis is placed on the smaller differences first and then the larger ones.
Similarly, in Macrobiotic Nutrition, emphasis is placed first on the larger differences than on the smaller nutrients as it is in Nutritional Analytical Science. Therefore in Macrobiotic Nutrition, for example, the fact that we are human beings and not, say, fish, is a primary concern when deciding what to we should be eating. This is the reason why grains are, first and foremost, recommended because they are food for land animals and, more specifically, mammals and, even more precisely, humans.
Compare this approach to Nutritional Analysis which emphasizes molecular chemistry and biology and results in recommendations in the form of nutritional supplementation with little emphasis and concern for the source, growth, development, evolution and processing of those nutrients. Such a limited and narrow view is similar to trying to deliver a letter knowing only the addressee’s name and street address and not knowing if one is in the right town, state or even country. By approaching the question of nutrition from a “macro” view beginning with the fact that we are of this planet, that we are animals and not plants, and that we are humans then it is safe to conclude that we should probably derive the majority of our nutrition from grains, seeds and modern plants.
In summary, while explanations based on nutritional analysis is a part of and can be used in macrobiotics, they are insufficient and if relied upon alone are incorrect and can lead to serious health problems. Much of today’s distorted nutritional views stems from the reliance upon limited nutritional analysis. In order to solve these problems we must approach the problem of nutrition from a different level of thinking. As Einstein once said, “Problems cannot be solved by the same level thinking that created them.” Macrobiotic Nutrition offers that different level of thinking.
I hope this helps clarify the value and significance of Macrobiotic Nutrition and it’s superiority over relying upon Nutritional Analysis for dietary guidance.
