Macrobiotic diet: what is it and how does it work?
You are about to discover all the secrets of the macrobiotic diet, a particular diet that is slowly revolutionizing the world of healthy eating. The search for your ideal diet is not easy and it is normal to try and try again before finding the right diet for us. But whatever your choice, if you want to stay fit, you can not help but know our selection of foods get fat (some are unsuspected)!
Macrobiotic foods in balance.
It is therefore a diet that is a little distant from traditional cuisine, but which is spreading and more and more are those who particularly appreciate these new foods and the way they are cooked. Be careful, however, to vary them and to dose them with balance, without drastic extremes or without excessive consumption, because for example there is a risk of vitamin deficiencies or negative consequences on weight and health. The main foods of a macrobiotic diet are unrefined ones, whole grains, some vegetables and leafy greens. The taste and consumption of these foods is spreading and almost everyone consumes and savors them with real pleasure. In which kitchen today there are no reserves of pasta and brown rice in the pantry, bags of all kinds of cereals with the grain that can be cooked in a thousand different ways, bran biscuits, bread, pasta and wholemeal flour and rye rolls, with seeds of soy, sesame and pumpkin, soft and fragrant for a long time? By now the zero-zero and zero white flour have given way to tasty wholemeal flours, sometimes enriched with more types of compound cereals, for sweet or rustic doughs. And we must admit that they are very popular because they are light, tasty, digestible and above all because they do not "swell" compared to the refined ones, which often also generate annoying pathologies, such as colitis, and are really to be avoided. Other foods also belong to the macrobiotic diet, such as onions, carrots, cabbage. A more drastic macrobiotic regime, however, considers it necessary to avoid the consumption of foods that are highly appreciated on our tables both in Italy and in the rest of Europe, such as potatoes, courgettes. , aubergines and even tomatoes, one of the pillars of Mediterranean cuisine.Algae rich in vitamins and mineral salts are very important in the macrobiotic, which are also used as a condiment and in place of Parmesan and molluscs.
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Among the drinks the preference goes to all types of tea obviously without suck. Instead of salt, soy products such as gomasio or tamari are used. Frozen or industrially canned foods are also definitely to be avoided, but this diet also imposes prohibitions that are difficult not to break.
Let's think, for example, of chocolate. What world would it be without chocolate? And then also the coffee! Help! And how do we wake up in the morning? And also without sugar? Calm! Even a good cup of barley can be healthy and wish us a good morning, but without refined white sugar. For some time now, in fact, cane sugar has conquered the palate of many, even those who do not follow a macrobiotic diet, but wholemeal, less caloric, darker in color and with larger grains is preferable. In fact, when cane sugar is too light, it is treated and refined like industrial products; therefore it does not differ much from the white one. The salt must also be marine and untreated. This type of diet in its most restrictive version, advises to avoid in addition to meat, often for ecological reasons and for animal rights battles, all derivatives of animal origin, such as cured meats, dairy products and eggs, tropical fruit juices, use of traditional spices and condiments.
A lifestyle, an oriental philosophy, not just a "particular diet."
Macrobiotic nutrition is not only a particular way of eating, but it is linked to an oriental philosophy, which considers the right balance between yin and yang to be fundamental, two opposing forces present in two types of food, which are well balanced for health. of our body. Yin is linked to autumn and winter, yang to spring and summer. Yin is contained in tofu, leafy vegetables, tea, seaweed, whole grains and also legumes, yang in spices, in meat, in shellfish, in buckwheat, brown rice and also in other foods. These two opposing forces must always be in an optimal balance to achieve physical and mental well-being. It is then necessary to chew food always slowly for good digestion and to savor it better.In this type of diet, the ratio of saturated and unsaturated fats is not always beneficial to health, but is compensated for by other omega 3 and 6 foods.
Therefore, we must always pay close attention to the food products we buy, how we cook them and which foods we combine on the plate. We must listen to our body and understand what it is asking of us at that moment or over a longer period of time, also taking into account the seasons and our physical and mental condition.
How food is cooked is also essential for macrobiotics. This diet prefers steaming. You must not alter the flavor and state of the food you are cooking and therefore wooden ladles, earthenware or stainless steel pots are recommended.
A softer macrobiotic: fewer prohibitions and few difficult renunciations.
You can follow this diet even in a less drastic way, adding all the products of the garden and other vegetables, for example spinach, asparagus and chard, seasonal fruit, especially citrus fruits, possibly local, and even some food. of very healthy animal origin, such as fish and crustaceans. Macrobiotic in Greek means "long life", but for this diet to be truly healthy, food consumption must be planned without exaggerated restrictions and must also include important foods, such as couscous, peanuts, walnuts and hazelnuts and dried chestnuts, oil seeds, soy, some ginger, fresh fruit, sesame, apple cider vinegar, garlic and lemon and all legumes.
Is the macrobiotic diet too demanding? Find out more!
Alternative diets: Mediterranean and vegetarian
Today everyone is very concerned with nutrition and diets are many: some absurdly restrictive, others based even on one or two foods. As for the Mediterranean one, on the other hand, it has long been recognized as beneficial and balanced and from their medical point of view almost all specialists love it and confirm that it works and gives excellent results. This type of diet also gives importance to the balance of foods, their alternation and quantity to achieve an optimal protein and vitamin balance. It prefers healthy and nutritious foods: whole and non-whole grains, olive oil, fruit, vegetables, especially tomatoes and cabbage, all legumes, fish, white meat, eggs; the consumption of red meat and cheeses is recommended less frequently, also because they are the most polluting foods. In fact, the meat industry is today one of the main causes of greenhouse gas emissions. So, in addition to being healthy, it also offers ecological motivations. Even the vegetarian diet is quite valid, as it adds to vegetable proteins those of animal derivatives, such as dairy products and eggs. Rather recently it is regressing, replaced by industrially packaged foods with a consequent increase in often important diseases, such as obesity.
Choosing your type of diet well is important for your health and for the environment, but you should never opt for too drastic diets, especially without the guidance of an expert nutritionist, who follows those who decide to take the most dietary path. suitable for his body and his needs.
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