My Macrobiotic Days and Why I Stopped being Macrobiotic

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You do find that some of the information in the book Ikigai Diet is similar to the teachings of macrobiotic diet; well, that is because macrobiotic diet is also based on traditional Japanese dietary philosophies. The things I talked about in the book is common to Japanese ancient martial arts, different forms of natural medicine and spiritual practices; they aren’t unique to macrobiotics.

Having said that, I did study and practice macrobiotic diet many years ago. It was back in 1980s when I lived in England and studied Shiatsu at British School of Shiatsu. As part of our curriculum, we studied macrobiotic philosophy since the Shiatsu I learned was based on Masunaga Shiatsu and macrobiotics.

Yes, I did eat brown rice and miso soup every day, and cut carrots diagonally to include both Yin side and Yang side in each cutting piece.

I was a vegetarian and vegan, and didn’t eat any sweets other than couscous cake which was a popular macrobiotic sweet at that time.

I can’t remember how long I was macrobiotic, but after a few years, I gradually began including other foods in my diet, and I became a regular natural food eater. When I returned to Japan after 4 years of living in England, which was filled with studies and experiences of holistic culture over there, I started including regular Japanese foods in my diet; yakitori, ramen, dumplings, and stir-fry pork with ginger, the stuff considered to be the foods of demons. Yes, Japanese foods were far worse than the dishes common among natural food eaters in England.