Macrobiotics and Me

Greetings!

Do you ever feel like it’s one step forward and two (or sometimes ten!!) steps back? I have often felt like that when trying to make positive changes. But I think the very nature of growth and development is about this. It’s ok to take those steps back and it’s an essential part of the process so we mustn’t beat ourselves u p too much when we find ourselves doing things that we know are not that good for us. Of course, in an ideal world we’d all be pillars of health but our reality is that there are hurdles we must overcome before we get there. So don’t forget those backwards steps can be useful in taking us even further along this road to greater health and vitality.  

Breakfast

Oat porridge with oat milk and a drizzle of honey (it’s best not to use honey too much because although it’s a natural product, it has the same effect on the body as a simple sugar which we want  to try to avoid as this creates a surge in blood sugar levels but that surge is soon followed by a crashing low and then a craving for something to create another surge and then the vicious circle begins!)

Nettle and mint tea

Lunch

Brown rice, celery salad, chickpea salad, salad leaves & sweet potato kinpira

Mu tea

Dinner

I ate out tonight at a Thai restuaurant and had some mixed veg (broccoli, baby corn, pepper, bean sprouts), pok choi, steamed cod and some coconut rice. Very yummy!

Grain coffe with malt syrup

Another rare snack free day!! I hope to see a rise in the number of snack free days in April. Obviously there is nothing wrong with snacking if you are hungry but it depends on what you snack on and if you are snacking when you aren’t hungry then I think that highlights something that needs to be dealt with.

Sweet macro dreams

Sharlene

Good evening!

There seems to be so much information about health and well being nowadays that it can be difficult deciding what is what. It’s easy to get caught up in the notion that there is a quick fix one size fits all solution to greater health but that is so unrealistic. I used to believe that health was a matter of fate but now I realise that I can take responsibility for my health and my future by investing in a good quality of daily life. Our health is determined by what we do on a daily basis not by the weekly healthy meal or visit to the gym.  Of course, this means that we can’t just sit back and watch the world go by but we must actively participate. Every day we must make sure that we are taking care of ourselves.

Breakfast

I wasn’t hungry this morning so I had just had an umeboshi plum and shoyu drink

Lunch

Brown rice, chickpea salad (made with carrot, onion, garlic, green beans, brocolli and black olives) & stir fried cabbage

Rooibos tea

Dinner

Butter bean broth made with spring onion, kombu, green beans and butter beans

Brown rice, mixed salad with mustard dressing, celery salad (made with apple, celery, walnuts, sultanas, apples), chickpea salad and kinpira of sweet potato

Snacks/other

Lemon pudding (I’m seriously addicted to this…I’m already planning when I can make it again. I am going to have to post the recipes for this one as it’s just soo delicious. It kind of reminds me of lemon sorbet)

Popcorn

Grain coffee

Love & light

Sharlene

Good evening!

Today has been one long feast of wonderful food and wonderful company, and of course lots of time in the kitchen :O)

Breakfast

Pinto beans (from last night), brown rice and pressed cabbage with furikake

Yogi African spice tea

Lunch

Leek soup

Brown rice, steamed brocolli with tahini and shoyu dressing, red lentil dahl, mashed squash, pressed cabbage, spring onion garnish and a pickled onion

Lemon pudding

Bancha tea

Lunch was lovely today and my guests enjoyed it. It’s so wonderful to cook for others and to know that they appreciate such wonderful foods.

Dinner

Cauliflower soup

Fried brown rice with onion and shoyu, steamed green beans, pressed carrot and cabbage, mixed salad leaves with mustard dressing, chickpea salad, pickled daikon, stir fried cabbage with roasted walnuts and some shoyu and tahini dressing

Apple cake and cashew cream (courtesty of my guest) which was absolutely yummylicious!

Grain coffee

What a beautiful day.

I think next week it’s time to eat much more simply again. I felt really good after eating more simply last week and as though I had increased energy levels and more focus.  It reminds me that it really is some kind of juggling act between eating simply and eating a wider selection of ingredients.

Love & gratitude

Sharlene

Good evening!

I didn’t feel hungry at breakfast time this morning so I decided not to eat although I did have a small cup of grain coffee.

Brunch

Quinoa, arame & mushroom & mackerel (left overs from yesterday).

Dinner

Brown rice, pinto beans made with onion, carrot & brocolli, pressed cabbage

Lemon pudding

Grain coffee

Snacks/other

roasted almonds, sesame seed bar with honey, daikon pickles (did I mention to you that the pickles I made a couple of weeks ago have turned out amazing. I was so pleasantly surprised by the taste of them. I made some baby onion pickles which taste just like pickled onions but so much better because they are home made. The daikon ones are delicious too. Pickles are really good for digestion and promoting good bacteria in your stomach :O)

Tomorrow will be a busy day as I am cooking lunch and dinner to share with friends. At lunch I am cooking for friends who are not macrobiotic. It will be interesting to receive their feedback (I will let you know how it goes).  I always find that people who taste the food for the first time are surprised by how lovely it tastes yet how simple it is.  Healthy food doesn’t have to be bland and tasteless or isn’t just about salads and boring vegetables. This alternative way of eating is so rich in tastes, textures, colours and flavours and it’s so good for you. The best of both worlds!

Macro love

Sharlene

Good evening!

It’s been another day of cooking and eating such beautiful, wholesome and delicious foods :O)

Breakfast

Miso soup from yesterday

Brown rice and barley porridge with stewed apples, roasted sunflower seeds and oat milk

Lunch

Broad bean broth from yesterday

Redbush tea

Snacks/other

Halva sweetened with grape juice and sultanas, popcorn, gomasio (I made some and couldn’t resist a couple of spoonfuls…!), raisins

Dinner

Arame, onion and mushroom with lemon juice, ginger juice, mirin and shoyu (I love this tangy tasting dish!)

Quinoa, kale with mustard dressing, mackarel & roasted parsnips

Grain coffee

Delicious, delicious, delicious!

Love

Sharlene

Good day!

This evening I will be going to bioenergetics which I am looking forward to. I am feeling so thankful that there are therapies out there to help us. I think therapy has many negative connotations attached to it but it’s so rewarding and helpful.

You know, up until I discovered macrobiotics I went through life thinking that I was perfectly well on all levels. But since looking more closely at what is going on inside me, it has made me realise that I have pain and darkness and things that need to be dealt with. We all do. It’s about bringing light to those things and trying to heal them in order to be free to experience the beauty of life in the here and now.

Macrobiotics certainly helps with this process. It helps to set us free from those things which are preventing us from blossoming. By eating well and getting and staying in touch with our real selves we can allow the vibrant energy of the universe to flow through us. Eating well and being true to ourselves is tough work in today’s society but we are waking up to the realisation that we can achieve this long lasting happiness and fulfilment rather than fleeting glimpses of it. But that takes work, it takes courage to face the darkness and it takes an investment from each of us to spend time on ourselves. So invest now and go forth and blossom.

Onto the foodstuff:

Breakfast

Brown rice miso soup with onion and carrot

Brown rice and barley porridge with oat milk

Liquorice tea

Lunch

Millet balls, broad bean broth made with beans, sweetcorn, leeks, carrot & kombu, steamed leeks and kinpira of sweet potato and carrot

Stewed apple

Rooibos tea

Dinner (although I haven’t eaten dinner yet it will be a ‘on the go’ job as I am not at home this evening)

Steamed leeks with ume su, sweet potato and carrot kinpira, stir fried cabbage & green lentils

Broad bean soup

Mochi with barley malt syrup

Grain coffee

I feel like I’ve managed to break free from the ‘I need sweets’ syndrome that seemed to dominate me for a little while. I feel it was spending some quality time with my family that helped that and I also feel that the work I am doing in therapy is helping too. If we are eating sweets all the time then we can ask ourselves why do we need that sweetness and question what needs might be missing from our own lives.  It’s such an incredible feeling when things begin to make sense!

Cherry blossom love

Sharlene

Greetings!

What a wonderful day it has been!

I’ve just had a really delicious dinner…ahhh!!! Taking time to cook lovely food and then making an effort with presentation and sitting down to a nice space (candles, no other distubances) feels so nourishing.

Breakfast

Miso soup from yesterday

Millet and barley porridge with oat milk

Lunch

Barley, puy lentils with carrot and mushroom, blanched spring greens

Bancha tea

Dinner

Deep fried millet balls with a ginger and shoyu dipping sauce, stir fried cabbage with walnuts, green lentils (same as lunch), steamed leeks with ume su. pickled daikon kinpira of sweet potato and carrot and pickled daikon

Stewed apples with cinnamon and a splash of oat cream ;o)

Breathe deep tea

Snacks/other

Well, I almost made it through the day without one single snack but when I got home after work I was so hungry so I ate some tofu cheese that I had in the fridge (bascially, it’s just tofu coated in miso paste and left in the fridge for about a week)

I hope you are finding the time and energy to look after yourself well.

Blessings & love

Sharlene

Dinner

Hello :O)

I just have to share with you some words from a book I am (still) reading (called Living in the Light):

‘Dis-ease is a message from our bodies, telling us that, in some way, we are not following our true energy or supporting our feelings. The body gives us many such signals, starting with relatively subtle feelings of tiredness and discomfort. If we don’t pay attention to these cues and make the appropriate changes, our bodies will give us stronger signals including aches, pains and minor illnesses. If we still don’t change, a serious or fatal illness or accident may eventually occur. The stronger messages can ooften be avoided by paying attention to the subtler ones. But once a strong message has come, it is never too late to be healed, if that is what we truly desire. At this point, however, may beings do not choose the healing. They decided to leave their bodies and start over with a new one (or move to another realm) rather than trying to work their way through all the old patterns in this one’

This really sums up so many things that I think macrobiotics is about. Thank you to the author Shakti Gawain who puts is so well.

Breakfast

Brown rice miso soup with daikon, carrot, spring onion & nori

Brown rice with oatmilk

Lunch

Brown rice, aduki bean stew from day 22, blanched spring greens with ume su, pressed radishes

Dinner

Lentil soup from day 22 with seitan, spring onion and pressed radish

Seitan with a tangy mustard sauce

Snacks/other

Brown rice and quinoa cakes with strawberry spread and tofu cheese (separately!)

Aduki truffles 

Chocolate rice pudding (made with brown rice, carobella and oat milk)

Grain coffee with oat milk

Redbush/rooibos tea

Yumdiddlydum!

Lots of light

Sharlene

Howdy!

Can you believe it’s almost April already…yikes!

Do you find that often people associate being healthy with deprivation of pleasure in one way or another? I guess I kind of experienced this when I tried detox diets or eating healthily before. But then I discovered macrobiotics and I realised that it being healthy doesn’t necessarily have to invovle deprivation.

I have found macrobiotics to be the complete opposite of deprivation. I don’t think I have ever in my life eaten such a wide variety of amazingly delicious foods. But it is not just food. Macrobiotics has helped me to grow and to learn so much about myself and about life. It is a road that continues to unfold before me, it winds, it bends and sometimes I fall off the road, or I get a bit lost but I know that is all part of this lifelong journey to health and happiness.  

Breakfast

Lentil soup from yesterday

Millet porridge with oat milk and date syrup

Lunch

Seitan stir fry (mmm, I love seitan) with leeks, carrot and cabbage and roasted sesame seeds

Snacks/other

Carob and grain coffee aduki beans truffles (these were soooo delicious)

Grain coffee with oat milk

I skipped dinner tonight as I wasn’t feeling hungry and I felt as though my body could be doing with the rest. :O)

Light, light & more light

Sharlene

Hey!

I went for a little ride on the yin and yang roller coaster today…

I made myself some VERY salty popcorn which left me craving fruit juice which I just couldn’t resist. This is a good example of when you have something very yang, your body sends out signals for attracting some very yin things to create balance.

Breakfast

Miso soup from yesterday with steamed spring greens and lemon slice

Mugwort mochi with date syrup

Chamomile and spearmint tea

Lunch

Lentil soup (made with onion, brocolli, cauliflower, kombu) with mochi

Dinner

Aduki bean stew (made with carrot, leeks, onion, ginger, brocolli) with millet

Snacks/other

Salted popcorn

Ready salted crisps

Small piece of naan bread!

1/2 glass pineapple juice & 1/2 glass of apple and boysenberry juice

Aduki beans with oat milk and date syrup (very soothing and yum!)

It’s late here now and I must get myself to bed!

Macrolicious love

Sharlene