Note: If you’d rather read an article instead of watching the video, there is a transcription below for your convenience. 🙂
Table of Contents
Introduction
Yo what’s up guys, this is David Hoang coming at you from supplementsuperhero.com, and today I’m going to be doing a review of the macrobiotic diet.
So, a very interesting diet that I had absolutely nothing about decided to do some research on it.
And basically what it is, it’s a fad diet that stems from Zen Buddhism, and it’s essentially a … the whole philosophy behind it is that it’s about eating and preparing food in a way that balances the yin and yang.
Okay. So if you’re familiar with the concept of yin and yang, essentially the balance of white and dark.
History of the Macrobiotic Diet
So, I know this whole thing is a little woo, woo, but that was sort of the foundation of what the diet was based on.
It was invented by this Japanese guy named George Ohsawa back in the 1930s, and this guy really was like really, really smart for the time.
Apparently he wrote like 300 books in Japanese, 20 books in French, and claims to have actually cured himself of tuberculosis when he was like 19 years-old or something like that. So, really interesting guy.
And the emphasis of the diet is that it’s based on eating locally grown foods, and to really limit animal products.
So, that’s kind of the general principle they follow, especially a big, big focus on whole grains.
And I kind of alluded to this quite a bit, but it’s kind of more of a philosophy and a lifestyle than more of like a traditional diet; which is really interesting.
Now, a couple of recommendations in terms of cooking products, they ideally want you to cook with like glass or wood, as opposed to like using plastic and try to avoid electric ovens, which I think more of the mainstream…conventional, contemporary methods are kind of going away from the stricter macrobiotic diet.
And, as I said before, the big focus is really whole grains and vegetables. If you’re eating a lot of whole grains, if you’re eating a lot of vegetables, you’re going to be really good on this diet if you just kind of keep that in mind, keep that in the back of your head.
There are some suggested portions, so when you’re eating like whole grains, especially rice, especially brown rice, I should say not white rice.
But, when it comes to whole grains that should be about like 40 to 60% of your diet. With vegetables, that’s maybe about 25 to 30% of your diet, so that’s essentially the majority of it.
Vegetables, whole grains…that’s it.
But you can also include like beans and legumes, you need your proteins, so I do recommend beans, so that’s probably a five to 10% of the diet. Miso soup like 5% the diet.
Traditionally…or, naturally, other naturally processed foods like five to 10%, animal type products are allowed, but should be avoided, but when needed, those animal foods can be introduced as needed.
Like when you’re making a transition, or if you have a dietary deficiency, introduce those animal products.
Fish is allowed; fish, seaweed, that is allowed a couple of times a week in general, or as needed I should say.
Macrobiotic Diet Benefits
So, there are a couple of benefits in the macrobiotic diet.
I would say one, it’s a great way to help reduce insulin resistance, so if you’re really focused on a lot of those whole grains and you’re really avoiding a lot of those simple sugars or simple carbohydrates
It’s really, really good for your insulin levels, your blood sugar levels. It’s great for that, which essentially will help with your overall weight.
And, overall it’s a very healthy diet, in general, to follow. I mean, like the principles, eating whole grains, eating like the brown rice for example, eating vegetables…that’s really good.
Beans, legumes also very good.
It has the potential to prevent a lot of diseases, although you can’t really have any strong medical claims about it.
And, a lot of big fans of the marcrobiotic diet are sometimes, they sometimes do make these kind of big claims, but can’t really make some of those medical claims because it’s not FDA approved.
It’s not a drug or anything like that. Also it helps, it provides some flexibility, right?
So some diets that are just really, really strict and really stringent…they suck. Okay. Like you have to like starve yourself in some cases, but this you can actually eat. There’s like flexibility there.
And also, a flexibility in the sense of the stuff that you can’t really eat…they do allow from time to time. For example, meat. Meat is considered sort of banned, but it’s not always banned.
You’re allowed to introduce it and have intermittent amounts. And you can kind of choose, right? It’s not like an extremely 100% strict diet that you’ve got to follow.
You do what your body essentially signals to you. You have a little bit of choice with this diet, with this lifestyle.
Cons of the Macrobiotic Diet
Now, there are some disadvantages to it.
For example, if you’re living this macrobiotic lifestyle, you might run into lack of nutrition, lack of nutrients.
So, this is one big criticism when it came to, like, kind of the traditional, old macrobiotic methods, because I know some hardcore macrobiotic people would just eat simply, just whole grains.
Just whole grains…drink water…that’s it. And, that’s not necessarily that nutritious.
Now, fruits aren’t really highly recommended in this diet either. So a lot of the vitamins, a lot of the minerals that you’re going to get from fruits aren’t going to be there.
So, you’re going to have to supplement quite a bit with this diet. You know, especially when it comes to vitamins like vitamin B12, vitamin D, vitamin C…a big one.
Also, it might be hard to get an adequate amount of protein. Yes, they do recommend beans and you can get proteins from certain vegetables and whatnot, but nothing brings to the table protein like animal products.
So, that is one thing to keep in mind. And of course you know, for people who love fruit, this diet’s kind of, it’s going to kind of suck for you because fruit’s not highly recommended in the diet.
It also sucks for animal lovers, err, not animal lovers. It’s great for animal lovers. I would say it sucks for meat lovers. It sucks for dairy lovers. And, I would say also … Nose is itchy.
Okay. Anyways, lastly, it might be borderline overhyped, and maybe just a bit too spiritual, maybe a bit too woo, woo for some.
The whole, kind of, balancing yin and yang, just might be a little too weird for some people. So, if you’re not into that, you’re not into all the hype, you might not be a big fan of the diet.
Conclusion
So, anyways, hopefully this helped guys. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.
And, chances are, if you’re watching this video, you might be interested in dieting. You might be interested in losing weight, burning fat, and if that’s the case, I’ve got a free fat burner for you guys to check out at supplementsuperhero.com/burn.
Check it out now guys, for those of you who are in the US, for those of you who are in Canada, it’s exclusive to you guys.
It’s essentially…you pay five bucks, and then you’re essentially getting a supplement that’s worth like 20, 30, $40 for free.
Just pay the shipping, get yourself a free trial of this fat burning supplement guys. So go there now, while it lasts.
Supplementsuperhero.com. And, if you enjoyed the video, please like comment, share, subscribe, and as always, Supp It Up.