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Macrobiotic Diet - Common Questions and Insights
Katriona Forrester, B.Soc.Sc, FKI |
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 So, is Macrobiotics a restricted diet ?
An issue which fascinates me currently is the dichotomy of freedom and discipline:
Most people in our culture are feeling overwhelmed with stuff, stress, obligations, no time, no peace - in this context our personal dietary choices appear as a little enclave in which we can exercise our very own personal freedom of choice, relax and enjoy. I love to think so myself. But actually this is sleep-walking. Our food choices have little if anything to do with personal freedom. They have to do with habits, attachments, addictions, beliefs that have been passed on by previous generations, new beliefs propagated by the food industry in the interests of profit.
Very clever. It suits the food industry just fine if we all believe in our divine right to have Christmas dinner every day. And the sicker we get from this belief and practice, the greater profits will be made by the pharmaceutical industry. Everybody knows; just we're all more or less in the conspiracy to propagate the belief that there's little that can be done to change eating habits, our own or anyone else's.
Here we see the reason why Macrobiotics gets such a bad press. After all it threatens the profits of the food, agriculture and chemical industries. Journalists love to refer back to the first published case of a death from practice of Macrobiotics. The case was of a young woman named Beth Ann who died in the USA in 19** while on a diet of nothing but brown rice and marijuana. It was an unfortunate case, and asked for the re-appraisal of how the approach of macrobiotics was being communicated: what kind of claims it was making in what kind of language. The clever trick however is how this single case has been used to discredit the entire body of knowledge and understanding called Macrobiotics. It's as though, for example, the entire system of Family Doctors was discredited by the activities of one Harold Shipman. Thus, Macrobiotics has been dismissed by the press as the ramblings of some insane sect.
Macrobiotics definitely requires us to think about what we are eating, and to make some clear choices in our practice. We'll choose to include some items and some others we won't. Whether this is perceived as "restriction" or as an opportunity to deepen your integrity, will depend on the point of view you take.
From where I am standing, it appears as a great opportunity, and I have to agree that it can be annoying, as it often seems it would be easier and more fun to just be unconscious about all this. Waking people up from this sleep-walking is not the most popular activity. It easily slips into perceived restrictive practices, and the fuddy-duddy image of the domestic science teacher or parent. It is a very delicate art to bring attention to this matter in a way that is non-invasive and respectful. However I do believe that everybody deep down seeks integrity, and is waiting for a wake-up call, so I keep "dancing" within this dichotomy, trying to find out where it sits for myself, and how I can communicate effectively about this urgent matter.
© Copyright Wholistic Research Company 2001
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