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Macrobiotics is a modern adaption of ancient Chinese teachings such as those found in the and the I Ching, as well as Japanese teachings about traditional diets. In that sense, it is nothing new. What's new is that the concept of yin and yang has been modified - in some cases totally turned around - to make it easier for modern people to understand. Also new is the word "macrobiotics" which was coined from two Greek words - macro meaning "big" or "great", and bios meaning "life". GEORGE OSHAWA is the person responsible for these changes and he also introduced macrobiotics to the West, first to Paris then to the United States. He is therefore often considered "the father or modern macrobiotics". Ohsawa wrote a great deal of books and articles, many of them in Japanese and French. His most famous and most popular English book is a small booklet called Zen Macrobiotics. It is the book that introduced many people to macrobiotics in the early 1960s. Some of Ohsawa's ideas, however, are hard for the beginner to understand and they can be open to misinterpretation. One of the most famous of these is the idea of "Number 7 diet", consisting of almost 100 percent brown rice, being the "highest level" of diet. In the 1960s, someone had died from trying to follow this diet - but the person was a hippie who also took drugs - and this gave macrobiotics a bad name. However, if one considers what many poor, rural people in Asia eat, it is actually close to Ohsawa's "Number 7 diet". I would recommend Ohsawa's books only for the more advanced students of macrobiotics. However, there is an excellent book about Ohsawa, his life and his teachings, called Essential Ohsawa, edited by Carl Ferre. MICHIO KUSHI and the late HERMAN AIHARA are two of Ohsawa's students who migrated to America and taught macrobiotics there. Michio has written lots of books on almost all aspects of macrobiotics - theory and philosophy, diet, healing, exercise, diagnosis, holistic health, spiritual development and so on. Some of his better known books include:
Herman is better known for his collections of reflective essays, including:
Herman and his wife Cornelia have also written a book on home remedies called
Students of Micho Kushi who have written numerous books include ALEX JACK and ED ESKO. One student of Herman Aihara is DAVID BRISCOE who wrote A Personal Peace - about his recovery from schizophrenia through macrobiotics. David also hosts the macrobiotics website, Macrobiotics America at www.macroamerica.com Macrobiotic cookbooks include those by Michio's wife, AVELINE KUSHI, Herman's wife CORNELIA AIHARA, Esko's wife WENDY ESKO, Alex's wife, GALE JACK and many, many others. Macrobiotic recovery stories relate the personal experiences of people who have survived cancer, aids and other serious illnesses through macrobitics. They include:
For a fuller listing of macrobiotic books and web resources, visit |
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