This is a book about macrobiotics.

It is an uncommon word not normally used in everyday language, so don't worry if you get it wrong. It's not important. Many people mistakenly call it microbiotics, which, if it has any meaning, it would be the opposite of macrobiotics. Others have called it microbiology. And many simply cannot remember what it is.

That's ok. It's just a name anyway.

The term “macro-bi-what-tics” came from came from Uncle Reggie, who was my (ex)wife's aunt's husband. He was pretty much an ordinary man with ordinary illnesses like heart disease and later, cancer, from which he eventually died.

My (ex)wife and I had introduced him to macrobiotics when he first discovered that his arteries were blocked, and his doctors had recommended by-pass surgery. We told him surgery might not be neccessary if he changed his diet.

At that time, in the early 1990s, it had already been medically proven - by Dr Dean Ornish, author of Dr Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease - that heart disease could actually be reversed and not just prevented by switching to a vegetarian diet.

Since macrobiotics advocates a vegetarian or near-vegetarian diet, we suggested to Uncle Reggie that he try it out to see if it helps. He did not fully adopt the diet recommendations, but he did managed to avoid heart surgery. In gratefulness, he wrote me a THANK YOU letter titled “Maco-bio-what-tics?”

I liked the word :-). So now, it is my turn to say “THANK YOU” to Uncle Reggie for giving me a book title.

Incidentally, the fact that Uncle Reggie came up with a word like this only goes to show that even “ordinary” people can be highly creative. This is food for thought, but I digress...

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What's it all about?

Dictionaries usually define macrobiotics as a way of promoting wellness and longevity, principally through a diet of whole grains, beans and vegetables. Or simply, “the art of longevity”.

Many macrobiotic books explain that macro means “large or great” while bios means “life”. So they might say that macrobiotics is “the art of living a great life”.

Some macrobiotic books give wider (er, more macro) definitions such as understanding and living according to “the order of the universe”.

This is a more accurate definition, since macrobiotics does encompass everything in the universe. Except that it is somewhat abstract and might make the uninitiated go “Huh?”

I like to describe macrobiotics as the study how “everything affects everything”, and applying the understanding gained from this study to attain our goals in life.

It is about how diet, lifestyle, relationships, environment, etc affect our physical health, our thoughts, emotions, attitudes and even our spiritual journey, and vice versa – how our health, thoughts, emotions, etc affect our diet, lifestyle, relationships and environment.

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This book…

This book is a sharing of my personal experiences - my adventures – with macrobiotics.

It is about how I came to know about it, why it appealed to me, what I learnt along the way and in what ways I benefitted.

It is also about some of the people I met along the way, teachers and fellow students, about people who recovered from serious illnesses through macrobiotics as well as those who did not recover.

This is not written as a textbook or guidebook on macrobiotics. I would describe it more as a sharing of anecdotes and reflections, of experiences and thoughts.

I hope you enjoy - and benefit from - reading this book.

By the way, I started writing this book on my 49th birthday today. So this is my “birthday present” to you. I wish you, A Great Life!