According to Macrobiotics, this approach lacks integrity because it is based on the simplistic intellectual concept that proteins are good and carbohydrates are bad. Such generalization is naïve and hazardous.

     As is typical of intellectual generalizations, this approach is one-sided and unrealistic. Lasting health requires a broader view of life and an awareness of what is needed to create and maintain balance, both within and with the environment in which we live, work and play.

     The current low-carb diet fad follows a period when many people were avoiding meat and other animal flesh-foods in favor of carbohydrates (as in “carbohydrate loading,” popular among athletes especially), most of which were refined and often sweetened, as in pastries, cookies, desserts, etc.

     According to Macrobiotics, such a diet is too Yin. It makes people want to consume more Yang foods, such as animal flesh- foods, eggs, etc. However, since many health-conscious people follow intellectual concepts in their dietary selections, a new rationalization for consuming those foods which were formerly taboo emerged to justify a change of dietary patterns. In other words, what was formerly considered “bad” had to be rationalized as “good” by a new dietary system for people to stop feeling wrong or guilty to be consuming these things. The low-carb diet supplies a convenient rationalization.

     Macrobiotics classifies meat and other animal flesh- foods as extreme Yang in the spectrum of foods, and sugar-sweetened carbohydrates as extreme Yin. In modern society many people consume foods from both extremes and then wonder why they have such a hard time maintaining balance in health, moods, psychology, emotions and every other area of life.

     According to Macrobiotics, we need to reduce consumption of both Yin and Yang extremes and concentrate on consuming mid-range items in the food spectrum. In temperate and warmer areas of the world, these foods are cooked whole cereal grains and vegetables primarily, with smaller amounts of other foods such as beans, fish, salads and fruits as desired, seasoned with sun-evaporated sea salt and other salt-based condiments.

     Intellectual rationalization of behavior is so prevalent and imbedded in our culture it can be hard to recognize. We need a reason for everything we do if we are mainly controlled by intellect. Emphasis on science and intellectual training in the modern world has reinforced this tendency.

     Macrobiotics, on the other hand, teaches that we must strive to re-integrate ourselves starting from within by consuming a diet which is selected according to the universal principle of Yin/Yang. To the intellectually oriented person, this approach can appear to be confusing or contradictory, and difficult to understand. Intellectual judgment is limited, while supreme, all-embracing judgment is unlimited in scope.

     George Ohsawa, the founder of Macrobiotics, taught that intellectual judgment cannot overcome itself, much as the answer to the Zen koan (riddle) “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” cannot be arrived at by intellectual effort.

     To overcome this conundrum, Ohsawa simply urged people to try Macrobiotics and see what happened. That is, to observe what they felt happening within themselves.

     I followed this advice some 37 years ago, and experienced that integration of mind, body and spirit is as much a physical reality as it is a metaphysical one. That is, that a missing piece to the puzzle of health (wholeness) in every aspect of being lies in the physical aspect, which is affected by what we consume for nourishment every day.

     Whole grains, being foods which grow in an integrated manner, impart this integration to our being when we consume them. True health is wholeness, integration of all aspects of being, not just the physical. However, if we deny or minimize the physical aspect, we are making a big mistake. Many people today think that food is simply a fuel that our body converts into energy, muscle, skin, bone, ligaments, tissues, organs and other physical aspects, and that’s all. This is pretty much the current scientific opinion.

     Of course, it is easy to understand why science up to recent times has held this opinion, because it did not consider the metaphysical or spiritual aspects of life and all matter as being demonstrable or verifiable. With Quantum theory, a new vision of the universe emerged: that matter and energy are one and the same, and that all forms, shapes and objects are simply patterns of energy. Further that every event that occurs in the universe affects every other event to some degree.

     In dietary terms, that means each food carries an energy pattern; i.e., vibrates with varying clusters of frequencies. By consuming different foods with different energy patterns (or frequencies), we affect the energy patterns of our own bodies and beings.

     To produce and maintain an integrated energy pattern, we need to consume those foods which possess in themselves an integrated energy pattern sympathetic with our own. That is, we must consume those foods which will restore and maintain a resonance rather than a dissonance with our own life-supportive frequencies.

     Foods and beverages with dissonant frequencies will inevitably cause our own coherence to become compromised, and ultimately to break down. Life is order, and to maintain this order we must consume that which will maintain this order within ourselves. Stress is caused by dissonance. Resonance creates peace and well-being, or return to wholeness and health.

     The integral quality of whole grains, with their well-integrated balance of yin and yang aspects, assures that those who consume them will experience well-being and peace over time, and those who do not will experience the opposites: chaos and disorder in thinking and behavior. Struggle is the experience of disorder and our reaction to disorder within. Struggle to restore balance and well-being requires extra energy which could be better spent on more life- supportive activities, such as immune-system support and maintaining healthy functioning of our body systems, etc.

     Since we are composed of animal protein and hemoglobin, the principle of balance suggests we should eat what is opposite to maintain balance, such as vegetation. However, since vegetation is Yin, we should choose the more Yang (compact and integrated) forms of vegetal life, grains and seeds as primary foods to maintain a balanced, active (Yang) life.

     These foods are also much easier for our bodies to process, and produce fewer waste products. The organs that eliminate waste have less work to do, so toxins do not build up to cause disorders. Waste products of meat metabolism include pyruvic and ureic acids which can acidify the blood, leaving us susceptible to a host of infectious disorders, as well as gradual erosion of cells as acidity destroys their integrity.

     Protein is also not the best energy source, since it first has to be reduced to simpler sugars which fuel cellular metabolism. This requires more energy than is required to process carbohydrates. On the other hand, simple sugars create energy which does not last very long. Complex carbohydrates, however, such as those found in whole grains, beans and vegetables, supply sustained, balanced energy to supply human energy requirements.

     One reason many people feel carbohydrates make them gain weight is because they consume refined, sweetened and yeasted forms of carbohydrates, such as pastries, doughnuts, sweet rolls, sugar- sweetened jams and jellies, and sweetened breakfast cereals, to name a few.

     Complex carbohydrates found in whole grains, however, are metabolized more slowly and steadily, giving a sustained level of energy throughout the day. The fiber helps keep the digestive tract clean and free of impacted material. If one has been used to eating improperly, it may take some time for the body to re-adjust and stabilize its metabolic and other functions, since in older people, there may be many years of improper eating.

     We are really making life more difficult for ourselves when we do not eat correctly. Conversely, when we eat properly, we are enabling our body to maintain its integrity. We then reflect this integrity in our thoughts, words, and actions. It becomes easier to accomplish whatever we want to do with our lives. That is, we have discovered the formula for health, success, and happiness all at the same time by Macrobiotic practice.

     In most machinery, if one part is absent, it ceases operating properly, or it functions at reduced capacity. Likewise, our body-beings function at reduced capacity or improperly if proper nourishment is neglected.

     A low-carb diet which is based on an increase in the consumption of animal flesh-foods may help people whose systems have become too Yin (expanded, sluggish, flaccid or lacking tone) for whatever amount of time it takes to restore balance of Yin and Yang in their systems. However, due to the unstoppable attraction of Yang for its opposite, it will inevitably lead to “bingeing” — consuming Yin foods such as alcoholic beverages or sweetened and refined carbohydrate foods that low-carb dieters are supposed to avoid.

     Since Macrobiotics is based on a more centered balance of Yin and Yang factors, it becomes much easier for each person to control consumption of extreme Yin and Yang foods over time. This in turn makes it easier for the body to maintain wellness.

     Consuming too much protein can have undesirable consequences. One is blood acidosis. Imbalanced blood pH can have serious consequences, such as nerve disorders like MS, fibromyalgia, joint problems, like arthritis and rheumatism, premature aging and destruction of collagen in the skin, and general systemic deterioration.

     In conclusion, I predict the current high-protein, low-carb diet fad will lead to more cases of diverticulitis, bowel inflammation, duodenal and intestinal cancer, Crone’s disease, systemic over-acidity and related disorders such as gout, arthritis, rheumatism, heart disease, high blood pressure, renal failure, congestive liver disorders and hepatic failure.

     There is a way to stop the cyclic rotation from too Yin to too Yang: restore systemic balance with Macrobiotics and the well-being the heart, mind and soul yearns for will become much easier to achieve over time.

     Fred Pulver is a writer and teacher of Macrobiotics residing in Carbondale, Colorado.