Because of COVID-19, many people find that they have more opportunity to cook healthy meals at home. Therefore, it’s essential to have a diet plan that is enjoyable, satisfying and fulfills your nutrition needs. If you are looking for a way of eating that is great for your physical and mental well-being and allows you to eat food you actually like, the macrobiotic diet is for you. It promotes stability, boosts your moods and energy and promotes long term health and wellbeing. However, what is macrobiotic cooking? And how does one make a healthy meal? Let’s take a look!
Macrobiotics is a plant-based diet that improves not only physical health, but also spiritual and mental health. Plant-based foods that you can eat are categorized as grains, beans, vegetables, soups, seeds, nuts, fruits, naturally pickled and fermented foods and mild beverages. In addition, you should minimize or avoid eggs, dairy, and animal foods. Concentrate more on adding than minimizing. As you add more healthy foods into your diet, you naturally decrease the unhealthy ones.
Here are some foods to start with:
Grains: brown rice, barley, millet, bulgur, couscous, oatmeal, polenta, udon and Italian semolina pasta, and unyeasted sourdough bread.
Beans: lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, and humus.
Vegetables: daikon, napa cabbage, kale, arugula, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, carrots, sweet potatoes and winter squash.
Soup: Miso and a variety of vegetable soups
Naturally pickled and fermented foods: brine pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, apple cider vinegar and unyeasted sourdough bread.
Seaweed: nori, kombu, and wakame.
Traditionally prepared, Non-GMO soy products: miso, shoyu, tofu, soy milk, tempeh.
George Ohsawa, the father of modern-day macrobiotics, based the diet largely on traditional Japanese cuisine. However, he also recommended all plant-based cuisine from around the world including, Asia, India, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The macrobiotic way of eating combines the most unique foods from the world’s long-standing civilizations. Brown rice, barley, polenta, pasta and unyeasted sourdough bread, all beans from around the world, tahini, humus and peanut butter to name a few examples.
Our recommendation is if you start a macrobiotic diet, choose a cuisine you enjoy and are interested in. This makes it easier to stick to a healthy diet. Additionally, understand that the macrobiotic guidelines above are broad and simple enough to work with any cuisine.
Macrobiotic cooking is not based on one cooking technique or preparation. Instead, to have a completely healthy diet, you should use different cooking preparations from raw to lightly cooked to well-cooked. Let’s discuss the various cooking methods we use often and benefits:
Pressure-cooking
It is a process of cooking with steam under high pressure in a tightly-sealed utensil. Use pressure-cooking for hard to cook beans. We don’t use this method of cooking for vegetables or rice.
Boiling
Boiled grains are easy to digest and suitable for summers as it creates lighter dishes than pressure cooking.
Blanching
A process in which you place food first in boiling water and remove it when it is cooked and still bright and crunchy. It creates light and refreshing vegetables.
Steaming
As the name implies, this process involves cooking with the aid of steam. It produces a soothing, hydrating, and settling effect in food. Try to keep the vegetables bright with a little crunch.
Making Soup
Soup strengthens digestion and is balancing and satisfying.
Stewing
In simple words, stewing means to cook food for a long time while simmering it in a liquid. It produces a warming, energizing effect.
Sauteing
Sauteing means to cook with sesame or olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. It creates an energizing effect. Always add some water before the vegetables start to sizzle to keep the oil from overheating. Oil may also be added at the end after steaming.
Pickling
Pickling creates valuable probiotics and improves digestive health. We recommend different types of brine pickles.
Raw
Raw food provides a relaxing effect on a person. It’s good to eat a raw salad often or daily.
Yes, you can use salt and oil lightly when cooking. Just keep a couple of things in mind. One, always use unrefined sea salt and add the sea salt while cooking. Refrain from adding salt after cooking. Second, cook with the best quality, mechanically-pressed and unrefined sesame and olive oils.
At SHI macrobiotics, we provide a series of courses to help you become a master in macrobiotics! Take part in these courses, join our upcoming webinars, or buy our latest book, “Ultimate Guide to Eating for Longevity,” to learn macrobiotic cooking techniques and increase familiarity with this diet.
Want to learn more about health and macrobiotics? Take one of our online macrobiotic courses.
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