Sweets and Salt

Very limited fruits and extremely limited salt—it may be good for my body but my emotional connection to the taste of sweet and salty is having a hard time with this idea. “Modern Macrobiotics” says to limit fruit to 3-4 times a week which seems shockingly limited until I start reading Dr. Rogers who says to eat no fruit during the healing phase! NO FRUIT! Seriously!?! Well, she is serious because she is talking about dealing with Candida/yeast infections. I don’t think this is an issue for me but I could be wrong. I just hate to totally wipe out a nutrient-dense food group if I don’t have to. I think I will follow the Modern Macrobiotics advice, for now, and see how things go. At some point, I’ll need to address this issue again and see if perhaps a period of time sans fruit would be beneficial. If Candida is a problem, it isn’t just fruit I’d need to avoid but all my fermented foods as well since those are yeasty. Both fruit and fermented are keys I want to use to help me heal. I just need to be sensitive to what they are doing in my body—that they are serving beneficial roles and not harmful roles.

As for salt…there really isn’t an excuse for using more than is recommended by macrobiotics. Salt is not needed in more than very small amounts. I have to learn to enjoy other seasonings and other flavors besides “salt”. I also need to make such seasoning mixes as gomashio so that I have a way of flavoring my foods without much salt. This is not going to be an easy transition. Not easy at ALL.

Speaking of fruit: my breakfast was mixed rice with plum and kiwi again today. That means no fruit for a few days. And, tomorrow is strawberry pickin’ time! Oh, my! I tell you, giving up fruit is not going to be easy!

Lunch today was leftover cooked cabbage and root vegetables from the miso soup I made last night. I ordered miso soup and seaweed salad from the Japanese restaurant. Their miso soup is so good and the seaweed salad…I really need to learn how to make a good seaweed salad. With no grains or beans, lunch was a light meal and not the greatest example of macrobiotics. I am definitely still learning!

For supper I made a soup. The seasonings need some tweaking but the soup was delicious, nutritious, and filling.

Quinoa & Lentil Soup

• 1 cup Green Lentils
• 1 cup Quinoa
• 1 small sweet potato
• 1 small Vidalia onion
• 1 small turnip root
• Greens of one beet
• Chinese Five Spice Blend

 Wash quinoa in cold water very well to get the saponin off. Even if the package says the quinoa is pre-washed, wash it until the water is clear. Also, wash the lentils and remove any stones, bad beans, etc. Once washed, put lentils in soup pot with water and bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. Meanwhile, dice your vegetables and chop your greens. After the lentils have cook for 15 minutes or so, add quinoa and vegetables, except for greens. Add seasoning. Cook until lentils and root vegetables are tender. Add beet greens and turn off heat. Cover pot and let sit for 5 minutes.  Makes about 3 servings.