It’s been a long now since I’ve heard about this diet, but I never was interested enough to look for information. This exercise has been a good excuse to do it.
The truth is that I’m still a bit confused. The more I search about it the more vague the definitions are. I guess I can resume the definition of ‘macrobiotic diet’ being something like ‘finding the balance between Ying and Yang using the adequate food to achieve it’…whatever that means…
Macrobiotic diet attaches importance to eating grains, supplemented by vegetables and other “natural” (not processed) food. Although it is obviously thought to improve your health, the Council of Foods and Nutrition
and the Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics condemn it because of his nutrition deficiencies.
I was surprised to find that with the term “macrobiotic” there is not only food involved. There is a philosophy behind it with the purpose of prolonging human life. Being that complemented with seven universal principles (such as ‘everything changes’) and twelve laws of transformation (with such vague laws as “The big Yin attracts the little Yin. The big Yang attracts little Yang” ¿?¿?¿?).
Just like other pseudo sciences, it’s based in many principles that can’t be refused at all (one of the main characteristics for one discipline to be considered ‘science’), because they can be interpreted the way you want. It’s also based in definitions that are not tangible (such as Yin and Yang) and, therefore, no serious studies can be made, because no one knows exactly about what we’re talking about.
Anyway, there are many people following the diet, considering it to be good. Among others we can find celebrities like Demi Moore, Pamela Anderson, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alicia Silverstone, Fiona Apple, Tom Cruise, and John Travolta