Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The... (20 page)

An unbalanced diet consisting mainly of "alkaline-forming" fruits and vegetables, while possibly useful in the short term as a fast, can lead to serious deficiencies in the long run—and for diabetics and hypoglycemics a diet composed exclusively of fruits and vegetables can be dangerous even in the short term.

A variation of acid-alkaline dietary formulations is the diet that prohibits the combination of protein foods, which require acid for digestion, with sugars and starches, which are digested in an alkaline environment. This diet was introduced at turn of the century by Dr. W. H. Hay and received renewed interest with the publication of
Fit for Life
by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. The authors advocate eating starches and proteins at different meals; further, they recommend beginning the day with fruit only, eating starches at lunch, and saving protein foods for the evening meal. As proof of the importance of proper food combining, they cite research showing that protein and starches taken together are not fully digested. To clinch their argument, they point out that legumes—foods that contain both starch and protein—often cause indigestion.

There are several problems with the assumptions behind this food-combining system. The assertion that the body is unable to digest protein and starches together is just plain wrong. The healthy body is entirely equipped to do just that. Protein digestion begins in the acidic environment of the stomach; alkaline-dependent enzymes then digest starches in the small intestine while other alkaline-dependent enzymes complete the process of protein digestion. In addition, food enzymes help predigest both protein and starches in the stomach, and this digestion is more or less thorough in relation to the enzymes available from food and saliva. Gelatin-rich broth taken with a meal also contributes to a thorough digestion of both proteins and starches.

Beans cause digestive problems not because they contain protein and starches together, but because they contain two complex sugars, farrinose and stachyose, which are not easily broken down by enzymes normally found in the intestines. Beans and other legumes will be more digestible if soaked for a long period before cooking as this process begins the breakdown of these starches. Beans properly prepared have provided nourishment to human beings all over the globe and can be easily digested by most people. Actually, there is no food on earth that is a pure starch or a pure protein. Even meat contains some sugar, and all acidic fruits contain starch.

A final argument against food combining notes that we find no such strictures among traditional societies whose intuitive wisdom has dictated the food choices that kept them healthy for generations. A few examples culled from the research of Dr. Price will suffice: Isolated Swiss villagers ate milk products with rye bread; primitive Gaelic peoples subsisted on fish and oats; natives of the Caribbean consumed seafood along with starchy tubers of the manioc family; Indians in the Andes mountains ate potatoes with small animals and seafood; Polynesians consumed starchy tubers, fruit and seafood. Semitic peoples combined meat and milk products with grains. Primitive peoples, with their unerring native wisdom, put no restrictions on combining starches and proteins or even fruits and proteins—they couldn't afford to and they didn't need to.

It must be said, however, that some people find they have more energy when they avoid certain food combinations, possibly a sign that their digestive systems have been compromised through poor diet and improper food preparation techniques. Milk products with meat and citrus fruits with grains seem to be the most frequent problem-causing combinations. Many find they do not tolerate raw fruit eaten with other foods. An individual determination of improper food combinations can only be accomplished on a trial and error basis.

No discussion of special diets would be complete without a consideration of the macrobiotic diet system, said to be based on the ancient Chinese text
The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine
. Macrobiotics was introduced to the West by George Ohsawa and popularized by several gifted writers. It is an extension of the ancient Chinese world view that all energies and all objects in the cosmos can be classified as either yin (female) or yang (male). With its system of facial diagnosis and treatment based upon correspondences of specific foods to various organs and conditions, it has many similarities to the medieval doctrine of the four humors, which has recently enjoyed something of a resurgence in Europe. Such intuitive and noninvasive methods can be very useful to the medical practitioner, especially when combined with more orthodox diagnostic techniques that are grounded in the scientific method.

According to the macrobiotic system, sugar is the most yin food, followed by fruit juices, honey, tropical fruits, acid fruits, dairy products and vegetables of the nightshade family; pork is the most yang food, followed by beef, game, poultry, eggs and fish. Vegetables and legumes are slightly yin while grains are slightly yang. Rice, revered by Asians as the perfect food, is said to be in the center—with perfect balance of yin and yang energies.

Ohsawa repeatedly warned about dangers of refined foods like sugar and white flour. He had excellent short-term results with this diet—in spite of the fact that it did not eliminate smoking—both in Japan and in the West. Unfortunately, Ohsawa confused many people by his extreme statements and unclear food guidelines—only a small portion of his writing was directly concerned with food—and he is generally remembered for the strict brown rice diet, a cleansing regime for the sick. Michio Kushi then developed his "standard macrobiotic diet," which gave more precise macrobiotic food recommendations. People more easily understood the Kushi presentation, which mentions but does not stress natural sea salt, fish broth and fermented vegetables as necessary components of the diet. Kushi permitted a small portion of white meat fish occasionally,
if desired
, claiming that a totally vegetarian fare would cover all nutritional needs. This claim cannot be supported by scientific evidence and, in fact, directly contradicts
The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine,
which lists the five meats as essential, strengthening components of the diet.

Kushi's more extreme claims—that a strict brown rice diet confers spiritual enlightenment, and that diets based entirely on local foods bring peace to the planet—defy common sense. In many parts of the world, the two principles are impossible to implement jointly. Rice-eating macrobiotic disciples living in Montana must rely on foods imported from distant lands in order to practice their search for enlightenment, but in order to achieve world peace they would need to give up rice-eating for a diet of local beef.

The particulars of Kushi's diet can be faulted on several counts. First, as many adherents omit fish broth and fermented vegetables, it often lacks both gelatin and food enzymes and can therefore be difficult to digest, especially for the Westerner who, with a smaller pancreas and salivary gland than the Asian, fares better on grains that have been soaked, fermented or cooked in gelatin-rich broth. For this reason, candida infection, intestinal discomfort and low energy are frequent complaints among macrobiotic adherents. Dishes containing
seitan
—unfermented wheat gluten—can pose real problems to those with gluten intolerance. Secondly, this restrictive version of macrobiotics does not supply all-important fat-soluble vitamins A and D. Predictably, children born and raised in households where this diet was rigorously applied suffered from small stature and rickets.
¹⁸⁰
In adults, dangerously low cholesterol levels resulting in depression, poor concentration and even strokes and cancer have been associated with diets that call for the elimination of animal proteins and fats and an over reliance on vegetable oils—diets found in many macrobiotic cookbooks and, indeed, in numerous health-oriented cookbooks. A third problem is the danger of mineral deficiencies, especially zinc deficiency, from a heavy reliance on grains that have not been soaked or fermented. In short, second generation macrobiotics is an artificial diet not found in any traditional society anywhere in the world, which as an alternative to junk food often gives good results at first, but which leads to widespread deficiencies in the long term.

A new breed of macrobiotic practitioners has bravely admitted the faults of Kushi's interpretation and now sees macrobiotics as an open-ended system, subject to progressive revelation. Many macrobiotic cookbooks now include recipes for oily fish and eggs; and a number of counselors have begun to recommend butter and other dairy products, especially for children. We submit that the principles presented in this book, including the use of gelatinous broth, fermented foods, soaked and soured grains, natural sea salt and a more scientific approach to the subject of fats, would ensure Ohsawa's promised benefits without requiring those drawn to macrobiotics to abandon any of their basic principles.

Two important foods in the macrobiotic diet require additional comment: soybeans and seaweed. Soybeans are high in phytates and contain potent enzyme inhibitors that are only deactivated by fermentation and not by ordinary cooking.
¹⁸¹
These inhibitors can lead to protein assimilation problems in those who consume unfermented soy products frequently.
¹⁸²
Soybeans must not be used like other legumes in soups and other dishes but only as fermented products like
miso, natto
and
tempeh
. It is also a mistake to rely on tofu or bean curd as a protein food because of its high phytate content.
¹⁸³
Those who wish to eat tofu would be wise to imitate the Japanese who eat small amounts of tofu in fish broth and not as a substitute for animal foods. Soy milk, often substituted for cow's milk, also has a high phytate content and can lead to mineral deficiencies.
¹⁸⁴
Phytoestrogens found in soy foods, although touted as panaceas for heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis, are potent endocrine disrupters as well as goitrogens—substances that depress thyroid function.
¹⁸⁵
Phytoestrogens are not removed by fermenting or modern processing.

Seaweeds are found in many native diets. They are an excellent source of minerals but may contribute to iodine poisoning if overconsumed. They also contain long-chain complex sugars, similar to those found in the Jerusalem artichoke, which some individuals are unable to digest. Furthermore, many commercial seaweeds are treated with pesticides and fungicides on drying racks. Those who consume seaweeds frequently should be careful of their supply and should simmer them for a long period to begin the breakdown of the long-chain sugars found in all sea vegetables. (For unsprayed seaweeds, See
Sources
.)

Nourishing traditional foodways—which include traditional animal fats, a wide variety of properly prepared whole foods, some raw foods, homemade fish and meat broths and lacto-fermented grains, vegetables and beverages—can and should be incorporated not only into macrobiotics, but into
every
diet—Asian, Middle Eastern, African, Latin American, European and plain old American. The living laboratory of human society has demonstrated that diets based on these wise and ancient principles, regardless of specific ingredients, promote optimum physical and mental well-being and healthy offspring, generation after generation.

PARTING WORDS

Twentieth-century men and women, faced with a dazzling array of modern food products, are naturally tempted by their convenience and glitz. They would prefer not to worry about how their foods are processed or what they contain; they would prefer not to spend time in food preparation the way their ancestors did. But the inevitable consequence of this insouciance is the host of the debilitating diseases now endemic in our society.

With traditions forgotten, the tool that allows modern men and women to regain their health and vitality is knowledge—knowledge of the fruits of honest scientific inquiry as well as renewed familiarity with culinary customs of times past. The cook, the food provider and parents of young children can no longer afford to be misled by what passes for nutritional wisdom in the popular press, especially as so much orthodox advice—magnified, simplified and twisted by publicity for processed foods—is partially or totally wrong. We urge you to keep abreast of research conducted by independent researchers and holistic doctors, especially as it sheds light on the nourishing traditions of our ancestors.

Then call on your reserves of ingenuity and creativity to translate that knowledge into delicious meals in whatever culinary tradition may appeal to you and your family. We must not lose sight of the fact that the fundamental requirement of the food we eat is that we like it. The healthiest food in the world does us no good if we must gag it down because it tastes bad.

Our food should satisfy our four basic tastes—salt, sour, bitter and sweet. These tastes are meant to guide us to the foods we need, but they are easily suborned by ignorance or lack of will. Satisfy the salt taste with natural sea salt or traditional meat broths, which also provide magnesium and vital trace minerals, instead of products laced with MSG or drenched in commercial salt; please the sour taste bud with old-fashioned fermented foods that provide the enzymatic by-products of the culturing process, rather than with pasteurized condiments and alcohol; gratify the bitter taste bud with the dark green vegetables and bitter herbs that are valued in every traditional society, so rich in vitamins and minerals, instead of coffee and tea; and delight the sweet tooth with fruits at their peak of ripeness and with natural sweeteners high in nutrients, rather than refined sugar products.

The challenge to every individual is to determine the diet that is right for him and to implement that diet in a way that does not divorce him from the company of fellow human beings at mealtimes. Each person's ideal diet is usually discovered through a combination of study, observation and intuition, a process designed to replace that mysterious infallible instinct that guided primitive man to the foods he needed to keep him healthy and strong.