diet; many habitual combinations, such as fish and rice or chicken and pasta, are excluded. Meals that are vegan( zero animal protein) create no problem as long as they don’ t mix fruits and vegetables. The meal combinations seem to be very successful for both digestion problems and weight loss. People with digestive disorders have less distress following the food-combining strategy. For weight loss, the system is especially effective in diets that include regular consumption of animal foods; for example, lunch might be broiled fish, stir-fried broccoli and onions, salad( no starch); dinner might include lentil soup, brown rice, greens with garlic, baked squash( no animal protein). FURTHER NOTES ON FOOD REMEDIES I’ ve had terrific feedback on the remedies section in chapter twelve of this book. When people understand the systems theory from part 1, they can easily pick their own remedy for various conditions. Here I will discuss one major food remedy, garlic, that I inadvertently neglected, and also expound on the Apple Juice – Kuzu remedy I discuss in the text. 1. Garlic. This natural antibiotic has many culinary uses and has also been a respected herbal remedy in many cultures. Scientific research has found that garlic enhances the immune system, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, and protects against infection.
• PLAIN GARLIC: To prevent infection and even dysentery when traveling, take one raw clove, cut into a few small pieces, and swallow with a little water or juice one to three times per day.
• RUSSIAN GARLIC BREAD: Take one piece of whole-grain bread, well toasted so it’ s somewhat crisp; rub one clove of raw garlic all over the bread, then sprinkle a few drops of olive oil and a few grains of sea salt all over it. It’ s a great snack when your appetite is low. It is a good idea to give everyone in the family a piece.
• GARLIC SOUP: One quart water or stock; 1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled; 1 heaping tablespoon miso, or to taste. Simmer the garlic cloves in the water or stock for 15 minutes; fish them out and put them in the blender with a little stock and the miso; puree, return to pot with the rest of the stock, adjust taste, and serve hot. I’ ve used this recipe with great success when feeling under the weather or about to“ come down” with something. I have also found it helpful in overcoming the effects of antibiotics, particularly when taken with acidophilus capsules— two per day— for a few days to a week after a course of that medicine. 2. Kuzu. This lumpy starch has been used in Japan for centuries, and in the macrobiotic community since the early 1960s, as a thickener for sauces as well as a remedy for all kinds of digestive disorders. Several of these remedies are delineated in chapter twelve,“ Food as Medicine.” Research published in 1994 has shown that this food can also modify the response to and craving for alcohol in those who are prone to such cravings. 9 I would recommend the shoyukuzu drink # 1 † any time the desire for alcohol hits, or one to three cups daily as a preventative.
According to the feedback from students who’ ve tried it, the apple juice – kuzu pudding is a superb antistress and antiinsomnia remedy when taken at night. It also helps calm down overexcited children. I once recommended it to a Vietnam vet who suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome, and it helped him relax and calm down. Years later I got a letter from a woman who had heard about this anecdote and started using apple juice – kuzu pudding for her panic attacks. She wrote that after two days of taking this remedy three times daily, her panic attacks stopped.
It seems to me that some serious research into the effects of kuzu is in order. Since kudzu is a weed that grows wild in great quantities in the South, it seems as if nature is offering us an easily accessible herbal remedy for some of our more difficult problems. Certainly that notion makes sense to my understanding of how balance happens in the universe. DRUGS AND DISEASE My original intent in writing this book was to show that food is“ it” in terms of our health, that unhealthy food is the major cause of disease, and thereby can be its main healer. While I was in the middle of writing it, I realized that food isn’ t really the only cause of disease, but it does play a major role. I thought of the people in their seventies, eighties, and nineties who are in fine health, despite eating junk or whatever they please. Wondering about this blow to my theory, I realized that these people were breast-fed when young, raised on home-cooked food, were not given vaccines or antibiotics during their childhood, and, most tellingly, they don’ t go to the doctor when they’ re sick. They just have some tea or a shot of whiskey and go to bed until the problem goes away. Most of us know someone like that. I saw then, with unhesitating inner knowledge, that today food is not the only cause of the diseases of civilization that we see proliferating all around us. Many of our problems stem from the medical drugs that we take, and especially inject, to treat or prevent illness. This is particularly true of medicines we give to our children when they’ re young. Thus I saw that if we avoid the inner pollution and disruption of drugs for minor