“ true” and narrow, and we dare deviate from it, paranoia, fear, and guilt set in— emotions infinitely more damaging, and prophetically self-fulfilling, than minor dietary indiscretions. For someone like George, the problem is not in the eating, but in the thinking. Fear of eating the wrong thing is the problem, not food itself. I concentrated on dispelling that fear. In addition, I suggested that he keep the macrobiotic regime to about 70 percent of his total diet and that little by little he add more beans, some fish, chicken, eggs, salad, and fruit, avoiding sugar and dairy foods most of the time. A person who goes through natural eating styles like he did becomes very conscious about food and about the effect of food on health, so I couldn’ t, and wouldn’ t, urge him to eat“ everything.” I did, however, encourage him to eat out often with friends, to have an occasional pizza or tunafish sandwich, and slowly to build himself up again by eating his God-given sustenance with joy and gratitude. The day after he came to see me, he called with a cheerful voice, having had two tempeh burgers with lettuce and tomato the night before instead of his usual bowl of rice and steamed vegetables. He didn’ t feel hungry after the burgers, and was considerably happier already. I saw him several months later; he had put on fifteen pounds, didn’ t feel so depressed anymore, and had lots more energy. George had exhibited two of the three alarm symptoms listed above: constant hunger and excessive weight loss. He had also followed first a diet high in breakdown foods and then switched to one in which he still consumed insufficient protein( his ratio of grains to beans was 7:1, instead of 2:1 as in most traditional diets). If he’ d had a lot of old stuck protein and fats in his body to get rid of, he would have felt great. But he didn’ t have that problem, and thus the healing regime turned into its opposite and made him sick. Hunger after a meal usually indicates that the nutrients are out of balance. Excess salt, sugar, or supplements, and low-protein, low-fat diets can all bring on this symptom. Beans, fish, eggs, chicken, and meat are the foods that will correct this most efficiently. Nuts will help somewhat, as they contain protein and fats, but they’ re seldom enough. Fat will get rid of the hunger, but it does not satisfy the specific nutrient need of which the hunger is an expression. Please note that adding balanced whole foods, namely vegetables and grains, does not correct this condition! Neither do sweets, cakes, or pastries, which are the first choice for many people. Going 20 percent or more below ideal weight and not being able to correct it by quantity eating, if the cause is not organic illness, also indicates an imbalance in the food intake. I have seen very thin young men go for two and three huge helpings of grain and vegetables and found that even though they ate as abundantly each day and chewed very carefully, they still put on no weight. Of course a certain amount of weight loss is to be expected when you embark on a healing regime. In almost all cases, it’ s beneficial. It means that the body is cleaning out old debris, getting rid of unwanted matter that could, conceivably, cause trouble later on. Often the weight discarded is made up of cells built with low-quality foods, to be replaced with cells built out of better quality foods. In many people starting off with normal weight, there is a dip below normal for a few months, then the weight comes back up to its proper level without any effort. The process usually takes about a year. Weight loss that goes beyond the“ it’ s OK” feeling is usually caused by a low or unbalanced intake of protein and fat. But not always. In many cases, a body used to consuming standard quantities of meat, bread, cake, cookies, and potatoes is unable to extract the nutrients it needs from grains and beans. This is either because the intestines are sluggish, coated with old fats or hardened stool, or lacking in the bacteria necessary to break down vegetable protein. Such a condition can be taken care of with intestinal cleansing with herbs or a few colonics, consumption of fermented foods( they aid digestion) together with the whole grains, and thorough chewing so as to insalivate every bite of food. The body should also be allowed time enough to adjust to the new fare. Meanwhile, there is no point in starving: Don’ t hesitate to eat animal protein if you like, according to your need. Although practically all men will lose weight on a grain-and-bean regime, only about half of the women will; the other half will actually put on weight. This difference, I believe, has to do with different rates of assimilation, of excretion, and of buildup efficiency in men and women. If you are a woman and find yourself putting on unwanted weight after a switch to a healing diet, try lowering your intake of grains and beans and increasing your intake of raw and cooked vegetables. Also, avoid salt and salty seasonings, keep oil and fat intake very low, and consume broiled, poached, or baked fish, and occasionally fowl, for protein. Another way in which food— both healthy and unhealthy— can make us unwell is when we eat the same thing, or the same flavor, all the time. According to the Five-Phase Theory, if we don’ t vary our foods or flavors, we overstimulate one energy phase while depleting another. For example, salty foods( Water Phase) will stimulate the kidneys when used sparingly; in excess, they will slow them down and cause water retention, while at the same time weaken the heart( Fire Phase). This happens to agree with modern nutritional knowledge: Salt is customarily restricted for people with heart trouble and / or high blood pressure( which involves the kidneys). A similar situation occurs when we eat fats or oils( Wood Phase): A small amount will nourish the liver and gall bladder; too much, and those organs will be overburdened, while the stomach, spleen, and pancreas( Earth Phase) will be weakened. And indeed, some research points to high-fat diets as a causative factor in diabetes, a