needs may vary. Vegetarian men who do not convert protein efficiently will often meet their need for protein through quantity eating. I can always count on the men in my cooking classes to come back for thirds, or to finish all the food in the pot. If the body is working well, and assimilates its food, that will work out fine. But if that is not the case, the body will grow thinner and thinner, regardless of how much grain or salad is consumed. A bit of fish, chicken, or even meat— each with its attendant fats— will easily remedy this dangerous situation. Women are favored by nature in that they are extremely efficient assimilators of nutrients; in time of scarcity or famine, their bodies can still extract and convert what they need from whatever meager foods are available, and bear or nurse children. In our society of affluence, that evolutionary advantage has turned into a curse. The overabundance of food, the reliance on nutrientdense foods such as meat and cheese, the sedentary lifestyles, and the tendency to have few or no children— more input than output, in other words— have put a crimp in their energy flow, and women find themselves accumulating excess matter in their bodies. By their nature, women receive energy, then convert and enlarge it, creating life. If that natural creative need is not fully expressed, either by having children or by other acts of creativity, there is physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual stagnation. Because of their efficiency as food convertors, women in general need to eat little volume and are often content with the children’ s leftovers or some scraps of this or that lying around. For the same reason, they also need less protein than men. However, at least according to my observations, they don’ t seem to do well with long spiritual fasts: A feeling of emptiness and deprivation sets in quickly unless the original condition was one of serious excess. There are some men of normal or even low weight who can fast for many days for spiritual reasons, and feel great; witness the statements of such vegetarian spokesmen as Dick Gregory, Paul Bragg, Max Warmbrand, Herbert Sheldon, Arnold Ehret, and spiritual masters of many persuasions. I have found almost no women who can do the same. The family cook, therefore, need not be distraught if the man of the house eats three portions and the lady only half, if he eats the meat and she doesn’ t, or if he’ ll have dessert and she won’ t. If such dietary food choices are natural and unforced, they are only the expression of some very real, and common, metabolic variations. * Semen and vaginal lubricants. † See Kushi, The Macrobiotic Way of Natural Healing, for a thorough description of compresses, douches, and tampons to help eliminate stagnation in the reproductive organs.