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From: crm@duke.UUCP (Charlie Martin)
Newsgroups: net.cooks,net.med,net.misc
Subject: Re: Metabiotic diets (Information wanted)
Message-ID: <5168@duke.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Dec-84 13:58:40 EST
Article-I.D.: duke.5168
Posted: Wed Dec 12 13:58:40 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Dec-84 05:48:32 EST
References: <2175@garfield.UUCP>
Organization: Duke University
Lines: 34
Keywords: metabiotic,diet
Xref: watmath net.cooks:3232 net.med:1155 net.misc:7119

I think you are talking about a MACROBIOTIC diet, and that's
"yin" and "yang" usually.  Look for books on macrobiotics
and similar by Michio Kushi.

In general, a macrobiotic diet is very heavily based on grains
and beans, with vegetables added.  It's roughly like the diet
that is eaten in any arbitrary Zen monastery in Japan.  The
interest in macrobiotic diets comes from the fact that people who
live in zendos tend to live a long time (although some have
claimed that it just *seems* a long time...).  In addition,
some have claimed that macrobiotic diets have a pallative effect
on cancer.

Two caveats:

1) they eat like that in zendos mostly because it is cheap,
   and members of the sangha are really supposed to be living
   only on begging... although that isn't really true any more.
   They don't live on that kind of diet because it's somehow
   better for you -- and in fact people in zendos are sometimes
   prescribed to leave the zendo for a meal or two a week because 
   the diet is hard on their health.

2) Some versions of a macrobiotic diet suggest that you can live
   ONLY ON BROWN RICE, with nothing else.  THIS IS NOT TRUE and
   will do you no end of harm after more than a couple of
   weeks.  If you can stand it, you will lose weight on just
   brown rice, but don't push it.

-- 
		Opinions stated here are my own and are unrelated.

				Charlie Martin
				(...mcnc!duke!crm)