Practical Lifestyle Suggestions

Unhappiness, Resentment, and Malcontendeness

Being unhappy and feeling stuck in one’s life is a major contributing factor to physical and non-physical health problems.

Most unhappiness stems from one of the following four areas:

1. Relationship
2. Work
3. Family (including unresolved childhood emotional traumas)
4. Not doing what you want to do

Macrobiotic food (or any other kind of food) cannot satisy our hunger for happy relationships, enjoyable work, harmonious family life, and doing what we want to do. Macrobiotic food can certainly strengthen us and help us to see clearer, but it alone will not automatically make us happy in the above four areas. To do this, we have to begin a conscious process of self-reflection, and we must take concrete steps to create
happiness day by day, in all areas of life. If we do not take steps to make a happier life for ourselves, all the macrobiotic food in the world will not be of much help.

Practical Lifestyle Suggestions

Here are some basic and useful macrobiotic lifestyle suggestions to get you started:

Macrobiotic lifestyle encompasses a wide array of practical and common sense, healthy and natural applications which can be incorporated by anyone willing to improve their balance and general health, or simply wishes and chooses to live in a healthier environment.

• • Wear 100% Cotton clothing: especially undergarments / next to skin.

• • Use 100% Cotton linens: especially bed sheets and pillowcases.

• • Have large leaf, green plants in each room & only one plant in bedroom. Plants with large leaves give out oxygen and the ones with flowers omit carbon dioxide during the night. Any plants with flowers or buds should not be kept in bedrooms. Avoid having plants with thorns in your home. Philodendron is recommended.

• • Sleep in bed with head facing north, feet facing south. This ensures better sleep and rest. Avoid waterbeds or electric beds.

• • Minimize and avoid using computers for long periods of time: radiation omitted by the hard drives and computer screens weakens the immune system. Also, to minimize the strain on the eyes, look away from your computer screen at least 5 minute each hour.

• • Minimize watching Television. Limit viewing to couple of hours each day or to your favorite show or a movie. Watching television for hours on end and without any activity, slows down metabolism and decreases circulation. Watching television while eating alienates important social interactions. Watching television after a meal lengthens the digestion process causing the food to just sit in our bellies and ferment, which ultimately leads to weight issues and obesity.

• • When using cell or wireless and cordless phones try to use speaker option whenever possible.

• • Headphones style attachment is a much better option then brining the unit to your ear. Do not use on-ear Bluetooth devices.

• • Position your bed so that there are no electrical plugs close to your head. Our body’s cells rejuvenate nightly and while we sleep. Electricity slows down the rejuvenation process and over time leads to fatigue, pains and aches.

• • Microwave ovens should never be used. In a microwave the food is ‘cooked’ or rather radiated from the inside out, rather then, in a conventional style of cooking, cooked from the outside in.

• • The traditional way of gas or wood stove cooking preserves enzymes, minerals and nutrients of the food and so it ensures that the nutritional value of the prepared dish is not compromised. For extra radiation protection unplug the microwave from the wall socket.

• • Always prepare your food / cook your meals on a gas stove. Electric stoves omit frequencies that destroy the enzymes and energy in the food.

• • Use Organic and Biodegradable cleaning products. Products from companies like ‘Ecover’ and ‘Seventh Generation’ are top choices.

• • Avoid exposure to chemical environment or using artificial products. Read ingredients on the product labels before purchasing. Ingredient list should not require a dictionary to read. If it does, the product probably either contains impurities, chemicals or preservatives. Don’t be shy, ask for the trained staff member to tell you what some of those hard to read ingredients are.

• • Use Organic, alcohol free cosmetics, soaps, and toiletries. Products from companies like ‘Avalon’ or ‘Aubrey Organics’ are suggested. Same rule of thumb as purchasing food – Read ingredients on the product labels before purchasing. Again, don’t be shy and ask for the help of the store’s body care specialist. They always have good suggestions, but most of all, use your common sense.

• • Use Toothpaste without saccharine, sorbitol or fluoride. ‘Waleda’ (baking soda and salt) for daily use and ‘Dentie’ toothpaste (3x/wk) are suggested. If toothpaste contains simple sugar, once it gets into your blood stream, through the pores in your mouth, it can keep you up all night.

• • Fluoride can be found everywhere these days, from the tap water to toothpaste. The body will produce it’s own way of preserving healthy teeth and bones through a balanced diet.

• • Use filtered water for cooking, washing and showering. Wash vegetables before cooking and rinse out dishes with filtered water. Reverse osmosis water should not be used for cooking since it lacks minerals. Don’t drink or use unfiltered tap water, however, the tap water with a proper filtration is much better than any bottled water.

Even though some of the suggestions sound rather minuscule, once combined, they all contribute to your healthy, active day and help you get a good and restful sleep.

Don’t take our word for it. Give it a try and experience it for yourself.