I started Macrobiotics in late 1969 for the same reason most people do-because I was desperately ill and couldn't seem to get well.

I'd been a wild child-and ended up almost dying in Afghanistan in 1969 on our way to India. By the time my Danish husband and I got back to Denmark (where I still live) I weighed 48 kilos. And I couldn't seem to get better. Finally a friend gave us George Oshawa's book You are All Sanpaku and I immediately went on the 10-day rice diet and was cured. Suddenly I was miraculously well!

After that we studied everything Macrobiotic we could get our hands on. In my enthusiasm I wrote a book called Eat Brown Rice and Make Revolution, which many alternative-thinking people read. My husband and I became the pioneers of Macrobiotics in Denmark and eventually opened an East-West Center in Copenhagen where we had a health food shop, restaurant, did cooking classes, taught oriental diagnosis, did consultations, the works.

I wrote another book about Macrobiotics and a Macrobiotic Cookbook. The Center grew and more and more people came to our classes. Bill Tara, Michio Kushi and others came to Copenhagen and gave lectures.

In 1982 after having 3 babies, working extremely hard, and eating almost nothing but brown rice and miso soup for 12 years, I collapsed. I fell down on the floor one day and didn't get up again for a very long time. I just fell apart, mentally and physically. I had terrible anxiety attacks and didn't go out of the house for months. The people around us were shocked-how could this happen to one of the leaders of the East-West Center? I myself didn't know the answer and struggled for a long time to understand and get well.

One of the things I had to do to get well was expand my diet and free myself from the mental straightjacket of Macrobiotics. I don't know what the Macrobiotic movement is like at present, but the fact that Jamie and Kasia Trevena have asked me to tell my story is, I think, a wonderful sign.
Anyway I can only speak for myself.

But to continue my tale, I began to study the Science of Mind and the link between the mind and the body in healing. I started to realize that "fear" more than anything else (like sugar, chemicals or alcohol) was my true "enemy". I began to notice how fearful many people (including myself) were and are about their bodies, their health, the food they eat, the air they breathe, etc. I also began to wonder how much sickness is actually caused by the so-called "physical" factors like food and chemicals and how much is actually caused by the so-called "mental" factors like fear, negative thinking, negative suggestions from other people, an unhealthy focus on sickness and disease, too much self-scrutiny, etc.

I could only work on myself, so I did. I started eating a broader diet, more protein, some diary food, some sweets, and began to work with my own negative mental patterns concerning my health and my body. I stopped smoking and started exercising. I took vitamin pills and other dietary supplements. Slowly I regained my health and self-confidence.

Since then I have written quite a few more books! One of my books-about my discovery of the way the mind works and how it influences our lives-is about to come out in England. The book is called Fast Food for the Soul and will be released this fall (September 2003) by Thorsons Element. The book is already a bestseller here in Scandinavia where I live. The book contains the simple, effective tools and techniques I used to change my life by changing your thinking. (See my Web site www.beamteam.com for more about my books.) In fact, one of the chapters of the book is called "The Power of Eating Less" and here you can read a former Macrobiotic's view on food, which is basically this: Eat the good healthy stuff, eat less in general, and then forget about food-and keep busy following your dreams.
Once upon a time I said-- you are what you eat. Now I say-- you are what you think!

Below is a sample chapter from my book Fast Food for the Soul: The Road to Power

The Power of Eating Less

There is only one way to eat less. Stop thinking about food.Most people want to eat less because they want to lose weight. Of course being nice and thin looks good, but that's not why I bring it up here.
There's more to eating less than being skinny.The real point is this: If you eat less, you gain power.
First of all, when you eat less you think more clearly. And second, you have more energy.
And third, when you eat less it's a whole lot easier to focus. Unless, of course, you're starving hungry all the time, but that's not what I mean by eating less.By eating less, I mean eating less than you think you need. Most people eat much more than they need to eat and many are indulging in wild orgies of food overkill.
Not only does eating too much make you fat, it slows you down, makes you clumsy, sleepy, and dim-witted (by sending all the blood to your stomach and intestines instead of to your brain), ruins your ability to present your ideas clearly, lowers your sexual appetite, robs you of your ping, makes you dislike yourself, and does a whole lot of other things like making you susceptible to all kinds of awful health problems and diseases (like the ones caused by our modern way of life). All of which are of course much too unpleasant to mention in a book about power!

Eat Less, Live Longer
And to make matters worse, overeating also takes years off your life! (So why would anyone want to do it, you ask….) Tests on animals show that they live longer than their expected life span when they are slightly underfed all the time. But I'm not paying homage to eating less because I want to sell you a ticket to longer life. I'm bringing this up because eating less is also a Road to Power: When you're slightly underfed, it's easier to focus. (See Chapter 8 on The Power of Focus.)

That's right. If you eat less, you will find it easier to concentrate. Why do you think so many spiritual paths include the practice of fasting? It's because fasting is a fast, effective, and dramatic way to clear your brain. If you don't believe me, just try it for three days and see what happens. When you fast, you get rid of all the excess in your life, not just food, but everything. Fasting is a real quick way to get yourself back to basics.

Don't Think About Food

I spent many years of my life studying and teaching various food techniques and disciplines for health and happiness. Raising your awareness of the relationship between food and health is always a good starting point for improving the quality of your life. But unless you have a serious illness, I suggest you move beyond that stage as fast as you can master it. Once you get the basic idea about the importance of food in your life, you know things like:
1) Cut down on animal food and fat, 2) eat less white sugar, 3) eat fewer processed foods and fewer chemicals, 4) drink less alcohol and coffee, 5) quit smoking, and 6) eat more grains, vegetables, fruits and good bread, basic stuff like that… Well, once you get it, move on to the next item on your agenda. And then don't think about food. Just forget it.

I find that not thinking about food, not focusing on it, is the best way to eat less.
Just look at people who are dieting. They are focusing so massively on food and on losing weight that it's impossible for them to do it. Because they're thinking negatively about food all the time. Oh my, what if I eat this. Oh my, look at my body. Oh my, look how terrible I look. Oh my, I'm so hungry. And all that stuff. So what they focus on increases. If you want to lose weight, forget about it. Fall in love, walk from the East Coast to the West Coast, decide to make a million this year, and I guarantee you will lose weight.

Fast and Light

The most important thing is to travel light. We talked about this before in the chapter on releasing. (See Chapter 4 on The Power of Release.) We also mentioned that the basic cause of all problems is congestion and that circulation is the basic cure. Well, overeating-eating more than you need to travel light-causes congestion in your mind, body and in your life.
So as you start your releasing exercises, I suggest you add food to your releasing agenda. Let it go. Release excess food from your life and your body will revive.

The trick is to concentrate on what's important in your life and forget the rest. Before you know it, you will be eating less. Every time you think of your body, love it and bless it. Praise your body all the time. Tell it how much you appreciate it for carrying you around and digesting your food and letting you see, hear, smell, and touch the world. The body responds to praise and blessing. Not to pigging out.
And keep busy.

And enjoy the pleasure of exercising. In whatever way suits you. Just do it.
I promise you that if you're busy, if you're focusing on your dreams and plans, if you're praising and blessing your body, if you're visualizing your way to the top of whatever mountain you're climbing at the moment, you'll probably forget to eat anyway. Which is great. It'll make you faster and lighter, it'll clear your brain, your eyesight will improve, your sense of smell will be renewed, you'll enjoy living in your body so much more, you'll like exercising more, and most important of all, you'll discover how much more powerful you are.

Okay, you might want to pop a few vitamin pills and drink some good fresh water and eat some nice clean carrots on your way, but if you're traveling fast and light, you probably won't have time for more than that.