My experience with food while growing up was not a healthy one. I mindlessly ate food with no concept of its effect on my body or long-term health. By the time I was a teenager my daily food consisted of everything fat-free, low-fat, sugar-free, diet and lo-cal, and yet I couldn't seem to escape the chronic dieting syndrome that kept me climbing up and down on that darn bathroom scale! I was trapped in a dieting mindset.

I hated food because I didn't understand it or its effect on me. How could I eat fat-free, non-fat, low-fat, sugar-free, diet foods and yet never seem to reach a satisfying weight or feel comfortable in my body? It was confusing and frustrating. I attempted to starve myself into thinness by taking (and getting addicted to) prescription and over the counter diet pills.

I wouldn't eat for days at a time. Yet, I still I couldn't achieve my ideal weight. I would lose weight for brief periods, but would always gain it back, plus some. Eventually, food became my sworn enemy and for many years I wanted it out of my body in any way I could get it out; bingeing and purging, and laxatives helped. Unfortunately, I had to continue eating for survival so I kept returning for more food even though it was a joyless experience. My relationship with food was highly dysfunctional and I needed serious therapy. I finally got it, in the form of a disease.

Throughout my teenage and young adult years I was chronically sick with flu and colds, herpes simplex one, allergies, acne, digestive problems, yo-yo weight issues and then finally in my late-twenties I was diagnosed with an "incurable" thyroid disease. The doctor recommended a lifetime of daily medication to regulate my thyroid. But, a lifetime of expensive medication with no cure was not on my personal agenda. Instead, I radically transformed my dysfunctional diet and lifestyle, and began to heal myself naturally.

My physical condition dramatically recovered when I learned how to make food a great tasting ally instead of the enemy I believed it was. Today, I love, love, love food. I couldn't imagine a day without it. And, I love to feel good about the food I eat and know its effect on my body and mind. My relationship with food has changed, but I could have never achieved that level of gratification while stuck on a "diet" focusing solely on weight loss.

As it turns out, my thyroid disease was a blessing. It shook some sense into me.
There are so many diets out on the market that attempting to figure out what type of food to eat can be overwhelming to say the least.

I tried the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet (that one was a real gas!), the meal replacement diet, the liquid diet, the fat-free diet, the high protein diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, The Vegan Diet, and countless others. Many of them had good information, but all were lacking in one thing or another, which ultimately kept me lacking in one thing or another… mainly my health. I finally reached my ideal weight when I stopped dieting altogether and began making the best possible, wholesome food choices for the sake of my health instead.

Calorie restricting diets or adhering to strict food plans (including remaining on a strict macrobiotic diet for too long a period of time), don't work in the long term - they never have and they never will. Diets are not designed to create lasting health, they are designed primarily for weight loss, or for cleansing, and that can come at a huge cost.

First and foremost, to your sanity! As long as you are "dieting" you could be trapped in a state of deprivation that can lead to bouts of obsessive calorie counting, fat cutting, weighing of food portions, restricting carbohydrate, starvation rituals, or an overall lack of pleasure around eating food.

The best food choices can help you achieve vibrant health, and with that, your ideal weight can be reached effortlessly. Eating better quality food will keep you out of the calorie-counting cuckoo's nest and fully enjoying food.

Knowing what to eat should be a simple and pleasurable experience, but for many of us food choices can create panic instead - and for good reasons. In the last century food experts have told us to fear fat, so everyone switched to fat-free foods and butter substitutes like margarine. Now they're telling us margarine is worse for your health than butter.

Then they told us to fear sugar and everything became sugar free and the artificial sweetener industry boomed. Today, the links between disease and artificial sweeteners is growing. Then they told us to fear red meat, and vegetarianism and veganism exploded onto the marketplace - faux meats made from soy and other substances became fashionable.

Then they told us to fear carbohydrates and carbophobia was borne - bread makers around the world, with their fiery ovens, were thought to be doing the devil's work! Currently, scientists are dissecting each particular food to discover its individual healthful properties (antioxidants and phytonutrients), which has some validity, but as a whole completely misses the mark.

There is so much conflicting information about food that it's no wonder people are paralyzed and stuck on a diet. Where there is a lack of knowledge there is always fear.

By making real food choices you may never need to diet again. I know you may be thinking you already are eating real food, but if you are plagued with illness, exhaustion, overweight, achy bones and joints, or sick and suffering in any way, chances are may not be eating real food, or you are eating food that might not be appropriate for you.

When I was strict macrobiotic and then vegan, I was eating real wholesome foods (whole grains, beans, vegetables, sea vegetables, fruits, fish, etc.), but it was not enough animal protein and fat for my body (which I'll discuss as you read on).

Much of what we're eating today is highly refined and chemicalized substances that merely resemble food, but are not nourishing to our body or mind. Any food that is processed, packaged, preserved with chemicals, enhanced with artificial sweeteners, or labeled fat-free, low-fat, skim, carb-free, diet, or sugar-free, can fall into this "non-food" category.

These particular foods lack many of the essential nutrients needed to create vitality and will require us to eat more and more of them to feel satisfied. Eating these non-foods on a regular basis leaves us physically deficient and unable to reach the level of fulfillment that comes with eating wholesome meals. A good rule of thumb to remember, if the word "free" is somewhere on the package, chances are you may be paying the price with your health.

If the food you are eating is nutritionally deficient, unsatisfying or inappropriate, the need to overeat remains as your body searches for the proper amount of fuel it needs to thrive. Eating non-food substances leaves us overweight and unhealthy, and prone to dieting to lose the weight. It's a vicious cycle. The best way to break this pattern is to improve your understanding of food, change the quality of it, and then begin eating wholesome, organic, seasonal foods that are nourishing and delicious.

Everyone is unique and has his/her own set of nutritional requirements. That's why I don't believe in charts detailing specific quantities of protein, fat, carbohydrate, or portion sizes. A construction worker wielding heavy tools all day will need more fuel (food) in his system than a librarian sitting idle at a desk. It's common sense that one diet does not fit everyone's needs - including a macrobiotic diet that can be deficient in both protein and fat.

During my initial diet transformation I had eliminated almost all animal foods except a small amount of fish weekly. Eating mostly vegetable foods, rich in fiber, helped my body cleanse: I lost weight, the goiter (thyroid) shrank and eventually disappeared, and my skin glowed with vibrant health.

After time, I chose veganism (no animal food at all). I read many vegetarian texts on health and spirit that espoused abstaining from animal food to obtain a cleaner, leaner body and a closer union with God. I decided to try it.

Initially, I lost more weight and felt lighter in both body and mind - I felt great! "It was working," or so I thought. Within one year of adopting a vegan diet an odd thing began to happen; I felt an overall weakness, tingling, and sometimes sharp burning sensation in my muscles. It wasn't the usual feeling that resulted from exertion during exercise, but felt as if the muscle was eating itself away. I also lost strength and vitality, and became flaccid. My hair started graying prematurely, I was riddled with Candida yeast, and my immune system crashed once again.

Intuitively, I knew something was wrong and searched within my diet to figure out the cause. Various vegetarian books, websites and resource groups recommended supplementing with vitamin B12, calcium and other vitamins and minerals.

I don't believe in taking supplements. Isolated vitamins are not whole foods, and can initially alleviate a symptom, but will eventually cause other problems to develop because they lack the full range of elements (fiber, water, fat, other vitamins & minerals) to be properly digested. Also, no living creature on this planet needs vitamin supplementation for survival, and if I were eating a completely balanced diet, then I wouldn't need supplementation either. I believe nature provides me with everything I need to sustain my existence, in my daily food.

As a strict macrobiotic and then vegan, I was eating vegetable foods that contained trace amounts of vitamin B12, and tons of calcium and other vitamins and minerals, but possibly my body wasn't fully absorbing them without the saturated fat and other necessary factors.

I read that vitamin B12 is best absorbed through the process of eating animal foods, but I had abstained from eating it believing it was the ideal way and morally right. I was certainly in a quandary; I was no longer worried about my weight because I was very thin, but my physical body felt deficient and weak. Contrary to what I had read in the vegetarian and macrobiotic textbooks I knew I had to resume eating good quality animal products again. I was wrought with conflict and guilt.

I had to resolve this dilemma. I went to a "healthy fast food" restaurant that served organic, pasture-raised meats. I hadn't eaten red meat in many years and I was nervous as heck! Literally, I stood inside the restaurant for about twenty minutes and stared up at the menu on the wall.

The young guy standing behind the counter asked me two or three times if I needed help, but I couldn't answer. The mere thought of eating an animal paralyzed me. I walked back outside the restaurant and paced up and down the block a few times contemplating my actions, and then returned to the restaurant and stood in line again. The same guy looked at me and said, "Can I take your order?"

I shook my head and continued staring up at the menu. I was facing a crucial moment in my life. I abstained from eating animal flesh because I believed this would give me the best possible health, and bring me deeper spirituality, and I was about to commit the biggest sin! I turned around and walked right back out the door again. I paced up and down the block a few times, but knew I had to trust my intuition and how I felt inside my body, and not something I read inside a book.

I walked back into the restaurant. The same guy stared at me, with his eyebrows raised, but didn't ask to take my order this time.

I spoke first. "Let me ask you this… do you like the turkey or beef burger better?"
He laughed, "Well, I'm a beef man, myself. Turkey doesn't really do it for me. It's not juicy enough."
I ordered the beef burger and figured if I was going to sin, I might as well make it a juicy one. I sat down at a table and played with the ketchup while waiting for my order, and the devil, to arrive.

The server brought my meal. I opened the burger to inspect it. It was slick with animal fat and juicy too, just as described. I inhaled deeply. It smelled like a barbecue on a hot summer day. I salivated. Then, I cut off a little piece, and held it on the edge of my fork, turning it around and around as if it were on a spigot, and inspected it more closely. Then… I put it into my mouth.

I thought a lightning bolt would surely come through the front door and knock me off my chair! But it didn't. I chewed the meat and noticed it had a mildly sweet flavor. As I chewed I consciously gave blessings of gratitude to the animal for its life, and also thanked the mesclun greens and coleslaw too.

I did not feel any difference immediately after eating the meat, but a funny thing happened about twenty minutes later while walking down the block. A surge of energy traveled down the front of both my legs and extended all the way down to the tips of my toes. It was exhilarating! And, one hour after the meal I had a strong burst of energy throughout my entire body. I felt rejuvenated. That night I slept solidly, and the following morning awoke feeling exceptionally vibrant.

The best part was I felt deeply connected to spirit, and my morning meditation was amazing. My experience with the hamburger contradicted many of the things I had read. It's been quite a few years since that incident and I've continued eating animal foods because my body feels healthier, leaner and stronger with it. Today, I wisely use the energy from both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, in the right proportions for me, to create vibrant health.

Deepening your food knowledge and letting your body guide you, can move you toward creating a healthier relationship to what you're eating. From there, vibrant health and your ideal weight can be achieved. Eat organic, naturally raised, wholesome and seasonal foods from both the animal and vegetable kingdom and discover what happens. You have nothing to lose (except excess weight and potential illness!), and everything to gain - like better health and a beautiful body.

Excerpted from:The Whole Truth - How I Naturally Reclaimed My Health and You can Too
& The Whole Truth - Eating and Recipe Guide by Andrea Beaman

Andrea Beaman, HHC, AADP

By the time she was in her late twenties, Andrea Beaman was battling her weight, chronically sick, and diagnosed with thyroid disease. Doctors informed her she would need to be medicated for life. Not wanting to be chained to a lifetime of drugs, Andrea transformed her junk food, fast food, and stimulant addicted diet to one that was natural, organic, seasonal and delicious. As a result her health dramatically changed. Successfully healing her “incurable” thyroid disease was the catalyst that changed her health, life and profession.
Today, Andrea is an organic chef, inspirational lecturer, food expert, author, and television personality dedicated to spreading the knowledge about natural healing. She is an accredited Holistic Health Counselor with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, and is educated in the healing arts by the Kushi Institute, and The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Visit http://www.AndreaBeaman.com

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What people say about Macrobiotics

Andrea Beaman

 

When I was 24 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the 2nd time and it had spread throughout her body. We found macrobiotics through an article my father read about Dr. Hugh
Faulkner (Physician Heal Thyself). So we tried macrobiotics with my mom, but unfortunately her body was already in a weakened state from the deluge of chemical warfare that was waged on her cancer. She passed away but my experience with natural foods inspired me to opt for natural healing if I became sick.

Unfortunately, I went back to my standard american diet and at 28 years old was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The prescribed treatment was radioactive iodine and synthroid for the rest of my life. I opted to change my diet instead.

I saw Michio Kushi for a consultation and he told me that the thyroid would heal within four months but if I didn't change my diet I would have full blown breast cancer in both my breasts!! This was a HUGE wakeup
call. I studied the macro books,altered my eating habits from pizza, frozen yogurt, sugar, coffee and M&M's to whole grains, beans, vegetables, sea vegetables, and fish, and began to heal.

I dropped 25 pounds and felt generally healthy. It took 2 years but my thyroid healed. I studied at the Kushi Institute and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. After four years of good health, I began to get
slight weakness in my muscles and dizziness when I stood up. A blood test revealed that my levels of vitamin B12 were low even though I was eating fish.

I went back to the books (Ohsawa) and saw that other animal foods (besides fish) were recommend for health once the body becomes balanced (eggs, chicken, meat) in small quantities and according to climatatic conditions. So I incoporated organic, free range, grass fed animal foods into my macro diet and my health once again became vibrant. As a health counselor today, I look into the macrobiotic community and see a lot of unhealthy physical and emotional dysfunction and know that things need to be updated and changed to create optimum health.

The principles of macrobiotics helped me to heal my disease and I have since moved forward and have been teaching others how to heal as well.

Andrea Beaman