In 2001 I was diagnosed with stomach cancer stage III, grade.

My prognosis was 6 months, the most 12 with chemoradiation. After two major surgeries, and in the middle of chemoration, I got a consultation with Mr Kushi, who was the first human to give me some hope. Well, I followed his recommendations, and changed my lifestyle overnight.

It worked, I was dismissed from checkups last year, considered completely cured, though doctors never admit the power of it, they agree that a healthy lifestyle gave me life back. I am and will always be to Michio and to all the people dedicated to macrobiotics, if one embraces it with trust, the rest is a question of cause and effect. Good habits generate
good health. Thanks to you all.

ESTELA DE PAOLA DE LERMA - Sculptor and Art Educator

Donald J Porter

As a child, I had chronic chest problems. I suffered from pneumonia at age 7 and had my tonsils removed at age 8 and was forever getting bad coughs and colds. When I discovered Macrobiotics and omitted all dairy products from my diet, it was nothing short of a miracle. I can honestly say that I rarely get a cold or cough now and haven't had to visit a doctor in years. Macrobiotics has taught me that the cure really is in the kitchen.

Aine McAteer - personal macrobiotic/health chef to some of Hollywood’s top actors, including Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Pierce Brosnan and Robert Redford.

Macrobiotics has been a key part of my life. Macrobiotics has given me vast energy, the ability to heal, as well as prevent illness, clarity of mind, and strength of spirit. Macrobiotic principles and philosophy are so vital! Macrobiotics continues to serve as a bridge towards my own self-realization. Andrew Vavrek - Musician

On an intellectual level macrobiotics, although assimilating & using the concepts is sometimes confusing, it has given me clarity and understanding about the world in which we live, why things are the way they are, why things happen the way they do and I find that comforting. Physically, the improvement to my health was dramatic, I lost 30lbs in the first two months of the change and literally felt light and happy, I was on the way to irritable bowel syndrome and that miraculously disappeared, my athlete's foot went away never to return, my PMS and heavy periods - gone! etc. etc. and I probably am in better shape than I was when I was a teenager although I am 43. I get a lot of pleasure when I get an 'aha!', when something clicks, some smidgeon of understanding as I continue to broaden my knowledge. I have direction and passion in my life because of macrobiotics which very importantly helps me to get up in the morning! Anna Rosenberg - Teacher

In the beginning, it cleared my skin and eliminated my chronic fatigue, asI quit eating milk products and sugar. It also vastly improved my moods,from gloomy and melancholy to cheerful and energetic. The philosophical approach was very important to me. Ohsawa's dictum."a theory without a practice is useless; a practice without a theory is dangerous," became a major concept underlying my life and my work.

Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D - The founded of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts

Macrobiotics is a way of eating, thinking, and living that is intended to help you to become your best self. The food and way of life provides energy, lightness of being, clarity of mind, and a broad view of life.

We have to use these gifts in order to better understand ourselves and others, to have greater compassion, to have the courage to open our hearts, to speak our truths, and become ourselves. Doing these simple things becomes a path to your inner nature, your soul.

This is the real spiritual path. Macrobiotics has helped me to become more myself. It's helped me accept myself more completely, to relax ever more deeply into my being, and to live and speak more fully from my heart.

Tom Monte - authors and teachers of natural healing. He has written more than 30 books and hundreds of articles on virtually every area of health.

What I found was that my attachment to the principles of macrobiotics began to limit me. I had reduced the freedom of what I understood to be macrobiotics, through a certain degree of control over life. Life is so rich and dynamic, and yet the very principles of food that seemed to have helped me heal, many years earlier, were now causing unhappiness. I went back, in my mind, to the Chinese grandmothers, remembering the feeling that I had when I was with them. It was a very feminine way of being, and I had somehow left that behind.

I remember having my first dreams around this time. These dreams showed me that there was a deeper healing that went beyond food. Also, I had the fortune of interviewing Herman Aihara for four days at Vega in Oroville. I wanted to write about the more spiritual aspect of macrobiotics. Herman, in his humility and love, showed me something that I knew was the kernel inside all the outer aspects of macrobiotics.

I knew, not just from Herman, that one’s happiness has more to do with living one’s true nature, which is truly free. Herman was a living example, for me, of a fluid and alive relationship to life. The food and the theories were like the tip of the triangle, but the base and foundation was an understanding of oneness and the sacredness of life.

Anne Scott

My husband was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 40 in 1983. When the tears subsided and the shock wore off, I started looking for natural methods of healing cancer. I was at the vet's parking lot when Mrs. Hohlefelder, mother of twins who were students of mine, met me in the parking lot.

I'll never forget her words, "Your husband does not have to die of cancer. Get Life Magazine's excerpt of Recalled by Life by Dr. Sattilero and Tom Monte. He followed a macrobiotic diet." That word, MACROBIOTIC, has altered my life profoundly from that moment to this day.

I went to the library with my dog still in the car. I was so excited. So on July 19, 1983, I threw out all white sugar, meat, cheese and bought a pressure cooker. I tried so hard to be a good cook but I burned everything. I said to Joe, "If you don't eat this, you'll die." His response was, "I know." With great respect for the person who wishes to go to the spirit world, I let go.

He died in January, 1984. With two children to raise, I maintained my macrobiotic practice, which I do to this day. Many incredible doors have opened for me, since I embarked on my macrobiotic journey. Barb Jurecki

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In 1965, a friend invited me to have dinner with Michio and Aveline Kushi.
I was already a vegetarian (from birth) but I ate a lot of sugar and junk food. The diet made sense to me. I loved the rice and found it to be so satisfying. I began to attend Michio's lectures and the philosophy sounded right. It was such a big view; looking at human life from a single cell to the whole cosmos. That is big. And now, 38 years later, I still think that whole grains can be one way to save humanity and the sanity of the race.

Betsy Polatin -The faculty at the Opera Institute and Boston University

Macrobiotics has helped me be more of who I am. What I mean is that is has inspired me to be the absolute best Bita I can be. It has also always been a force of positivity, coupled with my own personal philosophy. I feel it has given me an edge in life. I never feel alone because I have a strong belief in philosophy as a whole. To quote Nietzsche, one of my favorite philosophers: "We are always in our own company." This quote is tender yet whimsical at the same time.

Food wise, macrobiotics has helped me have more energy and vigor than anyone I know. The combination of a macrobiotic diet and an avid love of fitness keeps me brimming with spunk. I look at people my age and I can't believe that we're the same age!. I had a fiesta recently to celebrate my 25th birthday, and people were just sitting on the couch like slugs, watching television. I was ready to dance the night away! Bita Hunt

Macrobiotics helped me heal my B12 deficiency 15 years ago. And many other conditions I did not even realize I had, until they were gone and I studied about them.. Christine Stevens

I’ve always followed Ohsawa’s advice to make your own macrobiotics and while I’ve deviated on natural food, I’ve had no medicine, no surgery and maintained a good level of activiy. Energy, good sleep and good humour have been pretty constant, (but the gratitude comes with time). Craig Sams - Health food pioneer-- top^

Macrobiotics helped me most by giving me the ability to think for myself and to be mostly free of the dominating influence, physically and mentally, of the modern hurry-up culture. It has showed me that I can do whatever I want to do. All I have to do is to dream it and then take steps to make it happen. Macrobitoics showed me that I have no one and nothing to blame for any illness or misfortune that comes my way. I am freely choosing to live how I want and to accept everything that results, good or bad. David Briscoe

Macrobiotics set me free! Free from medical dramas, psycological mumbo jumbo, and free from falling into "What happened to me"? I now have great control over my health and destiny and can step away from being "run". I can determine how I want to feel. My kids have never seen a doctor! David Jackson

Macrobiotics has helped me in many ways. Day to day I feel peaceful and emotionally stable. I suffer from few of the complaints that often accompany aging such as arthritis, hemorhoids, insomnia, not to mention the more degenerative conditions such as cancer and heart disease. I've saved thousands on health insurance over the years and have almost no medical expenses and take no prescription drugs. Gale Jack

I was attracted to macrobiotics as a philosophy of balance, helping to understand the dynamics of life, society, and the cosmos. Fortunately, I was young and did not have any major health problems, but I noticed that my thoughts and emotions stabilized as I ate more toward the center and avoided extremes.

Over the years, macrobiotics has become an indispensable tool for deeper understanding and self-development at many levels. Alex Jack

Macrobiotics saved my life. It's very simple and yet very profound. I had bought into the "American Dream" (even though I'm in Canada ) and once I accomplished all those material goals, discovered that I felt completely empty and was searching for deeper meaning in my life. The Spiritual teachings of macrobiotics, beyond just the food we put in our mouths, but what we say, think and do, and our intensions, turned my life around. Karen Heaven
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Macrobiotics has helped me in so many ways. First of all, when I began eating this way, I did have an ovarian cyst which completely disappeared after a year of eating fairly well - I was just beginning, so of course I made many mistakes - and by doing Yoga every day. Then I had yeast infections and the macrobiotic diet helped me rid of the yeast infections.

I also began feeling more calm, was able to drop coffee completely, and found that eating macrobiotically favored a very spiritual way of life which fit in with my Yoga life style. I have been following this way of life since 1969 with, of course, some diversions from the path, but in general have been eating grains and vegetables with very little fish for over thirty-five years. I'm now sixty-two and am never tired, have tremendous endurance, can teach six to eight hours a day without ever getting tired, have tremendous clarity of mind. I run Yoga Macrobiotic vacations around the world and have the best cooks come and cook for my guests and have helped many many hundreds of people with this diet and so am very happy about that. I find it the most peaceful aesthetic way of living and it has given me a wonderful life. Karin Stephan

The action of the food is important and one that I have spent years observing, studying and working with. As we know all food is macrobiotic it depends on where you live, what your own environment is like and how the food around is grown and how you are going to cook it depending on the season. Karla Walter

Through macrobiotics, I overcame many ailments including hypoglycemia, systemic candida, mood swings, colitis, arthritis, endometriosis and fatigue. Most of these conditions were food related and cleared up within a year of eating a healing macrobiotic diet.
Lenore Baum

Macrobiotics helps me in many ways. It helps me to have a clear head and to stay in touch with my intuition. I have stayed clean and sober for 14 years now with the help of macrobiotics and 12 step programs and have a lot of energy to pass on what I have learned to others. Lisa Silverman
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Prior to starting macrobiotics, I had followed a vegetarian-style raw foods diet for over 3 years--lots of juicing, smoothies and raw salads. I developed many health problems including candida, chronic fatigue, low blood sugar, etc. After one year of adjusting my diet to grains and vegetables, all chronic health problems disappeared. Energy levels better than ever. Career-wise, I opened two macrobiotic restaurants and wrote two cookbooks. Margaret Lawson

On January 1, 2003, my mother found out that she had breast cancer, I immediately called my aunt. Five years prior she had been diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma and given less than 12 months to live. She researched alternatie treatments and discovered the macrobiotic diet. Today she is completely healthy and cancer free. She recommended the same diet to my mother. My mother had a lumpectomy and radion, but turned down 5 year of Tamoxifen drug treatment, and also went on the macrobiotic diet. Today she feels great.
Jolanta Sonkin

was a dance major and philosophy minor at the University. The philosophy of macrobiotics gave me appreciation of relationships in nature. Like earth to water, water to fire, air and metal etc. I felt an instant understanding that simple food had power to heal, and then I fell in love with grain.

My goal became a mission to create healthy children. Three of the four were home birthed, and all raised with macrobiotic quality food for most of their young years. I feel strongly that macrobiotics prepared my young body to create and maintain a healthy family.

Joanne Saltzman

In 1976, I decided to enter the Realm of Yoga and Vegetarianism. It was Great.....but after 8 years of that, I was not healthy, and a look at Macrobiotics, began to tell me why.
I had developed so many allergies, digestive problems, abdominal pain, and low energy.
The allergies were so bad that it seemed i would have to move into a bubble to protect myself from the plants, pollens, dust , mold, animals and chemicals that i had gotten so sensitive to !

I had been eating a lot of dairy, as a vegetarian for 8 years....and it seemed that my health had deteriorated...not improved....Much to my dismay!!! After all, i had taken these steps to do the opposite!

Almost immediatley, on the Macrobiotic Diet, my digestion improved, and of course, energy levels as well. Within 6 months, all the allergy symptoms were completely gone. What a tremendous relief....boy was I convinced!
I ate vegan- Macrobiotic for 4 years and developed a B-12 deficiency, so I then began eating fish . I have been fine and very healthy since.
I have a tremendous amount of energy.....I receive that from healthy food, Yoga, Deep, Breathing, fresh air, Nature, Spiritual life, a positive attitude, relaxation........ all the many things that when combined offer us Harmony and Balance. Julianna Norrie

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After my husband suffered major heart attack and heart triple bypass surgery, we vowed never again to endure that invasive surgery, and macrobiotic approach to health made so much sense to both of us.

Fred has actually recovered to full healing of the heart, from being told he had perhaps 50% heart damage, to 0 % heart damage now, eleven years later. Fred looks and feels better than he did 15 years ago. Marsha Rueff

Thanks to this macrobiotic stimulus, I soon discovered acupuncture. Because there were no acupuncture schools in the US at that time, I went to England to study and have practiced both macrobiotic counseling and acupuncture since 1976. My work led me to an interest in and study of western herbs, then Chinese herbs and into the realms of psychological and spiritual dimensions. This is a journey with no end (at least in this lifetime!).
Michael Rossoff

When I found out that I had Hepitius C several years ago, I began to search for some alternative way to battle this incurable disease.

I found a web site that was created by a guy who had Hepitius C. He had discovered a special macrobiotic diet that could bring the disease down to a very controllable level so that your liver enzyme level would come back into normal range which greatly reduces the HCV's ability to do any permanent damage to your liver.

This is a very big accomplishment. This special macrobiotic diet basically gives your liver and entire system a break from all the non-food ingredients, sugars(including fruit sugar), alcohol, meats(except for fish), and the stress of your liver trying to figure out what to do with this stuff.

Your system can very easily break down and assimilate the macrobiotic diet with little or no trouble. What happens is in about 3 month is all the good nutrients from eating this diet finally is filtered into your blood stream, and then you are getting the full benefit of this macrobiotic diet.

Your liver now knows what to do with this healthy array of nutrients and it gets a big break. Now it is able to get back to the task at hand of producing its own powerful interferon's which is how it can slowly beat down the population of the HCV in your system which greatly keeps the HCV in check. At this point your liver is very capable of protecting itself against the disease and allot of other diseases. With this diet I have brought my HCV down to a low hum within a years time.

More so than any of the man made interferon drugs that I also tried in two 6 month futile attempts with cost on the average of $2500.00 per month. Plus the side affects from these drugs are sometimes worse than the HCV itself.

The man made interferon only has about a 49% cure rate at best. This special macrobiotic diet is much more affective at enabling your own liver to bring this disease down to it's knees. Therefore letting you to live a healthier and longer live than you would normally with HCV.

Randy Franklin - Vice President
Great Eastern Sun Trading Co., Inc

I had started with juices and salads and that was helpful initially. But it led to problems. E.g. one cold rainy night, I ate a salad for dinner and woke up later with an asthma attack! I also developed a skin rash that would not go away for months. Macrobiotics helped me to understand why all those things happened.

In general, macrobiotics and the idea of yin and yang help explain a lot of things.

Needless to say, my health improved significantly although I never followed the dietary recommendations all that closely.

But I think macrobiotics also made me more adventurous, more assertive of myself etc. This eventually led to me and my wife separating - even though we were a fairly strong couple and we remain friends - and to lots of other difficulties in life in recent years. My life went through lots of upheavals in past five years or so.

Of course it is not just macrobiotics alone, but I think it played a big part. However, I feel this is all part of "restoring balance". Overall, I am glad for all the things that has happened in my life, in spite of the difficulties.

Richard Seah

It has given me increased physical health and mental balance, even though I was quite robust when I started at the age of 25, and was not looking for a cure. It has given me insight into my calling in life, my "dharma" as it is known in Buddhism, as I have worked with it for several decades. - Steven Acuff
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Macrobiotics has helped me to find a way out of disorientation and week health conditions. I learned by Macrobiotics to control my state of health on my own.

But the most important is that by the macrobiotic way of living I was able to escape from my prepeared structures (carma), to break my limits and to find out my own personal way to realise myself and to develop my causalities and talents. Axel Bergdolt

I had chronic fatigue syndrome, terrible headaches and a rash on my right hand that I could only control with a steroid cream. I was exhausted all the time and yet it didn't matter how much sleep I got. I was still tired. I didn't sleep well. Everything bothered me. Sometime it's hard to remember how bad I felt. I still get tired sometimes, but I recover usually in a day or two.

I very seldom get headaches anymore and if I do I know how to alleviate them naturally. I no longer need to use the steroid cream. I haven't taken any medication for anything, except novacaine for some dental work. I'm so grateful to be alive and to be eating this way. Rosemary Traill

Macrobiotics has helped me to become a more patient person. I have also learned, as I share with others that the practice goes far beyond just the physical aspect of the "diet" and learning not to put the blame elsewhere. It all starts with me getting my act together, before helping anyone else, you must first have yourself in order.
Sandy Pukel

My whole outlook on life has changed, how I perceived life, how I felt about myself, about family, and society. It gave me a greater appreciation for all things, patience and discipline. Most of all it made my life more whole and healthy - physically, emotionally and spiritually. While on this wonderful path that I had chosen, I was blessed with eight healthy, beautiful children, who have been my greatest teachers.

They have taught me far more about life and what is really important than any book or teacher I've encountered. I'm still being blessed with wonderful, healthy, macrobiotic grandchildren! I am forever grateful to them for all they have given me. Wendy Esko

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Macrobiotics gave me hope and direction to learn how my body works. Through macrobiotics I learned about the energy of foods and how they effect my body not only in the nutritional sense but also energetically. By understanding the importance of keeping my biological systems balanced, working properly in the most efficient way , my body can create a regenerating environment instead of a degenerating environment. I can experience"macro-life" instead of the limiting "micro-life". Virgina Harper

Macrobiotics, yoga and homeopathy sowed the early seeds of a rich life practice. I know that my intentions create my thoughts and that affects my actions. I know that my food choices affect not just my health, but the health of the entire planet.

I know that healing is physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic. This knowing is on a cellular level, and has taken me to other important life studies which include Pilates, massage therapy and Somatic Movement. Wendy LeBlanc-Arbuckle -Director, Pilates Center of Austin