Yin and Yang

Physically speaking yin is the centrifugal (or expanding) force and yang is the centripetal (or contracting) force. Jin and yang are constantly changing, for example with the changing of the seasons. What food is concerned the yin and yang characteristics can among others be changed by the method of preparation.

In order to find balance between yin and yang in our food and in our lives, we have to learn how to deal with these two forces: we have to learn how we can create or transform energy. This understanding of the dynamics of change is extremely important. Once you understand it and once you know how to deal with it you have layed the foundation for a flexible, healthy and happy life. In fact, it is impossible to fully understand life and what it is all about as long as you don’t understand the unceasing reaction between yin and yang…

The common western diet causes our body to become yin on the outside ( it expands – a lot of people are slightly or very overweight) and yang on the inside (hard, rigid, with stiff muscles & joints and hardened veins as a consequence). Macrobiotics, on the contrary, advises to eat only those types of food that have an excellent yin-yang balance. That kind of food will cause us to feel happy and balanced. It concerns among others grains, beans, vegetables, seaweed, seeds, nuts, … from our own environment. The constant fluctuating between an extreme yin state and an extreme yang state, sadly enough the way the vast majority of people in the western world are living, not only affects health but is also an important reason why so many people feel so bad.

Macrobiotic meals have an excellent yin-yang balance. On top of that they are delicious, give a good feeling of satiation and they look very tasty as well. Moreover macrobiotic food causes your outer body to become more yang (in other words, your body becomes slimmer and your figure becomes more graceful) and your inner body to become more balanced. You will be in a better condition, will feel better and automatically you will become more flexible and more relaxed. So certainly worth trying!