Weeks ago, I resolved to elaborate on my experiments with Macrobiotics. First, I apologize for not doing so sooner.
Allow me to preface this entry by stating:
Macrobiotics certainly did not fail me. I most likely failed to accurately pursue macrobiotics. It might have been more beneficial had I more thoroughly researched this diet/lifestyle beforehand, instead of during my investigation.

The macrobiotic dishes I prepared or ate out have been wonderful and nourishing. After two weeks on a primarily macrobiotic diet, however, I found myself less energized, frequently lightheaded, and not quite feeling myself. I have therefore decided to return to a broader diet that includes healthy dairy and eggs.

I decided to explore macrobiotics under less ideal circumstances. In additional to my relatively full New York schedule, I was undertaking a freelance project and in the final stretch of preparing my photography exhibit. As a result, I probably didn’t have the most well rounded macrobiotic diet. Had I been better prepared, I would have included more sea vegetables and iron-rich foods into my meals, which might have prevented me from feeling light headed and occasionally dehydrated. (Practicing and teaching in the summer can lead to an abundance of detoxifying sweat.)

I’ll happily re-explore macrobiotics in the future if I have a more flexible and less busy New Yorker schedule. Perhaps I’d take a few macrobiotic cooking courses first. While it seems like a fascinating and potentially healing diet (well, lifestyle), I am not able to commit to fully to following it at this point in my life. This experiment, however, has re-inspired to cook in and pack lunches as much as possible. I am now incorporating more brown rice, faro, and other whole grains into my regular diet, which is great.

This experience has been the second good lesson in dietary moderation and extremes that I’ve had over the past eight months. (And thus, good lessons in moderation and extremes, in general.) In October, after nearly 3 years of forgoing meat and subsequently having imbalanced hormones, a doctor suggested I re-introduce more animal protein into my diet. Reluctantly, and after doing some research on eating for your blood type and ancestry, I eventually did so. Within two months, my hormones seemed to regulate themselves. This apparently intricate balance was affected again when I was primarily vegetarian from January to early March and from May until two weeks ago. From a moral (and economic) standpoint, I wish I could maintain a purely vegetarian or even vegan lifestyle. It seems, however, that my body will not comply. (Due to the cruelty of the meat industries, I am doing my best to eat small amounts of free-range and organic poultry.) Over the past two weeks have felt healthier and much more energized.

My brother Chris recently attended an interesting lecture in Santa Barbara concerning diet and ancestry. According to the lecturer, Dr. Michael Luan, Chris and my ½ Polish, Czech, Austrian, German, and ¼ Irish is a tricky formula for vegetarianism. Ancestry and blood type (check out Eating for Your Blood Type) can have a serious impact on one’s response to various diets. I have even read that the Dalai Lama, at the request of his doctor, must eat meat for more strength and energy. So, after abruptly jumping into extreme diets, I am trying to find healthy and mindful moderation to best nourish my body and mind and, in return, have more positive energy to devote to my work.