Global Macrobiotics Activities
GLOBAL MACROBIOTICS
“Macrobiotics is a natural balanced way of life including diet and lifestyle combining Eastern wisdom and Western knowledge to achieve personal health and planetary wellbeing.”
CULTIVATING PERSONAL HEALTH & PLANETARY WELLBEING
The world needs strengthening health and restoring balance. For decades macrobiotics have been promoting a balanced natural way of life and guiding individuals and families towards better health and happiness. Global Macrobiotics is an initiative carried out by an international network of individuals, schools and organizations to revitalize macrobiotics, make it relevant in a constantly changing world and for renewed efforts to share the benefits of its way of life with people around the world. Our main purpose is to cultivate personal health and planetary wellbeing through education and promoting natural sustainable lifestyles. We think that changing our lifestyle in a healthier natural direction can both transform ourselves and influence society in a positive way. Global Macrobiotics key areas of involvement and development for realizing a shared vision of health, happiness and peace for all include the following:
HEALTHY SUSTAINABLE WORLD FOOD CULTURE
Food is essential to our lives and it can both contribute to strengthen or weaken health. Poor dietary habits and unhealthy diets has resulted in an unprecedented rise in lifestyle and chronic disease around the world. Improving the quality of our food and shifting our way of eating in a healthier, more balanced direction have now become necessary. Likewise, the way we grow, process, distribute and eat our food today is wasteful, require excessive use of resources, pollute the environment, causes deforestation and biodiversity loss and produce high CO2 emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change. Finding a sensible way of nourishing humanity is now vital for us and future generations. At Global Macrobiotics we think that food provides us with an invaluable tool for helping realize personal and planetary health. We regard food in a comprehensive way and play a central role in our activities. Our main areas of involvement for developing a healthy, equitable and planetary sustainable world food culture include the following:
Macrobiotic Plant Based Diet
We promote a well-balanced plant-based diet centered around whole grains, vegetables from land and sea, beans and traditional soy products, seeds, nuts and fruits with moderate amounts of animal food for those who wish or may require. We educate and guide individuals, families and communities around the world how to implement healthy dietary changes in an enjoyable, familiar and sustainable way.
Whole Foods
We encourage a shift towards whole foods and those that are unrefined, minimally processed or traditionally made in order to preserve the natural vitality and nutritious quality of our food. We provide training for processing food at home using simple, natural ways.
Natural and Organic Foods
We encourage a shift towards natural and organic foods that are grown without artificial fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Animals that are wild or humanly raised with proper feed in an adequate natural environment without the use of hormones and antibiotics. And natural foods that are free of synthetic substances, artificial ingredients or additives and grown and processed using natural methods.
Local Foods
We encourage a shift towards community-oriented self-sufficiency centered on local production and distribution of food. We promote a way of cooking and eating that makes good use of local foods and is well adapted to the seasons, climate and other unique environmental conditions where we live.
Respect for Traditions and Heritage
We respect and promote traditional food cultures developed around the world including native foods and culinary heritage. We encourage reviving and revitalizing the healthful aspects found within traditional food cultures. Also revising aspects of traditions that may require changes or developments considering today’s health and planetary situation. We engage in food culture exchange and integration as a way to unite people, bridge cultures and improve quality of life around the world.
Natural Sustainable Agriculture
We encourage a shift towards a more natural, ecological and sustainable way of farming and producing our food. We support the work of farmers around the world who are recovering the health of soils, cleaning and protecting the natural environment, providing us with safe foods grown without the use of chemicals and other harmful substances, who are improving the quality of seeds, and who are willing to align with nature to provide us with better quality foods. Our health and that of the planet now significantly rely on their efforts and on our ability assist them. We encourage engaging in farming as part of healthy living and for improving planetary sustainability.
HEALTHY COOKING
At Global Macrobiotics we want to make cooking an integral part of healthy living around the world. We are increasingly becoming aware that we are what we eat and that food is directly related with our health and happiness. And since we eat mainly cooked food we should also reflect upon the significance of cooking in our lives. Cooking is often overlooked but improvements in our food and dietary habits in a healthier direction can’t be achieved unless we also develop and implement changes in the way we cook. The decline of home cooking coincides with overreliance on the convenience of pre-prepared foods, the spread of ultra-processed foods and the emergence of fast food, junk food and other aspects of our contemporary food culture that result in poor nutrition and consequent loss of health worldwide. Meanwhile replacing traditional food culture built around local foods and home cooking have resulted in a wasteful global food system that can’t properly feed all of humanity nor can be sustained because of its planetary impact. We think that now is a good time to reconnect with the kitchen, rediscover the joy of cooking and use it as a practical tool for improving health from our homes. We also encourage a shift in professional chefs and the culinary arts in a healthier sustainable direction.
HEALTHY LIFESTYLES
Along with food lifestyle choices are also intrinsic to our health and happiness. In addition to being physically and mentally active, we encourage healthy lifestyle practices that can be easily incorporated into our daily lives and sustained. There are a wide range of holistic practices to choose from for developing body, mind and spirit in healthy ways including dance, yoga, tai chi, chi kung, aikido, judo, martial arts, breathing exercises, do-in self-massage and stretches, mindfulness, meditation, visualization, chanting and many others that are currently being spread in society contributing to wellbeing.
NATURAL SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES
Global Macrobiotics promotes natural sustainable lifestyles that foster personal and planetary health. We recommend practicing a simpler way of life and engaging in outdoors activities to connect with nature, reflect upon its beauty and express our appreciation for sustaining our lives on earth. We encourage everyone to become well informed and more mindful of the current environmental crisis. And to take practical steps towards implementing a way of life that can honestly help mitigate environmental degradation (use of natural resources, CO2 emissions, waste and pollution) while supporting equitable socio-economic development and better quality of life for all. Changes in attitudes and lifestyle choices along with a spirit of collaboration and solidarity among all people will be required if we are to succeed taking better care of the earth and protecting nature for future generations.
DIY APPROACH FOR MAINTAINING AND RESTORING HEALTH
Global Macrobiotics promotes a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) approach to health centered around diet, cooking and lifestyle for taking better care of ourselves and our families. It is in line with science based preventive and lifestyle medicine approaches that regard a whole food plant-based diet along with comprehensive lifestyle changes as the most effective way of preventing disease at the root cause and for facilitating recovery. It also incorporates dietary adjustments and simple lifestyle practices based on traditional oriental energetic views that regard food as medicine and make use of cooking as a tool for helping restore balance and strengthen health. This proactive holistic approach to health combining Eastern and Western influences can be learned by anyone and is available in our macrobiotic courses. It is part of an integrative approach to health that can be complemented along with other alternative and conventional methods.
MACROBIOTIC EDUCATION
Global Macrobiotics involves in education to foster self-development, help make informed choices, share practical-knowledge and provide guidance for cultivating health through dietary and lifestyle means. Macrobiotics combines modern knowledge, experiences and observations along with holistic oriental notions to gain a better understanding and find practical ways of improving ourselves and our lives. We also engage in the study of energy and application of Yin Yang principles to maintain balance and realize harmony in the world.
LIVING WITH PURPOSE
At Global Macrobiotics we envision a world of health, happiness and peace for all. Today’s challenges whether personal or planetary offer us a unique opportunity for self-reflection, reorienting our lives and making changes for the better. And to succeed creating a better world together we encourage everyone to live with a sense of purpose and take concrete steps towards developing health and leading a more meaningful happy life.