How a Bacon and Butter Eater becomes a Macrobiotic...

Well, my food writing has been rather sparse for the last few months and now with the coming of the New Year I think it is time to explain.

As anyone who reads this modest blog knows, I love food and I love to eat. My lifetime philosophy includes, "Butter makes anything better" and "Just add bacon." I couldn't be happier trying new foods and flavor combinations and although writing this blog may not have been good for my waistline - I did put on the pounds there trying all these yummy treats - it was loads of fun.

Well, last October I found out that I had a mild form of Crohn's Disease. Crohn's Disease is an auto-immune condition that never goes away and can get worse over time. I had two choices before me... take lots of drugs for the rest of my life or try a radically restricted diet. I'm not really that interested in taking the drugs, if I can avoid it, so since October 15th, 2007 I've been trying to do the radical macrobiotic diet and it seems to be helping. That's good news. I think. Because it means that for the most part I'll need to stay on this regime for life.

What is Macrobiotics?
I keep calling it "my crazy diet" and it feels a little extreme to me, but I do feel pretty healthy and energetic and that's got to be a good thing.

Macrobiotics is all about eating the most basic and unprocessed of foods... whole grains instead of flour, no refined sugars, lots of vegetables (some fruits) and lots of fermented foods like miso and natto etc. I love miso so that's no problem, but I'm still working on the natto - I'll have to write a whole entry about that challenge.

So what can I eat?
Whole grains like brown rice, barley, quinoa, millet, oats.
Sprouted grain breads that have no flour in them.
Vegetables like greens, onions, root vegetables, mushrooms and squashes
Seaweed (or sea vegetables) like wakame, kombu, nori, etc.
beans, tofu and edamame
Fruits like apples and peaches
some nuts and dried fruit
nut butters - a little peanut or almond butter
some fish

What is off the menu:
no white flour or rice
no sugar
no dairy
no caffeine
no meat
no tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant or peppers

I can't say I've been perfect. On Thanksgiving and Christmas I ate meat and since I often find myself fixing meat for my family I do occasionally indulge in a little sample, but for the most part I have been following this outline. Amazingly, I like the food. Yes, it is rather plain, but I've found some very simple dishes that taste wonderful to me. I've become a big fan of turnips roasted in a little olive oil with a sprinkle of sea salt... so good. I've learned how to make my own maki rolls with brown rice and vegetable fillings that are satisfying and delicious. With no sugar in my diet I find carrots very sweet and a peach really feels like dessert.

I'm still trying to imagine how to write about food and eating and cooking when my own diet is so limited and I'm going to try to figure it out over the next few weeks and months. Even if I'm restricted I still love food and I still love food that tastes and looks good so somehow I've got to figure out a way to meld the macrobiotic with the gourmet. I stopped writing for all those months because I didn't think anything I was eating would appeal to anyone else. Well, maybe that is true, but I've decided I'm going to keep writing about what I'm cooking and what I'm eating anyway. Hopefully something yummy will come out of it.