Acknowledgments
I wish to thank all of those people who inspired, motivated, and supported the writing of this book.
My brother, Alex, and sister, Maritza, whose love has sustained me through sickness, health, laughter, and tears.
Chip, for loving me the best you knew how and for being with me during the hardest phase of our lives.
Dana, whose dedication to the long hours of interviewing gave this project flight. Your humor kept me smiling.
Dan, for giving the dream the spark of reality.
Sarto, whose friendship, love, and tenacity brought this book to fruition.
Clark, for your wisdom, which helped me get through my growing pains, and for your undying confidence in me.
Ginger, the redheaded angel whose love and friendship have no bounds. You epitomize best friend. Your patience in reading and rereading the manuscript is greatly appreciated.
Margaret, my mentor, whose loving encouragement and excitement gave energy to my goal.
Jan, for unselfishly giving up your time to type and for your faith in my work.
Crystal, for donating your beautiful God-given talent and for your friendship.
Katherine, the unexpected surprise. You came into my life at the precise moment I needed your help to fulfill my dream. Thank you for your flexibility and ability to read my handwriting.
Todd, whose generous talents made me look good.
Michio and Aveline Kushi, whose vision of and dedication to achieving a peaceful world redirected my life.
Gregg and Michelle, who fed me physically and spiritually. Your guidance and encouragement to teach has given me confidence in my life path.
Mark, my soul mate, whose sincere love, support, and patience have given me the freedom to connect with my spirit and soar. I am enjoying the dance.
Gayle and Peter, whose constant encouragement and help with research are appreciated and invaluable. Gayle, you are the true essence of a diligent spirit.
Tom Cassone, who helped me through the confusion. Strong friendships and memories are forever.
Betty and Diane, whose generosity with information and continuous support have been greatly appreciated.
Beverly, whose undying support has been my buoy through this project. Marriage made us family, experiences made us bond, and divorce made us true friends.
Tom Monte, last but most important, whose dedication and patience are surpassed only by your talented writing skills. You expressed my passion to create my destined project.
All the many other friends and family that have allowed me to be a part of your lives. You have supported me financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
Because of you, my way is made easy.
Conclusion
In this book, I have tried to show you how I overcame a very serious inflammatory bowel disorder, namely Crohns disease, and how you can do it, too. Many so-called experts told me along the way that Crohns is incurable and that what I was eating had nothing to do with it . The only way I could ever manage the illness successfully was with powerful drugs and surgery. Those who told me that had very authoritative credentials. They were highly educated. Yet, they were wrong.
Looking back, I realize now that all I had was a belief in myself, a belief in those who tried to help me, and the willingness to trust my own experience. The macrobiotic diet and lifestyle had a profound impact on my life. It affected my symptoms and eventually helped me overcome my disorder. Along the way, I allowed my experience and my faith to guide me. My experience of the diet and lifestyle was what I needed most to sustain my trust in this program. I saw how much good it was doing me. No one could take that away from me.
The most difficult part about this practice is how simple it is. It is basic common sense. Therefore, it takes intentional thinking, dedication, and implementation. It is not magic. In a society that expects everything fixed quickly without much personal input, being the steward of your own health becomes a major challenge. Society today has a magic pill mentality. If its not a pill, shot, or drink, we dont want to spend too much time thinking about it. We have luxurized saving time, but at what cost, if we are too sick to enjoy life? There are a number of influences that helped weaken our immune system and break down our health. Therefore, there is no one magic anything that will make us healthy. If we deny the cause, we also deny the cure.
Good health is created through a natural lifestyle. Our bodies function in a healthy state when we align with nature. Doing this includes more than just eating the right foods. Food is definitely the first step, since its our nourishment. And I mean real foodGod-made food, not manmade food. The closer the food is to its natural state, its raw unrefined form, the higher its quality and the stronger its life force. When a person resorts to ingesting stimulants of any kind or highly refined foods, he or she aborts the regeneration of the body.
It finally became clear to me that if I take care of myself, my body, my mind, and my spirit, I will have health, energy, time, and love to be of service to others and to be fruitful.
The macrobiotic lifestyle takes time, commitment, dedication, and a gut desire to want to not just be well, but to experience true healing. Yes, I said time. When you weigh out how much time you spend in bed feeling bad, dragging yourself through the day feeling like youve accomplished only half of what you wanted to accomplish, and going to doctor appointment after doctor appointment, youll realize that a few hours in the kitchen is well worth it. As I started putting the time into my new natural lifestyle, the energy I gained was incredible. And yes, I began having more time available to me. The time to start is now, because the power is in the present moment. Macrobiotics taught me that the body wants to be in a healthy state. Healing is the rule, not the exception. The bodys tendency is to regenerate and maintain balance in order to experience health. When the body is provided with the proper tools, healing happens from within. Macrobiotics is the compass, the tool of navigation that leads to the whole, big, large, macro life.
As I have tried to show, I had many setbacks and made many mistakes along the way. But I always had an intuitive awareness that I was on the right track and that somehow I was being led, or directed, by a Greater Good, that my prayers were being answered . I behaved my way to success. By applying myself to my daily activity, the results were evident.
I offer you this book in the same spirit. Use this diet and lifestyle with all your intelligence, willpower, and capacity to reflect on your own experience. Be aware of what is working for you and what isnt in all areas of your life: the physical, emotional, and spiritual realm . Get help whenever you need it, both from a medical doctor and from a macrobiotic counselor you trust. But most of all, apply yourself fully to your own healing. Let your spirit and the influences of a Higher Power guide you to your goal of health and rebirth and that quality of healing you can never get from a pill.
If we leave Nature alone, she recovers gently from the disorder into which she has fallen.
It is our anxiety, our impatience, which spoils all; and nearly all men die of their remedies, not of their diseases.
Moliere
Accept everything with great pleasure and thanks. Accept misfortune like happiness, disease like health, poverty like prosperity. And if you do not like it and cannot stand it, refer to your Universal Compass, The Unique Principle.
