My visit to the Kushi Institute was fascinating!

I actually remember the first time I have been exposed to macrobiotic cuisine when I was 7 years old; my parents had distant relatives come for dinner and they brought their own food. Coming from Meat-driven Argentina, charred juicy slabs of beef on the grill was my perfect and normal dinner fare. These relatives seemed as if they were floating in the air and they were speaking about the percentages of grains, beans etc. To me it was all plain WEIRD!

Fast forward a few decades and my exposure to vegetarian cuisine came in stints of either mystical periods of introspection and meditation or simply living in surroundings that leaned towards the consumption of more vegetables and grains, like the year I spend living in Tepoztlan, Mexico. The result of this lifestyle yielded a much better ME, much lighter, my body leaner, more energy and all the statements that these doctrines preach do happen to be true.

The Kushi Institute is located in the small town of Beckett, Massachussets; in an old building up in a hill, surrounded by 600 acres of lush forests, lovely at this time of the year, with flowers blooming, bees and butterflies all over the place. The  hundered year-old building use to be a hunting lodge and previously a monastery and it has all the vibe about it. What a sequence right? Monastery turned Hunting lodge turned Macrobiotic center; what should be next? Skin-head headquarters?

I took a seminar called “Mini Way to Health” and it is basically a three day intensive course that gives you an overview of what Macrobiotic is.  We had a few classes on nutrition, healing foods and basically lots of explanations of what foods are beneficial to our bodies and which ones are absolutely detrimental. It actually re-shifted my perspective of my personal eating habits and of course, all my culinary tendencies. It was actually disturbing the first days, I was sharing the class with 11 other students and because we would eat there three meals a day: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by the second day everybody had a headache from cleaning the toxins in our body. Sort of when you do a fast but actually we were eating heaping amounts of food.

I was forced to quit coffee cold turkey; (I was only having six cups a day before) and replace it for this Roasted Barley Tea that initially was bland and boring OR I could have Kukicha; (Tea-Twig Tea); both options were quite un-inspiring for me but I have a strong will power and I simply just dove into the lifestyle and surrender to the experience.

I must say that after the first day; headache and all, I knew I was up to something good, so I continued and rode the wave of Macrobiotic lectures. The compoanions I had were varied and great, mostly new England people even though in other classes (other levels and other courses were studying on-campus) I saw quite a few Japanese people to my surprise. All the way here?

The food was really interesting, very plain and uncomplicated but nourishing. The food is very complicated for me to just explain in a few words but the approach to it revolves around whole grains, beans, vegetables, pickles, condiments, sea vegetables and seaweeds, all in adequate proportions and quantities. For breakfast one day we had Miso soup, Collard Greens, Brown Rice and Tea, talk about a radical change from my Double Espresso Cappucino with a Pain Au Chocolat!    Some lunches consisted of Nishime (long cooked vegetables) Grated Rutabaga (I ate more Rutabaga in three days than I did in my past five years) Pickles, Millet with Cauliflower, Steamed Kale and Collard Greens and a Pressed Salad; and tea of course, which by now I  loved my Roasted Barley Tea.    One breakfast we had Oatmeal with a sweet and dark pudding-like mixture of Apples and Pears, Tea and something else I forget.    The last day we had a Brunch which was at this point mind-blowing because we were served Whole Wheat Pancakes with Brown Rice Syrup, Coffee!! actually Grain Coffee which I believe it is ground Roasted Barley that actually tastes very similar to a light American coffee but with a great aroma and none of the after effects of real coffee. Great alternative of people that want to quit or cut down a bit.

On my last day I had a private consultation one-on-one with a Counselor that after reviewing my health questionnaire I supplied, looked at my hand and gave me a few guidelines on foods I should have and other ones I should avoind according to my condition.    This also was very interesting and ever since I started at Kushi and now back in Miami I have been keeping up with my Macrobiotic diet. I shed-off a few pounds and I introduced our new approach to eating to my 12 year old and my 15 year old which to my surprise was very well accepted (especially by my cow-eating son)

I really enjoyed the experience,  it rooted me to a way of eating that made me feel centered, balanced and nourished. It was amazing to think of all the detrimental effects of White Flour, White Sugar and Dairy. For me that came from a culture that feasts on Cheese and eggs, red meats, roasted pork, lamb, anything that crawls goes to the grill kind of thing. now I am re-thinking everything again. I personally don’t think I will quit eating or preparing meats (especially for my birthday tomorrow) but I will certainly be more aware and will cut down quite a bit. I suspect that this experience will definitely affect my cooking style towards a much lighter fare. I highly recommend macrobiotic cuisine, especially for curing any condition. Thank you Kushi Institute and thanks to my lovely Clients that sponsored my visit and my lavish stay at Canyon Ranch in Lennox Massachusetts.