Guest Blog:
My name is Alan Kenney and I am a macrobiotic counseling
client with Sanae Suzuki.
I was talking with Sanae about an experience I had with
fresh, whole food versus packaged foods and she asked me to share this
experience on her blog.
First, I have been using umeboshi plum in my recipes for a
long time. However at the beginning of
the year I was attending a cooking class with Sanae at Studio Mugen. Sanae talked about being able to provide
10-years-aged umeboshi plums harvested from a friend’s orchard. I started using these plums and have been
using them. I found they are very delicious.
A couple of weeks ago I ran out of umeboshi plums and
decided to get some from the store. I
was preparing a recipe and I tasted one of the store-bought plums, and I was
surprised at how it tasted like boring, tasteless paste. I was so surprised. I also was thankful for the reminder of how
important it is to use fresh, energy filled foods which are reflected by such
things as vibrancy of taste. I also marveled
at how the 10-year aged plums even have what I call a tasty umeboshi “honey” that
drizzles from the fresh plums.
I’m so glad to have gotten a fresh supply of umeboshi plums
and to treat my tongue to such a great taste.
In the same vein as the umeboshi plums, I remembered that I
always make fresh gomashio condiment.
But, several months ago I bought a prepackaged bottle of gomashio since
I had run out and thought it would save me time from making another fresh
batch. The moment I opened the container
I knew I made a mistake.
When I make homemade gomashio it has a great sesame
fragrance which always greets my nose when I opened the container so I could
put some on my brown rice. However, the
store bought, packaged gomashio had no fragrance, no scent whatsoever. Also, the packaged gomashio didn’t have the
powerful taste and feel of freshly roasted gomashio. Again, the experience reminded me of the
power of fresh foods as experienced through taste and fragrance.
One last example about the power of food. Sanae had instructed me to make and consume a
greens drink for detoxification. I
started making the drink according to her instructions. However, I found out that I had been not
carrying out the instructions incorrectly.
I figured this out when I attended a macrobiotic healthy cooking class
with Sanae. At the class she showed how
to make the remedy. I consumed it and
had some fantastic results that day. I didn’t
have the same results the way I prepared it.
I was thankful to learn how to create this detox remedy and to benefit
from it. Again, the results I
experienced after preparing the food correctly showed me how powerful the energy
of food is to help in my efforts for better health.
A lesson I continue to learn by attending classes at Studio
Mugen and Seed restaurant is that there is always room for improvement and
growing in my understanding of the energy and power of food for healing and
health. I have worked hard in my own
personal cooking and studying of books to have a greater understanding of macrobiotic
cooking.
However, by attending the various cooking classes and
macrobiotic support meetings given by
Sanae, I continue to pick up finer points of understanding of food or health
and healing.
Having said that, I encourage everyone who is interested in
having the best health for your life to look into the various opportunities to
gather at Studio Mugen or Seed restaurant.
Just to show you how I have benefitted from my macrobiotic
experience I have included comparison photos of myself. The top photos (in yellow shirt) are from
October 2009 just before I stated my macrobiotic journey. The bottom photos are current.
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