Making Peace with Cravings

Cravings are an issue that comes up with any dietary change. This is the result of a combination of pure habit and some primordial physiology. Participants in Dr. Terry Shintani’s 10-Day Program say that their cravings are much easier to control after following the Peace diet program for several days. He explained why this happens so that people can have a better way of handling their cravings. 

Dr. Terry Shintani started a vegetarian diet when he was 26 years old, and used to take his dates to a steak house. He used to start off with a small salad with a lot of thousand-island dressing on it.  Then would order a 12 oz prime rib, well done, with baked potato and dinner rolls.  He slather the potato in butter and sprinkle it with salt, and he would eat several rolls, also well-buttered. The interesting thing is that even after eating all that, he still craved ice cream.  Modern science can't really explain why a person who has had that many calories would still crave more food.

Part of understanding of Macrobiotics is appreciating the ever-changing balance between yin and yang, the two major energies in the physical manifestation of the world. Yang is the male, firm and contractive energy of things.  Yin is the female, soft and expansive energy of things.  Yin attracts yang and yang attracts yin.

Food has these characteristics as well. Salt, meat, and baked goods are foods that are very yang in nature. Fruits, sweets, dairy and alcohol are yin in nature.  So when one eats a lot of food that is yang in nature, craving yin is a natural result despite getting enough calories. From this perspective, eating lots of meat and salt causes craving of sweets and alcohol.  So it is obvious that eating a steak will induce the desire for dessert and a drink.  In the Peace Diet, the extremes of "yin" and "yang" foods are eliminated, and a balance in the food is more easily achieved. Meat, animal products, salt, and baked goods are limited as well as sugar, dairy and alcohol. The result of these is an easy balance formed and cravings to eat more food are diminished.