GENERAL DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS
Vegetables
- Eat at least three servings of green and leafy vegetables per day, such as bok chop, broccoli, collard greens, kale, leeks, mustard greens, Napa (or Chinese) cabbage, green cabbage, or watercress.
- Eat two or three servings of round and sweet vegetables daily. Included in this group are onions, parsnips, rutabaga, squash, turnips, and sweet potatoes. (Avoid white potatoes, as they raise insulin levels.)
- Eat two servings per day of root vegetables, such as burdock, carrots, daikon radish, lotus root, parsnips, red radish, rutabaga, and turnips.
- Eat one serving of whole beans daily. Preferred beans include aduki beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, mung beans, navy beans, pinto beans, and white beans.
- Eat shiitake, reishi, maiktake, coriolis versicolor (also known as turkey tail), and button mushrooms four times per week.
- Eat a white vegetable four to six times per week. These include daikon, onion, cauliflower, and turnip.
- Eat a green or leafy vegetable at every meal, including breakfast.
- Make vegetables approximately 60 of your daily food intake.
- Ninety percent of your vegetables should be cooked. Add a small salad of organic, dark green lettuce and sliced vegetables and alfalfa and/or mung bean sprouts after cooked greens and other vegetables have been eaten.
- Avoid highly acidic vegetables, such as tomatoes and egg plant, which drain minerals from the blood and require additional work from the kidneys in order to alkalize the blood.
Sea Vegetables
- Eat a small serving (2 tablespoons) of sea vegetables per day.
- Eat any of the following seaweeds — Alaria, arame, dulse, hijiki, kelp, kombu, nori, and wakame.
Vegetable and Miso Soup
- Eat a bowl of vegetable-rich soup in miso broth five to seven times per week. Include some form of seaweed, green and root vegetable in the soup.
Animal Foods
- Make white fish your singular source of animal protein. White fish is low in fat, and therefore low in all the toxins commonly found in fish.
- Eat white fish two or more times per week.
- Serving size should be approximately 3 ounces, or about the size of a deck of cards.
Eat Probiotic Foods Daily
- In addition to miso soup, eat some form of probiotic food daily.
- Recommended probiotic rich foods include: sauerkraut (1 to 2 tablespoon size serving), kimchee, natto and tempeh (both whole fermented soybeans), and a variety of pickled vegetables.
Drink, ample amounts of clean, spring water
- Drink clean, spring water throughout the day.
- If spring water cannot be found, drink filtered water.
Teas
- In addition to water, drink non-aromatic teas and grain coffee substitutes.
- Healthful teas include chamomile, rooibos, bancha, kukicha, and peppermint.
- If caffeine can be tolerated, green and black tea are recommended.
- Avoid all coffee.
- Drink high quality, grain coffee substitutes, such as Pero, Cafix, Inka, and Dandy.
Fruit
- Eat fruit sparingly because of its sugar content.
- Preferred fruit includes red and green apples, pears, berries, and, when in season, watermelon.
- Try to eat fruit that would grow in your own climate. If you live in a temperate climate, avoid tropical fruit.
- Whenever possible, cook your fruit to make a compote.
Nuts and Seeds
- Eat a small amount of nuts and seeds three to five times per week, about the amount that would fit into the palm of your hand.
- Soak nuts and seeds overnight to increase their digestibility.
- Preferred nuts are: Almonds, Brazil, chestnuts (used mostly in cooking whole grains, such as brown rice), pistachios, walnuts.
-Preferred seeds are: chia, flax (ground before using), pumpkin, sesame (both yellow and black), and sunflower.
Snacks and Desserts
- Use nuts, seeds, and fruit (mostly cooked) as the basis for your snacks and desserts.
- Use sweet vegetables, such as squash and sweet potatoes, and other cooked foods as snacks and desserts.
Things to keep in mind
- Try not to overeat. Quantity affects the quality of the food and its effects on your body, Michio Kushi used to say.
- As a general rule, eat until you are about 80 percent full. Leave a little room so that your stomach and intestines can easily digest your food.
- Stop eating three hours before bed. Avoid going to bed on a full stomach.
- Chew every mouthful at least 35 times, preferably 50 times, and experiment from time to time to see what the food tastes like and the effects on your digestion when you chew 100 times a mouth. Follow the wonderful advice of Mahatma Gandhi, who used to say, “Drink your food and chew your soup.”
- Sit down and enjoy your meal. Give your food your full attention. Try to avoid standing while eating.
- Consider offering a prayer of thanksgiving before you eat. It centers your body and mind, and prepares you to receive your food in gratitude.
(For more personal guidance, see the Resource Guide for a list of expert dietary counselors and medical doctors who specialize in diet and nutrition.)
Soups
Simple Miso Soup
1/2 cup of alaria or wild Atlantic wakame, soaked overnight (cut into small pieces)
1 cup carrot, cut into matchsticks
5 cups water
2 tablespoons of miso or to taste, diluted in small amount of soup stock
5 scallions, sliced thin
Place soaked and cut seaweed into pot of water (including soaking water) and bring to a boil. Cook on high heat for forty minutes. Turn flame down. Add carrot, cover, and simmer for another ten minutes. Add miso to soup and continue to simmer for ten minutes on a low flame. Do not boil miso. Turn off flame and add scallions.
Dried Mushroom and Spinach Soup
2 cups of any kind of dried mushroom
2 cups spinach
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
7 cups water
tamari to taste
Cook dried mushrooms in boiling water until tender. Add other vegetables and simmer covered for an additional fifteen minutes. Add tamari to taste and simmer for ten minutes.
Red Lentil Soup
1 cup red lentils
1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 beets, diced
7 cups water
2 tablespoons dark miso, diluted in small amount of soup stock
scallions or parsley for garnish, chopped
Wash and drain lentils. Add lentils and vegetables to pot with water and bring to a boil. Turn flame down, cover and simmer for at least an hour. Turn flame off and blend ingredients. Add miso and cook for five to ten minutes on a low flame. Garnish with scallions or parsley.
Squash Soup
8 cups winter squash, cubed (remove the seeds)
1 large sweet potato, cubed
2 tablespoons dark miso or to taste, diluted in a small amount of soup stock
fresh ginger, grated
Place squash and sweet potato in a pot with water to cover. Bring to boil, then lower flame and simmer for approximately one hour or until vegetables are soft. Add more water if needed. Blend in a blender or use a hand mixer. Add diluted miso and simmer for five to ten minutes more. Turn off flame and add grated ginger.
Minestrone Soup
2 cups dried kidney beans (or already prepared beans)
1 strip of kelp or kombu seaweed
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, cubed
1 stalk celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small winter squash, cubed
4 tomatoes, sliced
2 potatoes, diced
1 cup gluten-free macaroni
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon basil
tamari or miso (diluted in some soup stock) to taste
1 cup parsley, chopped
If you are using dried beans, soak them overnight. Bring to boil in six cups of water, along with the seaweed. Boil beans for at least 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Then add vegetables, garlic, rosemary, and basil. (If the beans are already prepared, just place them in a pot with vegetables, garlic, rosemary, and basil and cover with water. Bring to a boil.)
Turn flame down. Cook on a medium flame for approximately one half hour or until vegetables are soft. Add macaroni at the end of cooking, and flavor with miso or tamari. Once you add miso or tamari, simmer on low for ten minutes. Garnish with parsley.
Shiitake Mushroom and Quinoa Soup
7 cups of water
1/2 cup quinoa, washed
10 shiitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
7 leaves Chinese cabbage, sliced into small pieces
2 tablespoons dark miso, diluted in a small amount of soup stock
1 scallion, sliced
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
Fill a pot with water. Add quinoa and shiitake. Bring to a boil. Turn down flame and add onion, carrots, and Chinese cabbage. Cover, and simmer for one hour. Add more water, if needed. Add diluted miso and simmer for ten minutes longer. Garnish with scallion and grated ginger.
Watercress Potato Soup
4 red potatoes, sliced
4 bunches watercress
4 tablespoons dark miso, diluted in a small amount of soup stock
7 cups water
Boil potatoes and watercress in a pot of water until soft. Add more water if needed. Blend. Add miso and simmer ten minutes longer.
Curried Cauliflower Soup
1 head cauliflower
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons miso or tamari to taste
sprinkle of salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cauliflower on glass dish or cast iron skillet and coat with olive oil, salt, and bake for thirty minutes or until the cauliflower is soft. Then, place cauliflower in a pot with all the other vegetables, as well as the herbs and spices. Add water to cover. Bring everything to a boil. Turn flame down, cover, and simmer on a low flame for an hour. Blend in a blender or use a hand mixer. Return to pot, add miso or tamari to taste, and simmer ten more minutes.
Whitefish Soup
1 pound whitefish fillet
2 cups leeks, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
1 cup Chinese cabbage, bite size
1 cup carrots, diced
1 strip kelp or kombu
1 teaspoon sea salt
tamari to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
6 - 8 cups water
one cup of parsley, chopped
Bring water and seaweed to a boil. Cook for ten minutes. Turn flame down. Add the fish, vegetables, and salt and simmer for a half hour. Season with tamari and simmer a few minutes longer. Turn off flame. Add grated ginger. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Whole Grains
- Eat a cooked, whole grain at every meal. The portion of grain you eat per meal should make up approximately one- third to one-fourth of your plate at each meal.
- Eat high quality, gluten free pasta once week. Include vegetables in the pasta broth. (See recipes, below)
Recommended grains include:
- Brown Rice
- Wild Rice
- Quinoa
- Millet
- Steel cut oats (also known as Irish oats).
- Buckwheat
- Amaranth
- Teff
Gluten-free pasta
Cooking Methods
- Boiling is the preferred method for cooking grain.
- Grain can also be pressured cooked, steamed, and sauteed.
- Gluten free pastas are made from brown rice, quinoa or corn. (If you use corn pasta, make sure the corn is non-GMO.
Oatmeal
1 cup steel-cut oats, washed until water is clear
5 cups water
1 tablespoon roasted and ground flax seeds and/or chia seeds
a handful of raisins
1 pinch salt
Boil oats, sea salt, and raisins for 30 minutes, covered. Garnish with flax seeds and/or chia seeds. Also good with fresh blueberries or cranberries.
Buckwheat and Bows
This is traditionally made with bowtie noodles but any macaroni product will work. We recommend gluten-free options.
2 cups buckwheat
8 cups water
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, minced
1/2 pound macaroni, cooked
1 teaspoon prepared mustard (optional)
tamari to taste
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Roast buckwheat groats in frying pan for five minutes. Add buckwheat to boiling water and salt and cook for 30 minutes, or until groats are soft and water is gone. Turn off flame.
Sauté onion in olive oil in a frying pan for a few minutes. Then, add buckwheat, macaroni, tamari, and mustard (if desired). Garnish with parsley.
Simple Brown Rice
To reduce arsenic levels in brown rice, we recommend preparing it in this way.
2 cups brown rice, washed and soaked overnight in three cups water
6 cups water
a pinch of salt
Soak rice overnight and discard soaking water. Bring rice and salt to a boil in six cups of water, reduce flame, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Throw off any extra water and simmer covered for five minutes more.
Japanese Fried Rice
3 cups cooked brown rice
2 carrots, sliced thin
1 stalk of broccoli, cut into flowerettes
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
3 scallions, sliced thin
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger juice, grated and squeezed
2 tablespoons tamari
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 sheet of sushi nori
Heat a frying pan with sesame oil. Add garlic and stir. Sauté all the vegetables (except for the scallions) for a few minutes, starting with the onion. Then add the rice and tamari. Cook together a few minutes longer, turn off flame, and add ginger juice and scallions. Mix thoroughly. Garnish with ripped up pieces of sushi nori.
Quinoa Salad
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
pinch of salt
1/4 Bermuda onion, diced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 tomato, diced
tamari, olive oil, and lemon juice -- to taste
Bring water and salt to a boil. Add quinoa, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add vegetables, and tamari/olive oil/lemon juice mixture. Toss and fluff with a fork.
Millet and Cauliflower
1 cup millet
1 onion, diced
1/2 cauliflower, broken up in small pieces
7 cups water
a pinch of salt
1 clove garlic (optional)
Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer covered for 45 minutes or until everything is tender. Mash with a potato masher for a creamy consistency. (Cooked millet really soaks up the water after it sits for awhile.)