User:Pat Palmer/sandbox/todo list/Macrobiotics

Macrobiotics is a social movement centered around a diet of mostly plant-based, locally sourced whole foods, along with recommended lifestyle practices to support health and well being. The movement originated from books published in Japan by Sagen Ishizuka (1850-1909), a Japanese army doctor who used diet and lifestyle recommendations to treat sick people. In the 1920's, Ishizuka's ideas were taken up with enthusiasm by George Ohsawa (1893-1966), a charismatic and determined individual who subsequently traveled around the world training others. Ohsawa is today considered the "father of macrobiotics".

By the 1960's, Ohsawa's efforts had spawned several small, dedicated pockets of students in various parts of the United States, Great Britain and Europe. In the 1970's, macrobiotic advocate Herman Aihara (1920 to ?) came from Japan to California and founded the Vega Study Center for macrobiotics in Oroville, California. Aihara and Ohsawa lectured widely about using nutrition to heal illness, improve health and prolong life.

Dedicated students of the 1960's formed study and support groups in California, Philadelphia, New York, western Massachussetts, and Boston, and it is from the 1960's study groups and houses that today's senior macrobiotics counselors arose.

led by a coalition of highly trained counselors who learned directly from a lineage of teachers reaching back to Japan around 1920. Macrobiotic counselors teach nutritional principles, cooking skills, menu planning, and the use the diagnostic principles from Traditional Chinese Medicine to monitor one’s own health. Cooking, diet and lifestyle are ideally intended to be adjusted for each individual’s need based on their condition at a certain time.

As of 2020, I estimate that there are perhaps a dozen or fewer senior counselors available worldwide.

Macrobiotic counselor:

• Able to offer guidance for those with cancer, advanced cardiovascular problems,

HIV, Lyme disease, serious psychological, addiction or nervous system problems, and other immune issues.

The counselors train members of the public, but also certify some followers are macrobiotics coaches.

Macrobiotic coach:

• Has a broad understanding of macrobiotic diet, cooking, and lifestyle practices
• Helps people establish a clear direction for their health and life
• Helps to improve life of oneself and others through creating order and structure in diet, cooking, and lifestyle practices
• Provides support for creating order and structure
• Can provide a combined plan for what to do and how to do it based on the goal
• Can help with shopping, setting up a kitchen, menu-planning, and guidance on cooking and lifestyle practices
• Can offer support and encouragement, positive guidance, and lifestyle practices