FAQs
A few answers to some commonly asked questions with brief and simple explanations. I suggest that you also back this up by using the internet and typing in your query into a search engine such as ‘google’.
A macrobiotic diet involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as local vegetables avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods and most animal products. It addresses the manner of eating by recommending against overeating and requiring that food be chewed thoroughly before swallowing. Macrobiotics writers present it as a means of combating cancer.
Free radicals are atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons, which make them highly reactive and if allowed to run free in the body, are believed to be involved causing degenerative diseases such as ageing and cancers. Created in their millions, they are essential to life, and we need them to fight bacteria, fungus, and parasites. Once created, they are checked by enzymes, or anti-oxidant nutrients in our food (vitamins C and E, beta carotene and bioflavonoids). However, if there are too many, they reek havoc over run the enzymes and anti-oxidants and create damage to the cell membrane resulting in arthritis, emphysema, bronchitis, atherosclerosis or heart disease, peptic ulcer, ageing and wrinkling.
Antioxidants include beta-carotene, lycopene, vitamins C, E, and A, and other substances. They interact with free radicals, stabilizing them and preventing some of the damage they cause to cells and which may lead to cancer.
Organic food means it is produced without the use of conventional pesticides and artificial fertilisers, is free from contamination by human or industrial waste, is processed without ionizing radiation or artificial food additives, and does not contain genetically modified organisms (GMO). Also, in the context of livestock, use of antibiotics or growth hormones is not allowed. Food that is grown closer to us has travelled a shorter distance to reach us – meaning less environmental pollution. Locally produced food can also be fresher, healthier and more nutritious having being spared lengthy periods of storage, chilling and travel.
It usually refers to a form of therapy that does not fall within the realm of “conventional therapy” as practiced by most doctors and hospitals. It is a form of therapy or medicine that “complements” conventional treatments and is variously known as Complementary Therapy, Alternative Therapy, or Holistic Therapy.
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and vital for life. There are 22 standard amino acids – 20 are created from compounds within the human body and 8 that must be got from food. These are known as “essential”.