Doesn’t everyone take their copy of the newest macrobiotic diet book to their cardiologist’s visit? Or do you just take the coumadin they suggest, and be done with it?
Last month once again my husband and I were ever so grateful for our knowledge and 17 year-long practice of following the macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. Fred had open-heart surgery June, 1992 – actually on our anniversary, and we promised each other we would find a way to avoid multilple surgeries the education nurses at St. Joseph Hospital said likely occur within the next 5 years. Our research led us to Dean Ornish’s program, and then the Macrobiotic Diet, which we learned Dean actually followed himself. With eating a macrobiotic diet, Fred was only on medication 6 months following the initial surgery, which was quite an accomplishment. Why? Because the medication usually recommended following heart surgery actually weakens the heart, contributing to additional surgeries.
Fred experienced two instances of TIA during the last year – and never mentioned it to me – but casually told our opthamologist who adamantly urged see your cardiologist immediately. The initial cardiologist’s sonogram showed mitral valve regurgitation for which he strongly recommended Coumadin. So picture this: we‘re sitting in the office of a leading Atlanta cardiologist, who is respectful of our following the macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. And we are very grateful for his expertise, listening skill and kindness to fully explain Fred’s condition. But he is actually apologizing that Coumadin is the best he has to offer because of the harmful side effects. And because of the danger of its usage, he explains they actually have a person in the office designated to monitoring patients on coumadin. He then ushered in perky Miss Coumadin Girl, and left the office.
Perky Miss Coumadin Girl has a name – but I forgot it! She was so all about Coumadin, that for Fred and I she just may have been named Miss Coumadin Girl, or Miss Coumadin Cheerleader or the whole cheerleading squad. How could she be so exuberant about this drug while admitting it’s in rat poison? She proceeded telling us how Fred could not eat most green vegetables – staples on a macrobiotic diet – casually listing Coumadin’s adverse side effects on the liver, the kidneys, sleep and lack of energy. Green vegetables of course benefit all these organs, and contribute calcium. We voted for the greens!
I stopped her flat saying Fred is not taking Coumadin. What she blurted, he has no choice. Yes, I think he does. We’ll find the macrobiotic diet recommendation instead. We courteously thanked her and promised to be in touch, and Miss Coumadin Cheerleader slumped from the room as if her team had lost the world championships. Once again we were so grateful for every macrobiotic cooking class and lecture, summer conference and study to which we’ve been privileged. And all our macrobiotic teachers, for their research and shared knowledge which gave us the information to make this important choice.
On the drive home we called & updated our Macrobiotic Diet Senior Counselor, Warren Kramer. Warren said okay, this is do-able; take the Macrobiotic Diet Heart Drink daily for 3 weeks. It’s on page 470 in Michio Kushi and Alex Jack’s most recent book, Macrobiotic Path to Total Health.
Now one wonderful thing about these Macrobiotic Diet Home Remedies is you usually already have your kitchen set up to follow a macrobiotic diet. So, you already own the ingredients. And there is no huge expense to heal yourself, whereas some of the new medications are over the top. And the best part, and this is most important to all of us, there are no adverse side effects. Instead, the whole body benefits. Because truly everything, every organ has a connection within our body. And that is exactly what happened to my dear Fred.
So guess what the ingredients of this heart drink are? Just 5 ingredients from your fridge and pantry:
- Daikon tops & other hard leafy greens ( exactly what coumadin doesn’t allow!) 2 parts
- Dried shiitake mushroom (what Fred uses as a blood thinner instead of coumadin) 1 part
- Corn or corn product, as corn grits – 1 part
- Cabbage – 1 part
- Wakame (a sea vegetable, high in minerals) 1 part
- Water 4-5 times as much, cook 20 minutes, strain & drink.
- Note: one part is the size of 1 dried shiitake mushroom, which measures 1 Tablespoon
And that’s it folks! So, we are scheduled to revisit this esteemed cardiologist in 6 months, but already we have seen some dramatic changes that a macrobiotic counselor would notice using oriental diagnosis to examine the facial features. The nose shows the condition of the heart. And here’s what we notice about Fred’s nose: it looks smaller, and has more definition, as if someone has pinched the bridge of his nose. Could that signal the mitral valves have come together, and are not regurgitating as much as before?
Also, Fred had a space between his two front top teeth. Dentists have always said leave it alone because any change would create too much movement. I noticed the other day, 3 weeks after this drink the space was eliminated. The gap closed overnight. No way I thought. I looked at my book on Chinese meridians and saw at the very top point way up under the lip is a point for the Heart Governor, so maybe this too shows the valves are closing up.
I called Warren, and told him, and teased him about now doing orthodontia work. He laughed, and said it’s very possible. Hmmmm, macrobiotic diet side effects. Sure beats the worrisome list of the ones Miss Coumadin offered.
