>From: Carol S <[log in to unmask]> >macrobiotics followers I know eat tons and tons of brown rice, something >that would be difficult to do on a raw food diet. > Hi Carol - The basic foundation of Macro. teaching is that all our actions spring from the imbalance of Yin/Yang of the food that we eat. For ex. Coffee is very high yin (expansive) and meat is very high yang (contract). So, the resulting imbalance forces to you do something which will result in balance. So, as long as your food is not balanced, you have no freedom to choose on what to do with your life. To know more on this, you can refer to any book by Michio Kushi or George Ohsawa (tons of them are around). So, they look at any food and see how balanced they are in terms of yin/yang. They conclude that all grains are the most balanced of all, and brown rice gets the 'numero uno' position of all grains. Since they chew each mouth 50 - 100 times, though they are cooked, with the help of our saliva, they get digested without problem. I was not interested in chewing like that. So, after a longtime, I came to the idea of soaking the raw brown rice and eat it. In fact, they started sprouting after a few days. So, I eat sprouted rice regularly. Believe me, they are the most balanced food of all and they have all the healing qualities they claim on it. People who have excessive acidity will find it highly helpful, since it has no acid in it. Also, you will feel the freedom to do what you really want to do. I have got many benefits from it. One that is very striking is, my teeth become strong immediately. Also, rice is very detoxing food, when eaten alone and for a few days in a row. It won't make you feel tired like fruitarian diets. It is worth the try, if you have a few days to spend on it. Good luck! Renga