Fruit is supple, exciting, delightful, but in a macrobiotic diet it does not belong in food. People in good health often have fruit, fresh and dried, as a dessert. How often - depends on climate, geographic area, activity level, age, as well as ever-changing personal needs. Usually it's two, three times a week. It is ideal to eat fruit when it is in season, fruit that is grown in the climate where we live or comes from a similar climate. Cooked fruit is often easier to digest than raw.
In ancient times, fruits, as well as seeds and stone fruits, were an indispensable part of the human diet. However, their role in nutrition was greatly reduced when people began to grow whole grains, evolutionarily more developed plants, which are both seeds and fruit at the same time and which represent a much more balanced balance of nutrients and energy.
In a macrobiotic diet, fruit is consumed in many ways – fresh, cooked, baked, etc. Since fruit is naturally sweet, we usually do not add sweeteners to it when we cook it, or bake it, or put it, for example, as an addition to bread, cakes, biscuits.
Whenever possible, it is good to use organically grown fruit. It is usually smaller, more irregular, with traces of insect bites or spots, but it is much tastier than fruit grown with pesticides and other additives, it is juicier and attention - it cannot stand for long, it spoils quickly and therefore should not be left to it stands for a long time.
In a macrobiotic diet, fruits - compared to whole grains, beans, vegetables and sea vegetables - have much lower amounts of complex carbohydrates, fiber, protein, unsaturated fats and essential vitamins and minerals. Most of their composition is water. Fructose, the primary carbohydrate in fruit, belongs to simple sugars, unlike the complex sugars found in grains and vegetables, which are much more useful for our body.
In the (moderate) continental climate in which we live, the fruits that are best for us are apples, apricots, various types of berries - say blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and others, cherries, grapes, melons and watermelons, peaches, pears, plums, olives, etc.
Fruit deepens our artistic taste, contributes to mental and emotional development, as well as our respect for Nature. It's really special!
Cvijeta Mesic, Authorized instructor macrobiotic cooking by School of Healing Arts, San Diego, USA
