The food we eat translates into energy, and has a profound impact on our internal healing mechanisms. Macrobiotic theory defines very clear energy patterns in food, and promotes understanding of how those patterns interact with one another.
In simplistic terms, Yin is expansive, cool, moistening, light and upward growing. Yang is contractive, warm, drying, compact and downward growing. Macrobiotic cooking incorporates an ever-moving relationship between the opposite but complementary energies of yin and yang. The idea is to balance energies: hard with soft, opening with contracting, expansive with inward. Some of the ways we see this in food are explored below.
Vegetable or Animal
With the exception of seaweed, all fruits and vegetables are yin foods.
Fish, meat, eggs, and nearly all other animal foods are yang.
Sweet or Salty
The sweeter the food is, the more yin energy it holds. Sugars and tropical fruits like banana and mango are good examples of very yin foods.
Saltiness is a yang characteristic. Any form of salt, caviar, and aged salty cheeses are very yang foods.
Cool or Hot
Fruits and vegetables are cooling to the body, and turn down the internal thermostat. Animal foods, with their concentrated protein, are heating and are very yang.
In summer, the most yang time of year, we want to balance the hot energy with light, watery, lightly cooked and raw foods. We eat more salads, fruit, and cool foods, and select moderate foods like fish over the intensely yang foods which we eat more of in winter. As the season changes to cooler and then cold weather, the ovens come on; we prepare soups (which can have both yin and yang energies), stews and roasts, and choose more from the yang end of the spectrum. This ensures that we’ll stay warm.
Quick or Long Cooking
Light sautéing, rapid stir-fry and steaming are all yin cooking methods. The end result is food that is still crisp and intact.
Baking, stewing, roasting and braising are yang cooking methods. These foods are concentrated, and tend to have merging flavors and textures.
The following list is a basic guideline to yin and yang foods. Generally speaking, we want to choose most of our foods from the middle of the list (from temperate fruits to fish) if we are living in the United States (a temperate zone) and in reasonably good health. Foods from the extremes are used sparingly and carefully. Yin and Yang are in bold type at each end of the list. The mid-range bold type foods are in the "balanced" or recommended zone of foods to eat.
YIN
Alcohol
Sugars
Coffee, spices, chocolate, caffeinated or stimulant teas
Tropical fruits and juices
Fats and Oils
Nightshade vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant)
Fresh and soft dairy products (milk, fresh goat cheese)
MIDDLE RANGE
Temperate fruits (apples, pears, berries, stone fruits, etc)
Nuts
Leafy green vegetables
Round vegetables
Beans, tofu, tempeh
Root vegetables
Sea vegetables
Whole grains
Fish
END OF MIDDLE RANGE
Poultry
Miso/tamari/shoyu
Salty and aged cheeses
Red meat, and eggs
Caviar
Sea salt
