The most important point to understand is that macrobiotics is an approach to living which also places a great deal of emphasis on a proper dietary practice in daily life. It is an approach which is consistent with each person's natural biological and ecological requirements to create optimal health, vitality and well-being. Macrobiotics is essentially the recovery and making conscious of our folklore and native, traditional wisdom, brought up to date and taking into consideration what we have learnt in the materialistic, scientific era. Without deep, instinctive familiarity regarding these principles, health and human life can become unstable and precarious.
Society then reflects such ignorance in various self-destructive ways.
Macrobiotics emphasizes the importance of selecting and consuming foods in their whole form, or as close to whole as possible. Vegetables, seeds and nuts should be consumed in the same way. All food should be consumed in its original, whole form. There are several reasons for this. Not only does this insure all nutritive values are retained, protected from oxidation, but there are important food values in the skin of grains, vegetables and fruits that are lost if these parts are not consumed.