Kushi Diet : Meal Plan, Food List, Recipes & Benefits

Diets are more often than not considered as a quick fix rather than a long-term solution. However, for a healthy body, it’s necessary to find the perfect balanced diet that you can see yourself trying out for the next few years. Today we present to you, the Kushi Diet, a macrobiotic diet developed by Michio Kushi, a well-known figure in the field of natural and alternative food.

Before we proceed into the diet it’s important to know what it claims to achieve. According to Michio Kushi, who advocates for a macrobiotic diet, the Kushi Diet can prevent cancer and even cure cancer patients without requiring surgery. But, cancer is complicated. And this claim doesn’t have any concrete evidence. The entire proof behind this diet is anecdotal. Now this doesn’t mean this diet won’t be a good fit for you or is a sure-shot ticket to death. It just means that Kushi Diet most likely won’t be a replacement for chemotherapy, if that’s what you are hoping for.

What Is The Kushi Diet?

The Kushi diet is based on the century-old idea regarding a simple and holistic lifestyle, focusing on regular physical activities, less stress, and avoiding exposure to chemicals and radiation. However, the modern-day repackaging of this idea is more about what to eat and what not to eat rather than a holistic lifestyle.

The diet is essentially a macrobiotic diet that consists of minimally processed and whole-grain food such as brown rice, animal meat, eggs, etc.

Kushi Diet Food List:-

1. 50-60% Whole Grain – Macrobiotic diet majorly consists of nutrient-rich whole grain food. They are about 50% of what you are allowed to eat on the Kushi diet. They are high in fiber content and easy to digest. Examples – Millet, Quinoa, Wheat Berries, Brown Rice, Oats.

2. 20-30% Vegetables – Seasonal fresh vegetables contain antioxidants and have high water content. They are the second most crucial aspect of the food list in this macrobiotic diet. Except for frying, you can cook the vegetables in any way you wish. The list includes but is not limited to, – broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, radishes, etc.

3. 5-10% Pulses – We are well aware of the high-protein percentage in pulses. But along with that, the phytochemicals present in pulses possess anti-carcinogenic effects, indicating that pulses may have significant anti-cancer effects. Here is a brief list of various types of pulses you can integrate into your macrobiotic diet, – lentils, chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans etc.

4. Other foods – The rest small percentage of the food in this diet consists of nuts, seeds, unrefined cooking oil (e.g., vegetable oil, corn oil), and fish. 

Kushi Diet Plan:-

Now that was a pretty long list. Which might leave you wondering, how to create a meal plan based on the included ingredients. So, here is a sample Kushi diet meal plan for 3 days – 

Kushi Diet Recipes:-

When trying out a new diet, recipes can be hard to follow. Most of the recipes you end up finding might just require way too many ingredients to be worth your time. And let’s be honest, we all want the least time-consuming recipe to try on busy weekdays.

And we present to you the best recipe for the Kushi diet, which is easy, simple, and beginner friendly. 

1. Brown Rice And Vegetable Stir Fry – Essentially you would just require Brown rice and some vegetables to prepare this dish. Perhaps the simplest one you can find.

Ingredients – 

1. 1 cup brown rice
2. Some vegetables of your choice, e.g. – carrots, broccoli, snow peas, etc.
3. Unrefined vegetable oil
4. Chopped onions (optional)
5. Spices for taste (optional)

Instructions (For 1 serving) – 

Preparing the brown rice – 

1. Keep 1 cup of brown rice soaked in water for half an hour (optional but reduces cooking time)
2. Rinse the rice
3. Place the rinsed rice with 1.75 cups of water in a rice cooker
4. Turn on the cooker (by pressing the start button)
5. Once the rice is cooked the cooker will automatically switch to “keep warm” mode.
6. Once it’s cooked, let it rest for a few minutes (7 – 10). 

Your brown rice is prepared. Now let’s move on to the preparation of stir-fried vegetables.

Preparing the stir-fried vegetable – 

1. Wash the vegetables 
2. Chop them into bite-sized small pieces 
3. Add 1-2 teaspoons of vegetable oil to the pan and let it heat for a few minutes
4. Add the chopped vegetables to the pan
5. Continuously stir and toss the veggies in the pan quickly with a spatula
6. Continue stirring till they turn tender, but some crispiness is retained

Once they are tender enough, you can turn off the pan, and your vegetables will be ready to be served along with your brown rice.

Benefits Of The Kushi Diet:-

According to the American Cancer Society, researchers suggest the Kushi diet as it lowers the risk of heart disease and some kinds of cancer.

There are several benefits of a macrobiotic diet. 

1. Rich in nutrient-dense foods
2. Promotes healthy eating habits
3. Lowers the risk of inflammation
4. Improves immunity
5. Helps with better digestion
6. Increases appetite
7. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it might prevent some types of cancers

Before concluding, please

• Suggest a licensed dietician or nutritionist before trying out any diet. Including this one.
• Be sure to inform the dietician of your medical history (if any)
• Include non-dairy sources of iron, vitamins, and calcium as the Kushi diet restricts dairy intake

Our final verdict? It can be a great long-term diet plan for you as long as you make some changes to the diet plan as suggested by your doctor. But preventing cancer? That’s more of a clickbait thing on the internet. It might help. But there has been no research conducted to prove.