You Are All Sanpaku

This book introduced two new words into our vocabulary. The first, a well-known Japanese term, sanpaku, describes a condition in which the white of the eye can be seen between the pupil and the lower lid as the subject gazes directly forward. This, we quickly learn, connotes a grave state of physical and spiritual imbalance. The sanpaku is out of touch with himself, his body and the natural forces of the universe. Symptomatically, sanpaku can be recognized by chronic fatigue, low sexual vitality, poor instinctive reactions, bad humor, inability to sleep soundly and lack of precision in thought and action. Macrobiotics, our second term (and one which quickly became part of the English language) is the simple, natural means of correcting the dangerous sanpaku condition and creating a state of health, harmony and well-being, within and without. Based philosophically on the ancient Oriental concept of Yin-Yang forces in the universe, and biochemically on the important relationship between sodium and potassium in the body, macrobiotics has been known and practiced in the Far East for many centuries. The macrobiotic diet, the author claims, not only cures existing ills but fortifies the body against disease. And macrobiotics has been welcomed by weight-watchers as a means to rapid weight loss.