What Does "Healing Food" Really Mean?

The Real Meaning of "Healing Food"

Hello, JINPATH Sik-Gu family.

Today, I want to talk a bit about Macrobiotics.
We are finally moving toward Healing Food, and even a little bit of Zen Food.
But before we get into the main topic, I feel I need to talk just a little bit about what "Healing Food" actually means.

To be honest, the English phrase "Healing Food" has a bit of a limitation when translated, so I want to explain it very briefly.

The original Korean word for 'Healing Food' is 'Chi-Yiu-Sik'.
As I explained when I introduced the word Sik-Gu, this word Sik means the act of eating something in Korean. And Chi-Yiu means treating the root cause of an illness—healing not just the body, but also the mind. In other words, it doesn't just get rid of symptoms; it heals, comforts, and gently caresses the root cause of those symptoms and the emotional problems that come with them. To put it simply again, 'Chi-Yiu-Sik' means treating the root cause of a suffering body and mind, while comforting and embracing it.

The reason I am explaining this word before even starting our main story is that "Healing Food"—that is, 'Chi-Yiu-Sik'—will come up in what we discuss today.

I plan to explain things using the phrase "Healing Food" for you. But even though I use the term "Healing Food" when talking with you, I wanted you to accurately know what "Healing Food" really means first before we start today's journey together. That’s why I started with this slightly dry explanation!

Now~ let's get started.

Our Journey from Yin-Yang to Macrobiotics

Macrobiotics can be called the basic theory of Healing Food.
I believe many of you have probably heard the word "Macrobiotics" a lot already.

Today, I want to talk with you very simply and easily about what theory Macrobiotics was built on and why Macrobiotics works the way it does.

Before this, we talked a lot about Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. So I think some JINPATH Sik-Gu might think, "Sangjin must only care about Yin-Yang." But Yin-Yang was just one part of our journey in Natural Gourmet. Of course, Yin-Yang is something we must know—just like you have to get a driver's license first if you want to drive a car.

Yin-Yang is based on Eastern thought, and in Natural Gourmet, we use it to plan and design menus. So when we go a bit more specifically and deeper into Healing Food, we use Macrobiotics and Ayurveda theory much more. Because of that, for today, so you can understand what I’m saying more easily, please temporarily and completely forget about "Yin and Yang" and the "Five Elements" we talked about before!

Greek Mythology and Universal Energies

Macrobiotics actually has nothing to do with Eastern thought.
Macrobiotics has its core in Western thought, coming from typical Greek philosophy and Greek mythology. Once you understand Greek mythology and philosophy, you will start seeing the structure behind Macrobiotics and go, "Aha~~~!"

Now~ let's take one step deeper together.