George Ohsawa is the founder of modern day macrobiotics. One of his guiding principles is that we are one with our environment. Based on this principle, the Strengthening Health Institute recommends that you choose foods that have originated in the same or similar climate in which you live. It is better to choose foods grown to the east and west of you than it is to choose foods grown to the north or south of you. This is because the geographic areas to the east and to the west of us have more or less the same climate as our geographic location. If we travel north or south, we are much more likely to encounter drastic climate changes. We should also choose locally-grown foods when possible. This is not an unbending rule; it is just better to consume out-of-climate food with some discretion.

I find it interesting that bananas, a tropical fruit, are the most popular fruit in America. Bananas are the one fruit that I tell people to avoid. When I think of a banana, I think of an elephant, eating tropical vegetation and fruit, such as a banana. They have have huge bodies, and thick skin from this tropical diet. The ability of lush, tropical vegetation to nourish such large animals shows me how excessive a banana actually is.

Bananas grow in bunches. Each bunch is one fruit and the banana is actually one of the sections. An orange has sections but they are under one skin. This also shows the extreme expansiveness of a banana.

Years ago I had a discussion with another macrobiotic counselor about which was more harmful, a banana or sugar. We completely disagreed. I thought the banana and he thought that sugar was more harmful. It is a difficult question to answer. Many health-conscious people think that sugar is bad for your health and try to minimize it. At the same time, many health-conscious people think that bananas are healthy and eat them freely. We often abuse foods that we think are healthy. On equal terms I would have to say that sugar is worse. However, practically speaking, bananas are probably worse because we feel free to eat them regularly.

I noticed many years ago that the majority of my clients who had serious or even life-threatening illnesses thought that they were already eating healthy foods. They were actually eating many foods that I thought were causing their health problems. Bananas were one of the most commonly-consumed foods among the “healthy” food my clients were eating. I began to suspect that bananas were contributing to certain types of health and allergic problems, and may have even made some types of cancer worse. I acknowledge that there is nothing scientific about these statements; they are simply my observations over a period of years. It seems that the combination of dairy foods and bananas together cause the most problems. When my clients follow my recommendations and replace these foods with healthier choices their health improves.