I’m sitting at a small local café, Kafe Kerouac, named after the Jack Kerouac renowned for his wandering around America in his book On the Road, and I’ve stumbled upon a book on macrobiotic cooking. The book, Aveline Kushi’s Complete Guide to Macrobiotic Cooking, was published in my birth year, 1985. From a quick comparative glance with a more recent book on the subject, macrobiotics does not appear to have changed in the past two decades.

According to the Kushi Institute, macrobiotics is “the art and science of health and longevity.” It is based on eating seasonally, locally, and whole foods, and has been known is both Eastern and Western cultures for a very long time. Kushi’s book discusses the fundamentals of macrobiotics, macrobiotic foods, and ways to prepare them. Central to the diet are whole grains, soups, vegetables, beans, sea vegetables, and water. Seafood may be eaten very occasionally, but no other animal foods are part of the diet.

Ever since Jay, a homely owner of a local natural foods store, introduced me to macrobiotics, I have been struck by both it’s incredible nutritional compatibility for a cyclist and by the (seemingly) few people that actually eat macrobiotically.

At least half of the diet consists of whole grains, many of which–wheat berries and millet in particularly–I had never eaten before. Whole grains are complex carbohydrates, and while there is some contestation whether complex or simple carbs are best for racing, they are ideal for long bike rides because they stabilize the blood sugar and provide consistent levels of energy over long periods of time. You can kind of think of complex carbs as an I.V. inserted into your arteries to provide prolonged energy; thankfully, though, no I.V. is actually involved. The main challenge that a cyclist encounters with macrobiotic foods is that, as Jay once told me, cooking can take up to six hours a day. Six hours a day! Of course, that is impossible while riding (unless someone finds a way to connect the energy expended on a bicycle to a stove on a rear rack to cook the grains). I certainly eat beforehand, and truth be told, Clif bars are a noble placeholder on the road.

The other surprise is that macrobiotics seems to be relatively unknown or at least rarely practiced in the United States. One reason may be the stringency of the diet. Another may be the time commitment necessary for cooking. But the focus on seasonality, locality, and healthy nourishment seem incredibly aligned with recent movements of eating local and organic foods and living healthier lifestyles. Macrobiotics is also unique in that it is not so much a diet in the traditional sense but rather a lifestyle. As Kushi notes, macrobiotics requires “that you eat in harmony with your environment… Once you have experienced the true energy of food and learned how to control your health, behavior, and thoughts through cooking, you can never return to old unconscious and sensorial ways of eating.” The acts of cooking and eating macrobiotically, in addition to the stretching and other simple movements suggested in Michio Kushi’s The Macrobiotic Way, can significantly change the way one prioritizes their time and one’s lifestyle in general.

At this point, with a couple books of macrobiotics, an apothecary’s share of mason jars full of who knows what grains and sea vegetables, and a healthy supply of chopsticks, I am a rather amateur macrobiotic cook. I have found it both exciting to experiment with new foods (i.e. kuzu root tea, which feels like you’re drinking a cloud) and challenging to budget the time to cook macrobiotically. Surprisingly, besides a few cooking utensils and inexpensive appliances, nourishing myself macrobiotically has been an affordable (and filling) way to eat. To be sure, I am still in the process of transitioning away from certain irresistible goodies and getting used to cooking so often, but the energy I get every morning from my multi grain porridge (barley, oats, millet, and rice with brown rice syrup and flax seeds) is a reminder of why I love it.

Last August, my friend Jason Ross and I rode from Rochester, NY to Falls Village for the Hazon NY ride. We managed to gather vegetables and fruits along roadside stands and community farmers markets. We also ate whole grain breads as well as nuts and seeds, and drank a whole lot of water. Although we consumed a ton of food and drink on the ride because we burned as much as 10,000 calories a day, our energy levels were stable and our appetites satisfied by the foods we ate. Some nutritional supplements may be useful for pros in road races, but as I learned on my first tour, all the gear and supplements in the world won’t get you through a Noah’s Flood-scale rainstorm. Besides, the supplements are made from processed foods and simple carbs, neither of which are useful for long distance cycling. Macrobiotic eating provides the consistent energy necessary for long distance cycling that few other ways of eating do.

The greatest challenge for me today is to find a way to eat whole grains while “on the road.” Hopefully I will manage to do this by my next long bike journey, a 400+ mile tour around Ohio, by this weekend.