macrobiotic diet

1 6.4

A diet mainly of whole grains and beans that avoids processed foods

noun
/ˌmækroʊbaɪˈɑtɪk daɪət/

: dieta macrobiótica

Many people choose a macrobiotic diet to improve their overall health and well-being.

Examples

You let somebody move in with you, you make all these little compromises to smooth things along, and the next thing you know, you're on some macrobiotic diet, you're listening to Joni Mitchell! -

200 Cigarettes (1999)
And what a good patient she had been, going on a macrobiotic diet, flying to visit a Lakota healer, trying out various alternative treatments, none of which worked.

Fiction book (2002)
Twice I visited Jessie at the group house where she had moved in with Mary and five other women who kept a macrobiotic diet and wrote poems on a Ouija board.

Fiction book (1992)
Or a macrobiotic diet, for that matter, which creeps into the book early on and later inspires the "Superhero" plan of eating I figure I might as well partake of.

Blog text (23)
Because she continued her reign as the queen of cool right into motherhood, leaving moms in playgrounds across the country dreaming of macrobiotic diets, Madonna's trainer, and men from London.

Blog text (16)
Following a macrobiotic diet can help individuals connect with natural and seasonal foods.
She enjoys preparing meals that are part of her macrobiotic diet, which includes whole grains and vegetables.

Synonyms

plant-based diet

vsmacrobiotic diet

9 3.2

A way of eating mostly vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and beans

is narrower, focusing mainly on whole grains, beans, seasonal foods, and health philosophy

Surface Forms

macrobiotic diet singular

macrobiotic diets plural

Morphology

macrobiotic + diet

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'macrobiotic' (pertaining to a diet of whole grains) plus 'diet' (habitual intake of foods); the adjective+noun structure straightforwardly denotes a diet of that type. This follows a common compositional pattern across languages, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The name macrobiotic diet comes from the Greek words macro ('long') and biotic ('life'). People started this way of eating with simple foods like whole grains and beans to be healthier and try to live longer, so the name links the diet to the idea of 'long life'.