I have been on a macrobiotic diet (with numerous deviations!) for about four months now and I can honestly say, despite its many detractors, that there is something to it. For starters, when you first go on the diet, you go through a detox process and subsequently become much more sensitive to what your body wants and needs. So, for example, there will be days when you just want nothing except brown rice, strips of nori and an umeboshi plum. No other food or dishes. Then on other days, you need something with stronger flavours.

Whenever I cheat, even if it is a meal with a regular seasoning of salt, or a teeny bit of milk, that's it - lethargy immediately sets in, I need to nap for a while, and I need to rush to the loo to eliminate the food within an hour of eating it.

Bowel movements are extremely regular, and apparently this is good for the toxin elimination process.

Essentially, the strict macrobiotic diet is soothing and gentle (read: bland), unlike the spicy foods I grew up on, hence the deviations.

With the new chemo regimen I am on, fatigue hits harder. I find, however, that when I stick to the strict macrobiotic diet, my energy levels go right up. I could have an 'illegal' meal, but two macrobiotic meals later, I am on an energy high again.

I now exercise for an average of 75 minutes a day and feel completely revived at the end of the session. A scant four months ago, pre-macrobiotics, merely 20 minutes on the cross trainer would have given me shakey knees!

I have done alot of reading across the various cancer battling diets, and the common denominator for all is the brown rice or whole grain element, as well as the number of servings of vegetables, which are central to the macrobiotic diet.

In our lifestyle here in Singapore, though, and given the range of restaurants available, the biggest drawback is the fact that so much of our our social interaction takes place in restaurants, coffee houses etc. Being macrobiotic, the options are few - to only drink mineral water, or to cheat. I usually choose to cheat - and pay the price.

The price is not merely the energy drain - there is also the anti-climax. I simply LOVE MY FOOD, the more varied the better. I really look forward to meeting friends over meals. I plan all the food I want to eat, salivating all the time, sometimes even dreaming about it. But having eaten it, I am beginning to find that my tastebudss just don't relish these culinary out-takes as much anymore! It has become a sad anti-climax. And the worst is that there is no substitute experience. Is there just the mineral water route from now on? How very sad!

With the increasing health conciousness-raising in Singapore, I am keeping my fingers crossed that a truly swish macrobiotic bistro will open up here soon. Otherwise, I am going to be severely deprived, depressed and be a sad sack of a homebody because I cannot go out anymore and trust myself not to head for the nearest Old Chang Kee stall, that dastardly, 'we-are-everywhere' franchise of the chicken curry puffs of my youth! Even as I write this, I am thinking of heading out to get one - sheer force of habit, and what a strong force it is.

(It must be obvious by now, dear reader, but did I forget to mention that the word 'will-power' is not in my vocabulary?) Blame my Dad, I was raised on Benjamin Spock who advocated instant gratification for infants. Who says we don't remember anythhing we are told in our bassinets?