Macrobiotic, is it for me?

As I was perusing the Sunday paper, I saw the title of an article mentioning a macrobiotic diet. I then decided that was something I needed to try this week. Now, it was Steak Sunday so we could not start the macrobiotic diet yet. (It was also father's day and my husband, although not a father to a child, is a great dad to a kitty so we had to celebrate, with steak of course.) I did not have a clue exactly what a macrobiotic diet was but I assumed it was a vegetarian diet high in fiber and full of fruits and vegetables.
Monday came and....we had some leftover rib eye that I could not let go to waste so we had a steak salad. Not exactly the healthy vegetarian meal I had in mind but healthy enough. Tuesday, time to go macrobiotic. Now, I mentioned that I did not know what that was so I did some research and immediately saw several worrisome things, among them: everything I was eating for breakfast (including yogurt) was on the DO Not Eat list, each meal needed to include 'sea vegetables', and every recipe listed included unusual ingredients I had never heard of. It did not take me long to determine that the macrobiotic diet was not for me. That said, I did want to start a very healthy vegetarinish meal plan.
I stopped at Whole Foods, a store a frugal person would not generally shop at but they do have some really great things. Whole Foods also donates a lot of food to the food pantry that I volunteer at so I like to give them some business. The great deals one can find there are generally in the bulk section. The dried spices and herbs are a fabulous deal but I went to the dried beans area. I got some Adzuki beans and lentils. The lentils were on sale this week for $1.99 per pound.
I decided to combine the lentils with some spelt in a salad. Spelt is a whole grain that cooks up kind of chewy and flavorful. I cooked the spelt, the lentils, and sauteed some zucchini with some cumin. I added a lot of fresh oregano and the juice of two lemons. The salad turned out great with good texture and flavor. Here's the recipe.

Lentil and Spelt Salad

1 Cup Spelt, cooked according to directions
1 Cup French Green Lentils, cooked according to directions
1 Cup Oregano, chopped
2 Zucchinis, chopped
6 Green Onions, sliced thinly
2 Lemons, juiced
1 T Cumin
1 t Cayenne Pepper

Cook the spelt and the lentils according to the directions. Spelt should be soaked overnight and then simmered for about 1 hour until tender. Lentils cook pretty quickly. Bring them to a boil with water and then simmer for about 20 minutes or until tender.
Saute the zucchini and sprinkle with cumin and salt until just cooked - about 7 minutes.
Add all of the ingredients together, toss and and salt and pepper to taste.

In place of the spelt you can substitute wheat berries, quinoa, or whole wheat couscous.