“What good shall I do this day?”
This question started Benjamin Franklin’s daily routine, and fuels my own daily aspirations. For our Founding Father, the answers formed a new reality for a new world. For me, the answers build new realities for my clients’ worlds – their very best mental, emotional and physical health.
How do I guide them to their new health realities? Through the Macrobiotic Diet and Lifestyle — a combination of proven practices of many long-standing civilizations and the rhythms of nature.
The wisdom behind the Macrobiotic diet and lifestyle enables healing and balance for the body at its deepest, most profound level. From this platform of vibrant physical health, it is easier to find clarity of purpose, and support for the pursuit of goals. And by achieving desired goals, and living in purpose, lives are more fulfilled.
Fulfilled lives cultivate more expansive lives, and that is where the magic really happens. Because an expansive life evokes endless expressions of gratitude for life; all of life. And gratitude continually leads those who express it toward even more vibrant mental, emotional and physical health. And so this cycle of ever-improving mental, emotional and physical health, through the gratitude of the Practitioner, perpetuates itself!
This cycle is how Macrobiotics, as a way of life, embraces body, mind and spirit. By engaging these 3 fundamental aspects of life, Macrobiotics impacts its Practitioners in a potently positive way. The Practitioners’ raised energy and spirit radiates out to their communities, and the world at large — ultimately making it a better place.
And so it is, that through each person I serve within the framework of Macrobiotics, I make my vision happen: to evolve a better society and healthier environment by helping people live their best lives.
One day, as a young man, I walked into my bedroom in an apartment I was sharing with a few of my buddies. On my bed was a book by George Ohsawa, the founder of modern-day Macrobiotics. While never an avid reader, I surprised myself when I polished the book off — non-stop, cover-to-cover — enraptured! It put the world in perspective for me; it made so much sense!
At the time I was without much direction, not particularly happy, and a “junk-food junkie”. But my profound experience with the teachings in that book ignited my life, and set me on a career path that remains a passion to this day. I never did find out how the book made its way into my room, but it changed my life forever.
One of the first major milestones on my journey into Macrobiotics happened in 1969, when I established Essene Market & Café. It was Philadelphia’s first health food store (still in operation today) with an informal eatery. Many years of study and practice ensued, and then I found myself in the international limelight. This was a result of having helped the CEO of Philadelphia’s Methodist Hospital (also a respected physician) recover from terminal prostate cancer. The doctor, Anthony Sattilaro, documented his recovery in an autobiographic book “Recalled By Life”.
From there my career took me to Europe, where I ran several Macrobiotic education centers. Upon my return to Philadelphia, my hometown, I decided to form my own Macrobiotic educational center, the “Strengthening Health Institute”, which I continue to co-direct with my wife Susan today.
Through the Strengthening Health Institute and my separate Counseling practice, many thousands of clients have been empowered with the ability to overcome a variety of health issues using the Macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. My Counseling practice now concentrates primarily on the major issues that dominate our society today: low energy and vigor, infertility, imminently life-threatening afflictions like cancer, type-2 diabetes, heart problems, and obesity.
While being a Macrobiotic Counselor in the U.S. in and of itself is (unfortunately) a rarity, I feel my guidance is made even more unique due to several factors. First, over 43 years of personal and professional practice has refined my perspective on Macrobiotics, to my clients’ benefit. Second, my ability to simplify advice clearly and concisely makes it as easy as possible to follow. Third, I follow the principle of “adding to” diets, rather than using the “taking away” mindset, which fails so many. Last but not least: I have decades of experience in diagnosis, which only time and a great number of clients can provide. This high level of experience and skill, honed over time, when combined with the personalization of food and lifestyle choices for my clients’ individual constitutions, accurately helps my clients understand and create a new relationship with their bodies and with their food, affecting their ability to heal. Here are a few examples of what I mean:
“…four years after diagnosis and four years into Denny’s macrobiotic program, I have been cancer-free for more than four years. My oncologists appear to consider this favorable history to be highly unusual… my family doctor marvels at how low my cholesterol and blood pressure are, and at the results of my routine blood tests. Friends tell me that I look years younger… I feel more energetic than I felt 15-20 years ago. I am more clear-headed, and emotionally even-keeled than I ever remember feeling… It is clear to me that I have Denny to thank for this.” (read more…)
— Howard Hoffman
“…learning I was not eligible for any hi-tech fertility treatments due to my elevated FSH level, I went to see Denny… over the course of a year my FSH dropped by 25 points. Soon after that I became pregnant at age 44…. With Denny’s guidance and support, I was able to have a second baby at the age of 51.” (read more…)
— Nancy Wolfson-Moche
“Over the past decade numerous doctors who have treated my father have remarked upon his high level of functioning, and the excellent health of his weight, skin, bones and blood for a man his age (he is now 94 years old)… I would highly recommend Denny Waxman’s guidance in a macrobiotic way of eating to anyone wishing to improve the quality of life of someone suffering from any cognitive degenerative illness.” (read more…)
— Michelle, San Francisco
“… I began to feel much, much, better. Better than I had ever felt in my life. My mind cleared up – foggy thinking vanished…weight steadily dropping… I felt in ‘sync’…. My energy seemed boundless.” (read more…)
— Trudi Pier
Results like these have led me to be featured on shows like “The Incurables” (NBC Connecticut) and many, many other public health programs. I feel fortunate to have had this media presence, so that I can broadcast to more people about how Macrobiotics can transform their lives.
And because the Strengthening Health Institute has only one location (Philadelphia), I have filtered the basics of Macrobiotics into several practicable books, so that others have access to my more modern view of this practice. The first was the “10 Steps To Strengthening Health” with Ruth Ann Flynn in 1992, followed 10 years later by “The Great Life Diet”.
But my most comprehensive work to date was recently released in 2019, “The Ultimate Guide to Eating for Longevity”. It was authored with my lovely wife, Executive Macrobiotic Chef Susan Waxman, who also co-directs the Strengthening Health Institute with me. “The Ultimate Guide to Eating for Longevity” provides the foundation for a Macrobiotic practice by way of 7 basic steps to lasting health, along with a 10-day meal plan, plus Susan’s delicious Macrobiotic recipes, for which so many clamor. (Being the lucky recipient of her culinary creations, I know why firsthand!) In short, it offers simple steps for people who want to kick-start their own whole food plant-based diet and lifestyle from my modern Macrobiotic perspective — and feel real results in short order!
Now at 66, I am excited to embark on my latest quest: uncovering how health practices and traditions used throughout the millennia link with modern day science! I will pursue this venture as I continue my Counseling practice (in Philadelphia, New York City and by Skype / FaceTime) and my leadership at the Strengthening Health Institute.
So, if you are one who is seeking help now to stabilize, support or invigorate your health toward its very best state, feel welcome to reach out to me. We can talk about whether Macrobiotics could be a path for you, or what a personalized consultation would be like for you. Just call directly at 215-271-1858, or email me at dennywaxman@dennywaxman.com now.
I would consider it a privilege to guide you to feel your most fabulous, look your most vibrant and think with your greatest clarity.