George Ohsawa's 7 conditions for health
Simple and powerful are two of my favourite things.
It’s 2025 and there are many voices talking to health and wellness. Commercial interests paired with our current preoccupation with screens means that it’s difficult to know what or who to listen to when it comes to our health, and how to know if we are truly ‘well’. You can easily be sucked down a rabbit warren of calories and gram counting, supplement confusion and viral trends.
But true health, I think, is less reactive and more inwardly curious. The act of taking care of ourselves should have less tension than is currently trending. I love the idea of health being something that beams out of the individual, positively impacting others. I also believe that when we’re in good health, we’re more equipped to give without expectation of receiving, and to actively care for the circles outside of us, both planet and people.
Which is why I appreciate the simple nature of George Ohsawa’s 7 conditions for health. Ohsawa was an early twentieth-century philosopher, Japanese author and an early advocate for food as medicine. He’s widely considered the founder of the macrobiotic movement. Within his recommendations for food and holistic wellbeing, he wrote about his ‘seven conditions for health’, which were developed over a 20-year period.
Importantly, his guidelines consider more than the individual, an aspect that I think is often forgotten about in an age of commodified wellness.
This week, I leave you to ponder these conditions, and consider how to gently work towards them, or uphold them if you feel you’re there. Let me tell you, I am most certainly not there on all seven! While each of our health experiences are unique, it’s important to remember that our body’s capacity for restoration when properly supported is universal.
I should also caveat the conditions a little. If you are in a distinct hormonal stage like perimenopause, postpartum or pregnancy, there are days where the below could feel like one big joke. My advice is to honour the stage you’re in (always), while understanding that it’s exactly that, a stage. It’s not forever and, as I love to say, you are in process, which is how it’s meant to be for us all.
George Ohsawa’s 7 conditions for health
Energy: A healthy person should have energy all throughout the day.
Appetite: For food, sex.
Sleep: Benefit from a full night’s sleep and feel refreshed upon waking.
Good Humour and Temperament: Live with deep appreciation and free from anger or stress. Emotional life should be smooth and harmonious.
Memory: Ability to remember names, thoughts, ideas and convey these effectively.
Thinking: Intellectual curiosity; ability to apply common sense; be alert; able to respond quickly with deep thinking.
Appreciation: For the microcosm (self) and the macrocosm (planet, environment). Living in harmony with nature, a sense of freedom, spiritual desires and a pursuit of personal development and dreams.
With all of this, we are aiming for joy, ease and curiosity. These are my own personal baselines for health on a daily basis. Keep on establishing, practising and noticing and I’ll see you back here next week!
Sophie’s Marketplace
A few bits and pieces I’m loving right now, maybe you will too.
Campion Scent Nr. 04 body oil by Fourth Street. This body oil is such a treat. The ingredient list is elite. It doesn’t mess around with filler ingredients, nor anything harmful. The first two oils listed are macadamia and jojoba, and the formulation is blended with Niacinamide to improve the skin barrier. It smells heavenly - sexy spring garden vibes. A thoughtful gift for someone who doesn’t typically wear eau de parfum fragrance.
Broste classic candle. It took a power cut to realise we were low on candles, and so I went back to buying packs of these from local Auckland boutique Tessuti. They come in lots of different colours, I’m partial to the deep red colour. A needed mood boost in Winter, too!