Carole Boggs believes she wouldn’t be alive today without the benefits of macrobiotic cooking.

In 1984, Boggs was diagnosed with breast cancer, and that’s when she began reading about this type of diet, which uses wholesome, unrefined foods processed by traditional methods.

“I started healing myself, and it saved my life,” says Boggs, 60.

“I didn’t have any of the chemotherapy or the radiation, though I did have one breast removed. I had a wonderful doctor who let me take all my own food into the hospital, and I made my own meals there.”

Boggs recovered from cancer, and has stuck to macrobiotics ever since.

“I love the taste. The food is so good that there’s no point in going back. You start tasting the flavors in food, and it’s so wonderful. It clears out your head, it clears out your body, and that’s what macrobiotics is all about,” she says.

But macrobiotics isn’t just thought to be beneficial for people who have cancer.

This style of eating — pioneered by Michio Kushi of Japan, who introduced it in the 1970s in New York City — is said to help with reaching and maintaining optimal health, mental clarity, emotional calmness and overall regeneration of the body. It’s based on the ancient Chinese philosophical principles of balance and harmony, or Yin and Yang.

In order to determine a person’s nutritional needs, macrobiotics takes into consideration one’s environment, activity level and general health.

The standard macrobiotic diet consists of whole grains and whole-grain products: locally grown land and sea vegetables, beans, tofu, tempeh, Seitan (vegetarian “wheat meat”), some fruits, miso and buckwheat soups and moderate amounts of fish.

“We eat unprocessed and less-processed foods. It’s a cleansing diet, and it cleanses the blood. The goal is to clean out toxins from the body and to build it back up with foods that are balancing,” Boggs says.

Carole Boggs, a Kushi Institute-trained macrobiotic practitioner, sets the table for a recent Club 1039 dinner party. The menu features, clockwise from left, rolled greens; carrot nishime; a dish of short-grain brown rice, millet and fresh corn; black sesame seeds; and chick pea and vegetable salad.

Macrobiotic dinner parties

These days, Boggs is busy educating others in Lawrence about the benefits and flavors of macrobiotic cooking.

Since last September, she has been the host and chef of “Club 1039,” a weekly dinner party held at her home — 1039 R.I. — that’s centered around an all-macrobiotic meal.

Boggs serves a dinner for up to eight people from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Fridays, charging $15 per person for a complete meal, dessert and tea.

Boggs relies largely upon word of mouth to advertise Club 1039, and she asks that guests make reservations a few days in advance of their meal.

The food she prepares is always vegan — no animal products or by-products — and organic as much as possible.

“I love to cook, I want to have a macrobiotic restaurant in Lawrence some day, and I didn’t want to lose my edge. I also wanted to have fun. When I’m cooking, I’m playing — and this is like having a party every week,” she says.

This macrobiotic dish contains rolled greens with red mustard leaf around frisee, red kale and pickled radish.

A recent meal at her home featured: rolled greens (red mustard leaf around frisee, red kale and pickled radish); carrot nishime (lightly cooked carrots, red cabbage, onion and sunflower seeds); short-grain brown rice, millet, fresh corn and black sesame seeds; chick pea and vegetable salad; miso soup with leeks, squash, mung beans and chives; crepes filled with amazake (a cream sauce made from sweet brown rice); and roasted barley tea.

Boggs is a skilled guide for those seeking to learn about healthful eating and macrobiotics.

In 1990, she completed an intensive, four-month program at the Annemarie Colbin Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City, a vegetarian cooking school.

In the mid 1990s, Boggs went to the Kushi Institute in Becket, Mass., the leading macrobiotic educational center in the world.

“I went there only to learn to cook, thinking I would stay three months and get plenty of recipes under my belt. But after three months, I saw that I had only scratched the surface,” she says.

“I wound up staying there for three years, and by the time I left, I was one of three head chefs.”

Carrot nishime is a macrobiotic dish that contains carrots, red cabbage, onions and sunflower seeds cooked in a small amount of water.

While she was at the Kushi Institute, she helped prepare three meals per day for about 150 people.

In Lawrence, Boggs has taught several macrobiotic cooking classes at the Community Mercantile Co-op, 901 Iowa.

Simple but time-consuming

Club 1039 attracts a mix of people, some of whom eat a macrobiotic diet and others who just want to experience this type of cooking.

Kim Forehand, a Lawrence singer and songwriter, recently attended one of the Friday dinner parties at the home of Boggs.

“It’s so delicious. I can’t believe what Carole can do with grains and vegetables and beans. She’s done it for a long time. She’s a gifted cook,” says Forehand, who’s been on a macrobiotic diet for seven years.

She adopted the diet for health reasons. Some chronic conditions she was suffering from have cleared up, and she credits macrobiotics for her improvement.

Carole Boggs, second from left, plays host to a Club 1039 dinner party which features macrobiotic foods. Others who attended Friday's event at Boggs' home were, from left, Meredith Quinn, Cecilia Mills and Chris Karnaze.

“This food keeps me going all day. It’s not fun to have a breakfast of miso soup and brown rice. It’s more fun to have bacon and eggs. But I want to live as long as I can; I want to take this body to 80,” Forehand says.

Boggs also is sticking to her macrobiotic diet, even though it takes a little extra work.

“The principles are simple, and it’s simple to cook, but it requires time,” she says.

“You start with all fresh things, and you cook a fresh meal every day. You have to cut it all, the beans take longer to cook, the grains take longer to cook. You just have to be patient.”