Walk With Us…

Four women. Forty days.  No bread , sugar or french vanilla creamer in sight.  One question:  Can we really freakin do this?

The question began a couple of months ago as health and nutrition became an ever-increasing topic of our household.  Topics were being brought up at the church we attend, articles were popping up all over the place.  Then, I (Jessica) begin reading the book  The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin.  It tells about Rubin’s battle with Chron’s Disease and his struggle to find answers within the medical community.  After a couple years and a few brushes with death, 21 year old Jordan, in desperation, sought the council of an eccentric nutritionist in California that told him he was ill because he was not eating a diet of the bible.  He based the failure of doctors to treat his illness on the fact that they were not basing their treatments on biblical principles.

To make a long story short, Rubin tried this diet, which consisted of food in its most natural form.  Fruits and vegetables grown without the use of toxic chemicals and pesticides.  Chicken and beef from grass fed farms that don’t inject their livestock with growth hormones.  Healthy fats and oils.  No sugar, no processed food, no pork or shellfish,  no nothing that came from a box or a can.  After 4 months on this rigorous regiment, Rubin had gone from 111 to 170 lbs and his symptoms were significantly diminshed.  Two years later, he was completely symptom free.   He then went on to commit his life to educating others about the healing properties of whole foods.  Obviously, this is a stretch for most of our minds. As a pretty healthy late twenty-something, I didn’t have much of a grid for it.  But the concept did intrigue me.  How are our bodies affected by what we put into them?  What if we could battle and, even better, prevent attacks on our body just by changing the way we ate?  For someone who didn’t learn to swallow pills until college and still has to choke them down with yoghurt, this thought seemed incredibly appealing.  Not to mention the alarming rate of heart disease and cancer found in our nation with the most advanced medical technology in the world.  Some things just didn’t add up.

So, I thought about it. I researched a little more.  And decided I sure as crap couldn’t pull this off alone.  So, I approached my house mates with the idea of trying out this crazy 40 day thing together.  And the responses were, let’s just say, mixed.  We all had some level of interest on one hand, but on the other was the ” I can’t have ice cream for 40 days and it’s fricken summer?!” reality.  Our talks about it became rather circular, until it was suggested we take a couple of days and think and pray about what exactly we would want to get out of this time.  And as we came back together to share, we found that the desires and visions we had went farther and deeper than just a simple diet or fast.  We talked about unhealthy relationships with food and overcoming them, personal health goals, breakthrough in emotional healing, transitions, and callings.  It became clear that these next 40 days would just be a catalyst in each of our lives to usher in a new season-one of greater insight, greater freedom, and closer community as we hashed all this out together.  Now, this was a bandwagon we could all jump onto.

So, welcome, dear reader to our world.  This blog is two fold.  It’s for  the four of us-to document our journey as it is happening. I will be publishing reflections, what we are learning, and probably the occasional rant when we hit a wall and just want a strawberry limeade from Sonic.  Communicating the process will help us as we trip down this path together.

This blog is also, and mainly, for you.  Whole foods eating is gaining more and more interest and accessibility by the day.  It aint just for those “rich people who hate themselves” (borrowing a quote from Amy Poehler in Baby Mama).  We are out to prove that it CAN be done affordably, with a little creativity and know-how.  Be on the lookout for recipes, shopping tips, and other kinds of goodies.  If you have wanted to eat healthier for awhile now, but just didn’t know where to start,hang out with us for awhile.  The four of us are all at different places when it comes to our health, are different shapes and sizes, and are  desiring different things from this time.  Basically, we are no cookie cutter group and whatever place you are in you are at health-wise, you could probably find somewhere to relate!  If you are a lover of cooking, gardening or good food in general, come along for the ride.  There will be lots of talk about all of these fabulous things.

Here’s to the next 40 days of beautiful struggle, discovery, and healthy living!

meet the sojourners- L to R: Jessica, Kristy, Amanda, and Sarah.

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