food adventures

since the recent discovery of a few food allergies in our kids, raleigh and i decided to take our "healthy food" to the next level. over the past two years we have felt led more and more by the Lord in how we have not been eating correctly. please let me say early on that we feel that this food adjustment God brought to our lives was something specific that we needed to change and not something that we feel everyone needs to do. God made us all different and he will change things in us in HIS timing and according to what HE feels we need to change. food and not food!

last spring we took a class that a friend was giving on the book, the great physicians RX. we came away with a wealth of information, and what spoke to us the most was how the author suggested many of the changes that we had felt the Lord speaking to us already. basically eating more whole foods, getting more rest and exercise... we also learned the importance of supplements, and having a healthy digestive system. while we didn't agree with everything in the book, we did learn a lot. so when we discovered the food allergies my mind went immediately to repairing the digestion. i firmly believe that if we can repair our systems, the allergies will go. so while our dr was adding supplements, i was going to work on taking our diet to a new level.

i consulted my friend cindy who has been one step ahead of us in a quest for better health and knowledge all along. she had been researching sauerkraut and the benefits of eating raw, lacto fermented kraut at every meal in an effort to help another friend who is battling a brain tumor. "get everyone in your house eating it", she said. "homemade is best and it's easy to make". well, i gave it a whirl. i was ever so thankful for the food processor  that i got for christmas. without it the chopping of the cabbage would have deterred me. i was also amazed that, first of all i could make it, but second that in the process of extracting the whey for the "lacto" part i was left with cream cheese. 

cindy also suggested we switch our homemade bead to sourdough instead of using yeast. this was more for raleigh's fungal issues, but still a good idea for the whole family. i'd been making bread during raleigh's lay off because of cost effectiveness, but the thought of making sourdough both excited and intimidated me. but again i gave it a whirl. yum. yum!!! that's all i have to say about the bread. as long as i don't kill the starter, (which i have done once) it's a relatively easy process. add the cream cheese and it's oh so good. 

the next concoction we added was kombucha tea. a while back my friend karen talked about this fermented tea she wanted to try. i didn't think much of it until i was visiting another friend who had a very interesting bowl of something sitting in her counter. at first glance it looked like honey with the comb floating on top. at further investigation i realized that this was not honey. intrigued i asked what it was, to which her 16 year old son replied, "it's alive!". after a good chuckle she explained that it was kombucha tea. we talked about how you make it and the great health benefits of drinking it. i thought to myself, we have to try this too! after talking about all of the ins and outs, katherine said that she would be able to set me up in a couple of weeks when the "mother mushroom" was ready to split. (it's not really a mushroom, but that's kind of what it looks like) the tea has become a fun topic of conversation in my house when people stop by as well. my mom asked what the specimen was growing in my kitchen. i admit that it looks rather odd, and smells a bit strange but is yummy. 

so, working in the science lab, as we call our kitchen, is becoming a grand and fulfilling adventure for me though there are times when i get overwhelmed and feel a bit silly explaining myself to others who don't share my journey. i do feel a sense of pride in making and feeding these healthy things to my family. even though there are times when i get teased.  i hope and pray that it truly does correct the problems we face. you can be sure i will let you know. and i promise if you come over to eat at our house i won't experiment on you!!!