Elimination Diet: Days 32-34

I fear I've not given enough glory to God for His leading in this process of eliminating foods that are not healthful and that were stealing abundancy of life. This has been a real learning process of studying not just the nutritional quality of food, but turning to God's word to see what He says about how we should eat and live. Before beginning this process, the Lord illuminated this word to me:

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

I believe the Bible has answers for all our need...even the foods that we eat. The Lord clearly told Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:29-31: And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

And to the Israelites in Leviticus chapter 11, God clearly states the animals, birds, fish and yes, even insects that are clean to eat. He also clearly states those that are unclean. For a lack of knowledge, I have tasted and eaten some of the unclean foods. As I have come into a greater awareness of God's word regarding this area of my life, I know it is for my protection. I believe the Old Testament is for direction, guidance and protection, just as much as the New Testament. As a total foodie, I was deceived into eating things that were not beneficial, especially refined sugars, flours, and thinking that I could eat enough healthy foods to "combat" the unhealthy foods. Really, that is like saying I can continue in "pet sins" as long as I do enough good deeds...it will all even out. It just doesn't work that way. When we come to Christ, He wants all of us. I want to give Him all of me...my time, talents, heart, mind, body and soul. I want to glorify Him, I want His thoughts to be my thoughts and His ways my ways...even down to the food I eat.

In my weekly Bible study, the memory verse for the week is: The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Jesus came that we may have life abundantly, here, now...I hope to honor Him by choosing to fuel my body with nourishing meals so that I can do the work He has prepared for me to do.

Having said all of that...we have had some truly fabulous meals over the last few days. Our day 32 breakfast consisted of quinoa with roasted butternut squash, apple, raisins, and maple syrup with broccoli sprouts on the side. It was a great fall meal. We are so thankful for the bounty of fresh, organic fruits and veggies we've found at the local co-op!


We added dairy in the form of plain yogurt with fresh pomegranate. Oh my, the yogurt had just the right amount of tartness to pair so nicely with the sweet, juicy flavor of the pomegranate seeds. It takes a little effort to get those seeds out of the pomegranate, but it is so worth it!


We've not eaten any meat other than fish since about February or March of this year, so day 34 was a big day...we added in chicken. It was organic of course! We made a chicken and vegetable stew. Wow, it was delicious! We used the chicken to make homemade stock and had onion, carrots, celery, zuchini, and sweet peas in the mix. It was like a chicken pot pie without the crust.


Next time we plan to bake a loaf of fresh bread to go with it, but since we've not added in flour or yeast at this time, we just had a big bowl of stew. This will be a great meal to have as the weather cools down too!