Four years ago, I found myself in the middle of what I now know to be a healing crisis. Back then, it just felt like my body was on fire. Most of my joints and muscles hurt. My stomach didn't like most of what I tried to put into it. The enjoyment of eating...the tastes, the textures, the spices...was gone. Through all of this, much of my time was spent cooking for my two small children and husband. Watching them enjoy the meals of healthy, tasty food that I had prepared but could not partake in was hard. I felt like I was going down at the ripe old age of 36!
I decided to consult a naturalist and put my life back together. Because of many family predispositions and my history, it was recommended that I try a gluten-free and dairy-free diet for 8 to 12 weeks. This recommendation resonated with me and I knew that it was time to make changes in my life, through my diet. So, I dove in...I have been gluten-free since then. I eat mostly goat-dairy but can occasionally enjoy cow-dairy products. For me, the diet is a proactive lifestyle. I had lived up to that point having a sore mouth after eating wheat or having a sore stomach for days after drinking a beer. It was time to take care of myself so I could enjoy my life, my family and once again enjoy the magic of cooking and wonder of eating. I can look back at this time with a certain clarity and watch the body pain subsiding and my stomach healing. I can also see that it was a time calling for me to change...to heal...to grow.
So, I cook gluten-free/cow-dairy free for myself and add in many dishes to our family meals that my family can not discern as such. I still have meat and potatoes men in my family and a daughter who will eat with gusto anything that I can create. The beauty for me is that now I can walk through my garden and grab a tomato off the vine and enjoy its taste, juice, texture and my stomach likes it! This evolution in cooking for me has been wonderful...I use more herbs to enhance taste. I am more conscience of using local seasonal ingredients in my cooking. I look at my family and try to create a meal that will meet their needs for the day, as well as share what our earth is providing for me at the time. It is a cooperative project and I can see the results...my family is very healthy. My kids have a wider appreciation of many foods. In many ways, I am going back to what I have always known to be me...many days of my youth was spent with my grandparents, original and true organic farmers. They used their intuition in which crops to plant to work in cooperation with the earth. They listened respectfully to the cycles of nature. They had animals that were part of the family, loved and respected them and sometimes worked back into the cycle of life.My grandparents were humane and respected all that is. There were days that we would go out and feed the chickens, collect the eggs, be amoungst them, always talking to them by name.Then there were the days that my grandfather would butcher some chickens and we would go through the whole process, put our hands together in prayer and enjoy a huge feast of roast chicken for dinner. While often the act is hard for me to think of, there was a completeness in it all. A respect and a cooperation between humans, animals, the earth, nature. It is where I need to reside more now. My path has lead me back there. That healing crisis that I was once was in was a call for me to be more whole, more in unity with all that is. I have heard people refer to gluten-free/dairy-free living as restricted. It has been everything but restricted for me. It was really a piece of the healing process for me. I have gone back to my roots, my internal resonance, my path to wholeness. The right food for all of us is calling AND it can be nourishing, delicious and fulfilling. Just listen to yourself and dive in...
- Beth
