The Food which Perishes

I am paying the price for mentioning a new diet book to my wife.  I saw Dr. J.J. Virgin touting her book on Rachel Ray's TV show one day in December when I was visiting my mom after her fall.  At the time, Melissa was trying to avoid gluten.  She had experienced a phantom pain in her side for a couple of years and, more recently, mysterious swelling in her leg and foot and we suspected gluten could be the culprit.

The "Virgin Diet" takes what Melissa was testing with gluten and expands it to 7 different types of food - and eliminates them all at once!  The author maintains that even beyond the easy-to-spot food allergies that many Americans develop, there are many more food "intolerances" that are more subtle and long-term and, therefore, more difficult to link to the offending food.  The solution?  A grand experiment where one eliminates wheat, soy, dairy, sugar, corn, peanuts, and eggs from the diet for three weeks and then slowly and methodically reintroduces those foods one at a time.  With the system clear of any offending foods, when the those foods are reintroduced, the symptoms of any intolerances should be more pronounced and then easily tied back to the trigger ingredient. 

I say I am "paying" for introducing this book because, like the good husband I am, I agreed to do the diet with Melissa for moral support.  I didn't start with any glaring physical symptoms which might be food related, but after almost two weeks of this diet, I have to note that I am feeling generally more alert and awake.  (I also have to note that I HAVE cheated in tiny, tiny ways ... now and then.)

So once you eliminate wheat, soy, dairy, corn, sugar, peanuts and eggs, what's left??

Spinach. Blackberries. Salmon. Sweet potatoes. Grass. Acorns. Twigs.

Actually, there are a lot of good foods left over - the main hassle is that so much of what we absentmindedly pop into our mouths or into our recipes is processed with one or more of those ingredients.  So substitutions get made and cooking gets simplified.

Out: Milk.            In: Almond milk or coconut milk.

Out: Butter.           In: Butter ghee.

Out: Chocolate candy of all sorts.          In: ?? (C'mon, there's no substitute for chocolate! Thus, the occasional cheating!)

Out: Breakfast foods of all types.         In: "Green" shakes.

The green shakes start with water, coconut milk, green pea protein (because whey and soy proteins are off limit), a banana and a big handful of spinach.  And they look like this:

But only at first.  Then they get a big handful of frozen blueberries or blackberries and they end up looking more like this:

And they actually taste pretty good.  You can't really see or taste the spinach if it's blended well.

And beyond breakfast, we've been eating pretty well too.  Melissa is such a good cook that it didn't take her long to figure out how to compensate for a rather limited list of possible ingredients.  It's a challenge when every menu item that is cheese-based, bread-based, egg-based or corn-based is out!  But here's a typical meal from a few days ago:

That's a beautiful piece of grilled salmon which was marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, rosemary and onion.  Fresh guacamole.  And grilled asparagus.  My fish was all sad and lonely without it's usual partners (either soy-based teriyaki sauce or dairy-based tartar sauce), so it was happy to find the guacamole ... which was mourning the loss of its corn chips!  It turned into a lovely new relationship. 

Our kids have tolerated the changes in diet pretty well.  We do still serve them some items that are off limit to us: chips and biscuits and brownies and such.  BUT after reading about the link between dairy and complexion issues, Melissa decided to experiment a little on the kids as well.  They have been completely off dairy for two weeks now.  No ice cream, no breakfast cereal, no mac and cheese, no Parmesan on the spaghetti. 

It's slowly killing them.

BUT the Drama Queen's face is now as smooth as a china doll's!  Until we eliminated it, we had no idea how much dairy we were consuming.  We plan to add some back in after another week or so, but at greatly reduced quantities.

So this blog (according to the heading on the page) is supposed to be about us making progress toward the mission field ... What's this diet stuff have to do with ministry in Haiti?

Well, a couple of things.  For one, with all the stresses we anticipate once we hit the field, we want to make sure we are physically fit.  In two weeks time, I have lost 7 pounds and Melissa has lost 10.  And we're feeling great.  AND the mystery inflammation and swelling has disappeared from Melissa's leg.  (The verdict is still out on her side pain.)

Furthermore, the kind of cooking we are doing now is good practice for cooking in Haiti.  Even if we could get all the processed foods we are used to here, they'd be priced way beyond our budget.  And the kids better get used to not having an abundance of dairy products to consume.  Ice cream is a rare and special treat in Haiti.  And the price of cheese is astronomical. 

And finally, this diet is reminding me of what I normally experience during a Lenten fast - and so it's reteaching me some of the same spiritual lessons:  That we are blessed with an abundance of food while so many people around this world would rejoice over a bowl of oatmeal mush.  That our bodies are temples and we are to be good stewards of the temple God has given us.  "You have been bought for a price, therefore glorify God in your body." And finally, that there are parallels between the body and the soul.  When we feed the body junk when it's craving protein and vitamins, we end up lethargic.  And doesn't the same thing happen when we feed junk to our souls? 

John 6:27 - "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal."
John 6:35 - Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.