By Jeri Taira, Featured Reader and Guest Writer

In November of 2006, I began an adventure and a pursuit.  I had no idea what I pursuing at that time, but I knew relief in the form of a different lifestyle had to be headed my way soon as severe respiratory and digestive issues along with extreme fatigue had suddenly overtaken my body.  Thankfully, my doctors treated and minimized every symptom, but even after treatments I still experienced asthma, allergies, and G.E.R.D. with gastritis.  That didn’t make sense!  I was so angry with God.  I saw people with the same symptoms heal in a snap, yet I saw no evidence of betterment in me.  In fact, even my doctors even said I was “healable”, so what was the deal?!

Then, my gastroenterologist suggested I try stress relief through exercise and breathing.  He also encouraged me to keep a food journal as well as a journal of emotions.  What a blessing that would become.  I remember thinking, “I’m not stressed.”  Ha, ha.  Yes, I was.  As I really sat with God and let Him show me, he quickly brought answers, support, and awesome connections.

During those few years (yes, y-e-a-r-s), I focused on my relationship with God.  I relaxed at His feet, enjoyed His presence and just received His love for me.  After I quieted myself, I, slowly but surely, began to see Him bring me the answers and encouragement I so desperately needed.  Through spending time reading God’s Word, He showed me how Caleb had taken care of himself so well – that at eight-five years old, Caleb was as strong as when in his forties because he had prepared himself both spiritually and physically.  And, when God finally called Caleb, was more than up for the task (see Joshua 14:6-15).  Then I read about Daniel, a man who had had eaten mostly vegetables and was healthier and smarter than the royal staff.  King Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed with that Daniel’s intelligence that he gave Daniel a place in his royal service (see Daniel 1).  These are just two examples of how an intimate relationship with God paired with keeping physically fit and eating fresh and whole foods, can work together to feed one’s spirit and soul.  Huh – pretty amazing.

As I became more in tune with God, He began to show me how to be more in tune with my body’s needs.  He provided me with exercises most beneficial for me – calming exercises like hiking easy trails, walking, and Pilates.  Each of these activities brought my mind, body and spirit to rest and soaked my life, overall, with peace.  Through monitoring the food journal, we progressively found that a diet free of animal products eased my digestion.  This included beef, poultry, pork, fish, dairy and eggs.  The acidity from animal products simply proved too high for me.  We also recently found that I have a low tolerance for certain grains, as decreasing or avoiding them relieved my nasal allergies.  Truly, each finding brings more healing and balance and more focus and clarity, for me.  I have a renewed zest for life now, thanks to these findings, and I’ve found peace in my pursuit of His dreams for me.

Through this whole process God’s reminded me that every person’s needs are individually unique, and consequently, He’s completely brought back one of my loves – connecting people to people and people to resources!  My husband and I founded our blog, facebook, and twitter in the name of sharing, and we’ve documented all we’ve learned (and continue to learn) within these pages.  As a result, we’ve met so many beautiful, proactive, and supportive people through these sites.  Plus, I’ve begun writing for our local examiner and have written guest articles for different sites, as well.  Life couldn’t get much better, as I visit eateries, meet awesome people (both locally and abroad) who make a difference in food, in the environment, in sustainability and more, and then get to share what I’ve learned and news of who I’ve met with my readers and new friends!  And, let’s not forget, too, that God’s given me a new desire for cooking and baking, and I’m really enjoying doing it all from scratch.

I could look at all I can’t eat and complain, or I could look at all I’ve gained and say, “Thank you!”  All of it is a beautiful gift from God.  Through all of the simplifying, He has laid out big plans for me. My healing has significantly progressed year after year (I haven’t even used an inhaler since February!), and I’ve become more at rest and less stressed, overall.  He has been and will continue to use all I’m experiencing for His glory.  My complete healing has not come to physical fruition, but I believe God has already sent it.

I wanted to share my favorite dessert recipe at the moment:  No Bake Brownies by Julie Morris

Summer’s here and this light and easy udon dish is perfect:  Sesame Lime Udon by Sammi at Vegan Pandamonium

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