Eventually I found the food… and I learned to enjoy many new things.

Over the course of time, I learned how to bake bread, handle raw milk, ferment vegetables, brew kombucha, use herbs to ease cold symptoms, and make my own butter, vanilla extract, coconut milk, and bone broth.

Something happened, though, after a few years of measuring out hundreds of pounds of bleached flour, cup after cup of refined white sugar, and buying vegetable oil by the gallon…

I began to wonder if it was really good for us to be eating so much of this stuff.

My second food awakening began in 2011, aided by a ‘cookbook’ I bought on a whim along with my homeschool curriculum. After reading the description of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, it seemed like it would be a good resource to help expand my food preparation techniques and recipe repertoire.

Little did I know how influential that book would be for me! Let’s just say it challenged my beliefs about the modern food industry, conventional agriculture, and the nutrition guidance that has been presented to the general public as ‘best practices.’ It took a long time for me to be ready to accept what I was reading. But now, after over a decade of my own research and education, it makes perfect sense.

I learned it was ok to question the status quo and dig deeper to learn the rest of the story. But the real test was yet to come.

It was about to get personal.

From the time my son Micah could talk, he would often tell me about pain he was having, usually in his stomach or hips. It came and went, and he often ran and played like any other kid, so it took a while for me to recognize that there was an actual problem.

Living in rural West Africa, our medical care options were limited, but over the next 7 years or so, we drove hours and sometimes a whole day to see doctors who came from the US for short-term medical service. We saw pediatricians and specialists when we came back to the US to visit. We did blood tests and stool tests on both sides of the ocean. He took antibiotics and medicines for intestinal parasites and worms. Through all this there was no definitive answer about what was going on, and he continued to deal with significant digestive distress and joint pain.

As our internet access got better and less expensive, I began to search tirelessly for any information that might help us get on the right track. I read about people experiencing relief of a wide variety of symptoms when they made dietary changes. We tried eliminating gluten and dairy, which I had learned were common contributors to systemic inflammation. This seemed to help for a little while, but not for long and not enough.

We cooked 3 meals a day from scratch… food was an area we had control over, so it made perfect sense to try to leverage food in the quest to help Micah feel better.

I kept on researching, and food continued to be a common theme. It actually made a lot of sense to focus on food, as it was a very accessible factor we could impact several times a day. I concluded he needed to eliminate more than just gluten and dairy, but how much more and exactly what? That’s when I got tuned into the idea of a total elimination diet.

But would an almost-11-year-old go for this crazy idea? In order to do it right, he had to be on board. And to my amazement, I didn't have to do any convincing. He was so desperate to feel better he was willing to try anything, even if it meant eating only a handful of foods for a while.

In 2017 I witnessed the power of food with my own eyes.

The power to hurt, but also the power to heal.

After 3 weeks of drinking mugs of bone broth and eating just a few of the least potentially reactive foods, Micah finally had a day without pain. I didn’t know it was possible. Though there would still be much more tunnel to go through, we were seeing light!

My third food awakening had begun!

The year was full of meticulous record keeping, adding one food back in at a time, evaluating symptoms, and trying not to be discouraged in the setbacks. Miraculously, when we returned to the US for several months, there was a functional medicine doctor practicing just a few miles away from where we were staying! We got on his calendar right away.

After extensive testing, lo and behold, there were some answers! Elevated thyroid antibodies indicated the autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. He also had a parasitic infection that is often left untreated by many medical professionals because it is quite prolific in the human population and ‘doesn’t usually cause symptoms.’ I later learned this particular parasite is a common trigger for Hashimoto’s. Imagine that.

Antibiotics cleared up the parasite, and the doctor recommended several supplements to boost Micah’s nutrient levels and promote microbiome balance and healing of his gastrointestinal system. He encouraged us to continue the slow addition and evaluation of foods. It’s amazing what a difference it made for us to finally have both answers and support for the healing process!

With the exception of the one antibiotic,

the elimination of joint pain, the restoration of his GI tract, optimal thyroid function, and the remission of Hashimoto’s was all accomplished through nutrition and making health-supportive food choices.

If all that was not evidence enough of the power of food for healing, this child - who once had difficulty moving around the house - has competed in cross country at the state level three times.

I’m as proud as any mama could be, but I also feel the additional significance of this accomplishment, knowing all the challenges he’s overcome to get to this point.

After the state cross country competition in November 2023, the final XC race of his high school career