19 days in, and counting...

Amber cooking up something 7-creative in the kitchen at our home.

We are now 19 days into the Food portion of The 7- Experiment. My foods: Fish, eggs, brown rice, avocados, apples, sweet potatoes and spinach. Every day, these same foods again and again. Sweet potatoes perfume the house on a near daily basis, eggs greet me morning after morning with a sunny smile and the beloved avocado has left me saying weird things like, "If I could jump in a pool of any food, it would be an avocado."

But the real intimate relationship has been between me and the sweet potato. It is the food I have claimed to marry if man and food could mate, and I am not ashamed. The sweetest of sweet potatoes has gotten me through many agonizing sugar cravings. The apple comes close to providing such satisfying sweetness. Throughout these couple of weeks, I have come to know the diverse culture of apples, from the sourest tarty apples to the "that had to have been made in a lab and injected with a little crack and sugar" kind of sweet apples. The real art to this experiment has been creativity and appreciation. Brown rice day after day, would only give me sourness towards this crazy experiment, but brown rice noodles, rice cakes, rice milk, and all the other rice varieties we have experimented with has made this all possible.

I am the kind of person who takes things with a very serious and disciplined mentality. Usually, I would have gone about this study thinking that I wouldn't get the full effect unless I suffered and ate the same dry, bland foods over and over. But these nine woman by my side, sacrificing the luxury of good food and convenience, and dedicated themselves to this inductive study, have taught me so much. Like Amber for example, who sees the world through an artistic and creative eye, she has shown me how to value and appreciate these foods. I would have had far too many cheats during this month if it wasn't for her waking up and making pancakes out of apples, sweet potatoes and rice flour. Or coming up with fun ideas like making homemade applesauce and apple cider. There have been some days when I think I want to eat only 7 foods for the rest of my life.

And then there are the days when I hate everything that has to do with 7, I am far beyond praying for strength for God to show up in my weakness and replace my physical need with Him because the only thing in the world I could care about is wanting to go to my favorite coffee shop and get a soy latte and an almond thumbprint cookie, dip that cookie into a cup of pure Heaven and just die a little bit inside as I fully submit to the fixation of indulgence. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

There are days when I have just asked God to give me a good kick in the rear and a slap of perspective to realize that I am eating some of the most wholesome ingredients nature has to offer every single day, but somehow my "hanger" (hungry anger) finds me yelling at my boyfriend for the stupidest of silly things and complaining about all the delicious foods and beverages I am missing out on. In the meantime, my avocado and sweet potato are saying, "What am I, road kill?"

This always calls for a heart of a repentance and a make-up session with the sweet potato and avocado, where I once again confess my strange and unusual love to them for the satisfaction they provide me at meal time. It got me thinking when I discovered that the word "Fast," in it's original Greek meaning translates to "the absence of food." Why food? Why wasn't it the absence of spending money, or the absence of speaking, or the absence sleep? I am starting to see how much of a role food plays in our life, how strong of a physical need it is for our existence, our function-ability, even our sanity. Yes, we are still eating, and yes we are eating nutritious and filling foods, but abstaining from food in any sort of manner is extremely difficult.

This past week, our third week into the study, has been incredibly trying for every woman in this. We are, at moments, barely hanging on, and we are not always spiritual in our attitudes. Sometimes, we are just trying to maintain sanity. But in it all, our struggles, victories and craziness, we are learning all the same. The whole system of food, from it's source to it's exploiting industries, to the motives in which we seek it, our connection and relationship to our physical need of food is writing a whole new message within our heart.

We have 9 days left until our "Break Fast" meal. Mention of pizza, chocolate, beer and more chocolate has been emphasized in far too many lustful conversations. Dreams and visions of that feast are often motivation factors to press on. The continuous reminder that we are in this together and that strange love we consciously choose to place in these 7 foods that have been prayed over and blessed abundantly with earth's nurture is where appreciation unfolds.

​And in those stark and ugly reminders that we are spoiled and greedy, as the harsh revelation of the world's deprivations sink in, the nerve of our complaining hits like a heavy burden, and suddenly our hearts understand a meaning much further than empty desires and unmindful grumblings. Soon after, the perseverance that once was so far away, suddenly becomes tangible.

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