Degrees in Idealism

exploring how we would live if we truly believed life was meaningful

Letting Go of Your Health

03.04.2017 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 1 Comment

Three years ago, on a beautiful February day, my husband, son, and I hiked Kennesaw Mountain with some friends. A few minutes after arriving home I started feeling very sick. I had had Crohn’s disease for almost seven years but it had never been as severe as it became after that day. Three hospitalizations, five […]

Categories // Family, Soul Tags // #autoimmune, #crohns, #findingmeaning, #health, #marriage, #nature, #parenthood

Our Daily Bread

09.22.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 2 Comments

One morning she boiled molasses and sugar together until they made a thick syrup, and Pa brought in two pans of clean, white snow from outdoors. Laura and Mary each had a pan, and Pa and Ma showed them how to pour the dark syrup in little streams on to the snow. They made circles, […]

Categories // Wellness Tags // #autoimmune, #crohns, #findingmeaning, #foodie, #littlehouseontheprairie

In Sickness

06.23.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 7 Comments

People seem to assume that marriage causes suffering. But that is too simplistic. Marriage does not cause suffering; life causes suffering. What makes married people unique is that, by vowing to be one in all things, they inevitably vow to be one in their suffering. This means they can’t run from suffering. They must endure […]

Categories // Marriage Tags // #autoimmune, #crohns, #findingmeaning, #insicknessandinhealth, #piedmonthospital, #romance #marriage, #vows

But What If You Don’t Like Coconut Oil?

09.14.2015 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 2 Comments

My dad and I used to eat Fudge Rounds after dinner. We’d eat the giant ones, heated for ten seconds in the microwave to ever so slightly melt the chocolate filling and soften the saturated cookie sandwich shell into chewy perfection. Now my occasional treat is some form of raw cacao and almond flour or coconut. It usually […]

Categories // Culture, Wellness Tags // #autoimmune, #coconutoil, #crohns, #food, #fudgerounds, #paleo

The Missing Leg

06.02.2015 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 1 Comment

I’ve been on a very strict diet (no grains, refined sugar, beans, legumes, or most dairy) for my health conditions over the past year. Apparently though, it hasn’t been enough. The next step is to go on an even stricter diet, additionally eliminating the remaining dairy, nuts and seeds, alcohol, eggs, and many other foods. […]

Categories // Culture Tags // #autoimmune, #crohns, #empathy, #suffering

When “Organic” Fails

09.29.2014 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 3 Comments

I am a true believer in natural health. I am currently on one of the strictest healing diets that has led me to eliminate refined sugar, grains, soy, corn, starchy vegetables, processed foods, additives, preservatives, and most dairy. I pretty much cook every single meal I eat. I make bone broths and ferment my own […]

Categories // Soul, Wellness Tags // #crohns, #medicine, #naturalhealth, #organic, #suffering

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About Me

I'm Elizabeth. I'm a wife, a mother to six children, a writer, and a lover and seeker of the beautiful, the true, and the good. I am a believer in idealism-- that even amidst the chaos and the confusion, the exhaustion and the sadness of life there is always joy to be found, hope to be clung to, and a better path to be taken. I write my thoughts on this blog. Links to my fiction books are at the bottom of the page.

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