"To keep the body in good health is a duty...otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear."

-Buddha

Hi there! My name is Erika Elizondo and I am a certified Holistic Health Coach and relentlessly curious foodiecologist.  I've spent the last several years studying environmental science, food policy and nutrition and graduated from the New School in NYC with a BA in Food Studies. I am currently a graduate student in the Food Studies department at NYU. I believe that food is a powerful lens through which we can assess our role in the healing and/or destruction of our planet and its natural resources. Food can also help expose our relationship to our ancestors, to the world and to ourselves. My program explores several of these food-related manifestations.

I developed the original 40 Day Healing Journey in 2010, after being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis – a not so nice autoimmune disease.  I always thought I was “healthy” and exempt from any dire prognoses.  After all, I ate low-fat foods - often organic - and indulged in pasta and bagels on the regular because they are fat free!  Whoops.  As disappointing as my diagnosis was, I am grateful I had the opportunity to wake up and smell the Frankenfoods. As Hippocrates says, “Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”

My blood work was so off the charts at that time, I was threatened with an impending stroke and sentenced to life on meds by all of the specialists I went to see.  Being the defiant creature that I am, I refused to follow the strictly allopathic route and threw myself into learning everything I could about the disease and what in the world could have caused it.  One of my most poignant discoveries was that a congested liver inevitably leads to illness and I made it my mission to clean it up.  A tough thing to do, since I am quite the hedonist.  No sugar? No alcohol? Whaaat?! 

I knew my liver was crying out for a break from these things and I didn’t trust myself to do it alone.  So I enlisted about 70 friends as my guinea pigs and developed the 40 Day Healing Journey as we went along.  Four months later, I completely reversed my blood work back to normal without medication.  And so many of my friends who joined me reported alleviating or completely eliminating chronic conditions.  It was amazing! I remained in remission for four years and even conceived a perfectly healthy baby during that time.

This diagnosis has taught me just how powerful our thoughts and our lifestyle choices can be in dictating the quality of our existence. And how health is a process and NOT a destination! This is why I love leading this cleanse. Because my participants actually gain the tools necessary to take control of their health and overall quality of life and are able to come back to themselves in health over and over again - and I make friends and build community along the way. Since that first cleanse cycle nine years ago, I have led hundreds of people through this healing journey. And I do hope you will join us for the eleventh cycle of this magical experience.  Thanks for stopping by!