A little about what the Daniel Fast is:
The Daniel Fast is an opportunity for you to draw closer to God through fervent, focused prayer. It involves a 21-day commitment (we did 40 days) to a partial fast, which means you restrict commonly enjoyed foods as an act of worship and consecration to the Lord.
The Daniel Fast is not a diet, although some people do lose weight as they make healthier food choices. The Daniel Fast is a unique, life-changing experience. Participating in the Daniel Fast can result in many wonderful spiritual and physical benefits.
If you’re wondering, “Where did the Daniel Fast originate?” That’s a great question. The Daniel Fast was first observed by the prophet Daniel in the Bible. On one occasion, Daniel was greatly concerned for his people and sought the Lord’s wisdom during a time of prayer and fasting. Daniel 10:2-3 says, “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips.” The meaning of “choice food” is not clear; however, most commentaries conclude that he ate no bread or sweets. The Message translation sums up Daniel’s eating habits during that time: “I ate only plain and simple food.”
The idea behind the Daniel Fast is not to duplicate Daniel’s menu but to imitate his spiritual hunger. Daniel’s passion for the Lord caused him to seek spiritual food rather than physical food, which should be the desire for anyone doing the Daniel Fast. (taken from The Ultimate Daniel Fast Website)
There are many different variations of the Daniel Fast, but most of them follow basically the same pattern; no sugar, no bread, and no meat. I will list the "Approved" and "Avoided" foods guide that we used.
Daniel Fast approved foods:
- Any Fruit and Vegetable (including fresh, frozen, canned, and dried)
- All whole grains (barley, brown rice, oats, quinoa, and whole wheat)
- All nuts & seeds (almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds) NOTE: these must be plain, not seasoned with salt unless it is sea salt
- All natural Nut Butters (no salt or preservatives added..must be 100% natural!)
- All legumes (black beans, black eyed peas, chickpeas, great northern beans, kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans, and split peas)
- All quality oils (avocado, coconut, grape-seed, olive, peanut, sesame, and walnut)
- Distilled, Filtered, or Spring Water
- Unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, or soy milk
- Herbs, spices, sea salt, pepper, unsweetened coconut flakes, seasonings, soy products, and tofu
Avoid These Foods:
- All Meat & Eggs
- All Dairy Products (milk, cheese, yogurt)
- All sweeteners (sugars, artificial sugars, syrups, etc.) NOTE: Natural/Pure Honey is OK.
- All Bread & Yeast
- All refined & processed food products that contain any artificial flavorings, chemicals, food additives, or preservatives
- White Flour & White Rice (or anything made with these products)
- All Fried Foods
- All lard, margarine, and shortening or any other solid fats
- All Beverages except water, unsweetened almond, coconut, rice, and soy milk
Favorite Daniel Fast Recipes:
My MOST favorite recipe that I made during the Daniel Fast was Mexican Stuffed Potatoes. I LOVE potatoes (with lots of butter and cheese of course), but during the Daniel Fast, I learned that you could still enjoy potatoes without loading it down with butter and cheese! These are so simple and easy to make! See the recipe below:
- 1 Potato
- 1 can of no salt added black beans
- 1 can of no salt added rotel - flavor medium (or you can use diced tomatoes if you don't like the spice of rotel)
- 1 can of no salt or sugar added yellow corn
- Sea Salt
- Pepper
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Minced Onion
- Garlic Powder
Wash the potato and poke about 5-6 holes in the potato using a fork. Wrap potato in a paper towel and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes. Flip potato over and microwave on high for 3-4 more minutes. The timing will depend on the size of the potato. I used a small potato and did 3 minutes on each side. For larger potatoes, you may need to microwave 5 minutes on each side.
While microwaving the potato, in a large skillet, mix together the black beans, rotel or diced tomatoes, and corn. Add sea salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, minced onion, and garlic power. I never measure my spices, so if you are someone who needs measurements I will give my best guess. 1 tsp of Sea Salt, 1 tsp of Pepper, 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes, 1 tsp of garlic powder. For the minced onion, you can substitute a real onion if you like onions. We don't necessarily like onions, we just like the flavor it gives to our food so I use minced onion. I use about 1 tablespoon of minced onion. If using a real onion, it is completely your preference on how much onion you want! :)
Cook on medium heat for about 6-8 minutes, until heated thoroughly.
Once potato and mexican mixture is done, cut open the potato and add sea salt if you would like, then spoon the Mexican mixture into the potato. Viola! You are ready to eat!
PS. I cannot believe I did not take a picture of this amazing meal! But TRUST ME, it is amazing!
I learned that I could change just about any recipe to my liking. We ate a lot of beans & brown rice. Lots of stir fry veggies. Lots of fruit and smoothies.
Breakfast every day was a fruit smoothie. I used a variety of frozen fruits to make my smoothies. I would ALWAYS add a banana, spinach, water, and all natural local honey to the frozen fruit and blend it together. It was my favorite morning "meal". For a snack I would usually eat a banana with almond or peanut butter (remember must be ALL NATURAL!). Lunch was usually leftovers from whatever I cooked the night before. Dinners were usually stir fry veggies with brown rice, roasted potatoes and brown rice, salads with olive oil dressing, baked potato with some kind of filling (usually veggies or beans), you get the picture. I ALWAYS ate fresh fruit with my lunch and dinner. It helped to fill me up, because LETS BE HONEST...no meat and bread with meals can really make it hard for you to feel full after meals.
You can find lots of good Daniel Fast recipes here.
It was an amazing time of renewing my mind, body, and spirit. I did end up losing about 10 pounds during this journey. But to me, it wasn't all about losing weight. It was about growing in my walk and in my faith. Renewing my spiritual life was much more important than renewing my physical life. If you renew your spiritual life, everything else will fall into place.
I enjoyed this journey so much and I hope that we get to do it again with our church next year. If not, I would love to do it just me; however, it is so much easier to stay on track when you have a support group who is on the same journey you are! I encourage you, if you need a spiritual or physical renewal, to try the Daniel Fast.
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