The Daniel Fast

On January 10, me and Seth started a 21 day spiritual journey that has proven to be a great decision. We are about half way through what is known as "The Daniel Fast."

I've had a lot of questions come my way about the fast over the past week and here what what one website that is completely dedicated to the Daniel Fast has to say about it:

What is the Daniel Fast?

"It's a biblically based partial fast based on two accounts of the Prophet Daniel's fasting experiences (seed Daniel 1 and 10) and typical Jewish fasting principles. The Daniel Fast eating plan is similar to a vegan diet with additional restrictions."

Why do it?

"The Daniel Fast is a powerful spiritual experience to help followers of Jesus Christ develop a more intimate relationship with their Lord, seek answers to prayer, and grow in the love and knowledge of the Savior. ...Fasting, when coupled with prayer, serves as a powerful vehicle to draw closer to God. This is a God-designed discipline to enable the Creators people to enter into a focused time of seeking the Father and His wisdom, intervention and direction."

Where does it come from?

Daniel, chapters 2 and 10 from The Bible

"In the Bible, Daniel rejected the foods that the King of Babylon set before him. Likely, the meats were animals that had been sacrificed to idols and gods other than the God of Israel. Daniel and his three companions refused to pollute themselves with the King's delicacies. The principal court official got worried that these young men would become weak. The King would not be happy with this because these young men, along with several other Israelite captives, had been hand selected as the best of them all. He wanted them trained to serve in the palace.

Eating these foods would mean defiling himself before his God, so Daniel requested that the court official give him and his companions a diet of "vegetables and water" for 10 days as a test. At the end of the 10 days they were in better health than the other captives who had been eating the rich food of the King. They went on to have very prominent positions in the King's service." (source)

Basically the Daniel Fast is a 21 day selective fast which consists of a "plant-based" eating plan which basically means fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. This means no meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine, or complex carbs. You can have whole wheat and brown whole grain rice, but no yeast, so that cuts out just about anything but whole wheat tortillas.

That translates for us... no what-a-burger grilled chicken sandwiches, no shrimp, no steak or burgers, no cheese, no ranch dressing, no chocolate, no fajitas, no regular pasta, no sour cream, no ice cream, no frozen yogurt, no soda, (more importantly for me NO DIET DR. PEPPER), no coffee, no pastries, no chick-fil-a (which means no polynesian sauce or chick-fil-a sauce), No french fries, no tiramasu, no cup cakes, no hot wings, no sushi, no sugar, artificial sweetener, no honey.... and the list could go on and on.

I know from that list, you are probably thinking that we eat like there's no tomorrow! We actually keep quite a healthy balance to our diet, but there are always those cravings here and there that you want to satisfy and typically do. That is where the discipline and dedication to the fast comes in, and although we have done a vegan diet before in order to lose weight, our motives aren't weight loss.

Today is day 8. This is a very popular practice in the Christian faith and several of our friends are also participating in it as well as Christians from all over the nation from January 10-31. (some do it from Jan 1-21)

To people who have never eaten vegetarian or vegan, it is a totally foreign concept that you can cook hearty, delicious meals even with such strict limitations. I love to cook, and I love the challenge of cooking great tasting, healthy food. I have periodically posted pictures and updates about our menu over the past 8 days and have had several comments and texts about posting some of the recipes that we have used. So here is what we've been eating. They are all SO easy! (excuse the poor quality photos, I took these with my poor little beat-up iphone)

Vegetarian fajitas on whole wheat tortillas with guacamole and pico.

We grilled up some red and green bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini. Seasoned it. Make some homemade guac and pico and there it is! SO easy and yummy! (if you buy guac, pico or salsa from the store, be sure to buy organic and read the label!)

Boca Burger Wraps with grilled potatoes

We actually used an organic brand of portobello mushroom burgers, cooked them, cut them in half, added lettuce, guac and some onion on a whole wheat tortilla. Then I grilled up some chopped potatoes, onions and mushrooms with some seasoning which made a nice little hash.

Stir-fry with brown rice and veggies

Just what it says! You can buy some frozen stir fry veggies in the freezer section of you grocery store. Basically just throw it all together with some soy sauce and there you have it! Some tips: Fried rice makes better with day old, chilled rice. Sesame seeds are a nice addition to fried rice.

The best vegetarian chili in the world

We got this recipe from here, but I added a little more to it.

(my additions in italics)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon of Tony Chachere's (for my illinois friends, this is just a popular cajun seasoning down in these parts. If I remeber correctly A few places up north started carrying it before I moved)
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped (we only added 1, and it was mild enough for Baby Kai to eat, but still had a nice kick to it)
• 3 zucchinis, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained (used fire-roasted)
• 2 (12 ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles
• 3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

• Directions

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.
  2. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.