Delighting in the Daniel Fast

Delighting in the Daniel Fast


It is that time of year again. That time when church congregations seek a Word from The Lord via the Daniel Fast. It is also a time of wringing of hands and whining and complaining...unless, of course, you are the lone vegan in your congregation and you are excited because this will be easy since it's your basic diet already! (Umm...yeah, I'm not vegan at all and so the thought of no bacon, bread, coffee, or chocolate for 21 days is a bit daunting...But for the joy that has been set before me, I shall endure these 21 days!)

If you are among those who are taking on the Daniel Fast this year, I would like to offer you some (humorous) technical support. My congregation is doing this fast for 21 days and our fast will end in time for the football enthusiasts to enjoy themselves at any given Superbowl party. (I was thinking...whew! I get to eat chocolate, bacon and steak in time for Valentine's Day, but you know...to each his or her own!) My first word of advice to you is that this is an opportunity to try new foods that you might not have considered before. A friend said to me, "Well, you're a foodie, so that's exciting to you. I am not and so I just want to eat and keep it moving." Okay, cool! So now, I have an official Daniel Fast Partner! I like to cook and experiment and she likes to eat what is easy. So, we can agree that I will do the prep and cooking part and we can taste things together and see what we like and what we don't like. Plus, we now have the added bonus of spending more time getting to know each other better and so, a concrete benefit is already in sight. Who are you partnering with as you take on this challenge? What can you identify as a concrete benefit before you even start the fast? (Yes, you should write them down! There will be a quiz!)

Now, she is correct. I am a foodie and so I get high just from walking through the grocery store and looking at fresh foods and reading labels...and if you want to find me quickly in a bookstore, check the magazine section and the cookbook section first. While I know that I am a foodie - I also know that if I am hungry, I should not experiment with my meal because I will be angry (and still hungry) mid-meal if the food is not satisfying. So, how to face that challenge? Simple! Make something that you know you will like as the main course. You can have whole grain pasta on the Daniel Fast, so make a big plate of whole wheat penne with some fire roasted diced tomatoes on top and then leave that apple stuffed acorn squash as the "tasting dish". If I decide that I like the stuffed squash, I can either eat it for dinner or save it for the next day's lunch. If I don't like it, I still have good meal on the table (and in my belly) and I have time to figure out something else for lunch the next day. The nice thing is that stores like Whole Foods have these huge bins where you can get as much or as little of a product as you need. So, no need to spend too much money on the tasting process. Find interesting recipes, make a grocery list and go shopping!

The secret to the Daniel Fast is planning. You might want to get one of those menu planner sheets that you can download for free (or for Pete's sake, just create an excel sheet with boxes across the top for the days and boxes on the left side marked for meals and snacks -it's an 8 column, 7 row chart!) and fill that joker in with what you would like to eat for the week. Then, you can make the adjustments as you go along. I did this once and put smiley faces on days that I felt good and ate well and put big fat sharpie marker red Xs on days that were not good at all. This helped me to plan the following week and to avoid making expensive ingredient mistakes repeatedly. This also served as a diary of sorts that allowed me to see when I tended to want a snack and what kind of snack I wanted. There's only so much air-popped popcorn one can eat but I developed a love of certain baked chips that satisfied the need to crunch away my frustrations. (And by the way, it is totally okay to buy one of those crudité platters at the grocery store just to get yourself started...but don't eat the dip!) Instead of being frustrated by what you cannot have, look at and journal what you want and how you are feeling about it. I don't always eat chips because I want chips. I eat chips because the crunch factor satisfies a need to release frustration...and no, carrot sticks don't do the same thing for me. Know yourself or in this process, learn yourself and then govern yourself accordingly. (Oh, and you can apply these same lessons post-fast. Do I really want that whole pint of ice cream? No, I want comfort. Let me go get a hug and a glass of water and praise God for what the scale will report in the morning!)

Stay tuned! I can't wait to see what poetry looks like on the Daniel Fast. I think my next poem will include the line: My soul cried out hallelujah, but my stomach cried out HAMBURGER!

Until next time, eat well, fast slowly and enjoy...Shalom!