The 21-Day Daniel Fast Explained: Here’s What it Taught me (How to Prepare + What to Eat)

In today’s post, we are going to discuss what is a Daniel fast, why do a Daniel fast, and how to prepare and prevent failure during a Daniel fast. Click here to download your Daniel Fast Meal E-Book. I will also describe how this fast has personally changed me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2M4HyaDKjA

Who is Daniel and What is a Daniel fast?

Daniel is from the tribe of Judah in the Bible. He was taken captive to Babylon to serve the royal king, Nebuchadnezzar. God has shown him favor during his tenure serving in the palace, but there were some intense situations that occurred.

If you think about it, this was back in the day when kings would kill off people in the blink of an eye, destroy their homes, and throw them in lion pits for entertainment. This was a no-joke type of era. However, God was determined to show Daniel favor everywhere he went. This was because Daniel stayed close to God through prayer, worship, and fasting. This is contrary to other Israelites, who continuously betrayed and rejected God to serve other lowercase gods.

Okay, so what is a Daniel fast? A Daniel fast is a period of consecration for the Lord, where you give up rich and satisfying foods to dedicate yourself to God and towards godly things. There are two areas in the Bible where you see Daniel give up rich foods.

The first time was in chapter one, when the king wanted to serve the staff his food was

typically dedicated to their gods. Daniel did not want to defile himself, so he asked the commander of the officials if he could only eat vegetables and drink water. He asked to be tested on it for 10 days. The commander thought that Daniel and his friends would not be well physically if they didn't eat the king's food, but he was proven wrong. They came out even stronger on this vegetable-only diet.

How Does This Relate to Us?

This is very synonymous with our day and age right now. We may not be serving in a king's palace, but if you think about it, every day we're being tempted with processed and highly palatable foods that actually drain our energy. We are being led away further and further from natural, unprocessed, God-given foods. It is a spiritual battle, even down to what we eat. It is important to set a period of consecration for the Lord because it will teach you to stop relying on highly processed foods. You will begin to love unprocessed, natural foods that actually give you energy and revitalize your body down to the molecular levels of your cells.

Now, in chapter 10, it describes the 21-day consecration. It said that Daniel was in mourning for three weeks. He ate no tasty food, no meat, no wine, and he was in prayer and mourning for his people because of their idolatry. I find this interesting because if you read about Nebuchadnezzar, he was back and forth in idolatry as well. One moment, he was worshiping his many gods; the next moment, he was worshiping Daniel because he interpreted his dreams. Then, the very next moment after that, he told everybody to only worship Daniel's God. Then after that, he had people worshiping a statue...a statue.

This is synonymous with how we can be back and forth. Sometimes we're in the world, sometimes we're in God's Kingdom. We compromise a lot. This is a spiritual issue because God does not want compromise. He wants your heart to be fully devoted to Him. A Daniel fast is a great way to do this because Daniel was very strong in his mind and willpower. He was not back and forth. He did not back down, regardless of all the threats he encountered. He was even thrown into a lion's pit. His friends were thrown into a furnace, and not one person compromised.

In this day and age, how many of us are willing to face death to not compromise for Jesus? We don't typically encounter these types of situations that are life-threatening. For me, the typical compromises include, emotional compromises: whether or not I want to go back to my old ways and to my comfort level: whether or not I want to do the work God has called me to do or to doomscroll: whether or not I want to binge on processed, highly palatable foods or eat the foods that I know that are healthy for me. Those are the type of compromises I tend to face. I'm pretty sure a lot of people can relate.

Daniel was in prayer and mourning on behalf of his people, not really for himself. He was terrified because of the visions God had shown him regarding the future and the end. He wanted his people to repent and to go back to God because he knew of the impending doom. The Bible mentioned he fasted at the beginning of the year. This is in the month of April, towards springtime.

During a Daniel fast, you are to eat no:

·      Rich or processed foods

·      Meat

·      Natural or artificial sweeteners such as honey, sugar, agave, and maple syrup

·      Caffeine

You can have:

·      Whole grains

·      Fruits

·      Vegetables and vegetable-based sauces

·      No sugar-added plant-based butters (peanut butter, almond butter, etc.)

·      Beans and legumes

·      Plant-based milk

·     Nuts and seeds

I remember a couple of years ago when I attempted this fast and it was such a compromise. I didn't even consider a Daniel fast when I re-watched my older video. This time, I was determined to try to actually complete the fast, and I did it by God's grace. It was hard. There were many times I wanted to give up, but I wanted to prove to myself that I am capable of doing hard things.

If you have people-pleasing tendencies or if you have habits that aren't the greatest, I suggest you do this fast. 21 days seems like “oh, it's just three weeks,” but 21 days can be a long time to give up something that you are not used to. If God wills it, and if you are determined, then you can do it.

How to Prepare for a Daniel Fast

What did I do to prepare for the Daniel fast? I made sure I froze anything that I still wanted after the fast. If I had items in the refrigerator like cheese, yogurt, bacon, or maybe a meal prep that I didn't finish, I would put it in the freezer for later. Next, I made sure to decaffeinate myself three days before the fast. I used to drink coffee almost every single day.

On top of that, I had pre-workout with caffeine in it. If I missed a day of drinking coffee or having my pre-workout, I would have severe headaches. God convicted me to stop drinking so much coffee and caffeine-based products. What's interesting is that, after the fact, I learned that excess caffeine can actually impact your estrogen levels. There were a lot of fascinating facts I learned during and after the fast.

Next, I took inventory of items I already had in the house that I can use for my Daniel fast, like beans, lentils, pasta sauces, and vegetables. Then I made a grocery list of things I needed. I noticed last time that I attempted a Daniel fast, I went in unprepared. I see why I didn't complete it. I was buying a whole bunch of unnecessary things, but still didn't really know what to make for each week.

I was determined to be prepared this time so I wouldn't have to think about the food as much. That would be something that's already done for me. I can just focus on prayer, worship, and what God was teaching me at the time, rather than trying to figure out what I was going to eat everyday. I have a template for you that you can download right here with a weekly meal plan, grocery list ideas, and meal ideas. When everything is already figured out for you and structured, you can spend your time focusing on God.

Each week, I wrote down ideas of what I wanted to make. I wanted to keep it so simple and consistent that I literally ate soup the majority of the time. For the last week, I ate a caramelized onion pasta with a creamy tomato sauce. It was delicious, and I’m actually craving it right now. I got the idea to make the pasta sauce creamy with oat flour and almond milk. Can you believe it?

I felt like if I kept trying to think of a whole bunch of different recipes and overcomplicate things, it was going to cause me to fail like last time. So, I made three different soups and a pasta for lunch and dinner. You can check it out in the eBook here for ingredient lists and breakfast ideas.

·      Week 1 Lunch/Dinner: Mexican black bean soup

·      Week 2 Lunch/Dinner: Lentils and pumpkin soup

·      Week 3 Lunch/Dinner: Catch-all kitchen soup and pasta

Prayer and Worship

I kept my routine basically the same. Towards the beginning, I was reading the book of Daniel during my lunch time. I would do my prayers in the morning, and sometimes I would do affirmations to reprogram my mind and to keep myself in a positive mindset. I read my devotional and just communicated with God throughout the day. After work, I would do my Bible study. I read a chapter a day and wrote down my notes and how I can apply it to my life.

During the last couple of weeks, I would limit my time on social media and YouTube. I would spend time in silence just to rest my mind and not be cluttered with chatter. That's when I found God would deposit certain ideas in my head when I limited my screen time. I would get most brilliant ideas during this time (like the oat flour + almond milk idea).

During this time, I made a life manager spreadsheet. I did an inventory of all of my kitchen, pantry, and freezer items we had. And I love this spreadsheet so much. I would always buy duplicates of food or forget to get certain things from the grocery store. Now I can manage my food list and know if my kids are running out of something, or if I asked my husband to go get something from the store, I made sure that we didn't already have it. This just made my life so much easier. It also contains sheets for meal prep rotation ideas, food flavor ideas, business expenses, document expiration tracker, and YouTube schedule/video ideas. It's literally my life manager in a spreadsheet.

I was also reading more books. I have started to listen to books on Alexa while I do my work. And this increased the number of books I was reading drastically. I would devote more time to my business and blog rather than wasting time on watching stuff.

What I Loved About the Daniel Fast

I was able to incorporate things I learned and made during this fast into my everyday life, such as beans. I was never a bean person, which is so funny, because I was raised by a Caribbean mom. I'm sure a lot of Latin, African, or other Caribbean people can relate. All we eat is rice and beans with a side of some type of meat. I always skipped the beans, though. I never liked the beans for whatever reason. Now I feel like this is one of the key things that was missing in my life. It's like I discovered the miracle of what a bean is.

I also discovered Karen Hurd. She saved her infant daughter from dying of poison through beans. Y'all, because of beans! Do you see how good God is? He created these foods to act as medicine for us. That is why it is important to come away from all the processed foods and train yourself to go back to God-given, natural foods. These foods give you life and could save your life. Not to mention, prevent several chronic diseases.

I was still working out during my Daniel fast, but I couldn't have pre-workout. I started to realize that I don't need pre-workout. I traded it in for half a banana or apple and a vegan, no sugar-added protein shake. I felt like this sustained me better than the $60 pre-workout I had. I save so much money on the unnecessary supplements.

How This Fast has Changed me

This fast made me appreciate food in its most simplest and basic form. It helped to break my food obsession and food noise by reducing the amount of processed foods I ate. It made me realize that I can be consistent with eating healthy. I used to make my meal prep and then not want to eat it. It would be in the refrigerator while I opted for take-out.

The fast forced me to eat the same thing over and to appreciate the food I had. I am not saying you can’t enjoy variety, but if I have food at home, then why am I going out to eat regularly just because I crave it? I began to be more consistent through this means, instead of constantly in and out, up and down. I began to be more steady.

This also taught me emotional discipline. Anytime I felt some type of inner turmoil, I would randomly open up the Bible and see what God had to say to me. I kid you not, 100% of the time it was always related to what I was going through. I don't know how He does it. I'd open my Bible and it would correlate to exactly what I was going through. I honestly love that you can have a personal and loving relationship with God. He loves you and you get to love him back. He communicates with you and you get to communicate back with him. He speaks to you to better your ways, convict you, and transform you.

I am actually going to make a separate post and video that goes deeper into how the 21-day Daniel fast changed my habits. I'm going to go more in-depth into the emotional, physical, and spiritual habits this fast instilled in me.

Until next time, Happy Fasting.