Daniel Fast: My Experience

Today marks the end of 21 days of fasting the Daniel way for me. This was the first time I have ever abstained from certain foods, or done any kind of fast for that matter - let's just say I've been going through some things and I thought I should try fasting and praying just to change things up in my life. It started with doing some research, though I had some vague idea about it from reading it in the Bible, some time back. 

You'll have to read the entire book of Daniel to get some sort of context into this. But here are the snippets that form the basis for this diet/ fast:

Daniel 1:12 King James Version (KJV)12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink

Daniel 10:2-3 King James Version (KJV)2 In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled

Step 1: Doing the research. 

It started with me looking for some guidelines online on what the fast was. Basically during the fast we are to eat vegetables, fruits, pulses, whole grains and only water to drink (no dairy or meat, no alcohol - since I don't consume alcohol anyway - that point made no difference to me.) Daniel also took the time to pray three times a day to God, which is something I tried to include as well. 

Step 2: Meal planning and Buying the ingredients I needed.

This is something I rarely ever do or never do for myself. I'm lucky to have my grandmother generally plan most meals and take care of things. But since we eat a lot of white rice based products like dosas and idlies - I had to swap them out for less refined grains like millets/ brown rice. I also had to figure out what to eat so that I don't end up starving. 

In the first few days this was quite difficult as I was suddenly thinking about food all the time and what my next meal was going to be. But once I sat down and had a rough meal plan in place (like oats or fruit salads for breakfast most days, chappati/ millets/ brown rice with veg for lunch, chappati / millets/ brown rice with veg or wheat pasta for dinner and popcorn, nuts, cut-up fruits or veg for snacks) the whole process became easier to get through.

Step 3: Starting the fast (food + prayer). 

Eating such 'whole food' was a little bland tasting in the beginning -but once I got into seasoning the food right it became a little bit better. I also am now a sincere eater of oats with nuts + fruits every morning and my morning actually feels incomplete if I eat something else sometimes. We get catering at office for lunch, and this started mid-way through my fast - it's great but some days when there's no chappati (and only white rice) it felt a little weird to eat only veg since I'm so used to having rice or something. We (me and another friend who was also following this fast) started bringing up a back-up main course in case the caterers didn't get anything for us to eat. 

Praying three times a day was (embarrassingly) more difficult than it sounded - but the result is always good. I'm a christian, but this fast helped me realize how less I pray and how I can be more intentional about my prayer and spending time with God. 

Step 4: The results.

Physically - I lost weight. I felt lighter, a little younger (which is odd, since we're all growing older). My period cramps this month was not as extremely painful as it tends to be - it was so much more bearable. This made me want to stick to this diet ( kind of similar to veganism, which apparently has had this effect on some women who start avoiding dairy and meat products too) even after the fast was over. I could walk and function like a normal human being, during my period, though there was a little pain (which is not the usual case - when there is a lot of pain). I want to continue this diet or at least elements of it for a few more months to see if the effects continue as well.

Spiritually - I started this fast for a specific reason, a question for which I wanted the answer. Instead I got closed doors, an experience like none other in realizing how real God is and what a present help, supporter and comforter He is - because I guess He is the answer. I also realized how much He loves me to always be the One to stick around.

Emotionally - I'm not going to lie. I'm a mess. When my heart and desires are not in line with everything I've got - I tend to become a whiny baby. I'm still working on leaning into God and what He has in store for me, but mostly into His love. I wonder if I would be so much worse if I didn't do this fast.

Mentally - I'm still getting there in terms of trusting God with everything and this fast has been a great start. I hope to continue the journey. 

Was I tempted? 

Yes! Multiple times with things I really wanted to eat (like Chocolate - which I decided I wanted to eat on March 01st 2020, once my fast ends). But saying no to it, ended up making me feel good later on (no guilt if there was no guilty pleasure of a fried chips or something similar) . A couple of times I did have some deep fried things - which made me queasy (probably because my body was now not used to this kind of food any more? 

Final thoughts. 

It's kind of funny that one thing I put on my vision board was healthy eating (with pictures of nuts and fruit/ vegetable salads, more cooking) and exercise. And that part of the vision board is already kind of true (and hope to continue it!). I guess this year has more in store for me and I can't wait to find out what it does! 

Would you try a similar kind of fast/ prayer? 

-Jeffy