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The Daniel Fast has the potential to have a significant and life-changing effect on your body.
The Daniel Fast diet is based on the prophet Daniel's nutritional and spiritual experiences as described in the Bible's Book of Daniel. It is a form of partial fast that emphasizes vegetables and other nutritious whole meals while excluding animal products.
The Daniel Fast diet is usually followed for 21 days. However, 10 days and 40 days fasts are common. The objective of the fast is to come closer to God and not to be healthy or lose weight. It is intended as a cleanse to improve spiritual health by simplifying the diet.
Meals in the Daniel Fast diet are essentially a whole food plant-based diet that does not include bread or sweets.
The Daniel Fast is a biblical method of intermittent fasting, but it is not your average fast. The Daniel Fast is not about eating or not eating for specific periods. Here, “fast” means restrictions on what food you can consume rather than when you may eat it.
The Daniel Fast has the potential to have a significant and life-changing effect on your body. When you switch to a Daniel Fast diet, eating whole plant foods in their most natural state, you are adding foods that restore health. Foods that increase your risk of inflammatory chronic illnesses, such as obesity, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, certain cancers, and autoimmune diseases, are avoided.
15 food types that are allowed on the Daniel Fast diet
- Fruits and vegetables in all forms, such as fresh, frozen, canned, or dried
- Non-bleached, nonstripped, and non-processed grains, beans, and legumes
- Whole grains, such as whole brown rice and wholewheat flour
- Nuts, such as walnut and almond
- Water
- Fruit and vegetable juices
- All herbs and seasonings and spices
- Baking soda (natural)
- Agave nectar
- Stevia
- Bragg Liquid Aminos (a natural alternative to soy sauce)
- Cold-pressed oils, such as olive, unprocessed coconut, peanut and sesame oil, and mustard seed oil
- Soy and almond milk
- Tofu
- Pasta made from whole grains; eggs are not to be added
20 foods that are avoided in the Daniel Fast diet
- All varieties of meat products, including:
- Seafood
- Beef
- Chicken broth
- Egg and its products
- White rice
- All carbonated beverages, such as:
- Soda
- Soft drinks
- Carbonated flavored water
- White sugar and foods that contain it
- Artificial sweeteners (Splenda, sucralose)
- NutraSweet (aspartame)
- Sweet N Low (saccharine)
- Corn syrup (high fructose corn syrup)
- Foods containing additives, chemicals, and dyes
- Soy sauce (fermented)
- Hydrogenated oils, such as:
- Margarine
- Shortening
- Fried foods, especially fried in hydrogenated oil
- Alcohol
- Vinegar (fermented)
- Black tea
- Caffeine
- Baking powder
- Cream of tartar
- Yeast
How to prepare for Daniel Fast
If you spend some time preparing for your period of focused prayer and fasting, you will have a more effective fast.
Quiet period
If you do not currently have a daily quiet time with the Lord, this is a good chance to start. You must put God first every day of your life, not just in words but also in deeds. Starting your day with God is a practice that will strengthen your faith and increase your closeness with the Lord. Set aside time each day throughout your Daniel Fast to come before the Lord and study his word and methods.
Get your body ready
It is advisable to prepare your body for the fast by reducing your intake of sugar, caffeine, and chemicals before your first day of fasting. Otherwise, physical detox symptoms, such as headaches, cramps, and exhaustion, may occur. Begin drinking at least half a gallon of filtered water every day.
Mind your food choices
It is a good idea to check through the lists of what to avoid and what is fine, then go shopping ahead of time. Having the food products on hand increases your sense of readiness.
How many servings can you eat in a day while on the Daniel Fast diet?
There are no exact guidelines about how much food you should consume because it is more about what foods you should eat. However, because the diet is all about giving up self-indulgence and learning discipline, adhering to three square meals a day and a snack or two should be enough.
