daniel

“Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” Daniel 1:12

Daniel was a captive in Babylon, chosen by a chief official to enter the Babylonian court and learn the culture. However, he did not conform to the ways of the Babylonians. The Bible says he ate a very strict diet, and was no worse for the wear. In fact, he was healthier than many of his peers. God blessed his commitment to purity with increased wisdom and favor with the King. He interpreted dreams and visions, and also advised the King on matters of state. In short, he was a VIP, even later on when he was thrown in the lions' den (and totally came out alive!).

Well, I'm not Daniel in any kind of way, but I hopped on board when C+M decided to do a cumulative Daniel fast (DF) for Lent. I've never been very good at Lent, fasting, or self-discipline in general. But my church is doing a training series on spiritual disciplines, and I felt like the DF fit in pretty well. I really got confirmation of that when a visiting pastor from Romania spoke on fasting and specifically mentioned the Daniel fast. He also prayed for me over my food addiction!

When I say cumulative DF, I mean that we have given up the food groups progressively, going full DF for the last three weeks of Lent (almost done with week one!). First we gave up sweeteners, added sugar and all drinks but water; second was meat; third was dairy and eggs. The main difference of the full fast was giving up yeast, which is in a LOT of foods (reading labels is A CHORE). Thank goodness for the Passover section at the grocery store!

I wanted to blog about this experience because I don't think I really knew what I was getting into when I agreed to do this. I had this vague sense that somehow the DF could help me break my food addiction and maybe raise awareness about my problem areas. I know that only God can break those chains, but I feel that they have loosened quite a bit. Because it is difficult to find things I can eat, I tend to only go looking for food WHEN I AM HUNGRY. Which turns out to be the way we're supposed to eat! And when I do eat, it's not cereal or cookies or other crap. It's vegetables, whole grains, nuts, or fruit... which turn out to be actually pretty satisfying. I get hungry more often, but it makes sense because I'm not eating a ton of protein.

One of the things I decided not to do while on the DF is track. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but I was getting more and more disillusioned with MFP anyway. The app is not teaching me how to eat better. It's just making me feel guilty when I go over my calorie limit. I agree that having community support is good, but I don't know if the detailed calorie by calorie tracking is helpful for me. Especially when I randomly decide not to track so I can eat whatever I want and escape guilt. I can't be held accountable if I'm not being honest!

Even though I am not tracking, I have lost almost five lbs since the DF began, so at least I know I'm not gaining. However, this whole thing is not about losing weight so much as changing my habits and learning discipline. Awhile ago I posted about trouble foods that are simply not worth tasting for me. For me, they are like whiskey to an alcoholic's lips. It is better to avoid them altogether than to try and consume them in moderation. On the DF, I have eliminated pretty much every food that would cause me to do that. I used to think peanut butter was one of those foods, but natural unsweetened peanut butter is pretty hard to pile drive. It's good on a banana, but not straight from the jar like Jif Super Chunk.

You're probably thinking "That's all well and good, but what happens on Easter?" To be honest, I don't know and I actually kind of fear that. I know my eating habits will not be the same, but I am still trying to figure out how. Do I want to add every food group back? Or are there some I should just leave behind permanently? Should I start tracking again or try something else?

We'll see what happens, but for right now, it's working well.