What can I eat on the Daniel fast?

 I am going to try to shed a little more light here on Fasting for anyone who’s looking for some help.

First of all there are a LOT of fasts in the Bible.  There are individual fasts and there are group or corporate fasts that usually involve a whole community. I will try to get to them all this year, but I am going to start with the Daniel Fast as it seems to have gained popularity in recent years. (Yay!)

The Daniel Fast refers to eating as Daniel did in the book of Daniel in the Bible. There are two specific fasts noted in the book of Daniel. In the first, Daniel refused to eat the meat at the kings table that had been sacrificed to the pagan gods, as this was an abomination to God. Daniel further told the king's man that they would make a contest of it and that they would be more fit and have better energy then the kings men after ten days of eating only vegetables and drinking water. So the king agreed and Daniel and his friends proved correct. 

The popular Daniel Fast is primarily a 21 day fast which is the second fast mentioned in the Bible where Daniel states that he ate no choice food, no meat and no wine.

Here’s my quick breakdown of how I gage what to eat and what not to eat for the Daniel Fast:  

NO MEAT

NO SWEETS

NO WHEAT

NO DAIRY

NO ALCOHOL

No sweets does include any sweetener, including honey and stevia in my house. Others will use stevia in their fast, I personally think of that as one of the "choice foods" for me. (I have a great sweet tooth and giving up all things sweet is important to me for my fast.)

No Wheat means all breads of any kind. Some say that it is any breads that have yeast in them. I personally give up all breads, even unleavened breads and all pastas.

What I do eat:

ALL VEGETABLES

ALL FRUITS

ALL NUTS

ALL SEEDS

RICE

OATS

CORN MEAL

Be careful of dried fruits, as many of the brands package them with sugar! I love to shop the bulk barrels for these because they will separate those with and without sugar!

I do include almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, etc. I just make sure that I get them made fresh at a whole foods or farmer's market, or find a natural brand that does not use sugar in their peanut butter.

Rice does not include rice cereal, or puffed rice (too processed) but every other kind is okay by me.

Corn meal can be made into tortillas with just water, maybe a touch of oil, and salt. These can then be made into chips. There are some great brands out there in your whole or natural food stores that will have these available already made. I love the Ezekiel brand's corn tortillas!

That pretty much covers what we follow. I use the gage of if it grows in the ground and can be eaten without a processing then it’s okay. 

There are other references out there on fasting and on the Daniel Fast. I recommend that you look into as many as you can find and do what fits for you. 

A fast is something personal. It is your personal sacrifice that you are offering to draw closer to God. I therefore believe that you need to be the one choosing what you will and will not include in your fast foods.  If you have decided that it is okay for you to eat a particular food on your fast then don’t let anyone else make you feel bad because you are eating it! Especially if they themselves are not on a fast! 

As I said, it’s your fast. It’s between you and God so there’s really not a wrong choice.