Monday, January 30, 2012

The Day After - Daniel Fast

Peanut butter fudge brownie trifle
How does chocolate-gingerbread trifle sound?
Layers and layers of gingerbread, chocolate cream,
maple-spiced whipped cream and topped with
shaved chocolate and spiced cocoa powder...

So what will your first indulgence be?  Coffee?  Something sweet?  A big breakfast?  Before you jump in head first and splurge on steak, chocolate cake, and a double shot of espresso, consider two things:  You haven't had meat, sugar or caffeine for three weeks and eating all those things at once may make you feel ill.  Secondly, why undo all the hard-earned benefits of the fast?  Now that you've dropped a few pounds, lowered your cholesterol, regulated your blood sugar, lowered your blood pressure, detoxified, and engergized, why not keep the momentum going by continuing to eat healthy and just adding back other foods in small amounts?

Here is my "break-fast" menu:

BREAKFAST:  Greek yogurt with ground flax seed, hemp seed, granola and raspberries, blueberries and pomegranate arils.



Normally I down a bowl of this every morning, but I honestly had a hard time finishing the whole thing.  Maybe start with half a cup of Greek yogurt and 1/4 c. granola, then add your fruit.  Or try thinning out the thick Greek yogurt with some regular plain yogurt.  If you choose a fruit-flavored yogurt, I honestly think you'll find it too sweet.  You may be surprised at how sweet things taste since omitting sugar from your diet for 3 weeks.


LUNCH:  Fish with fruit salsa, sprouted rice, asparagus, salad, coffee, cookie


I was excited about the simple addition of feta cheese
to my salad!
This is the zesty and refreshing fruit salsa,
a perfect compliment to the mild white fish


Since my fast ended the day before yours, my first real meal was Sunday Dinner.  I chose a light main course---white fish.  I spritzed it with olive oil and sprinkled on parsley, lemon and salt and pepper and then broiled it.  I topped it with fruit salsa (mango, red pepper, onion, cilantro, lime juice and a bit of olive oil).  Then I made sprouted rice in half water/half coconut milk.  I fixed the asparagus my favorite way:  Quick blanching until bright green, sauteed in a bit of olive oil until just starting to brown, then drizzled with Yoshida sauce (a thick, sweet soy sauce).  Last, I had a yummy salad of spring greens with dried cherries, green onion, avocado and feta cheese.  Everything tasted delicious.  I made dessert for my Sunday gang...a chocolate-ginger trifle, but other than licking the cream off my fingers I didn't have any.  But I did have a cup of long-awaited french-press Coava coffee with half a teaspoon of real maple syrup and half-n-half.  Then I also had two bites of cookie! The day before my friend made cookies and told me to wrap some up for after my fast. I saved one gingersnap and one chocolate chip.  After dinner I took a bite of each and found them to be too sweet to finish eating. That was a pleasant surprise!
My beautiful fast-breaking dinner!
Stirring the maple syrup and half-n-half
into a perfect cup of french-press coffee


DINNER:  Pasta with tomato sauce and tossed salad, veggie pizza appetizer

I went back to a Daniel Fast dinner for evening.  We ate with some friends, so there was a whole potluck spread of good things to eat.  But there was whole-grain pasta and tomato sauce and a big salad. I made the veggie pizza that we had on the fast a few days ago, adding only a very light sprinkle of low-fat cheddar cheese and keeping the rest all veggies, and then cutting it into appetizer-size pieces, of which I had two.  And that was it!  I didn't take the yummy-looking white french bread with butter and I didn't have the apple crisp.  When we got home that night, I sat on the couch to blog, and Jeff and I and my daughter Kate shared one bowl of popcorn between the three of us (I usually eat that same size bowl all by myself).  I went to bed feeling very good about my three weeks of fasting and very good about breaking my fast.


My beautiful "family," praying together before our meal...
Okay, so we all got the giggles in the middle of the
prayer.  Don't even remember what was so funny now,
but this is a pretty typical Sunday dinner for us...
10+ people, lots of food, lots of laughs.
I love it.



So, now the Daniel Fast Blog is officially done.  Thank you for sharing the fast with me!  I hope you were encouraged and challenged in some way these last three weeks.  I want to thank those of you who shared your comments with me, whether by blog, email, Facebook or in person.  You encouraged me!  I appreciated the recipes, tips and ideas as well as the questions and feedback.  I pray the biggest blessing of this fast is yet to come, as the Lord responds to your faithfulness!


And as for my blog...it will continue!  It won't be on fasting, but the fast has a revealed a need that I must give some attention to...organizing my recipes!  So I invite you to join me in putting together an easy, efficient recipe system in the next few days!

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1 comment:

  1. After looking at that beautiful dessert, I think getting sick for a day or two would be worth it. Your salad looks really good, but I did not see the feta. U Don and I had chicken salad tonight with cucumber, green onion, tomato, chicken, cut up orange, and feta. Thanks for all the good food you put on your blog. We are going to try your fish. Looks Great! Sasa

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