GF Daniel Fast: Days 1 & 2

Day 1

The first day of the Daniel Fast started off with some Mexican Chocolate Oatmeal and water. For the oatmeal, I used my basic chocolate oatmeal recipe and added some cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Since I do not sweeten my oatmeal with sugar, only banana, it is totally approved for a Daniel Fast! Of course, I used GF oats so it was safe for me from the celiac perspective, also.

The oatmeal tasted much better than this photo makes it look!

Shortly after breakfast I started cooking a huge pot of Lemon Lentil Soup. My recipe (EDIT: check out my recipe here!) is a slight modification of this version on Vegangela. We love this soup and have it on a somewhat regular basis! I’ll have to remember to share the recipe for my version on the blog sometime because it’s really excellent.

Around 2pm the coffee detox headaches kicked in, at least I think. I’ve consistenly had a headache since then (nearly 48 hours) and there are a few potential causes besides the lack of coffee, like allergies. I slept for a while to deal with the pain and proceeded to become violently ill. Food was the furthest thing from my mind. Steve made dinner, and I ate it very slowly. He steamed some broccoli, made some brown rice, and made some carrot noodles. It was soft, easy to eat, and stayed in my stomach. I was feeling awful at the time and didn’t even think of taking any photos.

Day 2

On Sunday I decided to have a bit of coffee. Since the pain had been so bad and my research had said to cut back slowly I had about 2/3 of a cup rather than a full cup. I still had a headache, but I could function and that was good. Steve made oatmeal for breakfast. Mine was a cinnamon oatmeal (a recipe I thought I already had posted and then realized I hadn’t!), and his oatmeal had some cut up apples in it.

I had some rice pasta for lunch. It was the boxed kind from Trader Joes, and not a perfect match for the Daniel Fast. I didn’t feel great about abandoning the fast by having some coffee and some pasta, but I also knew being healthy is important. The pasta was a quick and easy way to get some fuel in my body. My mother in law pointed out that God desires our love and adoration, not just following some rules for the sake of it. The goal of a fast is not suffering for sufferings sake. In the early afternoon we spent some time relaxing and listening to worship music and I felt much better. The coffee headache died down and I had the energy and focus to move forward with the day.

For dinner I made some Black Bean and Rice Burrito Bowls (EDIT: get the recipe here). It was totally Daniel Fast approved, naturally GF, and 100% delicious. Add that to the list of recipes I need to share!

In these past two days I definitely learned the importance of drinking water. The first day of the Daniel Fast I had 3 or 4 glasses of water, 12 oz each. Yesterday I had about twice as much. Steve and I were both marking down how many glasses of water we drank and it helped keep me on track to be sure I was drinking enough!