today many churches all over the country
will start a 21-day Daniel fast - end of
the on the last day of the month the
Daniel fast is specifically referenced
in the Bible in two sections of the book
of Daniel in Daniel 1:12 it states
please test your servants for 10 days
and let them eat vegetables and water to
drink and then Daniel 10 to 3 says in
those days I Daniel was mourning three
full week so that's where the 21 day
comes in and usually that's coupled with
prayer as well so the Daniel fast
basically you're only eating whole
grains legumes fruits vegetables and
water or herbal teas you are giving up
bread meat dairy refined sugar alcohol
coffee this can be a challenge for
people who are used to eating these
foods and drinks so joining me now with
ways to participate in the Daniel Fast
and a healthy way is dr. Craig Sylvan at
the Family Practice Associates of Orange
Park so appreciate you coming in today
you know the first thing you hear is
that there are some people who are like
oh I can't do this because it's just not
healthy for you for me is there is this
something that everybody can participate
in everybody can participate in there's
only only a few medical conditions that
people should not you should always ask
your physician what you can and can't do
but this diet is a very healthy diet for
cardiac wise it's a good diet to start
off the new year as a resolution it's
good for weight loss it's a healthy
all-around good diet yeah attend the
Church of Oakland and we start ours
today and it's interesting because
everyone's kind of like okay what can I
eat what can I eat and sometimes you
forget like you start brewing that
coffee and that's caffeine and so that's
off the list but you can do herbal teas
instead so it's important to really have
these substitutes around and so we kind
of brought some things like you know
butter is not allowed obviously no dairy
and cheese all that goodness but talk
about the things that can sustain you if
you're not eating what you would call
traditional protein so you can have
beans and you can add peas fruits and
vegetables so that can substitute for
all the protein you lost from the lack
of meat such as no chicken no fish
so this diet I think it's a good diet
one
one day's ended you can resume your
normal activities normal exercise
pattern and the only problem is the
first three days when people would sort
a new diet they might feel a little
fatigued a little just met then after
that sometimes people feel renewal they
feel a little bit more refreshed so it's
those four if you can push through those
first three days typically start to get
used to it and then everyone I don't
know if there's any real proof to it but
people always say 21 days so starting to
have it so maybe after you do this it's
something that you continue doing what
ends up happening to your body when you
fast and you basically say okay no more
of the junk that I've been eating and
I'm just gonna put in purely whole food
your body makes a little adjustment and
then what happens is that it ECLA mates
to that and then there's a little
cleaning and there's some studies
showing that caloric restriction
actually is better for the health a
longer lifespan for people that restrict
calories in this diet it's that really
emphasize for caloric restriction
because you're eating this fruits and
vegetables there is some caloric
restriction because there there are
calories I mean you know there are some
recipes I've seen where you add coconut
milk and all kinds of different things
that can bring the calories up but in
general it's pretty healthy what about
some of the other symptoms I know some
people may complain of gas or you know
having to use the restroom more often
right because you're using a lot of
beans for the protein a lot of people
talk about excessive bloating and gas
you can get some enzymes some pill
enzymes over in the drugstore or the
supermarket and that helps with that but
by being active you can really help
relieve a lot of the those symptoms
so you're saying couple that with
exercise will help with some of that
bloating as well yes okay and make sure
you're drinking a lot of water why well
just hydrating just usually the the
average human being should be drinking
about half their body weight in water so
if you weigh 200 pounds you should be
drinking roughly 100 ounces of water
most people don't do that yeah so get
your big bottle and start in the morning
and start to measure it all day yeah so
there's really no excuse not to exercise
when you're on the Daniel Fast and
really just knowing that you know what
if you have a condition though that does
require that you eat you know a certain
amount of
every few hours like maybe you have
diabetes or you have sugar issues you
can make the accommodation for this diet
with that okay yeah it's all there for
you right I would always check with you
the physician first okay all right dr.
Calvin thank you so much thank you very
much all right I'm in this with you guys
so if you are participating in a Daniel
fast are you plan to start one now we're
gonna post all this information along
with this interview on news for Jax comm
you can certainly share it with your
congregants as well you'll find it under
the live healthy section