The Daniel Fast concept has lived on for centuries and many have benefited from it. Remember the story about Daniel in the lion’s den? That’s the Daniel who started The Daniel Fast to gain strength, wisdom and knowledge and bring himself closer to God.
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were strong young men taken from their home country of Judah to Babylon to serve King Nebuchadnezzar. At that time, Babylon was a vast and strong empire and young educated men were trained under Babylonian law and customs so they could be fit to serve the King. Imagine eating the same food the King was served with. They were eating the King’s food. Sounds delicious and rich already but not to Daniel….
Daniel 1: 8-14 (NIV Bible):
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you. Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, please test your servants for ten days:
Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see. So he agreed to this and tested them for 10 days.
Daniel knew the King’s food was not pure because it was offered to the idols before consumption. He was brought up to eat according to Jewish dietary laws and he chose to live a life without consuming wine.
According to Susan Gregory, author of The Daniel Fast for the Body, Soul and Spirit (eBook), The core of the Daniel Fast is abstaining from meat products and eating only fruits and vegetables for a certain period of time.
Most of us fast because of spiritual, physical or mental reasons. It could be part of a dieting process to lose weight or for better health; it may be to gain more spiritual awareness and connection with God or just to train our minds to abstain from things that we love to achieve higher discipline.
Unlike fasting, which is normally the absence of solid foods, Daniel Fast is a partial fast that has fruits, legumes, beans, whole grains, nuts and vegetables in your daily diet. The only liquid for drinking is water. No milk, alcohol, caffeine, soda or sweetened drinks. Bread and sugary baked goods are omitted as well. Susan Gregory of Daniel-fast wrote:
It is a vegan diet with even more restrictions. Neither artificial or processed foods nor any chemicals are allowed on the Daniel Fast.
It is definitely a healthier eating plan. Whatever your reasons may be to start a Daniel Fast, please check with your health professionals if this is a fit for you.
To maximize your health and experience during your fast, we have compiled a list of natural nutritional supplements and essential oils to help you in your fasting, cleansing, meditation, prayer and dieting.
Help with bad breath:
Most people chew gum or breathe mints to curb bad breath or freshen their breath each day. Since sugar, chemicals and sweetened mints or gums are not allowed during a Daniel Fast, Vitality peppermint and Vitality spearmint essential oils would be great alternatives.
Drop a drop of peppermint or spearmint essential oils onto your tongue to have fresher breath. Peppermint contains natural menthol. Both oils are breath-freshening agents.
Water:
Taking coffee, tea, sugared or carbonated water out of your diet completely requires discipline and preparation. Our body may experience withdrawal symptoms that result in fatigue or headaches. If you were not used to drinking just water, it would be more difficult to adjust your body to just drinking water during a Daniel Fast.
Jennifer Walters, an educator and advocate for healthy living recommends slowly weaning yourself off of coffee and sugar so that when you begin the fast, you don’t experience the side effects of withdrawal. For a morning picker-upper, add Ningxia Red to your water.
Vitality Lemon or Vitality Grapefruit essential oils could enhance your water. Add a drop or two into a glass of water and enjoy a citrusy drink throughout the day.
You can also add your Peppermint or Spermint Vitality oils to your water throughout the day. Don’t forget to use Glass Containers for your water with essential oils. This is my recommendation for Glass Drinking Containers. Click on the picture to see how much they cost on Amazon.
Present Time, Purification, Release and Peace and Calming:
Having a restricted diet and changing our way of eating is hard to do. It is so easy to give up, not reach our goals or just postpone our intentions until the right time comes. When will the right time be?
If you have the desire to start a Daniel Fast to achieve a better body, mind and soul health, now is the time. There are some essential oils that could help you focus, prepare and take charge of your decision to start.
Present Time Essential Oil will help you focus on the here and now so you can get beyond the past and move forward. This is followed by Release Essential Oil to let go of anger and Frustration. Forgiveness essential oil is beautiful as well. And of course Harmony Essential oil is beautiful to balance the mind and body.
Pray, meditate and read the scripture as you diffuse, inhale or apply topically on your body. Release forgiveness, anger and frustration. Also add Purification Essential Oil to bring a refreshing scent to your room.
Peace and Calming Essential Oil encourages deep relaxation and assists with your meditation. It will help have a peaceful sleep during the night.
Final thoughts:
It may seem strange to think essential oils could help you focus during a time of fasting but these therapeutic quality essential oils have been in use since Daniel’s time. In fact, they were prized possessions in Ancient Jewish and Egyptian households. History evidence showed the used of essential oils in Babylonian, Chinese, Indian, Roman and Greek Empires.
Are we missing some strong scents for health today? For more information about the Daniel Fast, please visit Susan Gregory’s website. She has an array of resources to answer your questions about the Daniel Fast. But for more information about a Daniel Fast’s natural, plant based nutritional supplements and plant based pure therapeutic essential oils, please use the resources found on our website.
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