O Holy Diet

Duncan and I have recently completed a 10 day detox diet called Daniel's Diet. Some of you, who are Christians may have heard of it. The book is available at Koorong (and probably Word as well). The diet is based on Daniel 1:8-16 in which Daniel chooses not to defile himself with the king's royal food and instead asks to eat only vegetables and drink only water for 10 days. At the end of those 10 days, he and his friends look better and healthier than those who eat the king's food. So all Duncan and I were allowed to eat for 10 days were fruit, vegetables, rice (brown or Basmati), potatoes and certain nuts and seeds. After the 10 days, you can return to your normal diet but hopefully with a few positive changes. You can do the diet for longer if you like or you can do the 10 days again at a later stage. For those who think 10 days on rabbit food would be torture for me, yes you were right! But we survived! Duncan managed without coffee, beer and meat and I managed without chocolate, pasta and bread. It did get easier as we went along but we're very glad it's over!

I had never heard of this diet until last month when Emma told me she and Peter had bought the book and were planning to do it. I thought, 10 days doesn't sound too hard so I mentioned it to Duncan and he was quite enthusiastic about it. We'd been eating so much crap around Christmas and harvest time so it'd be good to clear our bodies out. Although slight weight loss is inevitable for most people, the main aim is detox. On the first day, we both felt very weak and had withdrawal headaches and I continued to feel weak off and on during the diet. People's reactions will vary. Some don't start feeling good until Day 5 while I've heard of others who have felt quite sick and depressed because of all the toxins leaving their body; that's why it's good to drink lots of water.

Although the diet may sound like a good idea, I really don't think any Christians can use these verses in Daniel to say that God expects all of us to eat this way or that he intends us to be vegetarians. Romans 14 disputes this for a start. The verses are quite vague, all we're told is that he ate vegetables and drank water, not specifically what vegetables or if fruit was included. The diet allows potatoes and rice on alternate days but there is no mention of Daniel consuming either of these. Obviously parts of the diet had to be made up. Secondly, I don't think Daniel chose to eat this way purely for the health benefits. Daniel 1:8 says that he chose not to defile himself with the royal food, in other words he was choosing not to align himself with King Nebuchadnezzar. While it is true that a good diet would contribute to him looking healthier, I'm sure God would have had a hand in it all. He was the one who caused the chief official in charge of Daniels' diet to show favour and sympathy to him. So I think anyone who uses these passages to justify their belief that God wants us to be vegieheads are quite mistaken. A friend pointed out that it probably wouldn't have mattered if Daniel had eaten only red meat for 10 days, the point is God can make him look better if he wanted to. Although this didn't stop a friend of ours being concerned that we were listening to what he thought was dodgy teaching. I will state again....we were NOT doing this for religious reasons!

When Emma suggested I buy the book, I said "Nah, we can get along fine just on what you've told me about it." I think part of my reasoning was that without the book, I could get away with disobedience and count ignorance as bliss. We were mostly pretty strict but there were some things that the book didn't allow that we did anyway. We had too much extra virgin olive oil on some things, we ate Cruskits for breakfast and salted peanuts and cashews for snacks and then justified it by saying, well, it's OUR version of the diet. Really I don't think it did any harm, it's only a diet and who cares if we don't do things EXACTLY right. The point is that this is the very same attitude I have towards God. If I open his Word and read how HE wants me to live (not what I think is good enough) then I have no excuse for not knowing. So I often neglect to read my Bible because to be honest I don't want some command which is going to make me squirm. This is much like my reason for not buying the Daniel's Diet book; if I don't have the book then I can claim I didn't know and I get away with stuff I know I shouldn't. I need to keep being reminded by God to listen to him, to fall at his feet and repent of my own pride and do things HIS way because he knows best and cares for me. One outcome of the diet I didn't expect was that it revealed I am far more addicted to sugar than I am to God sometimes.

Has anyone else done this diet or planning to? Was it a struggle for you or easy? Did you feel lethargic, sick, depressed or full of energy? I know I have a greater appreciation for fruit and vegies now. I'd be VERY interested to hear your experiences.