The Daniel Fast 2012

Every year my church does a fast called the Daniel Fast. I never really did, b/c honestly, I didn't think I could. No meats and sweets and dairy and bread for 21 days? Oh hhhhhhhhhhh no! But come 2012, I thought I would give it a try. I've been known for not keeping up with things and I figured this was the perfect start to turn myself around. If you don't know about the fast, you can read about it here, I won't go into detail, b/c well, I just don't want to bore you. My interpretation of it is regaining your focus as you go into the new year- almost like a resolution, which I am also bad at. But that is a story for another day.

Most people start the fast on January 1st and end on January 21st. Some do the strict regimen and some alter it and fast certain things, while still eating others. Some fast facebook or TV or the internet or other technological distractions. I decided to start mine on the 2nd as I was still celebrating New Yr's on, you know, New Yr's. I was going to have as many m&m's and bacon as I could before starting this thing. I decided to fast meats, sweets, and bread related things.
So I started out pretty good. I didn't have coffee. I didn't have chocolate. I didn't have meat, etc, etc, etc. The problem was that I started feeling sickly right before New Yr's eve and I developed a pretty bad cold. I couldn't breathe and my sinuses felt like someone was stabbing 8,000 large knives in them. My mom made chicken soup and how could I say no to that when I felt like a truck had run me over? And then I had pizza. And I felt pretty bad for screwing up, but I figured I probably wasn't the only one messing up. This was my first time doing the fast, so I cut myself a little slack. Even though I was sick, I still managed to keep up with itand once I felt better, I made more of an effort to follow the rules.

The fast proved to be much harder than I thought it would be. Going shopping for food became a daunting task. Even though I normally check out the ingredients and contents in food, I had to go an extra step to make sure there wasn't any sugar in something. Do you know how much sugar is put into products? It's not even needed! I seriously thought I was going to go crazy for 21 days, but...something told me I could do this. That there are harder things in life. That when it comes to discipline, it doesn't always come easy. I stuck to eating salad(if you know me, you know I make a pretty sick salad!), soup, rice and beans, oatmeal, fruits and veggies, you know... It wasn't completely different from my regular diet, but it wasn't like I could eat a nutella sandwich or grab a cup of coffee whenever I felt like it. But then there was that day at work that when my boss bought us a new coffee maker and we got coffee as a Christmas gift from one of our associates and, and, and, I had a cup of coffee! Oh the horror! Don't judge me! I felt guilty and promised myself it wouldn't happen again. But then, it happened again and then again. So, I let myself have one cup a week while I was on the fast. Pretty sure I was bending the rules to let myself get away with things. Not saying it's right- so make sure your kids don't read this!

Also, I think there's something that the Daniel fast people forgot about- that 1 week(or sometimes 2) when a woman goes crazy. You know, when she wants to eat basically every kind of junk food ever made and she's pretty sure that even if it's a house full of food, she can still eat it all. You know, that pesky "aunt" with the initials P.M.S that comes to stay with you every month. I think they forgot about that. I experienced this the very last week of my fast. Let me say, it made things 10978156981641 times more difficult. Oh. I probably didn't tell you that I'm pretty comfortable talking about my period. Yes. If you're uncomfortable reading this, I suggest you leave now. In fact, just don't come back to my page. Ever. B/c I will probably have more posts in which I talk about my period. So, do leave if you can't handle it. I'll give you a few minutes. Still here? Ok. Good. As I was saying...I wanted ice cream. I wanted chocolate. I wanted coffee with almond joy creamer. I wanted bacon. I was ready to raid the grocery store and just eat everything right then and there. You think I'm lying? I'm not. Periods make women crazy. Crazy enough to eat ice cream out of the carton with pieces of bacon hanging out of their mouth. Yes. It's a wild scene, but we just don't care. Feed us what we want and we'll be happy. And even then, we can't promise that we'll be totally satisfied. So yeah, imagine that craving is happening to you and you can't do a single thing about it. Nope. Not one thing. You almost think that shooting yourself would be a better option.(Totally kidding.) I don't know how I did it, but somehow I managed to stick it out one more week. When it was finished, I had my friends over to celebrate. We had cupcakes, candy, and BACON!!! It was a good night.

If I learned anything while on this fast, it was to really watch what I ingest and that I can eat healthier. My knowledge of all the junk that is put into food was increased tremendously. I was reminded that I can do anything I put my mind to with discipline and perseverance AND that I am human and I will make mistakes. Through it all, all I could do was laugh. Kinda like life. =)