Get Started Guide

If you join SparkPeople.com (it's free) and request me as a friend, you can actually see EVERYTHING that I've eaten since beginning the fast. I'll also send you some websites and recipes :)

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=CKINNEER
http://danielsfastcookbook.com/
http://danielfast.wordpress.com/daniel-fast-food-list/

One of the best places to get food from is Kroger. Publix also has quite a bit of organic foods that will work on the fast.

I found only one actual bread that doesn't have any added sugar in the ingredients. It's really good but kind of expensive. http://www.foodforlife.com/ We've been using organic butter and sugar free organic jelly and the cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast with either fruit or a banana. Oatmeal is also a great breakfast item. Get the whole grain (no sugar in ingredients) oatmeal. I like to mix it with vanilla almond milk (it's not milk...it's made out of almonds so it's not soy either) and raisins and cinnamon. That's normally what I have for breakfast.

Buy a bunch of frozen veggies (they are easier to cook and cheaper than buying cans) and a bunch of frozen fruits. Make sure that your fruits are not perserved in sugar. These are good snacks. Nuts are good snacks too. I also found these veggie stixs that are all natural and are YUMMY! They are in the potato chip isle. For lunch a salad or soup (Amy's Organics has a lot of veggie soups without added sugar). Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (using natural ingredients).

For dinner we do ALOT of brown rice. You can get some ideas from my page. One of my faves so far was brown rice, okra, squash and diced tomatoes. Oh and onions. You can get whole wheat tortillas and make bean burritos. I made this yesterday and I think the recipe is on my page, if not, just email me. It's really easy. Red beans and rice is good. Black eyed peas and rice. I also found some rice spaghetti with no sugar. Publix probably has it. You can buy the cans of just tomato sauce (no sugar added) and add spices for a sauce. I made a really yummy mushroom and orzo soup.

You just really have to plan and look for these things but I'm posting stuff as I'm making it. When you go out, you can go to Wendys and get a baked potato (no toppings) and a side salad. Be careful about your dressings also though...ALOT have sugar added. Balslamic (sp?) is normally okay.

I hope this helps so far. And I'll be happy to keep sending you stuff if you want me to!

Charity

The Daniel Fast

Because I have had so many people asking me for ideas for The Daniel Fast, I've decided to start keeping a blog. I hope this helps those of you participating in The Fast and those of you who just want to start eating healthier!!! Have fun!

Birthday Boy

Today is Caleb's 5th birthday! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown. It seems like just yesterday he was my sweet newborn baby. Every stage has been so much fun and such a learning experience. I can't wait to see what the next few years have in store for us! I love my stinker!!!!!!

Broken Nose

Well my stinker butt broke his nose at school on Thursday. I get a call around lunch time from my husband who says, "Can you call Caleb's doctor. I just got a call from the school and apparently Caleb fell on the playground. He was fine until about an hour after the fall when it seems his head is swelling and he is complaining of a bad headache." That's all he says! I, of course, begin freaking out like most mothers would when they hear words like head swelling, bad headache... so I call his doctor and they immediately let me speak with a nurse. She asks me questions such as where is the swelling, what's hurting? I have no answers so I call the school nurse. As soon as I'm paged through and say who I am she tells me that Caleb was playing on the playground and fell somehow. On his way down he hit his nose. It bled a little and so she fixed him up and sent him to class. Apparently an hour or so later it started swelling and he was complaining of a headache (turns out it was hurting ON his nose, not his head but hey, he's only 4). After speaking with her, our doctors nurse and an emergency room nurse we decide not to take Caleb into the ER at this time. His nose is too swollen for them to do anything anyway and the first thing he asks when Seth picks him up is whether or not he can play in the playset at McDonalds. I think he's fine...

We still haven't taken him to the doctor. He has his five year check up in a week so I figure I'll let them look at it then but we're about 95% sure it's broken and he had such a cute little nose :(

I'm not sure why God decided to give me two boys! Already Caleb has broken his arm in two places and now his nose. AND he's a good kid! He's not a wild child and he's not extremely physical. He just seems to be a klutz. :) I am not looking forward to little E becoming mobile if this is what it leads too...Oh well, I suppose things could be MUCH worse!

Birthdays!!

In two weeks both of my boys will hit new milestones...so sad :( Caleb will turn 5 YEARS OLD!!! We've already told him he's not allowed to turn 6, ha ha ha! He says, "Yes I will mom!" He's such a big boy. He is at the local elementary school in the Georgia PreK program. He loves his school and his teachers. If you ask him if he likes it he says, "I wish I was there right now!"

Elijah will be 6 months four days before Caleb's birthday. He is such a chunker and a sweet boy. Somehow we got blessed with two awesome boys. Eli is definitely a little more high maintenance than Caleb was but still nowhere near what I've seen from some babies. He's learning how to sit up by himself although he weighs so much that it is very difficult for him to fully support his head quite yet. He's learning. He also scoots on the floor. I think crawling will come very soon.

One of the issues that we're dealing with right now is the Swine Flu or H1N1. I'm not 100% sold on the vaccine yet. Caleb and I both got the regular flu vaccination and Eli will too but as for the H1N1 vaccine...I just don't know. I'm still debating. Right now we're doing everything that we can to keep ourselves healthy. Each of us are taking vitamins (except for Eli) as well as veggie/fruit supplements. Here are also some good to know health tips.

Prevent Swine Flu - Good Advice
Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital , Bombay Hospital , Saifee Hospital , Tata Memorial etc.. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).

The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know.

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe).
3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*
5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm and Vitamin D

I suggest you pass this on to your entire e-list. You never know 20 who might pay attention to it - and STAY ALIVE because of it.

So what are you doing about the vaccine??? ~ Charity

Kraft

I LOVE the Kraft foods website. If you don't already have this link as one of your favorites, you absolutely need to! It has all kinds of recipes, budget ideas, menus, cooking videos and the list could go on and on. One of my favorite things on this website is the meal finder. You enter 3 ingredients that you have or would like to use and they find you a recipe using those ingredients! Genius right?!?! I know!!!! I also love their 1 bag, 5 dinners recipes. With this feature you are given a shopping list...enough to fill one bag but enough to create five dinners to use throughout the week. Here is an example:

New Bag - Healthy Living
Dinner Shopping List for 1 week
Spaghetti with Zesty Bolognese
Cheesy Chicken & Veggie Mac
Easy Slow-Cooker Beef Stew
Skillet Chicken & Vegetables Parmesan
DIGIORNO - Pizza - Harvest Wheat Rising Crust Four Cheese

Anyway, check back for more recipes and some of my favorite websites!
~Charity