With the new year comes all sorts of dieting, fitness goals and abrupt changes to accomplish being “a better YOU”. I’ve never really been into resolutions for the new year or implementing new life goals for the new year. However, this year my aunt spoke with me about the Daniel Fast and asked me to participate along with her. Since she told me this 2 days beforehand, I agreed to fast but with modifications. I had to mentally prepare for this thing you know since it started on New Years day. I decided to eliminate all meats, bread and sweets for the duration of 21 days and I started this commitment on January 2nd.
Just to give you guys a little background about me, I absolutely love food! It’s kind of my thing being a foodie and all. I jot down restaurants that I see on my drive home, follow other foodies and see their suggestions and pretty much indulge in anything food related. So, to commit to this fast was a big deal for me. The first couple of days were a bit tough because I didn’t realize how much stuff I consumed that had bread as the base and neither did I realize I ate so many sweets. After the harsh first few days, my body became acclimated somewhat quickly. The mornings were simple. My favorites were fruit and smoothies. For lunch and dinner, I normally sautéed veggies and I ate a ton of sweet potatoes and avocados. While on this fast, I learned about various vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the LA area too. I hadn’t paid attention before but there are a lot of options if you’re a part of the vegan community.
On the last day, I called my aunt and told her I made it through the fast. I will be truthful and say I had 2 French fries and 2 alcoholic beverages during the 21 days. I didn’t commit to giving up fried foods or alcohol but those kind of fall in that “don’t eat category” when I thought about this fast so I just gave those up as well. Water became my best friend and now I just go for water more now as my first beverage choice as I should anyways. I haven’t even indulged in coffee since the fast ended on 1/23 and I feel pretty good about that since I normally start my day with a fresh cup of coffee. The fast helped me to see and appreciate a lot of principles that I normally don’t pay attention to. Discipline, faith and commitment are the biggest ones I would like to mention. We often doubt ourselves and say we can’t do or commit to something before we even try. I was so proud of myself throughout this journey because to be frank it was quite tough to go out and order the “healthy food” or all veggies or NOT stop by neither of the 100 donut shops in LA you pass everyday. I can say I feel better energy wise and overall I just feel more connected and in tune with myself. Now I will not say I’m not eating meat again but I will be mindful of the intake of it along with other things that I was so use to consuming before. I’m a continuous work in progress so here’s to a better me!
lifeofacitygal 