Daniel Fast Food List

Your 21 days

A 21-day Daniel Fast menu

Every meal below uses only foods that all four guides allow, so it works whichever list your church uses. Choose a start date and anything you want to leave out; the menu, the shopping list and the calendar file all follow.

The printout is two pages: the 21-day menu on one, the shopping list on the other. The calendar file adds one all-day event for each of the 21 days, with that day's meals in it. The link carries your start date, people and leave-outs, so whoever opens it sees the same plan.

The full Daniel Fast food list

Every food in the checker, grouped the way you shop, with what each guide says. Tap a column head to read that guide's approach.

185 foods and drinks, each checked against four guides

Fruit and vegetables

Grains and bread

Beans, nuts, seeds and soy

Oils, seasonings and sauces

Drinks

Sweeteners and treats

Meat, fish, dairy and eggs

Where the guides disagree

Most of the list is settled. These are the foods that get different answers, which is where most questions come from.

The four guides

The Daniel Fast has no single rulebook. These four lists are widely shared and each was read in full; the links go to the guide itself.

What the Book of Daniel says

Two passages carry the whole fast. Everything else on any list, including this one, is someone's reading of them.

Your health on a Daniel Fast

One study has measured the Daniel Fast. Forty-three adults kept it for 21 days, eating as much as they liked within the rules. Their calories fell from about 2,185 to 1,722 a day, total cholesterol fell from 171 to 139 mg/dL, LDL from 98 to 76 mg/dL and blood pressure from 115/72 to 106/67. Their weight and body measurements did not change significantly, and HDL cholesterol, the kind you want more of, fell from 56 to 48 mg/dL. The study had no comparison group.

Talk to your doctor or a dietitian first if you:

• are pregnant or breastfeeding;
• have diabetes and take insulin or tablets that lower blood sugar;
• have kidney disease, or take medicine that has to be taken with particular foods;
• have had an eating disorder.

Three weeks without meat, fish, dairy or eggs leaves protein to beans, lentils, tofu, nuts and whole grains, so the menu here puts one of them in most meals. If you feel faint or unwell, eat. The fast is a practice, not a test of endurance.

More from this site: how much water you need when water is your main drink; protein from plants and how much you need in a day; the fasting timer if your church also keeps hours without food.