Day Six: Modified Daniel Fast

Friday, April 1, 2016

Happy April Fool’s Day! I slept sooo poorly again last night. I had tried the Alteril suggested by a friend (I only took one, instead of two). While I felt very drugged overnight and until about 9am, I lay awake for more than an hour at different times of the night. It did help me get to sleep earlier, though (about 11pm, instead of the usual midnight or later). Ah well… the investigation continues! J

The girls and I had a blast celebrating April Fool's today. I bought these zippered food storage bags on Amazon last week, and have been using them first to get the girls, then their cousins, and finally, to share treats with the senior class on their last school day before their Senior Trip. We put homemade cookies in them (yes, I helped, without so much as licking the spoon!) and the girls wrote each student's name on them. Unfortunately, I didn't get any hilarious texts or stories out of the deal, but we had fun, and that's an important way to make memories with my girls. heee-heee.... still laughing!

I was also STARVING overnight! Lots of tummy growls and fat-burning! I was tempted to eat breakfast at 5:30 when I was up, but I put it off until 8, which is more my usual time. I enjoyed a bowl of the homemade granola from the Fast book, with some extra dried cranberries thrown in, all with the ever-present Coconut milk! Deee-lightful! I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to start using some cow’s milk, and maybe a cup of coffee here and there, after ten days, which will be next Wednesday. Because of my limited fluid intake (32-40 oz total per day), it is just too difficult to drink only water and have no other flavor for when I’m hungry, but don’t want to eat an hour early. It might not make sense to the reader, but that’s the decision I’ve come to, with the Lord’s guidance. 

On a brighter note, I am getting encouragement on the scale, even if I’m not sleeping or feeling any better overall. It is a blessing to see those numbers move, and to know it’s in direct response to my obedience to what God has asked of me. Spiritually, I’m also seeing benefits in my family. There is a peace in our home this week that has been very refreshing. I’m still praying for certain specific actions, but I know God is in control, and seeks holiness for my family, more so than even I do!

For lunch, I attempted another recipe from the Daniel Fast book, the Great Northern Bean Dip. But I 

made a definite error in judgment! When I tasted the dip, it was good, but I thought, as bland as it was, that it would benefit from the half-avocado that I had sitting in the fridge. And since the avocado had been cut two days before, it needed to be used, even though I had stored it in an airtight bag with lime juice. Adding the avocado was a mistake. It took a basic, albeit bland, dip and made it a funky-flavored dip that vaguely resembles a gastric emergency. Yuck! We ate it with Romaine leaves, and I chopped up broccoli, cauliflower, a yellow pepper, and grated carrot to add to the wraps to give them some crunch. All in all, not only was it not a very filling meal, but it had a strange aftertaste, and since my girls don’t care for avocado, it was not pleasant to make them eat it.

For dinner, I had a little better success. I made the Spinach-Artichoke Dip from the Daniel Fast book. The kids were all distracted elsewhere, so they were unaware that the major ingredient was 8 oz of tofu. After baking it, I served it with their choice of tortilla chips, or in a tortilla, or on my flatbread. I personally ate it on my whole wheat low-carb/high fiber tortillas from Hy-Vee, and enjoyed it immensely! I put some crushed macadamia nuts on my wrap, to give it some texture, and found it to be wonderfully flavorful. Yes, it would have been better with cheese, but isn’t everything?  Have you ever found a recipe that is as good without cheese as with? :-)