My husband and I are starting something new today. Well, actually, due to a company picnic tomorrow he will be staring on Wednesday. I’m anxious to get started so I’m jumping in today. I’m a little nervous but totally excited. We are starting The Daniel Plan. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Maybe not. Basically it’s a healthy lifestyle that focuses on being healthy spiritually, eating a healthy diet, getting exercise, and doing all this within a supportive community.
My husband and I borrowed The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life from the library. During the 40 days you change your eating habits and begin to focus on health in all the other areas too. It’s important to focus on all of them because they all feed into each other.
So here are the specifics for the 40 day food plan:
I’m oversimplifying it a bit here, but the book gives a whole lot more information on how to select your foods. There’s information about which foods to fill up on and which ones to each in moderation. You can find a full list of food recommendations here.
They recommend that your plate basically looks like this:
Now, to start off the 40 days they recommend a 10 day detox in which you eliminate two more foods that might trigger health issues- dairy and gluten. Some people even eliminate animal-based protein. One thing I’ve learned from reading the book and other people’s experiences online is that most people use the core principles of this plan and then sort of make their own version of it. I’m electing to do the 10 day detox. I’m sticking to the Daniel Plan basics I outlined above in addition to eliminating gluten, dairy, and animal-based protein. (Updated: I decided not to eliminate animal sources of protein). After the 10 days I’ll evaluate where I am with things and I may extend the detox to all 40 days or I may start to re-introduce some of the eliminated items. I’ll let you know when I get there.
My husband and I are looking at this as a time that we have set apart as a time of focusing on our overall health as a family. We are also considering this a time to focus on our spiritual health as a family, spending more time in the word, prayer, and focusing on our spiritual purpose as a family. In addition to the food detox I’m beginning today I’m also hoping to increase the amount of time I spend exercising. I was doing great when I was getting up at 5:30 to do it, but recently the baby has been teething and instead of getting up at 7, he now likes to get up at 5:30 too. So I’m working on shifting my schedule and finding a new work out time. We plan to focus on exercising together as a family too, and we hope to get the kids into it.
I’ll be checking in and letting you know how things are going in a few days. You can also follow along with me on Instagram (marymarthamama), where I plan to post some pictures of what I’m eating. Well, I’m going to go make my first smoothie. Not the first smoothie I’ve ever had, but the fist one I’ve ever made. And I think the first one I’ve had without dairy in it. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Disclaimer: Please note that I my posts on the Daniel Plan are not medical advice, they are merely my personal experiences.
For more information about the Daniel Plan, see my other Daniel Plan posts: