Giving it up to God

     Last week my friend and I tried something called "The Daniel Diet" or "The Daniel Fast". If you haven't heard of it before, it originates from the book of Daniel in the Bible. Daniel, in this Bible story, is living in Babylon as a slave where there is an abundance of exquisite food straight from he king. Students in the program were directed to eat as much as they wanted.  However' Daniel decided that he wanted to be both physically and spiritually fit. Therefore, he rejected all of the fancy unnecessary food and decided to stick to only eating only vegetables and drinking only water. So for 10 days he ate only that and gave the rest up to God. The people he did work for realized what he was doing, and told him that by the end of his diet, he had to be strong and able, or he would be sentenced to death or put to work as a slave. At the end of his 10 days, with God's help, he ended up being the strongest of all of the men, and was not executed.
     Following the story in the book of Daniel, my friend and I decided to take on this fast, in order to stay healthy, and grow closer to God. For the entire week, which is a very short period for this diet, we ate only natural fruits, vegetables and nuts. When I went into this fasting period, I honestly didn't think it would be too difficult. I started by going shopping for all kinds of fresh foods. Strawberries, bananas, peaches, grapes, squash, tomato, peppers, and peanut butter were just some of the items I bought. Then after I bought tons of ingredients, I spent time planning out various meals such as vegetable stir fry and fruit smoothies.
     During the diet, I found it got a lot harder. There are so many temptations! Although I had crazy cravings for unnatural, unhealthy foods, eating all then natural food really had a big impact on me. It helped me to detox my body and feel much healthier, leaner, and slimmer. I now also realize how much better I feel when I force myself to eat better. Therefore, I now feel like I will be more likely to grab an apple for an after school snack as opposed to something that is deep fried or contains loads of artificial sugar. Also through this diet I was definitely able to grow closer to God. I spent a lot more time in prayer, and a lot more time thinking of Him during my day. I'm so blessed to have so much in my life, but most of it i don't really need! I was really able to experience Daniel's view on life by seeing how much food we have that we don't really need in order to stay full and happy. True happiness cannot be found in any worldly goods. True joy can only be found in the Lord.