The Daniel Fast, in Christianity, is a partial fast, in which meat, dairy, alcohol, and other rich foods are avoided in favor of vegetables and water in order to be more sensitive to

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

. The fast is based on the lifelong kosher diet of the Jewish hero

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

in the

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Book of Daniel The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th century BC setting. Ostensibly "an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon", it combines a prophecy of history with an eschatology ( ...

and the three-week mourning fast in which Daniel abstained from all meat and wine. Among

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and Mainline Protestant Christians, the Daniel Fast has been practiced by some during the 40-day season of Lent, though the Daniel Fast can variously be set at three weeks, or even ten days. As such, evangelical Christian churches such as those of the

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul com ...

tradition, have partaken in the fast at various times of the year. The passage in Chapter 1 refers to a 10-day test wherein Daniel and others with him were permitted to eat vegetables and water to avoid the Babylonian king's food and wine. After remaining healthy at the end of the 10-day period, they continued the vegetable diet for the three years of their education. The passage in Chapter 10 refers to a three-week fast of no meat, wine, or rich food. In addition to the practices of fasting and

abstinence Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc. B ...

undertaken during the Daniel Fast, Christians may also add spiritual disciplines such as daily

church attendance Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday); the Westminster Confession of Faith is held by the Reformed Chu ...

, increased prayer, as well as the reading of Sacred Scripture and a daily devotional.

Description

According to those who encourage this form of fasting, the aim is to refrain from eating what are described in Daniel as "royal foods" including meats and wine. Instead, the diet consists only of vegetables and water. "Pulses" is used instead of "vegetables" in some translations. "Pulses" in this context is often taken as "food grown from seed", including fruit, vegetables or lentils.

Scriptural basis

Nebuchadnezzar II became king of the Chaldean Empire in 605

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the o ...

. He invaded the Israelite Kingdom of Judah in 604 BCE, the fifth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah. After Jehoiakim's son Jeconiah became king, Nebuchadnezzar attacked the Israelite capital of Jerusalem in 597 BCE. In the biblical narrative of the first chapter of the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem happened in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, whose successor Jeconiah is not mentioned. Elsewhere in the Bible, Jehoiakim was already dead at the time of the siege of Jerusalem. The first chapter of the Book of Daniel was most likely composed as early as 450 BCE and as late as the 2nd century BCE. In the narrative, the God of the Israelites, Yahweh, let King Jehoiakim fall to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, three friends, and fellow captives have been brought to the Chaldean capital, the newly rebuilt Babylon, to learn the literature of the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar offered them royal food and wine for the three years of their education. Daniel decided not to defile himself with the royal rations, which included meat that may not have been drained of blood, as required by Jewish law, or that was likely often used as ritual offering to the Babylonian god Marduk and his divine son Nabu. Daniel refused to eat foods forbidden by Yahweh and instead asked for vegetables and water. The guard charged with their care expressed concern for their health, so Daniel requested a short test of the diet. For 10 days, they were permitted to eat just vegetables, and at the end, the guard was surprised at their good personal appearance and physical and mental health, compared to those who had accepted the royal foods. Therefore, Daniel and his friends were permitted to eat vegetables for the duration of their training. After continuing with the diet during three years of training, they are judged by the king to be mentally superior to all of his own councilors. Antiokhos IV

Cyrus the Great captured Babylon in 539 BCE, fifty-eight years after the fall of Jerusalem. In the narrative of the tenth chapter of the Book of Daniel, in the third year of the reign of Cyrus, Daniel went into a mourning fast for the first three weeks of the year, including Passover. During the fast, he had no meat, wine, or rich foods. The tenth chapter, and possibly the whole of the Book of Daniel, was composed between 167 and 164 BCE, during the persecution of Jewish people carried out by the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

King

Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus IV Epiphanes (; grc, Ἀντίοχος ὁ Ἐπιφανής, ''Antíochos ho Epiphanḗs'', "God Manifest"; c. 215 BC – November/December 164 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic king who ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his deat ...

Practice

The Daniel Fast is derived from the Bible, which states in that "I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled." The Daniel Fast limits food choices to whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. It thus requires abstinence from "meat, fish, egg, dairy products, chocolates, ice creams, sugar, sweets, wine or any alcoholic beverages". In the

early Church Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

, the

Canons of Hippolytus The ''Canons of Hippolytus'' is a Christian text composed of 38 decrees (" canons") of the genre of the Church Orders. The work has been dated to between 336 and 340 A.D., though a slightly later date is sometimes proposed. Egypt is regarded as ...

authorize only bread and salt to be consumed during Holy Week, the last week of Lent. The practice of fasting and abstaining from alcohol, meat and dairy products during the entire liturgical season Lent became established in the Church. In modern times, the Daniel Fast has gained popularity among Christians, such as Catholics and Methodists among others, during the Lenten season for those seeking to return to traditional norms of Christian fasting. It is practiced during other times of the year too by evangelical Christian churches, such as the Saddleback Church—a church in the

tradition. The Daniel Fast prescribes the

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

diet in that it excludes the consumption of animal products. The diet also excludes processed foods, additives, preservatives, flavorings, sweeteners, caffeine, alcohol, oils, and products made with white flours.

Ellen G. White Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American woman author and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Along with other Adventist leaders such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, she wa ...

, founder of the Seventh-day Adventist tradition, states that the example of Daniel demonstrates that "a strict compliance with the requirements of God is beneficial to the health of body and mind." In January 2019 '' Time'' magazine reported that "

Chris Pratt Christopher Michael Pratt (born June 21, 1979) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for playing Andy Dwyer in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015). He also appeared in The WB drama series ''Everwood'' (2002–2006) an ...

gave it new popularity recently by posting an Instagram story about adopting it as his latest diet.""Chris Pratt Is Doing the Daniel Fast Diet. But Is It Healthy?"
'' Time''. January 16, 2019.

Notes

References

External links