This homeschool mom hasn’t had coffee for ten days. Ten days, I tell you! Hubby and I have been going through the 10-day Daniel Plan Detox. It’s not something I would normally write about here, but it might be helpful for anyone else considering this plan.
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Not familiar with The Daniel Plan? In a nutshell, the plan is a biblically-inspired journey toward better health. That journey toward better health, however, begins with a 10-day detox.
The Daniel Plan Detox
You can follow The Daniel Plan without doing the detox, but the detox experience reveals possible triggers for health problems. The concept is to eat real, fresh food while excluding stimulants like caffeine, processed foods, artificial sweeteners, sugar, gluten, and dairy. We drank lots of water (and only water), and ate very well.
What We Ate During
The Daniel Plan 10-Day Detox
Now that you know more about the plan and the detox, here’s a look at what we ate during that ten days. Keep in mind that we only followed recipes from the book. There was some great food, but there were some choices we would’ve never selected without the plan!
Breakfasts
- Chia coconut brown rice breakfast bowls
- Whole food protein shakes
- Blueberry and spinach smoothies
- spinach and tomato egg scrambles
Lunches
- Sundried tomato turkey burgers over spinach
- Kale salad
- Black bean soup
- Turkey roll-ups with artichoke hummus
- Steamed broccoli with quinoa
- Leftovers from dinners
Dinner
- Shrimp and snap pea curry
- Thai-inspired stir-fry with coconut rice
- Lamb kofta with grilled asparagus
- Chicken primavera bowl
- Greek baked cod with cauliflower mash and quinoa
- Walnut pesto chicken over brown rice
- Grilled salmon with quinoa and cilantro mint chutney
- Crockpot beef and veggie stew
Snacks
- edamame
- veggie sticks with artichoke hummus
- crunchy chickpeas
- hardboiled eggs
- protein shakes
Hubby and I both had a positive experience with our detox, but we finished the ten days with several important observations.
Observations Based on
My Daniel Plan Detox Experience
1. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We’re both terrible about skipping breakfast or only having a cup of coffee. Neglecting breakfast often set the pace for a bad day of food decisions. It caused us to over-snack mid-morning, eat more than necessary for lunch, or choose fast food out of desperation.
2. Planned snacking was a game-changer. Until detox, I never prepared for snacking. It was simply a matter of going to the pantry or fridge and seeing what would instantly satisfy. The Daniel Plan Detox taught us to plan to snack well. It took preparation and a good deal of work to keep the snacks stocked, but it made all the difference during detox.
3. It’s a lot of work! That’s probably not surprising, but I wasn’t expecting to spend so much of my time planning for meals (after I had already planned them and bought for them). Breakfast for the kids is usually quick and easy. The same goes for lunch for them and me. (Hubby was in the habit of having fast food for lunch during his workday.)
I went from cooking one fairly healthy meal a day to cooking three meals and two snacks. I spent lots of time chopping veggies, preparing anything I could in advance, and cleaning the kitchen. None of this is bad, but it took a few days to adjust.
4. Holy cow, it’s expensive to eat this way! We knew all of this clean eating wouldn’t be cheap, but I’m not sure we were honestly prepared for the cost. We spent more than double our normal grocery bill on our initial detox shopping trip — and that was only for Hubby and me!
(The kids didn’t detox with us.) Within five days we were back at the grocery store to stock up on fresh veggies or other items we ran out of quickly. That was another $70. Four days later we had to spend another $20 on produce.
It was expensive, but we kept telling ourselves that it probably wasn’t too different from what we spent on fast food in the average span of ten days, especially when you consider Hubby’s lunch routines and the whole family eating out two or three times a week.
All in all, we had a positive experience with our detox and are excited to see where the rest of our Daniel Plan journey takes us.
Do you have experience with The Daniel Plan or tips for sticking with it? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!