The Daniel Plan

"The" Daniel Plan ? No idea. Never heard of it. What aspect of it do you want to debate.

Isn't it a religious based fasting plan?

Does no one Google search anymore?

The website says:

The Daniel Plan is a groundbreaking healthy lifestyle program founded on biblical principles and focused on The Essentials: Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends. The program offers an innovative approach to achieving a healthy lifestyle where people get better together by optimizing their health in each of these life areas. Each essential supports and influences the others, offering a practical step-by-step approach for anyone to follow.

The essentials of Faith and Friends are what we call the “secret sauce” that makes The Daniel Plan so effective. The program benefits are accelerated when done in a supportive community of friends because God designed us to thrive in relationships. We have learned that the process of getting healthy and staying healthy relies on the support and encouragement of friends. With the support of God and your group, you have far more than willpower helping you to make positive changes so you can be consistent and sustain your new healthy lifestyle.

The overarching message of The Daniel Plan is about abundance, not deprivation, and this is why the plan is both transformational and sustainable. The Daniel Plan teaches a step-by-step approach and offers simple ways to incorporate healthy choices into your current lifestyle. Throughout the program you are encouraged to rely on God’s power, and the application of dependable biblical principles.

From what I understand, without buying the book, it's losing weight with the support of your church/religious friends.

It makes sense, of course, that belief in God and a diet plan based on the naturalistic fallacy would go hand in hand. God is good. God created nature therefore nature is good. Going against nature is going against God and is therefore bad.

I've had a look at the recipes and they sound quite nice and in principle I think promoting the idea of eating a varied diet which encompasses plenty of fruit and vegetable is a good one.

That said I would need to know the exact details of the plan to assess the relatives pros and cons of it so can't help you in that regard I am afraid. I think it would be worthwhile to question whether the recommendations presented make sense based on the available evidence rather that taking them on pure faith as being good.

CollieFit wrote: »

Just googled............ http://www.danielplan.com/

When bible bashing gets blended with diet and exercise I'm out.

Is it bible bashing or thumping?
How many calories does it burn?

And don't forget - MFP has plenty of community support.

I've never done it, but from what I can tell the Daniel Plan is about more than just a "diet". It focuses on mental and spiritual health in addition to physical. The website mentions "The most important benefit of following The Daniel Plan is that you will develop the energy necessary to fulfill your God-given mission here on Earth."
While I'm sure it could be done individually, like zyxst alluded to it's more so designed to be done in a small group setting, since there is a relationship aspect to it.

The history of the premise included in my presentations on unethical research; as for a diet, meh. It's based on the fact Daniel didn't want to eat meat that was sacrificed to idols. Cutting that out of your diet these days? Um, you can still eat pretty much everything? Someone packaged something to sell, which I would assume is essentially veganism (and if you're eating animal products, it would defeat the entire religious argument of where the diet supposedly originates from).

lemurcat12 wrote: »

(I'd also thought it was a fasting thing, no idea why.)

Isn't that just Lent?

If I recall my RE lessons (although probably not as I spent most of my time trying not to fall asleep) doesn't it signify the 40 days were the big J wandered around the desert and fasted before experiencing some groovy hallucinations, excuse me, where he was tempted by the Devil before beginning his ministry?

msf74 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

(I'd also thought it was a fasting thing, no idea why.)

Isn't that just Lent?

Oh, I'm very familiar with Lent. Nothing to do with the Daniel Plan. At least not traditionally. In some denominations, maybe. (Making Lent into a way to lose weight always annoys me, also, as I think it's contrary to the spirit.)

I don't know why I assumed there was some fasting element to the Daniel Plan, I'm sure it's just my ignorance!