Many of us have experienced a diminishing of health and strength in our lives. Poor health can seem an insurmountable barrier that cannot be overcome. Gratefully, the binding nature of promises made to us by God offer hope as we keep his health counsels. In contrast, the Lord will not show unto those who do not obey him his strength, to one more than the other. Your mortal tabernacle is a temple for God's spirit. You are his; he created you; obey his health counsels with exactness if you desire his strength. They are as follows: 

1. Avoid: Abstain from alcohol, coffee, tea, and all other substances known to diminish human health. 
2. Wholesome Herbs and Their Fruits: Eat wholesome herbs or plants of the earth and their fruits, whether from the tree, the vine, bushes, or grasses, or from above or below the ground. Wholesome, edible foods include greens, vegetables, sweet fruits, berries, nuts, and seeds (including the grains of cereal and leguminous plants.These are made for your nature and constitution and best sustain the body when they are eaten fresh and whole in their seasons. Grains are "the staff of life" and provide more than fifty percent of all calories consumed in the world. Grains and starchy vegetables support the trimmest and largest populations of the world. Let's take a look: Barley and oats are the primary staples in the Middle East; corn in North, Central, and South America; legumes in the Americas, Asia, and Europe; millet in Africa; potatoes in South America; sorghum in East Africa; sweet potatoes in South America and the Caribbean; Rye and rice in Asia; and wheat in the Near East. If you compliment these starches with fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, together they will provide all essential elements your body needs to best support its nature and constitution; and, you will thrive, for God does not lie, and it is his promise to the obedient.
3. Animal Products:  Holy writ instructs that it is pleasing to God if we spare the lives of animals except when we need to eat them in order to survive excessive hunger or famine. Science has demonstrated that we can avoid the 4000+ documented diseases, or woes, that are known to come upon man by eating animals without a need to do so. If you need animal flesh to survive, then eat it; but do so sparingly -- with judgement, gratitude, and thanksgiving, and without extortion or excess. At all other times, spare the lives of animals and treat them as you would be treated, that they too may fulfill the measure of their creation and find joy therein.

Numerous studies today demonstrate that we can live entirely free of today's food-induced degenerative diseases by following the above dietary counsels. The wholesome, edible plants of the earth, and their fruits are what man will eat during the Sabbath of the earth, or the millennium when man and animals will dwell together in peace and love. It is a diet that is adapted to the weakest of saints, or in other words, all who exercise faith to keep their covenants. 

Consider now, how the prophet Daniel changed his diet to become the healthiest and wisest man in the entire kingdom of Babylon. He was taken into captivity in 605 BC at the time Babylon conquered Israel. Daniel and three of his friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) were selected from among princes of Israel to be taught in the King's palace for a period of three years in both the learning and language of the Chaldeans. The king appointed provisions of meat and wine to nourish them during their three years of studies.

Because of covenants that he made with God, Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the kings' meat and wine. Instead, Daniel asked his keeper if he and his three friends could eat pulse instead of meat, drink water instead of wine, and add to this seasonal fruits and vegetables. His keeper was afraid to allow Daniel to do this because if Daniel and his friends were to afterwards appear in worse condition than the other princes of Israel, then he, the keeper, would be killed.

Daniel proposed a limited 10-day test to allay his keeper's fears, where he and his friends would eat and drink as described above. After ten days, the countenances of Daniel and his friends were fairer and stronger than those who ate the king's portions of meat and wine. Daniel and his friends where afterward permitted to continue to eat in this manner throughout the remainder of their three years of university studies.

After the three years ended, the king communed with all the princes that had been selected to be educated in the ways of Chaldeans. The king found that in all matters of wisdom and understanding Daniel and his three friends were ten times better than anyone else in all the king's realm, including the king's magi. Daniel subsequently became the king's most trusted adviser, which greatly blessed the whole of Israel and other nations that were under Babylon's rule.

It is likely that Daniel would not have fulfilled the work God sent him to earth to do had his health been impaired by his diet. Rather than provide a righteous influence to Babylon's kings for 74 years, it is likely that his longevity as such would have been curtailed, or it may not have taken place at all.

We each have work to perform, and for every degree of temporal and spiritual strength we attain unto, our capacity to lift, serve, and bless others increases exponentially. If you want strength to fulfill your life's mission to do the work God would have you do, then choose to exercise faith to keep God's health counsels with exactness, as did the prophet Daniel of the Old Testament. The journey back to strong, begins with strict obedience to God. If you are willing to exercise this kind of faith, then all things will be made possible to you. 

Getting Started with Daniel's Challenge  

Watch the following video to better understand the nature of temporal challenges we each face today regarding the foods we eat. They are similar in nature to the challenge Daniel faced.

Click Here to Get Started with Daniel's Challenge Daily To-Do's

Daniel's Challenge Daily To-Do's

Commence to do the Daily To-Do's as outlined below. With each to-do click on the links to view either recipes, show-me-how videos, or further instruction:

1. Hydrate: Drink at least one-half gallon of water daily or hydrate as shown in the following hydration videos, or the following hydration recipes.
2. Fruits: Eat fresh, whole seasonal fruits daily, as desired to satisfy your sweet tooth. You can also hydrate with fruited drinks as shown above. The following drink and hydration recipes each contain fruit.
3. Raw Vegetables: Consume one large salad or veggie platter daily as shown in these salad videos and as also shown in our Raw-Veggie Recipes. Enjoy salads and other raw veggies plain, or dipped in a hummus, a healthful dressing, or a sauce. See dips, dressings, and sauce recipes here and dressing videos here.
4. Cooked Vegetables: Eat at least one cooked vegetable daily. See cooked vegetable videos here, and cooked vegetable recipes here. 
5. Starches: All Grains, including Legumes (beans, lentils, and peas), and all Starchy Vegetables: Eat starches (see Bean Dishes, pulse-dish videos here and pulse recipes here). Eat grains and starchy vegetables according to weight-management objectives and your energy needs (i.e. oatmeal, barley, millet, quinoa, brown rice, wild rice, naturally leavened bread, and so forth). All large populations of trim, healthy people obtain more than 50 percent of their calories from a starchy food commodity, as described on the home page of his site. For example, barley is the staple in the Middle East. The Aztecs and Mayas are known as, “The People of the Corn.” Millet is the staple of Africa, rice and legumes in Asia. Wheat is the primary stable in the Near East. Potatoes are the primary staple in South America, and sweet potato is a primary food source for vast populations of slender people in South America and in the Caribbean.Everywhere we find “large” populations of trim, healthy people throughout the world, we discover people who eat more than fifty percent of their calories from a starchy comfort food. The current fad in the U.S. that regards starches as bad runs counter to the testimony in the rest of the world where people do not indulge as we do in consuming vast amounts of processed and refined foods, or in the overt consumption of animal products. Rather they eat fruits, vegetables, and starches as the bulk of their diets.
6. Desserts and Snacks: See healthful desserts and snacks here.
7. Omit or Limit: Omit white flour, refined sweeteners and other refined foods from your diet. If you choose to eat them, limit total intake animal-based foods and other overt sources of fat to a total combined daily intake of 200 calories. Select wild, free-range, or pasture-raised organic sources of meat, dairy, chicken, eggs, or fish. Also, minimize your use of fatty plant-based foods such as avocados, olives, walnuts, pecans, almonds, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, chia, flax seeds, olive oil, and coconut oil.
8. Short-Term Intermittent Fasting: During both periods of weight loss, include one day or more of short-term intermittent fasting per week to help reset your appetite to a whole, plant-based diet. For more information on this topic, see page 95 of Back to Strong, and/or read about how to turn on the seven fat burning conditions that are described in the Slenderizing Secrets.
9. Exercise, Sunshine, and Fresh Air: Click on the following links to review daily exercise, sunshine, and fresh air 
10. Benefits of Proper Sleep: Study the following beneficial sleep recommendations and develop exceptional habits in this area of your life.
11. Spirituality: To attain your greatest potential for vitality and good health, overcome every weakness that diminishes your capacity to love and do good on this earth, as described in Back to Strong. See also healing gifts here.
12. Other Daniel's Challenge Support Resources:

• Original Fast Foods and Back to Strong: Course Textbooks.
• Peace in the Pantry Forum: Discuss food storage and gardening tips.
• Member's Choice Forum: Post any health-related topic that interests you.
• Science of Health Forum: Discuss underpinnings of Daniel's Challenge.
• Spirituality Forum: Discuss and better understand the process of grace.
• Other Helpful Links and Discussions: Organized by topic.

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