Daniel Fast: Why You Should Only Do It Once

By Gigi Carter and Sersie Blue

"This book provides a practical, scientific guide to healthy, whole person living, body, mind, and spirit." -Pastor Arnold and Susan Schnell

"This beautifully written guide puts its power in your hands." -Dr. Neal Barnard, MD

This Daniel Fast will empower you to refuse the king's di

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Sep 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887389578

Gigi Carter

Gigi Carter is a certified nutritionist with a master's in nutrition sciences from University of Alabama at Birmingham. She focuses on chronic disease prevention using plant-based nutrition education and lifestyle management concepts. Gigi resides in Washington with her family.

Book preview

Acknowledgment

Creating this book was inspired by God, and for that, we give all the glory to our Savior Jesus Christ. This book is the manifestation of the calling on our lives to serve the body of Christ in getting healthy for their divine purpose.

— Gigi and Sersie

I would like to give the highest thanks to God for entrusting me with this ministry. I am honored and humbled at the same time, and I see it as my life’s mission. I would like to give a grateful thanks to all my family and friends for all the love, support, and guidance throughout this journey. Thank you to all the lifestyle medicine experts; thank you to Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and Dr. Neal Bernard for inspiring me to learn the power of plant-based nutrition. It was through your work that I was able to make the connection between plant-based nutrition and the Daniel Fast. Thank you to my church family for believing in me and being so open to a plant-forward lifestyle. I would like to give a special acknowledgment to my coauthor Gigi as she has made building this ministry and writing this book a joyful, rewarding, and self-growth experience.

— Sersie

I give thanks and praise to God for guiding me to give up my corporate career after twenty-two years to pursue this calling in nutrition sciences, lifestyle management, and disease prevention. Little did I know then that it would ultimately lead to this amazing ministry with Sersie and this book. A very special thank you to my husband, Kevin, for supporting me with this lifestyle and career change. He has been and continues to be a significant supporter of me and this ministry. I want to acknowledge those who have helped me deepen my knowledge of the Bible: Joyce Meyers, Priscilla Shirer, Dr. Baruch Korman, Orcas Island Community Church Bible study group, Mary Bogan, and Sersie. I still have lots to learn, but you have helped me grow and mature as a Christian, and for that, I’m deeply grateful.

— Gigi

What People Are Saying

Sersie Blue and Gigi Carter are on a powerful mission to impact the epidemic of obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Their book, Daniel Fast, if embraced by many, can save many lives. The facts are that modern nutritional science confirms the wisdom of the ages to disease-proof your body.

—Joel Fuhrman, M.D., 7 X NY Times best-selling author,

President of the Nutritional Research Foundation

This book provides a practical, scientific guide to healthy, whole-person living, body, mind, and spirit. It does not make you feel guilty but instead inspires you to live your best life. The authors, Sersie and Gigi, are more than experts in their field. They believe it and live it. They have a before and after story. They have experienced both the normal American diet and the transforming invigorating lifestyle of the Daniel Fast. If you are looking to feel better and want some guidance on how to do it, this book is for you.

—Pastor Arnold and Susan Schnell, Cumberland Heights SDA Church

Based on ancient wisdom and proven by modern research, the Daniel Fast is life-changing. This beautifully written guide puts its power in your hands.

—Neal D. Barnard, MD, FACC, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine, President, Physicians Committee

Washington, DC

Foreword

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself.

Daniel 1:8 (NRSV)

During my 10th-grade year in high school almost forty years ago, I met someone who was a vegetarian. Honestly, I don’t think I had ever really heard the term, but this individual, who is still a dear friend, introduced me to a healthier lifestyle. To be honest, I did not become a vegetarian then, but they planted a seed that was watered and nurtured as I spent more time in the word of God and expanding my knowledge reading. I gradually started to remove different things from my diet and felt better as I did it. The seed didn’t sprout until fifteen years later when my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That day I resolved to stop defiling myself with the royal rations and seek a more whole diet. It took another fifteen years for the sprout to blossom and for me to truly do the Daniel Fast one last time and make it my lifestyle. It was a long journey and sometimes a lonely one with few resources and oftentimes a very small community of like-minded and supportive people.

For almost as long as I’ve been on this journey, I’ve been in ministry. I worked in youth ministry and college ministry for twenty years before I became Senior Pastor of a predominantly African American Baptist church in Decatur, Georgia, six years ago. I bring up what I do and the community I serve because people listen to their pastor, and sometimes the church has poor eating habits. If we are honest, America suffers from eating disorders, I’ll say more about this in a moment. My line of work also puts me in rooms with doctors and families, which allows me to hear diagnoses and prognoses. Truth be told, I’ve buried many people whose lives could have been extended if they had eaten better. There were many hospital visits of church members because individuals decided to continue to eat the royal rations. Because of this, I have sought to create a whole life ministry with my congregants, introducing them to better ways to feed their bodies while they feed their souls.

I met Sersie and Gigi in 2022 and immediately wanted my congregation to hear what they had to say. Their desire to change the narrative of our food addictions and eating disorders with a story that was familiar to people of faith is refreshing. Almost half of America suffers from obesity, which can affect blood pressure numbers and the body’s ability to produce insulin. Hypertension and diabetes impact so many lives and particularly the African American community disproportionately. Then when you get into heart disease, the numbers are even more staggering. More than a third of the population in the United States suffers from some form of heart disease. I believe these numbers are so high because we suffer from food addictions and eating disorders, but not necessarily the medical definitions of these terms. I use these terms loosely because our lack of knowledge about nutrition and how it affects our whole life causes us to make unhealthy diet choices. We fill our plates with unhealthy foods that don’t feed us nutritionally. We order from menus that cause us harm with each bite. Sersie and Gigi fill our plates with the information needed to change our lifestyle and overcome our addiction and disorder with food.

This book is an inspirational guide, as well as an instruction manual on how to do the Daniel Fast just once. When I first started on my journey, someone told me, You have to find your why on this journey. I love the fact that Sersie and Gigi start with their why. They let the reader know the roads that led them down this path. They also introduce us to the tilling that took place in their lives so that seeds could be planted. They help us understand what watered them along the way.

This work outlines for the reader the why, the what, and the how. Sersie and Gigi have done the difficult task of researching why we need to change our diets to plant-based and connect it to our faith. This book also helps us understand the what of a plant-based diet, the what I can eat and what I can’t eat. It dives into all of the questions people may have about plant-based eating. The authors also give us a how-to-prepare, with recipes to help us start our journey. One of the most difficult parts of the journey is changing our menus, and many times this is the most discouraging part of the journey. Not knowing what to eat or even how to prepare meals causes people to turn off the road onto a street that is familiar to them but that can cause physical harm with each bite. They give us a hand with amazing recipes that are easy to follow and delicious.

If you’ve ever thought about doing the Daniel Fast, this is a wonderful read. If you ever made the resolution to eat better so that you can feel better, then this book is required reading. In the gospel of John, the author reminds us of these words by Jesus, The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, I came that you might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10 NRSV). I quote this scripture because Jesus wants us to have an abundant life, and a part of an abundant life is a healthy life. Our health starts with our diet. Dr. Columbus Batiste of Health Heart Nation says, Our DNA isn’t our destiny, and we change genetic markers by changing our diets. This book is a perfect companion for your journey to get you to where you want to be. I pray that this is your last Daniel Fast and that it lasts a lifetime.

—Rev. Aaron Naeem Robinson, Senior Pastor

Mt. Welcome Missionary Baptist Church

Introduction

This book goes against the grain. Before you dive in, we want to share our story so you can understand where we’re coming from and why we wrote this book.

Sersie’s Story

The Daniel Fast has a special place in my heart because it changed my life! It was the Daniel Fast that started my health journey. Like most Americans addicted to the standard American diet, I was eating foods that were damaging my body, mind, and spirit. I had an extremely poor relationship with food. During my pregnancy, my doctor diagnosed me with high blood pressure and placed me on medications for my last trimester. Pregnant mothers with high blood pressure are at a higher risk of complications before, during, and after birth. African American women are more likely to develop high blood pressure during pregnancy.

Birthing complications caused my son to lose oxygen to the brain, leading to illness and twenty-four-hour care after birth. This was the most difficult season—my life hit rock bottom when he died at the age of one. I became depressed, disconnected, and desperate. Because my need to self-medicate with food was at an all-time high (oftentimes, trauma creates a deeper disconnect between the body and soul), I became the heaviest I’d ever been in my life. There were also times in which I found myself reaching out to food to fill that void. I wasn’t eating to live—I was living to eat!

As a woman of faith, I know I must honor God. And I wanted to honor the memory of my son’s life by getting healthy. That’s why I was open to exploring the Daniel Fast offered by a friend. It was here that my road to fuller healing truly began. In 2011, after completing thirty days of the fast, not only was I drawing closer to God, but my blood pressure was regulated! My weight was shedding effortlessly. My emotional health grew stronger; I was no longer depressed, and I had tons of energy. My brain fog disappeared, my mental clarity