Welcome to the Daniel Plan with Well Within.
I have taught this course several times at different churches and am excited to try doing it in this forum. The source book for this material is “The Daniel Plan” by Rick Warren, Daniel Amen M.D. and Mark Hyman M.D..
My goal is to participate in the program with you and give some tips and insights along the way. I encourage all who participate to get the book as we will be using it extensively and the material is more in depth than I can relay.
Let’s start with a foundational principle regarding food, I quote from the book:
“Food can reinvigorate your health, reconnect families, restore vibrant communities, improve the economy, improve the health of the environment, reduce pollution, and even help our kids get better grades and avoid eating disorders, obesity and drug abuse.
How many of us have ever considered that food can heal? This is the biggest scientific discovery since the germ theory of disease and antibiotics: food is medicine. Food is the most powerful drug on the planet. It can improve the expression of thousands of genes, balance dozens of hormones and optimize tens of thousands of protein networks. It can cure most chronic diseases, and it works faster, better and cheaper than any drug – and all the side effects are good ones.
Food contains messages, instructions, and information that tell your body what to do every moment to increase vitality or create disease. Every bit you take is a powerful opportunity to create healing or infirmity. Real, whole food that comes from the earth – food that was created by God – heals, while industrial-processed food created in factories by man harms.
”
So there it is, principle number one: Eat food the way God made it!!!!
I want to introduce the concept of the Daniel Plan plate. If you divide your plate into four quadrants, one quadrant would be protein, ideally eggs or fish or lean meat. One quadrant would be a complex starch, such as brown rice or sweet potato or peas. The other two quadrants would be vegetables such as spinach, zucchini, onions, green beans, mushrooms, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, salad etc.
More tomorrow, good luck and let me know what you think and suggest any improvements.
-Noel