Every year, the one New Year’s resolution I make for myself is to lose weight. There are so many diet and exercise methods — I can not speak for all of them — but one thing for sure is we should know our bodies and figure out what’s best by doing research and finding common ground with ourselves.

Losing weight is easier said than done, I know. There's a lot of bullets you have to dodge such as cravings, temptations, and starving yourself. You have to know what to eat and when to eat it. For example, knowing what fruits and vegetables are in season. Also knowing what is actually in the food that you eat. Remember, losing weight is all about diet and exercise. Diet and exercise. Before you run to the gym making it hard to lose weight, take a moment to analyze your food intake.

Personally, my observation is that dairy, sugar, and meat makes me bloated and gain weight. How I figured this out, is by doing The Daniel Fast. I came across The Daniel Fast my junior year in college. In college, I wasn’t so concerned with my weight, but one night I was in a friend's suite and one of the suitemates asked if I wanted to join them on The Daniel Fast. According to Wikipedia, The Daniel Fast is "a religious partial fast that is popular among Evangelical Protestants in the United States in which meat, wine, and other rich foods are avoided in favor of vegetables and water for typically three weeks in order to lose weight and draw the believer closer to the God of Christianity.”
After doing The Daniel Fast, my diet went from eating whatever I want to switching to fruits, vegetables, natural seasoning, and water.
Silly me for not having a game plan, I just jumped in and grabbed what I could eat. I made it through the month questioning if Hot Sauce was vegan-friendly or not. I still don’t know if it is. My body detoxed all the toxins, and when I reached the end of the month, my stomach was completely flat.
But believe me, it was hard. One thing that made me want to quit The Daniel Fast was my cravings. All the stuff I was not supposed to eat — I wanted. My solution for that was I scheduled to treat myself to that given craving on a specific day. So the day the fast was officially over, I planned ahead to eat a donut, the next Saturday nachos, and the following Saturday a corn beef sandwich from Katz’s — and that would for two months. By the time the day came for the donut, all I wanted was some tea and maybe a bagel.
If you are reading this and thinking to yourself I can't do The Daniel Fast, or I do not have the time: I recommend you at least consider altering your dairy, sugar and meat intake. And remember to do your research on the best healthy diet options that work for you.

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