(Taken from Day 7 of The Daniel Plan Jumpstart Guide)
Prayer: Father, help me to accept that many manmade foods are addictive and cause harm to my body. Transform my mind to care for my body and embrace the truth that many foods are good for my body, mind, and spirit. Lord, through your power I know I can change and embrace the abundance you have provided.
Clean out your kitchen. Out with the old, and in with the new! The first step in creating a Daniel Plan pantry, fridge, and freezer is to clean out the stuff that is not serving you well. This means reading labels, checking expiration dates, and tossing the bad stuff, then refilling with healthy new items—which you have already been adding to your diet. Simply getting rid of harmful foods from your eating life will make a tremendous difference in your health and eating habits. Do this with your dry pantry, where you store canned goods, whole grains, and nonperishables. Then go through your refrigerator and freezer too.
To start, read labels for unhealthy ingredients. Aim for labels with five ingredients or less, or at least ingredients that you recognize as real food. (Go to Day 16 for more on reading labels.)
•Remove anything that says HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), trans fats (partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated fats).
•Banish sugary breakfast cereals, unhealthy cookies and crackers, fried chips, and junk food.
•Exile high-sugar or high-sodium condiments.
•Evict unhealthy oils, such as standard mass-market “vegetable” oil and shortening.
•Say goodbye to the “white menaces”: white sugar, white flour, white rice, and white pasta. These white foods act like sugar in the body. Bottom line: Sugar is an occasional treat. When you have sugar, stick with traditional natural forms: raw sugar, raw honey, natural fruit sugars, or pure maple syrup.
•Discard liquid calories: regular and diet sodas, sports drinks and other sweetened beverages, juice.
•Remove foods with the following additives: artificial sweeteners (except stevia), sodium and calcium caseinate, soy protein isolate, phosphoric acid, sulfites, nitrates/nitrites, artificial colors, flavors and dyes, and carrageenan.
Now breathe a big sigh of relief. You just removed dozens of harmful foods from your kitchen. Your body and mind will thank you. Don’t forget to record this big move in your journal and share it with your friends.
Today’s Step: Clean out your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer.
