Review: The Daniel Plan By Rick Warren, Daniel Amen, and Mark Hyman

Back in 2011, Saddleback Church launched a holistic wellness program called The Daniel Plan. As a church, thousands of parishioners participated in this program, and even some people remotely based participated in the program as well. I was among that group. I had tuned in to a webcast that my dad told me about, and I was pretty amazed about what I discovered with regard to diet and wellness.  Three months after starting the program, I had changed my diet pretty significantly, started an exercise program, and I had lost 25 pounds along the way.

Three years later, I was excited to see that The Daniel Plan had become a book, and was featured on The Dr. Oz Show. And, although I haven't "fully" participated in the full-fledged Daniel Plan, I highly recommend the five-fold focus of the plan. I feel like the holistic nature of it makes it pretty unique.

Faith--This component makes the program pretty unique. The plan is built on the foundation of faith, with the idea that God gives us the ability to do what we can't do on our own through the power of His Spirit.
Food--Of course any wellness plan requires a dietary change. This plan takes the focus away from any type of "fad" foods or supplements and focuses on whole foods over processed foods, and reducing sugar among other things.
Fitness--This part of the plan builds on the foundation of faith and food, and encourages simple fitness efforts like walking for 30 minutes each day with en emphasis on walking with purpose and as though late, and making the fitness efforts fun.
Focus--With the Daniel Plan there is an additional aspect of developing a habit of mental wellness, eliminating negative thought patterns and cultivating gratitude and mental wellness.
Friends--Any wellness plan becomes more likely to be successful when conducted with friends. The Daniel Plan encourages individuals to develop a community to help motivate one another toward their wellness goals.

Looking for a tool to help you pursue mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness in community? Check out The Daniel Plan. I think it is a strong guide to diet, fitness, faith, mental focus, and growth in the context of community.

WVU Human Performance Lab, Daniel Plan, and Bod Pod Part 2

So a couple weeks ago I made it back into the Human Performance Lab at West Virginia University where my fiancée Jamie works. She’s finishing up her Master’s in Exercise Physiology this May.

I went in for a second Bod Pod body fat analysis and was really encouraged by the results. After my one month membership at the Human Performance Lab (which is only $30—and well worth the rate!), I reported a decrease in weight of about seven pounds.  And I also lost about nine pounds of fat over the course of the month.

I actually gained two pounds of muscle mass over the course of the month of February.

My first analysis at the beginning of February, yielded these results. 

Percent Fat: 27.2%

Fat Weight: 52.4 lbs

Lean Weight: 140.1 lbs

Total: 192.4 lbs

And now, here are my new numbers

Percent Fat: 23.5%

Fat Weight: 43.6 lbs

Lean Weight: 141.1 lbs

Total: 185.6 lbs

Needless to say, I’m really impressed with my progress thus far. I’m still about 15 pounds from where I’d like to be, but the weather is starting to warm up, and that will make cardio a little more tantalizing.

It’s hard to believe I started at 211.4 pounds back in January. 

My secrets are really no secret. I stopped eating heavily processed food, and began eating more fresh whole foods and I've been working hard to implement ideas from The Daniel Plan.  I also started exercising regularly and getting a little more normal sleep pattern started. It’s amazing what a difference little changes like this can make. Looking to get more fit? Start exercising, stop eating heavily processed foods, and mind your portions.  That’s been my solution.

Blood Screening

As part of the Daniel Plan starting point, it was suggested that we get some of our baseline numbers to know how much of an impact this diet has had on our health.  Jamie and I drove down to Fairmont General Hospital to take advantage of their general blood screening and lipid screening tests.  The plan also suggested getting a starting point number for height (not anticipating a change) weight, blood pressure, and waist size.

We both have some great numbers to start with.  Our fasting glucose is in the eighties, and our cholesterol is rocking too.  My total cholesterol is 156, but I need to make some advances in HDL mine is only 39 (Jamie’s is 62!!!).

We both are feeling good about the baseline numbers we have, but we are curious to see what a year of healthy eating will do.  When I started the Daniel Plan, I weighed in at 197, and my waste size was 39 inches (taking the measurement an inch over the navel).  My blood pressure was 120/80, and I’ve been rocking out 6’2” for several years now.

The funny thing about getting bloodwork done was that there weren’t many young people doing it.  Most of us wait until we start having health issues, or questions about some of our numbers before we get our blood tested, but it’s a good idea to get work done to know your numbers in advance.  I had work done three years ago because my mom had breast cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and I thought that if I could discover early warning signs and work proactively to prevent similar problems, then I wanted to do it.  In 2008, my cholesterol was 175, so over the last three years, I’ve made some significant improvements.

When was the last time you had your blood checked?  I know it’s not super exciting to wake up early to go to a community blood screening and get stabbed with a needle, but it’s worthwhile to know how your health is looking.  I know I was dreading the numbers when I went to get tested, but I knew that if my numbers were not great, I was in a solid place to begin some lifestyle changes.  Will you do yourself a favor, and check your numbers if you don’t typically do so? Maybe you will see some early warning signs that could prevent problems later. 

The Daniel Plan

Ok, so I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz around different diet and wellness plans, but I’ve latched hold of this one as a tool to help me in my pursuit of fitness, weight loss, and overall health goals.  I included a video from one of the physicians who shares some basic information for why a healthy lifestyle is important.

The plan was initiated by Rick Warren and the congregation of Saddleback Church in an effort for Rick to lose 90 lbs in a healthy way, and encourage people of faith to pursue a healthier lifestyle.  The plan has three top notch physicians (Daniel Amen, Mark Hyman, and Mehmet Oz) sharing their wisdom and encouraging participants toward a healthy lifestyle.

So what exactly is the Daniel Plan?  It’s a fifty two week lifestyle change that starts with six weeks involvement in a small group ton encourage the continuation of the plan.  The plan consists of exercise, relaxation, rest, and eating natural whole foods.  The exercise so far hasn’t been that intense--walking 30 minutes a day, like you are going somewhere, and like you are late.  The relaxation and rest?  Taking a few seconds at the start or end of the day, to just breathe deeply and do nothing.  Personally, I’ve incorporated these deep breaths into my prayer time.  I’ve also been diligent to be in bed before 11PM (sometimes even earlier).  I try to get up early in the morning, stretch and get some weight training in (as a supplement to the base of the plan).

The big thing is food though.  But the food portion of the plan doesn’t feel all that gimmicky.  It involves eating whole, natural foods.  Here are some of the basic rules of the Daniel Plan.

Don’t drink your calories (no soft-drinks or juice).

Don’t use canola or soy oil to cook (or shortening).

No high fructose corn-syrup.

No hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Stop eating sugar (and splenda, and aspartame, etc).  [the reason behind this is pretty fascinating].

If it’s got more than five ingredients on the box, then don’t eat it.

If it contains ingredients that your grandparents wouldn’t recognize as food growing up, then don’t eat it.

So what can you eat?  Fruits & vegetables, fish, chicken, whole foods, nuts, and much much more.  Here’s a great list of foods to eat.  Think about eating foods that are located around the edge of the supermarket. Jamie and I have been changing our eating habits, and we can both tell a major difference in how we feel.  We have more energy, more focus, and we have lost weight—at a fairly reasonable pace. 

I just thought I’d write a little bit about it, because I’m very impressed with the videos and information that Saddleback Church has been sharing with the world so everyone can improve their health!

The Bod Pod & My Body Fat Analysis

Ok, so it probably looks like something from Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory, but in the photo above, I'm in a Bod Pod.  It's a body fat analyzer.  I'm joining the WVU Human Performance Lab for the next month in an effort to move toward my new years goal of losing weight.  The Bod Pod, is a small egg-shaped capsule (kind of like from Mork & Mindy) that measures airflow to determine a person's % body fat.  It's one of the most accurate tools for measuring % body fat.  BTW did you know you could get a membership at the HPL for $30/month?

It was kind of cool when I went into the lab because I helped a number of interns learn the process of performing a twelve lead EKG as well as a Bod Pod Analysis.  My EKG came out great, and I received the latest update on my journey away from 211 pounds.  I now weigh 192.4 pounds, and according to the analysis, 52.4 lbs are fat.  I've gotta admit, I get a little grossed out when I think about 52.4 pounds of fat hanging on my body.

RIght now I am composed of 27.2% fat, so technically I qualify as overweight.  AND, more than likely, when I stopped consuming sugar at the beginning of the year, I was over 30% fat which would have made me obese.

I'm not in the minority though.  According to recent CDC statistics 34% of Americans are obese, and an additional 34% are overweight.  Being overweight leads to all kinds of health problems.  In some ways we are eating our way to a multitude of health problems later in life.

That's why I'm trying to stem the tide now.  I don't look overweight, and I didn't look obese when I weighed 211.  Being overweight is one of the top preventable risk factors for a number of diseases including diabetes, heart disease, alzheimer's, and a number of cancers.  I recently discovered this group research study and plan taking place with the congregation of Saddleback Church in California called the Daniel Plan.  Their pastor, Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, has a goal of losing 90 lbs during 2011.  Their church launched this plan with the help of some of the top medical doctors in the world.

But I digress, I just wanted to keep folks posted as I attempt to track on my goal (a little accountability), and I wanted to suggest the Daniel Plan as a resource for anyone to check out. I might do another post about it next week too.  Plus, I just thought the bod pod looked pretty cool. :)