Day 1 of ‘Live to Eat’ plan!

Everything is nicely measured! About 500 calories!

I had lost a lot of weight last year, but unfortunately, I have gained some back. I keep a scale in the house and fret about my weight often. I can’t allow myself to gain it all back and have to lose what I’ve put back on. I would say I’ve gained back about half. That’s not good. Having a spinal cord injury can make it easier to gain weight, and it does nothing to help with joint pain, back pain etc. Thus, there are many reasons why I have to keep my weight down.

This is the only meal I’ve had today so far. I am back on a 1.310 calorie per day only plan. You can see I carefully measured an 8 oz. cup of coffee and an ‘ounce’ of Colby Jack cheese. Unfortunately, this tedious work is necessary when you have an eating disorder of any sort. My problem is I’ll do well for a while, but my emotions can stop me up and cause me to eat more. I need to stop that.

I naturally follow a Mediterranean diet plan and mainly use extra virgin olive oil. I am sure to get in two to four 2-4 oz. meat/poultry/fish per day, usually. But today I’m fasting from meat due to my Catholic heritage and that’s ok. But I realize how good meat is for you and that we’ve basically been lied to about what to eat for years. I will share a podcast made by some food experts at the end of this article that will help you. Better yet, here is the link right here: https://youtu.be/OeajV1O2320.

Nina Teicholz teaching on Saturated fat.

This is a low calorie breakfast I had, and I more than likely will have two fish fillets for dinner. I had a banana as a snack and some wheat crisps. On a 1,310 calorie plan per day, I can’t afford to eat much. One thing I have learned about food is you cannot let it choose you, you have to choose it. A lot of the idea that we ‘need’ a pizza or need to eat right now is psychological.

Don’t get me wrong. We can be truly hungry. It’s important to realize when we are not hungry and just think we need to eat. I am mastering that. Going into a supermarket these days can seem anything but heathy with a majority of it having processed foods. But everything in moderation. It’s ok to snack or have dessert but we are not to over do it. Once I stopped using the My Fitness Pal app and stopped measuring I got myself into trouble.

I have a doctor’s appointment in mid May, and around this time last year my doctor had set me up with a dietician because he said I needed to lose weight. I took off about 40 pounds, but now I have gained some back. Well only half of it, anyway. But I am still not too happy with myself right now. If I don’t get my weight down by mid May I know my doctor will set me up with s dietician again. So I am going to be my own dietician starting now. I’ve learned so much!

As a matter of fact, the food pyramid needs to be flipped upside down. We are told to eat six grains per day and the least amount of animal food that we can. Just look at the food in our schools:orange juice, greasy pizza, fried chicken strips. This has all been FDA approved.

Dietary cholesterol in egg yolk is actually good for you. You need the protein. There are vitamins and nutrients in eggs you cannot get anywhere else. Apparently there’s a medicine that has ‘statins’ that supposedly gets your cholesterol down. I believe we are to eat real food, though. Cheese is dairy and an animal meal, also. Rather than snacking on chips or sugar, we should try to snack on something cheesy or even something like a slim Jim (meat instead). I think they call them a carnivore strip nowadays.

There have been ‘experts’ in the past who have taught and are still teaching that animal fat is bad for you, meat, eggs, and cheese can cause heart attacks, they say. Not true. On the contrary.

Think vegetables, low carbs, and meat/poultry/fish. Snack as little as possible. Do not eat every two hours. It is also a myth that it speeds up your metabolism it actually just keeps your insulin levels higher. Not good at all. Don’t believe that all low fat, fat free, sugarless products are better. Some are OK, but skinny meals, hmm… Not my thing. The alternatives to some of those ingredients can be worse.

2-3 meals per day, each well under 1,000 calories with protein, some veggies, eggs, etc. is part of my plan. Unsalted almonds or nuts are a healthier snack. I use unsalted butter also. Yogurt, Greek Yogurt is superb! Low fat cheese is ok. But it does not have to be ‘low fat.’ Don’t use vegetable or canola oil. If you’re going to have chocolate, go dark chocolate with cocoa. That’s all for now. I hope this helped you all!⚕️👩‍⚕️👩‍🍳

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book(s), Not Without God: A Story of Survival and Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on The Neil Haley (media giant’s) Show, The Intuitive Edge podcast, and on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’broadcast as well as Grace and Truth Radio World!

Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among many other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors can network and learn together.

Zina writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also likes to write about health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book was just published last year.

The importance of fasting for health ⚕️☕️👩‍⚕️

You need to cut 500-1,000 calories per day to lose weight and it would average one or more pounds a week. It averages at least a few pounds of weight loss per week, actually! I know because I’ve done it before and was on a losing weight streak for months! I’m going back to my intermittent fasting plan again. I’m good with eating meat so that keeps my calorie intake in check because you naturally burn meat calories off—but I need to go back to fasting after 6:30 pm, anyway. It also gives your body a break, insulin rises every time you eat. So here I’m having a ‘honey vanilla chamomile tea.’ It is next to 0 calories and so yummy!☕️ The nice thing about intermittent fasting is you can still have black coffee, sugarless tea, and water in the evening to curb your appetite. It works! #intermittentfasting #tea #healthylifestyle #redmeat #diet #health #mediterranean #paleo #fastingforhealth

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Happy Forth! Eat well!🌟🇺🇸🌱

Happy Fourth of July!☄️ There is a war in America. It’s a war on food. This was my breakfast today. We are taught to not eat animal products and that vegetarianism or being a vegan is healthier! Simply not true. No evidence supports the idea that eggs, cheese, or red meat cause cancer or even heart disease; on the contrary, people who gravitate towards ‘low fat,’ no sugar, sugar-free, low protein, and more of a plant-based diet have been proven to get sicker. High fructose corn syrup is widely used; and it’s even worse than sugar. Sugar is ok in moderation, in my opinion. Too much of anything is not good. Mostly all processed food contains high fructose corn syrup. Vegetable oil is another item widely used that’s not good for you. I only use extra virgin olive oil unless I’m making a cake mix that calls for vegetable oil. I don’t eat out at restaurants much. The way food is cooked in most restaurants is with vegetable-heated oils and not healthy for you. My idea is to reduce carbs (I’m in a constant struggle with myself to stay away from snacks, but I do snack a little!). Again, we have to find that balance. The point is, when you gravitate more towards protein/nutrients in healthy ‘fat’ through meat/poultry/fish, etc. you eat less because your body feels fuller. There is iron, B1, B12, and a whole bunch of other vitamins in meats. It’s incredibly healthy! You can even turn around diabetes. The other thing I do is fast more in the nighttime hours. I eat very little and do not eat dinner late at night.

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s just been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

The Importance of Fasting for Health!⚕️

Intermittent fasting will get rid of any type of inflammation you have associated with -itis. Tendinitis, arthritis, colitis, etc. It will improve your skin, hair, nails, and organs. It increases fat burning and promotes anti aging. It is more effective than exercise! it helps with brain cells and improves cognitive function. It can kill cancer cells and reverse diabetes. The less you eat the better, and an 8 hour OR LESS window of eating would be ideal. I tend to do the 16:8. I eat during the hours of 10 to 6 and stop from 6pm and on. Giving me 16 hours of no food! Your body naturally goes into ketosis and stops burning carbohydrates for fuel. It will burn fat (it starts to burn it’s own fat), the right kind of fuel. Every time you eat you trigger insulin and the more times you eat in a day, the less chance you have of losing weight. Snacking is the worst thing you can do.:) I will attach Dr. Berg’s video. It just reinforces what I already knew. Intermittent fasting is the way to go! https://youtu.be/xF0OJh19Ubw

I had breakfast this morning and packed my lunch because I knew I’d be out. Here it is. Just to give you a sample of my ‘health meal.’🍅🐤🌾🍋 #brownrice #bakedchicken #tomatoes #lemon

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written more than 500 articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Intermittent Fasting (benefits) & Calorie restriction! #health⚕️


I have been decreasing my amount of breakfast lately: for example, instead of having two eggs for breakfast, I am only having one. I don’t add ground beef every day, as a matter of fact, sometimes I skip breakfast altogether. Some of this is to continue to maintain my low calorie intake of 1,440 calories or less per day. Some of the reasons I’m decreasing is also because of the benefits of fasting or reducing food. Fasting has been proven to improve our health greatly. After eight hours of fasting, your body naturally goes into “ketosis,” so intermittent fasting is like doing “keto” without following a keto diet.

As of today, I have set my “eating” hours from 10 am to 6 pm. That will put me at a 16:8 plan. Eight hours of eating and 16 hours of no food. Again, after 8 hours of no food, your body naturally goes into ketosis and stops buring carbohydrates for fat. Instead, it burns fat and makes things called ketones, which it can use for fuel. That’s what we weant. Ketosis is a word you’ve probably seen while you’re looking for info. on diabetes or weight loss. Typically I have breakfast and lunch with a snack in the evening. I would like to get to the point where breakfast and lunch are cut by 200-400 calories each time.

I achieved that. The picture I posted above is of my breakfast. I had one egg: 70 calories. I had almost half of a sweet onion: that is about 18 calories in the picture above. I had a third of a Roma tomato: again, only around 8 calories. I also had a slice of split top wheat bread: 8o calories. With coffee (with limited cream and sugar), that is 50 calories. That’s a low 224 calories. As you can see, by taking out the regular 2 oz. beef and extra slice of wheat (or second egg), I have cut my calories significantly. However, I will incorporate ground beef maybe for lunch or tomorrow. The benefits of ground beef are incredible. Red meat provides iron and other nutrition. I have been anemic before and don’t want to get back on iron pills, so having red meat several times per week is important for me.

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written more than 500 articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! Order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

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