If you are struggling with health problems because of an eating or weight problem, you need to get educated. You need to know yourself and your body and how it functions. You need to know how many calories and grams of fat your body can handle and what to do to keep within those limits.

That doesn't mean you have to go around with a calculator and a sheet of paper in your hands for the rest of your life. Once you know what you can and can't handle, it will become almost automatic.

Although you may have to carry a calculator and a piece of paper for a time, after a while you will know when and what you can eat and how much. That way you can plan your eating, keep your weight under control, and become a healthier person.

It is not a question of depriving yourself. It is a matter of exercising a little bit of restraint. If you will do that, I believe that the Holy Spirit will lead you and help you maintain a balanced diet so you can live in health and joy.

God's Diet Plan:

1. Eat when you are truly hungry.
2. Ask yourself, "What do I really want to eat?" Eat what you want instead of what you think you ought to eat. If you really listen, your body will let you know what it needs and wants.
3. Enjoy what you eat.
4. Eat sitting down. People tend to eat more than they realize when they eat standing up.
5. Eat slowly. Your brain receives a signal you are full in about twenty minutes.
6. Stop eating when you are no longer hungry. Take a small portion, but plan to go back for a second potion. Often you don't want to go back!
7. Go about your business doing other things. Keep your mind off food. Because you aren't hungry, you may not think about food again until it's actually time to eat the next meal when you again become hungry.
8. Enjoy other things besides eating. There is nothing wrong with going out to eat as entertainment as long as it is one of your forms of entertainment. Increase your enjoyment of your other interests.
9. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. He will tell you what is right for you and lead you into victory and freedom, not into gaining weight!
10. Step out in faith to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. If He leads you one day to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast instead of half a grapefruit and toast, or an occasional small piece of your favorite pie after a satisfying dinner, do it.

Source: Eat and Stay Thin by Joyce Meyer.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers