I get a kick out of novels from the early 1900s.  One old goodie is The Melting of Mollie, in which our heroine seeks advice on how to lose weight before her boyfriend returns from a sea voyage.  The kindly, wise young doctor suggests one hard-boiled egg for breakfast, a peach for lunch, and chicken breast for dinner with vegetables. This might be effective but you wouldn’t want to stay on it long — too little variety and too many foods off limits. One of the beauties of the Fasting Lifestyle that there are many food choices available to you.  Keep at it and you will melt like Mollie.  [Spoiler alert: she marries the doctor!]

Improper English 265 cal.   4.3 g. fat     17.2 g. protein    47.5 g. carbA “proper English” is the full Victorian breakfast, serving every conceivable food you can imagine. This version leaves out the eggs and kippers [how improper!], but keeps the protein-rich baked beans along with the rest of the usual stand-bys.

¼ cup baked beans                                                                                                                                           one 50-60 calorie sausage                                                                                                                                    ½ piece of 70-cal toast                                                                                                                                         ½ of a 2.5” diameter tomato     +     salt                                                                                                                            1 oz mushrooms                                                                                                                                                                      a few grapes                                                                                                                                                               5-6 oz fruit smoothie or unpasturized apple cider   or green smoothie                                                                                      blackish coffee or tea or lemon in hot water

Cut the tomato around its equator and put one half away for later. Salt the tomato and put under the broiler until it softens. Cook the sausage and mushrooms in the same pan to heat through. Heat the beans – perhaps in the microwave. Toast the bread and brew the hot beverage. Pour the smoothie and plate everything. Cheerio!

Pomelo-Shrimp Salad:     259 cal     5.9 fat     22.5 protein      26.6 carb   PB   GF

The pomelos were ripe in our son and daughter-in-law’s garden, so I used some to make this meal.   Since pomelos are uncommon, substitute grapefruit.   The recipe is from Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.  I’ll be perfectly honest:  my chief taster thought the pomelos tasted bitter.  In future, I will use grapefruits.

1 Tbsp fish sauce                                                                                                                                                  1.5 Tbsp lime juice                                                                                                                                                   1.5-2 tsp brown sugar                                                                                                                                                      1 cup grapefruit segments                                                                                                                                   1.5 tsp coconut                                                                                                                                                       1/4 oz dry roasted peanuts                                                                                                                                        2 tsp chopped shallot                                                                                                                                            1/2 cup fresh mint                                                                                                                                                     1/4 tsp Thai chile sauce                                                                                                                                              3 oz shrimp, cleaned — I used tiny cold water shrimp. If you use larger shrimp, cut them into smaller pieces.                                                                                                                                                 1 large leaf romaine lettuce                                                                                                                        chopped scallion

Mix the fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar in an oven-proof bowl. Add the shrimp and let marinate. Toast the coconut in a dry skillet until just beginning to brown.                               Peel and segment the pomelo/grapefruit and remove pulp from the membranes.                     Put the shrimp and marinade into the microwave and heat until cooked. Gently combine the shrimp, marinade, pomelo, coconut, peanuts, shallot, mint, and chile sauce in a wide bowl. Put the lettuce leaf on the plate and fill it with the salad. In the photo, you see some colorful chips. Those are veggie chips by Terra which add a nice crunch and a few more calories to the meal. Omit if you wish, but do not substitute potato chips!