How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it: a simple way to lose weight and be healthier. Join me in the Fasting Lifestyle.

Shakespeare coined the term ‘salad days‘ in the play Antony and Cleopatra in 1606. He used it to mean the time when we were callow, carefree, and young. Nowadays, it is used in the headlines of summer food articles, all touting beat-the-heat dinners.  Doesn’t Summer seem to be the very essence of the term ‘salad days’?  Indeed, we take advantage of the summer’s bounty and eat from the garden a lot these days, and salads seem cooler and lighter to eat when the weather is hot.  But beware! A nice healthy bowl of lettuces can be transformed into a danger zone by contaminated leaves [carrying Salmonella and other pathogens], not enough nutrition, and great lashings of fatty, sugary dressing.   Salad greens are not just the property of dinner or lunch, you know. Swiss chard, spinach, and kale can make an appearance at breakfast, too, in omelettes, quiches, or frittatas. True, those are not salads, but they do involve leafy greens. Please be sure to wash fresh greens thoroughly to remove any pathogens that might be harboring there.

Today we will eat spinach at breakfast in baked eggs, since baking is a good way to kill bacteria. And for dinner a real salad with lots of nutrient-dense and delicious add-ins.

Spinach Fritatta:  175 calories…  9.6 g fat…  3.3 g fiber…  15.5 g protein…  9.6 g carbs… 251 mg Calcium…   PB GF  Whether it is breakfast or dinner, Spinach Fritatta checks off all the boxes.

1 two-oz egg ++++ 1/3 cup cooked spinach, squeezed and chopped  [start with 2 cups raw spinach] ++++  2 Tbsp cottage cheese ++++ 1/8 oz [2 Tbsp] chopped scallions, white or green parts ++++ ¼ oz Manchego OR Cheddar cheese, grated  ++++ dash of grated nutmeg + dash of granulated garlic  ++++ 2 oz strawberries OR kiwi slice  + strawberry slice, as shown  ++++ optional: blackish coffee or blackish tea ++++ optional:   5-6 oz fruit smoothie, green smoothie or natural apple cider ++

Cook the spinach, drain it, and squeeze it in your hands to remove excess water. [TIP: save the drained water for baking or for cooking vegetables/pasta] Chop the spinach and mix with scallions, both cheeses, nutmeg, and garlic. Lightly spray a baking dish with oil or non-stick spray. Pour the vegetable-cheese mixture into the dish and arrange so it is evenly distributed. Whisk the egg and pour over the mixture. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Plate with the berries and pour the beverages.

Santa Barbara Salad: 280 calories …  13.5 g fat…   5.7 g fiber…   16 g protein…   21.3 g carbs…   105.8 mg Calcium… PB GF From a Washington Post food column, this salad sings of California. HINT: This amount serves 2 [two]. Invite a friend or save for lunch later in the week.

++ ½ head Boston or butter crunch lettuce  ++++  1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes   ++++  ½ medium apple, cored and diced  ++++  ½ cup diced chicken breast   ++++ ¼ cup chickpeas  ++++  1 oz soft goat cheese  ++++  1.5 tsp pinenuts  ++++ 1 Medjool date  ++++  1 hard-boiled egg, sliced  ++++  per serving: 1.5 tsp cinnamon dressing see SPICY from 23 May, 2018 ++

First prepare the dressing and refrigerate. Next, toast the pinenuts until they just begin to brown. Take off heat and set aside. Shred the lettuce and put in a bowl along with all the other ingredients. Toss with 1.5 tsp dressing per serving. Play a Beach Boys song and wear your sunglasses.

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

1 two-oz egg	1.5 two-oz eggs
mushrooms	tomatoes
1 crêpe [see Sidekicks II, 4 Oct, 2018]	anchovies
	mango or melon
Whatever you need for your smoothie	Whatever you need for your hot beverage
Whatever you need for your hot beverage	Whatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

salt cod  + garlic cloves	lima beans
potato  + cauliflower	canned white beans
milk  + olive oil	green snap beans
fennel seed  + black pepper	corn kernels
carrot	corned beef
slicing tomato	polenta [Sidekicks II, Oct 4, 2017]
Sparkling water	Sparkling water