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. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

On a recent trip to Normandy, France, we stayed in a cottage in the village of Banneville-sur-Ajon. One of the local sights of which we were told was the chapel of Saint Clair. Naturally I thought this was Saint Clare, the friend of Francis of Assisi. Nope. This is Saint Clair of Epte, France. He was originally from England — Manchester, perhaps — and he lived in the 800s. The man was devout and wanted to be a religious hermit. But he was pursued by a wealthy woman who wanted him for her husband. To avoid her sexual harassment, Clair fled to France. Landing at the Seine estuary, he worked his way up the Epte River, leaving a string of miracles in his wake. [This was not a great way to hide from anybody, much less a vengeful woman.] Clair made a solitary life for himself near a spring and lived there happily until the arrival of henchmen from the spurned Englishwoman. Since they couldn’t convince Clair to go back and marry her, they cut off his head. Clair’s body picked it up and walked to the spring to wash it off. Ever after that, the spring had miraculous healing powers. The admirers of Clair declared him a saint and built chapels to him in Normandy, always near a water source. In Banneville, the Ajon River flows prettily through a precipitous valley near-by. Perhaps because of [or in spite of??] Clare’s unhappiness in love, local engaged couples leave offerings of eggs at the chapel prior to their weddings to gain Saint Clare’s blessing on their life together. We were charmed to see a generous basket left at the chapel door by a betrothed pair. I hope they will be a happy married couple.

Breakfast involves eggs, of course, with some salmon from a prior dinner. Dinner features fish, since good St Clare is associated with water. These are examples of how we can continue the Fasting Lifestyle even on vacation.

Ingredients for next week: Breakfast, single portion for Monday ……… single portion for Thursday:

1.5 two-oz egg	1.5 two-oz eggs
haggis [Spicy 18-Sept-2018	smoked chicken sausage
applesauce	oregano + parsley
Parmesan cheese	applesauce
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

Dinner, single portion for Monday: …….. single portion for Thursday:

Martin’s whole wheat potato sliders or 100 calorie slider rolls	Herring marinated in wine + lettuce
3.5 oz beef BBQ in sauce <60 calories/oz	onion + apple + vinegar + dill pickle
cherry tomatoes	beets, canned or cooked fresh
carrots	white beans + hard-boiled egg
Sparkling water	Sparkling water