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.

Tomorrow will be the Feast of the Epiphany, aka: Three Kings’ Day or the 12th Day of Christmas [got room for those 12 Drummers Drumming?] or the start of Carnival Season. In the church, it marks the day that the three Magi arrived in Nazareth to visit the child Jesus. [Contrary to what is shown on the Christmas Cards and in most artwork, this visit occurred around two years after the nativity in Bethlehem. Jesus was then a toddler.] In a wider sense, ‘epiphany’ means ‘an awakening.’ Have you come to a new understanding of something? That was an epiphany.

The Kings are described as coming “from the Orient” which simply means anywhere East of Judea. They were most likely astronomers from Persia who had seen the planet Jupiter [a king] move into the constellation Pisces or Aries [which the Persians associated with Israel]. This celestial event lead them to the knowledge that a new king was born in Israel. In honor of the greeting card notion that one or all of them were from Cathay/China, our meals hale from the Eastern end of Asia. In the dinner, you have choices. I suggest that you limit yourself to three types of items, to remember the “Kings who traversed afar”.

Foo Yung Bake:  129 calories 5 g fat 2.4 g fiber 10 g protein 12 g carbs [11 g complex] 56.8 mg Calcium  NB: The food values shown are for the egg bake and the fruit, not for the optional beverages.  PB  Straight out of China, a no-fuss bake.

One 2-oz egg 2 Tbsp crab meat 1 tsp soy sauce ¼ oz mushrooms ¼ cup sprouts [I used broccoli sprouts — suit yourself] 1 Tbsp scallion, sliced across pinch ground ginger + pinch granulated garlic 2 oz pear OR 1 clementine   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water  Optional: 5-6 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Lightly mix the crab meat with the sprouts, scallion, and mushroom. Lightly oil or spritz an oven-proof dish. Distribute the crab mixture over the bottom of the dish. Whisk the egg with the soy sauce, ginger, and garlic powder, and pour over the sprouts and crab. Add salt and pepper if you wish. Bake at 350 F. for 12 minutes. Plate with the pear and pour the optional beverages.

Dim Sum Choices: Dining at a dim sum recipe is all about choices: the trolley arrives covered with savory dishes – how do you decide?! You can make those choices easily at home if you have a freezer that contains a little of this and a bit of that. My egg roll/Spring roll recipes prepare 5, of which we eat 4 at a meal. One left over to save for a Dim Sum Dinner. The wonton recipe makes 26, so save some for Dim Sum night. Same for the momos. Got some frozen pot stickers? Good choice. Add steamed vegetables and your own sauce and you will be all set for a fun meal. Make some choices from the following, being sure to add up to 300 or less calories, including the dipping sauce of choice and some cherry tomatoes or steamed vegetables:

1 chicken momo: 34 calories 0.2 fat 0.2 fiber 2.4 g protein 4.5 g carbs 15.7 mg Calcium 

2 Tbsp balls of chicken momo filling: 25 calories 0.2 g fat 0.2 g fiber 3.6 g protein 1.4 g carbs 8.6 mg Calcium 

1 beef egg roll: 136 calories 4.6 g fat 1 g fiber 9.4 g protein 17.5 g carbs 23 mg Calcium 

1 shrimp spring roll: 88 calories 2 g fat 1 g fiber 7 g protein 8.4 g carbs 33 mg Calcium 

1 pork wonton: 41 calories 6.6 g fat 0 g fiber 3.4 g protein 7 g carbs 0 mg Calcium 

1 purchased pork dumpling/pot sticker: read the label 

1 oz purchased Asian BBQ pork: 46 calories 1.5 g fat 0 g fiber 6.5 g protein 8.4 g carbs 0 mg Calcium

2 oz chicken + 1 tsp satay sauce: 76 calories 1 g fat 0 g fiber 13 g protein 0.7 g carbs 6 mg Calcium