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.

Edwin Drake had been sent by some ‘sharpsters‘ in New York City to Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. ‘They,’ a banker and a lawyer, had bought land along a body of water the locals called ‘Oil Creek.’ Seems there was a petroleum seep up-stream at the source of the creek. Everyone knew that petroleum was good for aching joints and that if you rubbed it on your chest, it would cure a cold. But those sharp operators from the City had other plans: oil for lighting, oil for machine lubrication — native oil to replace the dwindling supplies of expensive whale oil. And they were right in their assumptions. Drake, with no experience in petroleum extraction, cobbled together a team to build a drilling rig, similar to ones used locally to pump out salt brine. [We know today that salt deposits and petroleum reservoirs are linked geologically.] After drilling 80-some feet, quantities of oil seeped to the surface on August 27. OK, it wasn’t a ‘gusher’ of an oil well, but it did usher in the dominance of petroleum in the American economy, for better or for worse. In my opinion as an Earth Scientist, it might be good to leave a lot of the oil in the ground — in case we require it decades or centuries from now. Using it all up now is not the best of ideas IMHO. [Read the long, very interesting article from American Heritage: https://www.americanheritage.com/sitting-gusher]

Since oil and America are so inextricably linked, We will enjoy some all-American foods today: a star-studded line-up of cornmeal and hot dogs. This patriotism is further seen at the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, which is closed on all holidays except Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day.

Cornmeal Stars with Fruit Yogurt: 133 calories 3.3 g fat 4.2 g fiber 7.6 g protein 21 g carbs [8 g Complex] 46 mg Calcium NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB GF Cornbread and stars are SO American, that they fit in with any patriotic meal.

Cornmeal Stars: 1 egg white 1 egg yolk, stirred 1 Tbsp white whole-wheat flour 3 Tbsp yellow cornmeal Whip the egg white to soft peaks. Fold in the yolk, the flour, and the meal. Place your largest [3-4”] star-shaped cookie cutter in the center of a non-stick pan. Spray the pan and the inside of the star with non-stick spray. Spoon 1/3 of the batter into the star, nudging it into the corners. Loosen the mold from the batter and remove it. Cook the star on one side until starting to brown, then turn carefully to cook the other side. Repeat until batter is all used up.  HINT: This can be done a day or so in advance, storing the stars in a plastic bag.

Per serving: 1.5 stars 2 Tbsp fat-free French Vanilla yogurt 2 Tbsp blueberries 2 oz strawberries, sliced or diced [If frozen, they will need to be thawed and drained]   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie  [88 calories]

Plate the stars, slightly overlapping. Dollop the yogurt on top, then strew with fruit.

Hot Dog & 4-Bean Salad: 302 calories 12 g fat 3.6 g fiber 20 g protein 18.6 g carbs 103.7 mg Calcium  GF PB  Hot Dogs and summer salads go together, even for Fasters. This meal is very straight-forward, assuming the 4-bean salad has already been prepared.

1 Hebrew National reduced-fat hot dog 1 deviled egg ½ cup 4-bean salad  2 oz tomato broiled with ½ Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Grill or pan-cook the hot dog. Prepare the deviled egg by cutting it in half, removing the yolk, and mashing it with yellow prepared mustard, salt, and pepper. Spoon the yolk mixture back into the egg. Cut out the stem end of the tomato and carve it in half along the equator. Top the tomato with cheese and broil it. Plate it all with the 4-bean salad. Simple food at summer’s end.

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

1 two-oz egg	1.5 two-oz eggs
tomato	ricotta cheese
leek + garlic powder	dry mustard + peach
basil + pear	watercress sauce
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

raw chicken + potato + onion	roast ham + potato starch
rich chicken stock + corn	1 cup oysters + their liquid
hard-boiled egg + thyme	white wine + milk + peas
optional: sourdough bread	70-calories whole-grain bread
Sparkling water	Sparkling water