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. Welcome to Dan Henry and HealthAndNutritionAdvice and nutritionalconsultants and healthylifemechanism and Jim Stanson and Cool Products Trending who are now Following.

Burns Day, January 25, is one of those celebratory days which demands that certain foods be eaten. What foods? In general, anything Scottish. In particular, haggis [Burns wrote a poem in praise of haggis]. And why is that? Because it is the birthday of Robert Burns, born 1759. From his humble early life, he became a literary star and assisted in a revival of the Scots language and culture. Snooty Englishmen who had looked down upon the Scots, read his poetry and sought after tartan designs to wear and for home decoration. Of course Queen Victoria’s love of the Scottish Highlands since 1848, helped too. But it was Burns, in 10 short years of writing about what he knew best, living large, and loving widely, who spoke to our hearts and so is remembered.

On Burns Day, it will be oat bannock at breakfast, a family favorite. For Burns Night dinner, Cock-a-Leekie Soup, which Burns would have remembered fondly from his childhood.

Bannock & Bacon:  143 calories 3.5 g fat 1 g fiber 12 g protein 14.6 g carbs [10 g Complex] 15 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the main meal only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB  For years we have enjoyed this on Slow Days, only to find that it fits for Fasting, too.

3 two-inch bannock ½ cup applesauce, unsweetened 2 slices Hormel Canadian Bacon OR Jones brand Canadian bacon [similar to back bacon of 60-70 calories] Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]  Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie  [88 calories]

Prepare the bannock according to the recipe and bake. Warm and lightly brown the Canadian bacon. Plate the applesauce and pour the beverages. We like to dip the bannock in the applesauce. Simple and delicious.

Cock-a-leekie soup:  202 calories 4 g fat 3 g fiber 13 g protein 22 g carbs 44 mg Calcium  PB GF   This Scottish farmstead soup goes back to the middle-ages, as you can tell by the Old World, Northern Europe ingredients. The ‘cock’ refers to a rooster, which can be eaten only if stewed for soup. This delicious recipe is from Graeme Taylor.  HINT: Makes 11 one-cup servings.

	Preheat the oven to 200˚c/ 400 F
2 leg quarters + 1 back = 1 # 9 oz water	Roast chicken pieces ~ 30 minutes in a heavy-bottomed pot. Pour water over chicken until it is covered. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 hour, in oven or on stovetop to produce stock.
1 onion, chopped = 1cup 2 leeks, sliced = 1.5 oz 2 carrots, chopped = 3 oz 12 prunes, chopped  2 sprigs of thyme + 1 bay leaf ½ tsp salt + grindings of pepper	Add in the vegetables, prunes, herbs, salt, and a good grinding of pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender, around 20 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces, take the meat from the bones and stir meat back into soup. Remove and discard the thyme and bay leaf. Strain the soup through a collander into a bowl, saving the soup solids and the stock.
	Cool and skim the fat from the top of the stock. I ended up with 3½ cups stock. Reunite solids with the stock. Check for seasoning and let sit in the pot for 8 hours+. Portion and freeze what you don’t serve today.
Per serving, 2 Tbsp quick barley	Stir barley into the pot. Simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Serve.