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.

OLD JOKE: The agitated servant, singed and battered, runs pell-mell into the presence of the Lord of the Manor. “Sire,” he pants, “the peasants are revolting!” His master, looking bored and missing his meaning, lifts a perfumed handkerchief to his nose and sighs, “Of course they are.” People [read: the privileged classes] have been making disparaging comments about the ‘lower classes’ for so many centuries that we have a mental picture: loutish, stupid, unwashed. But what is a peasant, really? The word is from the latin, meaning ‘from a canton,’ thus: someone from the provinces far from the sophistication of the city. Called ‘serfs’ in Russia and medieval Europe; ‘contadino’ in Italy; ‘paysan’ in France; ‘subsistence farmers’ in the US, they have gotten a bad rap. Until the rise of Big Agra, peasants grew all the food that fed the world — in many places, they still do. Their lives were difficult but sometimes their close-to-the-land lifestyle had appeal: Marie Antoinette would retire to her ‘petit hameau’ on the grounds of Versaille to live a simpler life. Breugal painted peasants at work and play while the Limbourg Brothers often showed the turn of the seasons via the work of peasants.

The adage “Eat breakfast like a king and dine like a peasant” is often given as a formula for a healthy diet. This implies eating fewer calories at night. In addition, ‘peasant’ foods were home-grown and/or foraged, low in animal protein, unprocessed and unadulterated. And in small portions. To eat like a peasant also means eating at a lower trophic level. Our breakfast of fruit and grains and our dinner of grains and beans fit the requirements of wholesome, inexpensive, simple food.

Fruited Porridge:  183 calories 1.4 g fat 9 g fiber 7 g protein 38 g carbs [38 g Complex] 36 mg Calcium  PB Here is a delicious way to get your superfoods in one meal. Berries and whole-grain cereal are unbeateble together and easy to prepare as well.

¼ cup Bob’s Red Mill 10-Grain Cereal ¾ cup water ¼ cup diced strawberries ¼ cup blueberries ¼ cup raspberries   Optional: a few tablespoonsful of milk   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [85 calories]  or lemon in hot water

If the fruit is frozen, as mine was: place in a sieve over a small bowl the night before to thaw. Save the juice to add to a smoothie. Cook the cereal in the water for 8 minutes, stiring twice. Take off heat and add the fruit. Stir gently and serve with a little milk, if you wish.

Red Beans & Rice:  295 calories 1 g fat 13 g protein 57.5 g carb   PB GF  This is the old classic recipe for the ‘perfect protein’. Once we were afraid that we wouldn’t like it, since it sounds bland, but we do like it. Yeah, you’re right, the carbs are way out of control, but these complex carbs are really good for you. HINT: This is enough for 4 servings! Either have a gathering or cut the recipe or freeze for later.

1¾ cups brown rice, cooked ½ cup celery, chopped ½ cup sweet yellow or other color pepper, diced 1 cup onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced ¾ cup crushed tomato oregano + black pepper 1¾ cups red beans, drained and rinsed ½ cup green beans or peas

Cook the rice. Saute the celery, pepper, and onions for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 5 minutes more. Add the tomato sauce and seasonings. Stir in the red beans and heat through. When the rice is done, add 1 and 3/4 cups to the mixture.  HINT: if there is extra rice, it freezes well. Serve with the cooked green vegetable. 

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

1 two-oz egg + soy sauce	1.5 two-oz eggs
ginger + bean sprouts	apple or unsweetened applesauce
crab meat + scallions	cooked spinach
garlic powder +pear	chèvre
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

4-oz bison burger + mushrooms	tilapia fish + sweet potato
curried catsup	egg + white whole wheat flour
choices from a variety of vegetables	canola oil + garlic powder
	asparagus + paprika + lime juice
Sparkling water	Sparkling water