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.

Levi Strauss had ‘gold fever,’ but not in the same way as others who headed to California in the 1800s. He set out from New York City by boat headed for the California Gold Rush equipped with bales of fabric. Why fabric? Levi had experience in the dry-goods trade and figured he could sell the fabric for tents. After crossing the Isthmuth of Panama and sailing up to San Francisco, Strauss saw a better use for his fabric. Miners didn’t need tents as much as they needed sturdy trousers. So Levi set up a dry-goods store and took to making trousers from the dark blue, rugged ‘cloth de Nimes,’ thus named because that weave came from France. Miners paid good money and Levi was doing well for himself. But the miners stuffed nuggets in the pockets and ripped the seams, so Strauss teamed up with Jacob Davis who put rivets at strategic parts of the trousers for reinforcement. That worked and ‘blue jeans’ made out of ‘denim’ were born with a patent on May 19, 1873. Strauss was not trying to make a fashion statement — he saw a problem and found a solution for it that earned him a tidy living. Today Levi’s 501 style is closest to the original model: button fly, rivets and all. Around 450 million pairs of Levi Strauss jeans are sold in the USA annually. There were indeed fortunes to be made in California!

For breakfast, the meal to order if you came into town with pockets stuffed with nuggets. For dinner, a nod to Old California, which was a Spanish possession and part of Mexico.

Hangtown Fry: 155 calories 9 g fat 0.6 g fiber 12.6 g protein 6 g carbs [4 g Complex] 62.6 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  GF  Turns out, this meal has nothing to do with being hanged and everything to do with striking it rich.

3 two-oz eggs of which you will use 1½ eggs per person  HINT: If you are serving one person, crack three 2-oz eggs into a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Whip up those eggs and pour half of their volume into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week  2 shucked oysters, chopped ½ slice ‘American’ bacon, uncured if possible 1 1/2 oz grapes -OR- 1½ oz strawberries -OR- 3 cherries   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]

Dice the bacon and cook it in a hot pan until almost crisp. Add the oysters and cook a second or two longer. Whisk the eggs with salt, and pepper. Pour over the bacon/oysters in the pan and scramble or cook as an omelette. Plate with the fruit and serve with the beverages of choice.

Enchiladas Suizas:  293 calories 10 g fat 11 g fiber 31.6 g protein 43.4 g carbs 262 mg Calcium   PB GF Rick Bayless relates this recipe in his book Mexico One Plate At A Time. Delicious and easy to prepare. Avoid assembling too far in advance, lest it turn to mush.

2 six-inch corn tortillas [50 calories each] 2 oz [½ cup] shredded cooked chicken breast ½ cup enchilada sauce: see SPICY II 12 Sept 2018   ¼ cup grated Cheddar or Monterey jack dollop of plain, fat-free yogurt 1 oz broccoli florets + 1 oz cauliflower florets + ½ oz carrot

Heat oven to 350 F. On an ungreased heavy skillet, place the tortillas and cook them until they begin to brown on one side. Flip in the pan and continue until each tortilla is pliable and slightly fragrant. Remove to a cutting board or baking sheet. Stir the yogurt into the chicken. Distribute the chicken between the tortillas, then roll them up, and place each in an oven-proof dish, seam-side down. Spoon the sauce over and around and between the enchiladas. NB: you don’t have to use all of the sauce. Extra could be added to eggs or soup. Sprinkle with cheese and put into oven. Cook the vegetables, drain and dress with salt and a splash of red wine vinegar. So good!

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

1 hard-boiled two-oz egg	‘old fashioned’ rolled oats
baked beans	cinnamon + nutmeg
tomato + Parmesan cheese	cottage cheese + maple syrup
Canadian or back bacon	blueberries
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

Finnen Haddie + hard-boiled egg	roast lamb + one 2-oz egg + olive oil
asparagus + curry powder	tomato + mashed potatoes + lamb gravy
asparagus + turmeric + milk	mashed cauliflower + lettuce
brown rice + onion + bay leaf	lemon juice or cider vinegar
Sparkling water	Sparkling water