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. 

Manchester, England has a long history. It was once a Roman fort [‘chester’ in an English place name means ‘fort’] called Mancunium, located at the largest loop of the River Irwell. After the Romans, the area was run by Angles, who called the area Murcia. By the 1600s, it was a thriving town of half-timbered buildings called ‘magpies’ because of their black wood and the white plaster. Flemish weavers had been in the city since the 14th century and the town was already a hub for textiles. Then came the Industrial Revolution. Manchester grew by leaps and bounds: coal was brought to the city by the barge-load; older buildings and houses were knocked down to be replaced by factories for textile manufacture and town-houses for the mill owners. With mechanization and coal power, canal traffic and rail lines, all raw materials came to Manchester and left as finished cotton goods. Much of the cotton came from the American South, which is why England was a ‘neutral party’ during the American Civil War. In parts of the world today, household linens are still referred to as “Manchester.” The golden age was in the mid-1800s when  “Manchester was without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world.” [P. Hall, 1998]. Evidence of the bursting of the bubble is the fact that Friedrich Engles wrote his 1844 book about the condition of the working classes in Manchester. Engles invited Karl Marx to visit and view the socioeconomic scene. Poverty, social inequality, and slum life were wretched, breeding the labor movement, the suffragette movement, and food riots. Engles called it “Hell on Earth.” Today, Manchester has seen a lot of urban renewal and many initiatives for stimulating the economy. It is often called “the UK’s Second City.”

Coddled Eggs and a dinner of pork and apples are as English as the cotton mills of Manchester.

Coddled Egg: 143 calories 6 g fat 2 g fiber 9.5 g protein 12.4 g carb 71 mg Calcium  NB: The food values given above are for the plated foods only, not the optional beverages.  PB GF- if using GF bread  A really retro breakfast. So nice.

Bring a small pan of water to a simmer. Use enough water to cover the egg coddler by 1”. Spritz some cooking spray into an egg coddler. Break the egg into the coddler, and add cheese with salt/herbs to taste. Screw on the lid of the coddler and lower it into the water. Put the lid on the pot. Simmer 4.5 minutes then turn off the heat and leave the eggs in the water for about 3 minutes more. Toast the bread and plate with fruit. Pour your beverages of choice. You will feel coddled and cossetted when you treat yourself to this breakfast.

Pork with Apples: 273 calories 8 g fat 4 g fiber 23 g protein 19 g carbs 84 mg Calcium  PB GF  Long a favorite combination in lands where local meats and local fruits are blended in delicious ways. The flavor of pork with apples is a winner.

3 oz pork tenderloin, raw or cooked 2 oz round slices of apple, unpeeled ½ oz cubed apples, unpeeled 4 oz chicken stock 4 Tbsp Bechamel sauce, no cheese thyme/sage salt + pepper to taste 1 oz broccoli florets 1 oz cauliflower florets 1 oz carrots

Poach the apple slices in the stock until they are just tender. TIP: if cooking for 2, this may require poaching in 2 batches. Remove slices and reserve. Slice the pork into rounds about 1/4” thick.  If pork is raw, braise it briefly in the hot stock, and remove from stock. Put 1 Tbsp stock in the oven-proof pan in which you will bake the dinner. Combine cubed apples, Bechamel, seasonings, and remaining stock in the sauce pan, stirring until apples are soft and sauce is medium-thick. Adjust seasonings. Arrange alternating slices of pork and apple in the baking dish. Nap with the sauce and bake at 350 until warmed through, about 20 minutes. Steam the vegetables and enjoy a hearty meal.

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

1 slice whole-grain bread	1 two-oz egg
2%-fat small curd cottage cheese or Quark	unsweetened applesauce
3%-fat ham	pan muffin
pear + chives
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

herring marinated in wine + onion	roast beef = 1 cup ground + potato
beets, canned or fresh + lettuce	one 2-oz egg + low-fat beef gravy
apple + cider vinegar + dill pickle	cauliflower
white beans + hard-boiled egg	peas or side salad
Sparkling water	Sparkling water