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.

Francois Rabelais [c. 1489-1533] was a French author who was known for his satire — and his earthy wit. Some would say he went overboard, like an adolescent boy with a locker-room sense humor. In his five-volume series about the giants Pantagruel and Gargantua, he lampooned the upper classes for their conspicuous over-consumption of food. If Rabelais had lived in the late 1800s, readers would have thought that Gargantua was a parody of Diamond Jim Brady, born August 12, 1856. Having acquired a pile of money by legal and ill-legal means, he spent a pile of it on food, diamonds, race tracks, and Lillian Russell. He was obese, with the myriad health issues that go along with that. His reputation was for eating obscene amounts of food at three meals a day, with snacks in between. Despite the fact that his stomach was reported to be 5x the size of others’, there is now some doubt as to whether Diamond Jim actually did eat as his biographers claimed he did..

Our breakfast is luxurious enough for any Renaissance noble and for Diamond Jim. Brady was famous for eating beef steak at fancy restaurants. A 16-oz cut of Prime Rib was called the “Diamond Jim Cut.” Don’t eat like him, but do feel free to indulge in this fabulous filet mignon.

St Denis ScrOmelette: 144 calories 8 g fat 2 g fiber 12.5 g protein 6.4 g carbs [5 g Complex] 57 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  GF  James Beard’s comprehensive volume American Cooking gives us the recipe for this breakfast. Delicious, and rich, and wonderful. Worth getting up for.

1 ½ two-oz eggs  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.   1 Tbsp leek or scallion, minced ½ clove garlic, minced ¼ oz mushrooms ¼ oz ham [3% fat], minced 1 tsp chicken liver OR chicken liver pate parsley for garnish 4 Bing cherries  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]

Heat a well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick pan and spritz it with oil or cooking spray. Add the leek, garlic, ham, and mushrooms and stir to cook. Whisk the eggs with the pate and pour over the vegetables in the pan. Cook as thoroughly as you like. The optional beverages are prepared and the fruit is plated. What a remarkable start to your day.

Filet Mignon with Tarragon: 278 calories 14 g fat 2 g fiber 28.6 g protein 7 g carbs [6 g Complex] 49 mg Calcium  GF  We have enjoyed this sumutious Joanne Harris recipe for years and we still turn back to her My French Kitchen to make it again. HINT: This recipe is enough for two. Worth sharing with a special friend. If serving one diner, prepare all of the sauce and save it to put in eggs at breakfast or to use at dinner.

2 tsp butter 2 portobello mushroom caps ½ tsp olive oil ½ large shallot [1 Tbsp], minced 2 Tbsp white wine 1 Tbsp heavy cream 1 tsp grainy mustard ½ tsp minced garlic 2-3 Tbsp fresh tarragon two 4-oz filet mignons 10 spears asparagus

Cook the mushrooms on both sides in butter and a spritz of cooking spray. Keep warm off the stove. Heat the oil with a spritz of cooking spray, and cook the shallots until softened. Add the wine to the pan, then simmer for 3 minutes. Lower the heat, add the cream, mustard, garlic, and tarragon. Heat long enough to warm the sauce but do not let it boil. Cook the asparagus. In a separate heavy skillet, heat a drizzle of oil and a spritz of non-stick spray over high. Cook the meat 1½ minutes/side if you like it rare or 2 minutes/side for medium. Place the cooked steak on the mushroom cap, surround it with asparagus, and top it with the sauce. This is easy to prepare and absolutely delicious.

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

baked beans + ham	next Thursday, 2021-08-25,
tomato	I will present some Breakfast Beverages
apple or grapes or strawberries	Find a new favorite breakfast in the Archives
mushrooms
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

felafel pattieshttps://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/fastingme.com/11013	salad greens + grapefruit sections
baby spinach leaves + pickled beets	avocado + hard-boiled egg
red cabbage slaw + lemon juice	chicken
hard-boiled egg + olive oil	lime-flavored oil + white wine vinegar
Sparkling water	Sparkling water