T.E. Lawrence

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 Blox Food who is now Following.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on August 16, 1888, offspring of a nobleman and the family governess. His parents and siblings, moved to Oxford where Ned was schooled. He loved history and on a study-abroad in Syria, Lawrence hiked 1000 miles to examine Crusader Castles, about which he wrote a book in 1910. Along the way, he learned Arabic and immersed himself in the culture. Ned put his archeology knowledge to use on a dig in Syria, 1910-1914. Wishing to help the war effort, Lawrence was posted to Cairo. He was the liaison between the English army and the Arab rebels who were fighting to overthrow the Ottoman Turks. Lawrence made a name for himself with the daring, unsanctioned, and successful strike against the Turks in the capture of Akaba. While flush with his successes, Ned Lawrence was disturbed by the knowledge that his Arab allies and friends were fighting to free the land from foreign rulers, while his English commanders were fighting the Turks so that Britain could expand its Empire. In 1926, his wartime autobiography, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, was published. Later in life, Lawrence refused a knighthood because the British would not consider an Arab State. He was made famous by journalist Lowell Thomas in the 1920s and the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, where he was portrayed by 6′ 4″ Peter O’Toole.

Lawrence was a little man, only 5′ 5″, slim and fit. On a Fast Day, we eat little meals so you can remain slim and fit. Since Lawrence was not following the army’s playbook, we will enjoy an ‘improper’ breakfast. The dinner would have hit the spot with his Syrian-Arab allies.

Improper English:  148 calories 2 g fat 5 g fiber 11.4 g protein 37.6 g carb 24.5 mg Calcium NB: the food values shown are for the plated foods only and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF – if using GF bread or eliminating the bread. A “proper English” is the full Victorian breakfast, serving every conceivable food you can imagine. This version leaves out the eggs, cold toast, and kippers [how improper!], but keeps the protein-rich baked beans along with the rest of the usual stand-bys.

¼ cup baked beans one oz 3%-fat ham ½ of a 2.5” diameter tomato 1 oz mushrooms 1 oz apple or a few grapes  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]

Cut the tomato around its equator and put one half away for another use. Salt the tomato and put under the broiler until it softens. Cook the ham and mushrooms in the same pan to heat through. Warm the beans – perhaps in the microwave. Toast the bread and brew the optional hot beverage. Pour the optional smoothie and plate everything. Cheerio!

Felafel with Red/Green Salad: 287 calories 14.5 g fat 9 g fiber 11.6 g protein 29 g carbs 113 mg Calcium  PB GF  Looks great, tastes great, SO healthy. Win-win-win.

5 felafel patties   1 cup baby spinach leaves ½ cup red cabbage slaw** ¼ c pickled beets, sliced or cubed ½ hard-boiled egg, chopped 1 tsp olive oil + 1 tsp lemon juice

**Red Cabbage Slaw makes 2 cups, serves 3-4

2 c. thinly sliced red cabbage 1 Tbsp finely chopped red onionPrepare and set aside.
1 Tbsp plain yogurt, drained1 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar1 tsp sugar or maple syruppinch dried dillpinch celery seed2 pinches Kosher saltfreshly ground pepper Drain 3 Tbsp plain nofat yogurt through paper toweling for 15 minutes. Measure 1 Tbsp into a large bowl, then whisk in these ingredients.
Add the cabbage and red onion and toss to combine.
Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving.

Thaw the felafel patties and warm them. If unbaked, heat them in a 400 F. oven for 10-15 minutes. Prepare the vegetables for the salad. Whisk the lemon juice and oil, then toss the salad vegetables in the dressing. Top with the felafel and the chopped egg. Quick and easy.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s