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: a simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

We hear national anthems played at sporting events, especially the Olympics. [Most] every nation has one: some of them are controversial, some of them have interesting stories. The oldest national anthem is that of Japan, words dating from the 10th century, music from 1880s. China’s song, the March of the Volunteers, began as the theme of a propaganda movie made in the 1930s to inspire citizens to resist the invading Japanese. The French anthem, La Marseillaise, is a rousing soldiers’ song from the French Revolution. The problem is that the words are blood-thirsty: bloody flags being raised and gore flowing in fields. Sounds better if you don’t know French… The Americans’ Star Spangled Banner was written in the middle of a battle and describes the joy of observers at seeing the flag still flying over the fort at dawn — the battle was not lost. It is criticized as being jingoistic [‘conquer we must’], and some propose America the Beautiful as a more suitable song. And then there is the anthem of Spain: completely un-singable because it has no words — melody only. It was composed in 1761 and attempts have been made to add lyrics but they have failed. What does your nation’s anthem celebrate? The beauty of the land? The courage of the soldiers? The spirit of the people? The anthem of Ukraine proudly proclaims that “Ukraine will not perish” and describes the peoples’ willingness to fight for their freedom. May they succeed.

To honor the cuisine of two of the nations mentioned today, we have a breakfast from Japan and a dinner from the region of France where the anthem originated.

Jian Bang  [Japanese Rolled Eggs]: 149 calories 8.5 g fat 1 g fiber 13 g protein 6 g carbs [4 g Complex] 72.6 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF Number One Son prepared these for us as part of a larger Japanese breakfast, and they are amazing. I added the crab and leek to make a good thing even better. Yup, guilding the lily.

1½ 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  2 Tbsp crab meat, frozen or fresh 2 Tbsp leek, finely sliced ½ Tbsp soy sauce ¼ tsp sugar 1½ oz strawberries  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]

Spritz a non-stick pan with non-stick spray. Cook the crab and leek until you can smell the leek, but don’t brown it. Remove from pan. Beat the egg with the soy sauce and sugar, and divide into 2 parts. Spritz the pan again and reheat. Put half of the egg in the pan and swirl/tip the pan to spread it out into a rough round. Distribute the crab and leek all over the egg. When top of egg is set enough that it is still moist but won’t jiggle much, roll the egg into a roll from one side of the pan to the other and leave it there. Pour the remaining egg in the pan and cook until almost set. Roll the roll across the pan again to incorporate the newly-cooked egg. Outside of the egg should be a little brown due to the soy sauce. Prepare the beverages and fruit and enjoy your meal from Japan.

Chicken Provincal: 252 calories 12.5 g fat 4 g fiber 25.4 g protein 15 g carbs 57 mg Calcium   PB GF– if using GF flour   This recipe is from the Culinary Institute of America, with a few tweeks by me. It glows with the warm tastes of Province. Despite what a buffet waiter told me, it is pronounced ‘pro-vohn-saal‘ — NOT ‘pro-van-kal.’ HINT: The recipe serves two [2] people.

6 oz chicken breast, boneless & skinless 2 Tbsp white whole wheat flour 2 tsp olive oil 1 garlic clove, minced 1 anchovy fillet 2 Tbsp dry white wine 1 c tomatoes, chopped, juice retained 1/4 c. chicken stock 5 cured black olives, sliced pinch salt 2 pinches rosemary per serving: 2-3 oz broccoli florets

Fillet the chicken breast meat by cutting it along the thin side to create 2 slices. These will cook faster, as well as looking like more food on the plate! Sprinkle the flour over the chicken to coat it lightly. Heat the oil in a small non-stick skillet and cook the chicken on one side. Turn once to cook the other side, remove from pan. Put the garlic, anchovy, tomatoes, and wine in the pan, mashing the solids with a spoon as they heat. Add the chicken stock, olives, and rosemary to the pan and cook until the sauce thickens. Return the chicken to the pan to heat it briefly. If the sauce gets too thick, add some tomato juices or water or more stock. Cook the broccoli and enjoy your meal from southern France.

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

1 two-oz egg	2 oz smelts
70-calorie whole grain bread	gozleme bread: white whole wheat flour + yogurt
Mediterranean Vegetables	deglet noor dates
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

two 2-oz eggs + lower-fat ricotta	veal + dried fig + dried apricots + dates
mushrooms + garlic + zucchini	carrot + onion + white wine
lemon juice + Parmesan + onion	tomato paste + olive oil
mozzarella cheese + thyme	bay leaf + rosemary + cucumber
Sparkling water	Sparkling water