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. Welcome to unclearer who is now Following.

Apollos Rivoire was born in south-western France in 1702. His family were Huguenots, followers of the reformer Calvin, and Huguenots were not welcome in Roman Catholic France. Life became so difficult that the family left for the British Isle of Guernsey. In 1712, Apollos arrived in Boston, Massachusetts where there was a Huguenot population. He apprenticed as a goldsmith at age 18 and when his master died two years later, Apollos changed his name to Paul [1] Revere, bought out his contract, and set up shop on his own. He married and together he and his wife produced eight children, the 3rd of whom was named Paul [2] Revere [b. 1734/5]. Paul the son learned the gold-smithing trade from his father, inheriting the business when his father died. Paul [2] was drafted into the Massachusetts Colony militia for a stint in up-state New York to fight the French, then returned to Boston to establish his own name in his trade. In addition to making gold and silver pieces, Revere was a copper-plate engraver and had a side hustle as a dentist. [He did not make George Washington’s false teeth.] He became involved in local political groups as an intelligence gatherer and a courier. And so we get to the famous Midnight Ride. The Boston patriots [not the American football team] learned that the British were going to land troops in Boston, then march all night to Lexington to capture rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Both Revere and William Dawes set out, but Revere made it to Lexington first. Neither man warned Concord, that was done by Samuel Prescott. Henry Longfellow’s poem makes it sound as if the whole thing was Revere’s idea and that he alone rode “to spread the alarm to every Middlesex village and farm.” More likely, it is difficult to find words to rhyme with ‘dawes.’ After service in the Revolutionary War, Paul Revere expanded his metals business: a hardware store in addition to the gold smithery; casting church bells [New England is peppered with them]; running America’s first mill for rolling copper [Old Ironsides and the Massachusetts State House are clad in his copper]. “Revere Ware,” a brand of copper-bottomed cook pans, was originated by him. After the War, Revere wrote an account of his ride on April 18, 1775, which held him in memory until Longfellow hit it out of the park with his poem in 1860, immortalizing Paul Revere for the ages. Ever since 1894, Massachusetts has celebrated Patriot’s Day on the day following Paul Revere and William Dawes’ ride. Before that, it was an official state Fasting Day.

We will observe National Poetry Month by providing a meal from one poem protagonist, Porphyro from Eve of Saint Agnes, to salute the protagonist of Paul Revere’s Ride by Longfellow. And as a nod to the American hero’s French ancestors, a French-inspired dinner.

Porphyro’s Picnic:  252 calories 6 g fat 6 g fiber 6.5 g protein 53 g carbs [43 g Complex] 128 mg Calcium   PB GF  This is based on the foods described by Keats in his romantic poemThe Eve of St Agnes. The meal is rather sweet [key to a teenage girl’s heart?] despite its low calorie count – it needs some other taste to cut it. A cup of black coffee? Full of fiber, this meal is sure to kick-start your tally of fruits/vegetables for the day.

2 Tbsp low-fat French Vanilla yogurt + 2 Tbsp almond meal 2 oz apple, diced 2 oz melon, cubed ¼ cup pitted plums [I used canned plums in light syrup, drained and rinsed], use fresh if in season 2 tsp cider syrup [or use 2 tsp syrup from the plums] + ¼ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ oz Deglet Noor date, cut in 4 pieces. NO smoothie coffee or tea ONLY if it is black/blackish or lemon in hot water

Stir the yogurt and almond meal together and spoon onto the center of the plate. Chop the apple, cube the melon, and arrange them around the almond cream, along with the plums. Place the pieces of date at random. Combine the cider syrup with the cinnamon and drizzle it over the apple and melon. All set to eat and you still have 48 calories left over. Not responsible for what happens if you eat this by moonlight on January 20.

Mini-Quiche Dinner: 241 calories 11 g fat 3 g fiber 17 g protein 11 g carbs 315 mg Calcium  PG FG   A light, delicious, and nutritious dinner. If the the quiches were prepared previously, this is quick as a flash to prepare.

3 slices of tomato, each 1 oz 5 oz asparagus spears or 1 cup cut asparagus 3 mini-quiches, just baked or re-warmed

Plate the tomato slices and salt them with a flavorful finishing salt. Cook the asparagus and plate it around the tomato slices Place the warmed quiches on top of the tomato slices. Isn’t that a treat for the eye? Now taste it!