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.

Gustave Eiffel was born on December 15, 1832, near Dijon. He was born during the early years of the Industrial Revolution, when the ability to make high quality iron in mass production had begun. This permitted the building of tall, wide, strong structures. Eiffel attended the  Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, where he learned to build with steel. He must have learned well, for he became known for building bridges. Bordeaux, 1860. Portugal, 1876. Garabit Viaduct, 1885. The structures are elegant and durable. His engineering firm was responsible for some notable buildings in Hungary, 1874; Nice, 1878; Chile, 1868. Eiffel designed the engineering supports inside of the Statue of Liberty, 1883, and of course his most famous work was the Eiffel Tower, 1889. The iconic tower was built to be a temporary demonstration of iron-working, a curiosity at the Paris World’s Fair of 1889, 100 years after the French Revolution. Artists and poets hated it and many citizens wanted the eye-sore torn down. But when it became a radio antenna in the late 1890s, it was seen as more than a place for tourists to visit. After the disastrous French attempt to build the Panama Canal, with Eiffel’s company designing the lock system, Eiffel retired. After two years in prison for the canal debacle, he was exonerated. Still healthy and curious, he spent his last 30 years studying meteorology, wind forces on tall structures, and wind tunnels. Can one today imagine Paris without its amazing Tour Eiffel? Incroyable! Can one today imagine New York without its amazing Lady Liberty? Fuggedaboutit! Gustave Eiffel certainly left an indelible mark on the world with his structures. A genius.

You might think that Eiffel’s birthday should call for that restaurant fad of ‘tall food,’ but we will enjoy simple French meals that are easy to prepare and enjoyable to eat.

Cherry Flamusse: 194 calories 5 g fat 1 g fiber 11 g protein 27.6 g carbs 157 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB GF – if using GF flour  This breakfast custard is borrowed from the dessert section of the cookbook, and it works very well either way! It is similar to a clafouti, but simpler. Served with cherries or any fresh fruit, it is sure to be a hit. HINT: This makes enough for 2 [two] servings: share with a friend or save the rest for a future breakfast or dessert. [As a dessert, without the clementine, one serving has 177 calories.]

2 two-oz eggs 6 oz milk 4 tsp flour OR tapioca flour 1.5 Tbsp sugar 10 sweet cherries, pitted ½ clementine  Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]  Optional:blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water 

Spritz 2 ramekins or an oven-proof dish with 1.5 cup capacity with non-stick spray. Cut the cherries in half and arrange on the bottom of the dish. Whisk eggs until foamy, then add flour and sugar, whisking until there are no lumps. Stir in the milk and pour the batter over the cherries. Bake at 375 F. for 20 minutes. Turn the flamusse out of the dish so that the cherries are on top. Plate with the clementine sections, serve with the beverages. Sure doesn’t taste like a ‘diet.’

Beef & Beet Salad:  243 calories 8.5 g fat 3 g fiber 24 g protein 17 g carbs 24 mg Calcium   PB GF  This unusual salad was found in James Peterson’s Glorious French Food. Should you have left-over roast beef, this is the dish to try. It is crazy easy.

2¾ oz thinly-sliced roasted beef 3½ oz pickled beets, as thinly-sliced rounds a few leaves of spinach, cut as chiffonade dill pickle spear 1½ tsp dressing*** 

***Dressing [makes 6 teaspoons] 2¼ tsp Dijon mustard 1 Tbsp chopped shallot 1½ tsp red wine vinegar 4½ tsp olive oil

Slice the beef and the beets as matchsticks about 2-3” long. Put in the serving bowl/plate along with the spinach, and drizzle the dressing over the top. Gently toss to coat the salad with the dressing. Plate it with the pickle. 

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

2 two-oz eggs + olive oil	1.5 two-oz eggs
garlic + mushrooms	scallions
frozen spinach + milk	basil + tomato
flour + feta cheese	strawberries
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

zucchini + 2-oz egg + dill weed	8”, 170-calorie whole wheat tortilla
feta cheese + parsley + shrimp	crushed tomatoes + mozzarella
white whole wheat flour + tomato	onion + mushrooms
self-wishing flour + plain yogurt	prosciutto + calamita olive
Sparkling water	Sparkling water