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.

The 4th of May this year is the confluence of two favorites of mine: the celebration of Floralia and Star Wars Day.  From late April to early May, is the festival of Flora, the Roman Goddess of Springtime and Flowers. The English celebrate it with baskets of flowers and maypoles.  The French celebrate it by decorating their towns with floral displays, handing each other lily of the valley, and wearing green. In Brussels, Belgium there is a month-long flower show at the castle, while in Munich, Germany there is a flower-themed art show. My mother loved to celebrate holidays with special foods. Whether the holiday was religious, patriotic, or ethnic, she would find a recipe to go with it. The tradition continues with me. Plant or gather flowers in early May and be glad. Put flowers in your food and share the loveliness.

Saying, “May the 4th be with you” on May 4th, originally had to do with Margaret Thatcher, oddly enough. Ever since watching Star Wars helped Dear Husband and me to get through writing our Masters Theses, we have been great fans. While the films go all over the Galaxy, visiting many diverse cultures and fighting the forces of evil, there are very few depictions of eating, except for Aunt Beru and her blue milk-shakes, and Luke Skywalker milking an alien creature for its green milk. The closest I want to get to that is a blueberry smoothie and the Green Milk that I enjoy at lunch.

Blueberry Smoothie: 118 calories 0 g fat 3 g fiber 5.5 g protein 30 g carbs 99 mg Calcium  PB GF  From the people at Wild Blueberries of North America comes this excellent smoothie. Take the calories into account when you meal-plan.  HINT: Recipe makes enough for 2 servings instead of juice OR drink the entire batch for breakfast.  The food values above are for one serving. 

3 oz banana ½ cup plain, fat-free yogurt  ½ cup blueberries ½ cup orange juice OR crushed rhubarb

Put banana, yogurt, and berries into the blender and process until smooth. Add the juice and blend on low. Wonderful berry flavor!

Green Milk: 145 calories 0.6 g fat 3 g fiber 10 g protein 25 g carbs 340 mg Calcium  PB GF I drink this for lunch daily for its high Calcium; to ‘keep the trains running;’ and because it tastes really yummy. HINT: When I get greens, I make up kits [spinach + dates] in 1-cup jars or zipper bags and freeze them.

8 oz skimmed/low-fat milk ½ oz deglet noor dates, cut into pieces 1 oz spinach, fresh or frozen

Put everything in the blender/VitaMix/container suitable for using with an imersion blender. Whirl on low speed at first, to break up the ingredients, then at the speed that will pulverize everything to a lovely shade of green. Makes 1.5 cups.

Pork Salad: 144 calories 4 g fat 2.4 g fiber 17 g protein 7 g carbs 43 mg Calcium   PB GF When there is leftover meat from a roast, the easiest meal is to turn it into a salad with lots of yummy components. NB: I sprinkled each serving with ¼ oz flax-seed corn chips which added 40 calories, only 2½ g fat and 4 g carbs. For Floralia, strew the salad with fresh, edible flowers instead.

2 cups salad greens, cut as chiffonade if leaves are large 2½ -3 oz pork tenderloin, cooked, sliced 2½ -3 oz tomatoes 1 oz red bell pepper, cut in ½” dice 1 oz whole cranberries, not dried 2 oz zucchini sticks 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar + ½ tsp olive oil + 1 tsp blue cheese herb mustard

Prepare all the vegetables as described. Whisk the dressing ingredients in a wide bowl and toss with the greens. Plate the greens and decorate the salad with the other components. That was fast!

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

Bob’s Red Mill 10-Grain Cereal	Canadian bacon or back bacon
blueberries	unsweetened applesauce
strawberries	bannock
raspberries
Optional milk	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

Brown rice + red beans, canned	cooked turkey breast meat + slicing tomato
bell pepper + crushed tomatoes	whipped cream cheese + fresh spinach
celery + onion + oregano	hard-boiled egg + 1.5 oz sourdough rye bread
Garlic + Green beans or peas	Swedish Cucumber Salad
Sparkling water	Sparkling water