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.

Celia Laighton was born in Portsmouth, NH on June 29, 1835. Although a mainlander by birth, her life and legacy are tied to a tiny group of islands off the coast: the Isles of Shoals. When Celia was four years old, her father was appointed Keeper of the White Island Lighthouse and the family moved there. One might think that an isolated childhood on the two-acre rock would have been horrible for Celia, Oscar, and Cedric, yet they remembered it as an enchanted time, that “filled [her] with awe and wonder.” She loved the infinitely changing ocean, the shore birds, and the vagaries of weather. Celia and her brothers were educated by their parents, and from an early age Celia read the poems of Tennyson. Her father Thomas recognized his dream of building a hotel on another island, Appledore [formerly Hog Island] which he owned with his brothers. The family moved to the larger island in 1847, and, as Celia learned to swim and row and garden, her love affair with the islands deepened. A Summer visitor and investor in the hotel, Levi Thaxter, a highly educated 20-something who had aspired to the theater, became the children’s tutor. When he was 27 and Celia was 16, they married. At first they spent Summers on the Isles and Winters in Massachusetts, near his family. After the birth of their first son, Karl, Celia could not visit her family often and Levi, who survived a terrifying ship-wreck on the islands, refused to go back. Being separated from her parents, her Isles, and the ocean was a great trial for Celia. Two more sons followed, and Celia was even more tied to her house and children. And she despaired. While cooking one day, she began to compose a poem in her head. She showed it to Levi, who secretly sent it to his friend the editor of the Atlantic Monthly. It was published as Landlocked in 1860. Thus was born Celia Thaxter’s career as an author. That was a good thing, because her husband never did settle into a career. By turns he was a preacher, school-master, and declaimer of poetry, but not for any length of time, nor for much income. Eventually, disagreements over raising their disabled son Karl, Levi’s health, and Celia’s longing to see her family lead to separation: Celia and Karl to Appledore Island for the Summer; Levi and the two other sons off to Florida for the Winter. Celia helped at the family’s hotel, nursed her parents as they died, and wrote poetry. Her cottage was surrounded by the flowering plants that she loved and her salon included the A-list of literature of the time, as well as of art and music. Celia turned journalist when a shocking double murder occurred on Smuttynose Island, owned by the Laightons. She became a prose writer with her essay series Among the Isles of Shoals and An Island Garden, popularized through paintings by Childe Hassam. Celia campaigned unsuccessfully against the use of actual bird feathers in women’s fashion, even while her husband shot birds to sell to museums. She died in 1895 and is buried near her cottage. The family hotel and her cottage burned down in 1914, never to be rebuilt. But Celia’s garden has been revived on her plans and may be visited. Appledore Island is owned by the Shoals Marine Lab.

Celia Laighton Thaxter probably never ate an avocado, but seafood such as lobster and oysters would have been plentiful around her beloved Isles of Shoals, so we will eat these meals in honor of her.

Avocado-Lobster Bake: 145 calories 7 g fat 2 g fiber 11 g protein 10.5 g carbs 64 mg Calcium  NB: The food values shown are for the egg bake and the fruit, not for the optional beverages.  PB GF  When I thought that avocado and ricotta would make a nice bake, Dear Husband had one suggestion: add lobster! Well why not?

1 two-oz egg ¼ oz avocado ¾ Tbsp ricotta ¾ oz lobster meat OR crab 2 oz pear  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 

Set the toaster oven to 350 F. Spritz a ramekin or other oven-proof dish with cooking spray and put the lobster meat on the bottom. Mash the avocado with the ricotta, then whisk in the egg. Pour over the lobster, season as you wish. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Slice the fruit and prepare the optional beverages. Sumptuous.

Baked Oysters: 267 calories 10 g fat 5 g fiber 14.6 g protein 31.5 g carbs 90.6 mg Calcium  PB GF – if using GF bread or omitting   Ordinarily, we like our oysters raw, but sometimes a change is delicious.  HINT: This preparation serves two [2] people.

12 East Coast oysters 1 Finn Crisp cracker 2 oz chevre cheese ½ c cooked spinach Per serving: 1 oz oatmeal bread 1 Side Salad

Remove one shell from each oyster and arrange on an oven-proof dish. Pulverize the cracker and sprinkle crumbs evenly on the oysters. Squeeze moisture from spinach and chop. Cream spinach with the cheese and distribute the mixture evenly over each oyster. Broil 5 minutes until starting to bubble. Serve with salad and bread. Yum.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large	70-calorie whole-grain bread
mushrooms	unsweetened applesauce
chicken breakfast sausage @ 33 calories	Camembert cheese
Parmesan cheese
apple sauce, unsweetened	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

wild-caught salmon	garlic + potatoes + parsnips
genuine maple syrup	beef or chicken stock + egg
lima beans	marjoram + rye bread
corn kernals	Swiss cheese + butter
Sparkling water	Sparkling water