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.

“YO!!! Rinty!” was the call when Rin-Tin-Tin was sent into action during the TV show “The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin” in my youth. The plots centered around a little boy and his German Shepherd dog who had been adopted by an outpost of US Cavalry men, resulting in all sorts of interesting activities taking place in the American West of the 1800s. But the tale of the real dog started in World War I. Lee Duncan, an American soldier fighting in Lorraine, France, found a female dog with her puppies in a ruined German-forces kennel. He took the starving family back to base and got permission to care for them. After the war, Duncan adopted a male and a female, and took them back to America. He named them Rin-in-tin and Nannette after the little dolls made by French children, though he swapped their sexes. The female died and was replaced by a puppy from a friend of Duncan’s. The 1-year-old male, Rin-Tin-Tin, and the puppy ended up in southern California where Duncan worked for a sporting goods store. On the side, he was a hunting guide and trainer of hunting dogs. Rin-tin-tin was very athletic and well-trained, so Duncan would enter him in competitions at dog shows. Once, the dog was filmed scaling a wall almost 12 feet high. Duncan got the idea to put Rinty into films — inspired by another German Shepherd in movies — so he and the dog visited many fledgling studios. A new outfit named Warner Brothers signed them up, producing a movie written by Duncan for Rinty, called Where the North Begins in 1923. The dog was paid $1000 per week and a young scriptwriter named Daryl F. Zanuck was in charge of penning most of the 26 films the dog starred in for Warner. Like many stars of the time, Rin-tin-tin retired in 1930, when ‘talkies’ became popular, silenced by advancing age and audible off-stage commands. He died on 10 August, 1932. Rin-tin-tin’s puppies from Nannette lived on, trained by Duncan, and appearing in a few subsequent films — but not the aforementioned TV series.

Our breakfast begins the day in France, just as the Star Dog’s life began there. For dinner, a California cook-out of ‘hot dogs.’

Charcuterie Scramble: 190 calories 12.5 g fat 0.5 g fiber 13 g protein 6 g carbs 72.5 mg Calcium   NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF  Left-overs from a charcuterie board can be parlayed into a nice breakfast.

1½ two-oz 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.  ¼ tsp Dijon mustard ¼ oz chevre cheese 1/8 oz/ 1/2 tsp bleu cheese 3 slices/ ¼ oz pepperoni slices 1 oz grapes   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories]or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]  Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Slice the pepperoni into thin slivers. Cream together the cheeses and mustard, then whisk thoroughly into the eggs. Pour them into a hot pan spritzed with cooking spray, and strew with pepperoni. Cook as a scramble or an omelette. Plate with the grapes.

Hot Dog & 4-Bean Salad: 302 calories 12 g fat 3.6 g fiber 20 g protein 18.6 g carbs 103.5 mg Calcium  GF PB  Hot Dogs and summer salads go together, even for Fasters. This meal is very straight-forward, assuming the 4-bean salad has already been prepared.

1 Hebrew National reduced-fat hot dog [<110 calories] 1 deviled egg* ½ cup 4-bean salad** 2 oz tomato slice, broiled with ½ Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Grill or pan-cook the hot dog. Prepare the deviled egg. Slice the tomato to a thickness that weights 2 oz. Top the tomato with cheese and broil it. Plate it all with the 4-bean salad. Simple food at summer’s end.

*Deviled Egg:  80 calories 5 g fat 0 g fiber 8 g protein 1 g carbs 36.6 mg Calcium  PB GF Old favorite, updated.

One 2-oz egg, hardboiled, peeled prepared yellow mustard 1 Tbsp 2%-fat cottage cheese Yellow Sriracha or New Mexico green chilis in a jar paprika or sumac

Slice egg in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yolk and mash with a fork on a plate. Add cheese and savory liquid, and mash until well blended and of desired consistency. Spoon back into the divot of the egg white and sprinkle with paprika or sumac.

**FOUR-BEAN SALAD:  makes 8 cups  ½ cup= 99 calories 4 g fat 3 g fiber 3 g protein 14 g carbs 29.5 mg Calcium ¼ cup= 49.5 calories 2 g fat 1.5 g fiber 1.6 g protein 7 g carbs 14.7 mg Calcium PB GF

2 cups fresh green beans 2 cups fresh yellow[wax] beans 2 cups canned kidney beans 2 cups canned garbanzo beans 1 cup onions, chopped ½ cup cider vinegar ½ cup sugar [experiment with less] ¼ cup olive oil 

Cook the fresh beans until tender. Drain and rinse the canned beans. Combine with the onions. Salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together the vinegar, sugar and olive oil. Toss with the vegetables and refrigerate 4+ hours. Keeps for days in the ‘fridge.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large + pineapple	1.5 two-oz eggs
Haitian chicken pate filling: ground raw chicken	Cepe mushrooms
lime juice, Habanero pepper, onion, garlic	butter + parsley
carrot, tomato paste, scallion	cherries or peaches
optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

salmon [wild-caught is better]	rabbit meat + portobello mushrooms
white or yellow miso, mirin	ham + onions + herb savory
saki or sherry wine [not ‘cooking wine’]	Arnold Sandwich Thin or similar
soy sauce asparagus or broccoli	carrot + thyme
Sparkling water	Sparkling water