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.

“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  The quote from Psalm 118 is often read at the beginning of a church service. In 1650, James Ussher wanted to go beyond a general celebration and to get to the date of the actual day that the Earth was made. Ussher, born in Dublin, Ireland in 1581, rushed into his career: entered Trinity College at age 13, became an Anglican priest at age 20, a professor at age 25, and Bishop of Ireland at age 34. He was known as the best Biblical scholar of his time. In his lifetime, science had shaken the faith of Christians, when Galileo proved that the Earth was not the center of the universe. The Reformation had begun only 135 years previously, and as the Protestants were always trying to one-up the Roman Catholics, Ussher was eager to show that he was smarter than the Jesuits. The idea of using the chronology described in the Old Testament [the ‘begats’] to make a guess at the age of the Earth was not a new one. Previous scientists and philosophers bandied about the idea that the Earth has been formed around 4000 years prior to the birth of Jesus. Wishing to be more precise, Ussher spent 20 years visiting libraries in Western Europe, correlating Biblical events with known historical dates. He was a good scholar, using all the information that was available to him in the early 1600s. Through his research, he calculated that the Creator began to form the Earth in 4004 BCE. But what was the exact date? Since the fruit in Eden was ripe, the month must be October. Since theologians of the time believed that God was impressed by astronomical events [like the four divisions of the solar year], then it must be on or near the Autumnal Equinox. Since Genesis said that creation took six days, then the work began on Monday. This was all presented in Ussher’s master-work The Annals of the Old Testament, in which he stated that creation commenced on Sunday, October 23, 4004 BCE. In the years after that declaration, we have learned a lot about ‘telling time’ and determining the age of the Earth. A century later, Buffon deduced that the Earth was 75,000 years old. Study of fossils, of stratigraphy, and the invention of radiometric dating have lead us to conclude that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Science is all about challenging older ideas and finding new ones — it is not static. Today’s knowledge will seem quaint in 200 years as more and more is discovered. Do not laugh at Ussher. Rather, celebrate his scholarship — and eat an apple, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

For a man who was a biblical scholar, a breakfast of foods eaten in Old Testament times. For dinner, a meal with apples, of course.

Biblical Breakfast:  237 calories 0.4 g fat 6 g fiber 9 g protein 63 g carbs 229 mg Calcium  NB: the food values given are for the plated items only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB Food historians name them the “Biblical 7”– two grains and 5 fruits that made up the menus of residents of the Iron Age Levant. In this meal, there are 5 of the 7, excepting olives and pomegranates.

2 Barley Cakes** ½ oz dried Turkish fig ½ oz grapes or 1 oz melon 2 deglet noor dates ½ cup plain, fat-free yogurt   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]

**Barley Cakes:  each cake = 51 calories 0 g fat 1.5 g fiber 1.6 g protein 16.5 g carbs 14 mg Calcium

24 barley cakes	Large griddle or skillet.
1½ c barley flour  ½ c white whole wheat flour  ¾ tsp baking powder  ¼ tsp baking soda	Combine thoroughly in a medium-sized bowl.
½ c fat-free milk  ½ c plain fat-free yogurt  1 oz egg  ¼ c honey, warmed	To get only 1 ounce of egg, crack open a 2-oz egg, whisk it and use 1 oz.  [give the rest to the cat or use in baking] Whisk together in a bowl.
	Combine wet and dry ingredients and let sit until wetted, while griddle heats.
Cooking spray	Spray griddle with cooking spray. Using a 1.5 Tbsp scoop, drop batter on griddle, then flatten slightly with wet fingertips.
	Cook until browned on both sides and not squishy on the equator. Freezes well.

Pork with Apples: 273 calories 8 g fat 4 g fiber 22.5 g protein 19 g carbs 84 mg Calcium  PB GF  Long a favorite combination in lands where local meats and local fruits are blended in hearty meals, this combo of pork with apples is a winner.

3 oz pork tenderloin, raw or cooked 2 oz round slices of apple, unpeeled ½ oz cubed apples, unpeeled 4 oz chicken stock 4 Tbsp Bechamel sauce, no cheese thyme/sage salt + pepper to taste 2 oz broccoli florets 1 oz carrots

Poach the apple slices in the stock until they are tender. TIP: if cooking for 2, this may require poaching in 2 batches. Remove slices and reserve. Slice th pork into rounds about 1/4” thick.  If pork is raw, braise it briefly in the hot stock, and remove from stock. Put 1 Tbsp stock in the oven-proof pan in which you will cook the dinner. Combine diced apples, Bechamel, seasonings, and remaining stock in the sauce pan, stirring until apples are soft and sauce is medium-thick. Adjust seasonings. Arrange alternating slices of pork and apple in the baking pan. Nap with the sauce and bake at 350 until warmed through, about 20 minutes. Steam the vegetables and enjoy a hearty winter meal.