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.

Christmas, December 25th, is not about trees covered with ornaments. Christmas is not about presents in stockings or under said tree. Christmas is not about Santa Claus, with or without his reindeer. Christmas is not about how much you can buy and how many bargains you find. Christmas is not about eating cookies and cakes. Christmas is not about Charlie Brown and his little tree and his little friends. Christmas is not about singing carols, with or without hot chocolate, eggnog, or mulled wine. Christmas is about the birth of a baby boy sometime in March in 3 BCE, in Bethlehem, then in the Roman Empire, now in the Palestinian West Bank. That baby, born into a family of Jewish artisans — his mother a weaver, her husband a carpenter — was said by angels to be the son of God. That baby grew up to be Jesus Ben-Joseph of Galilee who became an itinerant preacher or rabbi [meaning teacher]. In his 33 years of life, he healed people who were sick in mind and body and spirit. He preached a gospel [meaning ‘good news’] of peace and reconciliation. He told anyone who would listen that the most important thing was to love one’s fellow humans as much as we love ourselves. He said that we should help the poor, the orphans, the widows. He said that we should feed the hungry and visit the prisoners. He said that rich people would never be members of God’s kingdom. He was at one point a refugee, and at the end, he was a political prisoner. The birth of that baby and the advent of his life’s work is what Christmas is all about. It is up to us to act as it that matters to us more than gifts, or trees, or commercial trappings.

Our breakfast has hearts, for a message of love. The dinner is easy to prepare and yummy — nice to eat as Winter begins.

Heart-in-Heart: 150 calories 6 g fat  3 g fiber 9.6 g protein 17 g carbs  42 mg Calcium  NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages.  PB GF – if using GF bread  Egg + bacon + toast come to the table in a new guise.

1 slice 70-calorie whole-grain bread with a 2” heart cut out                   1 slice Canadian bacon with a 2” heart cut out                             1 small egg [1.8 oz with the shell]             1 oz banana slices OR ¼ cup blueberries             Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]     Optional: 5-6 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Spray an oven-safe pan with non-stick spray. Lightly toast the bread. Put it in the pan and position the bacon on top of it so the hearts align. Sprinkle a pinch of herbs of your choice into the hole. Break the egg into the heart-shaped hole. Strew with salt, pepper, and herbs. Bake at 350F for 12 minutes. Plate with the fruit.

Eggplant Parmesan: 263 calories 5.6 g fat 5 g fiber 19 g protein 44 g carbs  203 mg Calcium   PB GF  I love eggplant parmesan but I can’t stand cooking all those slices in oil [!!] and then layering everything together. This preparation is just what I need. HINT: This recipe serves 2 [two] people. Dear Husband enjoyed this.

4 slices peeled eggplant to a total weight of 6.5 oz   ¼ c part-skim ricotta cheese        ½ cup reduced fat cottage cheese   ½ oz egg   1½ cup canned whole tomatoes         basil  garlic powder 1 oz whole-grain linguine [or other pasta of your choice]          3 oz zucchini ribbons –OR– 2 oz spinach leaves

Sprinkle the eggplant slices liberally with salt and lay them in a collander on a plate and let sit 30 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the ricotta and cottage cheeses with the egg. Combine the tomatoes with the basil and garlic powder. Rinse the eggplant slices and bake at 375F on an oil-sprayed pan for 15 minutes or until tender. Spray two 8” oven-safe saute pans OR one larger pan with non-stick spray. Measure ¼ c of tomato into each pan and flatten it out. Lay two slices of eggplant, slightly over-lapping, on the tomatoes in the pans. Smear 1 Tbsp of tomato on each eggplant slice. Arrange 2-3 Tbsp of ricotta/cottage cheese mixture on each slice. Put any extra tomato sauce on top and then a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400F for 15+ minutes or until eggplant is soft. Use a vegetable peeler to slice zucchini into lengthwise ribbons. Cook the pasta for 4 minutes, then take off heat. Add the zucchini to the pasta and let it sit, covered, for another 2-3 minutes. If using spinach, add it to the pasta pan with one minute to go. I like to serve it all in the skillet in which it was baked, but you can plate it to your individual wishes. Melty and tender – just the way I like it.