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.

Jules Verne, if not the inventor of Science Fiction, was one of the major popularizers of the genre. According to LSC University,”Science Fiction,” is “speculative fiction which explores ‘life as it would be were some scientific premise actually true.’ “ The first example, of course, was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1818. Edgar Allen Poe wrote Sci-Fi in the mid 1800s. By the late Victorian Era, so many scientific innovations were developed that the time was right for science fiction — because anything seemed possible. When Jules Verne was born on February 8, 1828, he was destined to follow his father into the law. But growing up in the busy port city of Nantes, France, young Jules developed a wanderlust. He began writing stories in high school and thought about being a writer. Verne pere sent his son to Paris for law school, which allowed the young man to hob-nob with writers and playwrights. In the 1850s, Verne finally rejected his father’s wishes and committed himself to a literary life, producing two plays and writing a book. He also married a young widow with two children, which made him more anxious about financial security. Verne and his wife began frequent travels to Great Britain, inspiring him to write about travel. That lead to a travel manuscript combining science and adventure. When he teamed up with the editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel [who accurately read the zeitgeist], it was published as Five Weeks in a Balloon in 1862. Followed by Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), and All Around the Moon (1870), Verne was established as a popular author. Two of his most famous books were Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and Around the World in Eighty Days(1873). The former was a travelogue, designed to be read with an atlas at hand, to trace the path of the Nautalus. The latter inspired journalist Nelly Bly to circle the globe in less time. Verne survived a gun-shot wound [by his deranged nephew], and died of diabetes in 1905. Jules Vernes’s tomb in Amiens, France is amazing — does it represent religious hopes or a sci-fi trope of reanimation?

The ingredients of our VERNal ScrOmelette are in tune with the Mediterranean Region, which the Nautalus traversed after passing through a sub-sea tunnel where the Suez Canal would later be. In another adventure, the crew visits the sub-Arctic, so naturally we will dine on Arctic Char. Had Verne partaken of meals like these, he might have been able to control or forestall his diabetes.

Vernal Equinox ScrOmelette:  156 calories 8 g fat 1 g fiber 13 g protein 4.4 g carbs 53.5 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF  The cured meat and asparagus are emblematic of the changing seasons: the meat is for Winter and the aparagus is for Spring. Together, they are a heavenly flavor combination to mark an astronomical event.

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 to store in the ‘fridge for next week.    1 oz cooked asparagus, chopped           ¼ oz uncured capicola or proscuitto  1 clementine                     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]

Thinly slice and coarsely chop the meat. Combine it with the chopped asparagus. Spritz a non-stick pan with non-stick spray. Put the meat-asparagus into the pan and stir until warmed. Whisk the eggs and pour into the pan. Scramble or cook as an omelette. Plate with the clementine and enjoy the start of the day with the beverages of your choosing.

Arctic Char with Peas, 3 ways: Arctic Char is a member of the Salmon Family which can be both sustainably fished in the wild and farm-raised. It is delicious, too. There are three presentations given: one is ridiculously easy, the other slightly more complex. All taste great and are lovely to look at.

Recipe I: 263 calories 8 g fat 3 g fiber  28 g protein 10 g carbs  25 mg Calcium  PB GF        4 oz arctic char fillets  ½ cup green ‘English’ peas, fresh or frozen               Bake fish at 400 F. for 10 minutes per inch of thickness or grill for 4 minutes/side. Cook the peas and serve over/around the fish.

Recipe II: 263 calories 8.5 g fat 2 g fiber 27 g protein 10.5 g carbs 106 mg Calcium   PB GF      4 oz arctic char fillets ¼ cup watercress sauce**  1 cup snow peas, stems and strings removed    Bake fish at 400 F. for 10 minutes per inch of thickness or grill for 4 minutes/side. Warm the watercress sauce and serve over the fish. Cook the peas and plate. 

Recipe III: 274 calories  7.4 g fat 8 g fiber 25 g protein 16.4 g carbs 54.5 mg Calcium   PB GF    3 oz arctic char  ¼ cup edamame [soy beans]  ¼ cup snow peas                 ½ cup snow peas, stems and strings removed  ¼ cup watercress sauce**

**WATERCRESS SAUCE:  Terrific for adding to eggs or sauces.                   TOTAL RECIPE = 143 calories  5 g fat  2.5 g fiber 7 g protein  20 g carbs 297.5 mgCalcium     ice cube = 8 calories  0 g fat  0.1 g fiber  0.4 g protein 1.5 g carbs 16.5 mg Calcium        8 oz [by weight, not volume] watercress, well rinsed and trimmed of tough stems          1 medium-large onion [weighs 4 oz]  1 tsp olive oil  1 cup vegetable or meat stock 

Chop onion in a food processor. Heat oil over medium heat and cook onions for 10 minutes until softened. Run watercress in food processor until finely chopped. Add to the onion in the pan, cook 5 minutes more. Stir in the stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve immediately or cool and store. I froze it in ice-cube trays and got about 18 cubes. The cubes were put in a bag in the freezer for future use.

Remove the stems and strings from the snow peas. Shell the edamame. Bake the fish at 400 F. for 10 minutes/ inch of thickness or grill for 4 minutes/side. Meanwhile, cook the peas and edamame. Plate the fish, drizzle with sauce, and surround it with beautiful green ‘peas’.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large	1.5 Pan muffins
tomato puree + parsley	low-fat vanilla yogurt
onion + bell pepper	cottage cheese
cayenne + applesauce or apple	blueberries
optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

roast venison + broccoli	5 oz shrimp + cumin + garlic
tomatoes + marinated mushrooms	Maifun brown rice noodles
roasted red pepper + dried pear	garlic + lime juice + olive oil
lettuce + olive oil + balsamic vinegar	cilantro/coriander leaves + lettuce
Sparkling water	Sparkling water