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.

Social reform. Education for women. Mental health reform. Care for the marginalized. These are hot-button issues in our world today. Who would suspect that there was someone advocating for them in the mid-1800s! That person was Dorothea Lynde Dix, born April 4, 1802, in the state of Maine, USA. After a difficult childhood with a depressed mother and an alcoholic father, Dorothea moved to her grandmother’s house in Boston. She was able to get a good education there, and at age 14 became a school teacher. [very typical in that era] Soon, she was in charge of several schools, catering to the needs of girls who did not do well in traditional education. By age 20, Dix was so worn out that she was instructed to go to Europe for a rest. There, she met activists in the cause of better treatment for the mentally ill. Back in the States, Dix volunteered to teach a Sunday class at a local ‘insane asylum’. She was horrified to find that the mentally ill were housed with dangerous criminals in disgusting filth, while subject to abuse and cruelty. After visiting other Massachusetts institutions with similar conditions, Dix successfully lobbied the state government to set regulations for the care of those who had no say in the matter. She traveled to other states to investigate how they cared for the mentally ill. Her work lead to new mental hospitals being built in New Jersey, Illinois, and North Carolina. At the start of the Civil War, Dix went to Washing-ton D.C. and volunteered to be a nurse. [At that time, all hospital nurses were men] Although she had no nursing training, she was put in charge of all the Union Army hospitals and their 1000s of nurses. With her typical industry, Dix set out to hire and train women as new nurses, to reform how hospitals were run, and to fire many nurses who were not up to her standards. She was efficient and effective, but was widely disliked by the nurses and doctors. After the war, Dix continued her crusade for better care in hospitals and asylums despite frequent bouts of illness. Dorothea Dix’s impact on the care of marginalized people was enormous. She spent the last years of her life as a guest in a private apartment in one of her asylums in New Jersey.

One of the many mental hospitals inspired by Dix was in Illinois, so our breakfast is inspired by one of Chicago’s favorite foods. Hearty, warming soup might well have been served by Dix in the Army Hospital tents, and it is always welcome at dinner.

‘Chicago’ ScrOmelette:  135 calories — 7 g fat — 2 g fiber — 10 g protein — 7 g carbs — 53.4 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF  One of my methods for creating a new breakfast is to take flavor elements from a favorite dinner and then put them in eggs. Here, we have a ‘Chicago Hot Dog’ without the sausage and without the bun. Dear Husband deemed it ‘very good!’

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.   1 oz tomato + 1 Tbsp chopped onion squirt of yellow mustard + 1 ‘sport pepper’ or 1 pepperoncini, chopped pinch of poppy seed + pinch celery seed + 1 oz apple   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]

Cook the onion and mustard in a pan which has been spritzed with non-stick spray. Add the tomato, pepper, and seeds and heat through. Whisk the eggs with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Scramble or cook as an omelette. Plate with the apple for a taste sensation.

Scotch Broth: 140 calories —5 g fat —2 g fiber— 7 g protein— 16.4 g carbs— 21.4 mg Calcium   NB: food values are for the soup only.  PB  This is one of those ancient comfort foods. One can imagine generations of Scottish crofters making the best of local barley and root vegetables cooked with a bit of mutton. This soup is warm and hearty. HINT: the recipe produces 5 [five] one cup servings.

4 oz ground lamb +++ ½ cup pearled barley cooked with 1¼ c water +++ ½ cup carrot, diced ½ cup turnip, diced +++ ¼ cup onion, diced +++ ¼ cup parsnip, diced +++ 2½ cup lamb broth 1 tsp butter +++ pepper and salt to taste +++ 1 Tbsp dried rosemary   optional per serving: 4 two-inch bannock = 64 calories– 2 g fat — 1 g fiber — 1.6 g protein — 9 g carbs — 17 mg Calcium

Prepare the barley by cooking at a simmer for 30 minutes. Cook the lamb and vegetables in the butter for 5 minutes. Add stock to the vegetables and simmer 30 minutes. Add cooked barley, stir to combine. Take off heat, cover, and let sit overnight. The soup will thicken as it sits, so before serving add water to achieve the consistancy you want.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large	1.5 two-oz eggs
asparagus + pear	Parmesan cheese
prosciutto	asparagus
Parmesan cheese	applesauce
optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

4.5 oz fresh spinach + green beans	pork tenderloin, cooked or raw + cucumber
onion or shallot + Laughing Cow cheese	Asian sweet chili sauce
sole or ocean perch fillets	sweet red pepper + carrot
70-calorie whole-grain bread	baguette slices + sesame-ginger dressing
Sparkling water	Sparkling water