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.

When I first heard Joni Mitchell’s song Chelsea* Morning in 1969, I was delighted by visual images of warm orange/yellow items, seen in an early morning light. It was so cheerful! Honey, oranges, butterscotch — deliciously lovely. I described it to my mother, who dismissed it a sounding “sticky.” Oh dear. The color orange makes one optimistic, happy, enthusiastic, and thinking of ‘youthful connections’, according to a paint company in North America. To Buddhists, who wear orange robes, the color signifies transfor-mation. Orange is the color of Autumn, from leaves to pumpkins and squashes. One of the seven colors that make up visible light, orange’s wavelength is slightly shorter than that of red: 590-625 nanometers. Prior to the 1600s, Europeans had no word for the color orange. To describe it, they said ‘yellow-red’, since the color orange is made by combining various amounts of red and yellow pigments. When sweet orange trees were introduced into Europe by Portuguese traders, the fruit gave the color its name: laranja, in Portuguese; naranja, in Spanish; arancia, to the Italians; while the English took the French word: ‘orange’. The color can be associated with aggression and impulsiveness. And then there are the orange jumpsuits that prisoners wear in court… which lead to Orange Is the New Black on TV. Be mindful of wearing orange in Northern Ireland. That was the color of the Protestant minority rulers of colonized Ireland, in honor of the Dutchman William of Orange who became the England’s protestant king in 1689. Thus, green-wearing Catholics might take umbrage. Do you wear orange or eat oranges? Look around to see how and where you encounter orange in your life. *Joni Mitchell’s ‘Chelsea’ is from New York City, not Chelsea in London as many people think.

Our breakfast is made up of items from the song, so hum along as you eat it. The dinner is of the color orange, from the butternut squash. Does eating it make you optimistic, happy, enthusiastic? I hope so!

Chelsea Morning: 210 calories… 1.5 g fat… 4.5 g fiber… 10.5 g protein… 41.5 g carbs… 267 mg Calcium   NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB GF – if using GF bread  Inspired by the Joni Mitchel song, these ingredients make for a cheerful breakfast and may give you an ear-worm for the rest of the day. The song mentions milk, but I substituted yogurt. Put the milk in your coffee, if you wish.

1 slice whole-grain + 70-calorie bread + 2 tsp honey + 1 clementine + ½ c plain yogurt   Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories] Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]

Lightly toast the bread and drizzle with honey. Eat the fruit and yogurt separately, or mix clementine slices into the yogurt.

Thai Butternut Squash Soup:  253 calories…  9 g fat… 4 g fiber… 19.4 g protein… 24 g carbs… 112 mg Calcium  GF PB  Found in the Toronto Globe & Mail, this recipe makes a lot of delicious soup. It freezes beautifully, so you can enjoy it often. Don’t forget to add the shrimp and spinach to each serving at the end. HINT: makes 6 cups of soup. Save out one cup for dinner and freeze the rest in portion-sized containers.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil + 2 cups onion 2 cloves garlic + 1 tsp salt	Heat oil in large soup pot over medium-low heat. Chop onions + garlic, add to pan with salt. Cook 10 mins, until onions have softened.
1 Tbsp fresh ginger + 4 tsp Thai red curry paste	Peel, grate ginger. Add these to pot. Cook 1-2 mins
2½# butternut squash, peeled 3 c. water or unsalted chicken broth	Slice squash ½” thick, deseed it. Add these, take to a boil. Lower heat, simmer until tender, 15-20 mins.
1 tsp lime zest  1 Tbsp lime juice	Add these, saving remaining zest and juice.
½ cup ‘lite’ unsweetened coconut milk	Stir in ‘milk’. Puree until smooth in blender.
	Return to pot, reheat, adjust flavor with more lime juice and/or curry paste.
per bowl: 3 oz chopped shrimp  ¼ cup baby spinach cut as chiffonade	For each serving, stir spinach + shrimp into hot soup. Serve when spinach is just wilted.