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. Join the Fasting Lifestyle!

In the early 1970s, Dear Husband and I were dining in a Chinese restaurant. A near-by diner asked, “Did you learn to use chopsticks while serving in Vietnam?” Well, Dear Husband had never been to Vietnam [high Draft Number], so he said “No.” The man kept pressing the question for some reason, which was a touchy one in that time, so we ignored him. In fact, Dear Husband learned to use chop-sticks when dining in New York’s Chinatown. The ability to eat with sticks seems to say something salient about the diner. Chopsticks [ kuàizi, 筷子, in Chinese] are an ancient utensil. They were probably used in China 5000 years ago. There are two origin stories. In one, cooks began to cut meat and vegetables in small pieces. These cooked faster and made table knives unnecessary, so chopsticks were used. In the other, Confucius, a vegetarian, discouraged knives at meals since they were used in violence against humans and animals. Take your pick. From China, the use of chopsticks spread to Japan, Korea, Nepal, and Vietnam. Each country has its own style of chopsticks and its own rules on how to use them. Chopsticks are also used to prepare food, from stirring a soup to moving around a stir-fry. Did you know that using them is good for your memory, and it involves more than 50 muscles? Chopsticks have been made of bamboo, various other woods, jade, and silver. It is fun to learn a new skill and to get in touch with another culture — try it.

Lore: A Chinese superstition has it that if you find an uneven pair of chopsticks at your table, you will miss the next boat, train or plane that you are trying to catch. In Japan, if a husband or father went to war and the family members miss him, they would bring out his chopsticks when they eat. An old Korean superstition has it that the closer to the tip one holds a pair of chopsticks, the longer they will remain unmarried.

Our meals are from Japan and China, so both can be eaten with chopsticks, although the breakfast — being a long roll — would benefit from being cut into smaller pieces. Not sure about your chopstick skills? Watch the tutorial — improve your small motor skills and celebrate Chopsticks Day, 2025.

Jian Bang  [Japanese Rolled Eggs]: 149 calories… 8.5 g fat… 1 g fiber… 13 g protein… 6 g carbs… 72.6 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF Number One Son prepared these for us as part of a larger Japanese breakfast, and they are amazing. I added the crab and leek to make a good thing even better. Yup, guilding the lily.

++ 1½ two-ounce 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 ++++  2 Tbsp crab meat, frozen or fresh ++++ 2 Tbsp leek, finely sliced ++++ ½ Tbsp soy sauce ++++ ¼ tsp sugar ++++ 1 oz peach OR 1½ oz strawberries ++++ 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] ++

Spritz a non-stick pan with non-stick spray. Cook the crab and leek until you can smell the leek, but don’t brown it. Remove from pan. Beat the egg with sugar, and divide into 2 parts. Spritz the pan again and reheat. Put half of the egg in the pan and swirl/tip the pan to spread it out into a rough round. Distribute the crab and leek all over the egg. When top of egg is set enough that it is still moist but won’t jiggle much, roll the egg into a roll from one side of the pan to the other and leave it there. Pour the remaining egg in the pan and cook until almost set. Roll the roll across the pan again to incorporate the newly-cooked egg. Plate and serve with soy sauce. Prepare the beverages and fruit and enjoy your meal from Japan.

Liver with Oyster Sauce: 272 calories… 12 g fat… 2.5 g fiber… 26 g protein… 12.5 g carbs… 55.3 mg Calcium… GF From our first ‘real’ Chinese cookbook, Classical Chinese Cooking, which taught me to love liver with oyster sauce.  HINT: The full recipe serves three [3]. “Serve in a casserole dish to emphasize its deliberate and savory coarseness,” says the cookbook.

serves 3 ¾# beef or pork liver++++ 1 tsp soy sauce++++3 Tbsp oyster sauce ++++1 Tbsp sesame oil ++++ ½ tsp sugar	serves 2 ½# beef or pork liver++++ 1 tsp soy sauce ++++ 1½ Tbsp oyster sauce ++++2 tsp sesame oil ++pinch sugar	Cut liver into large chunks. Combine other ingredients, add liver, marinate 2-3 hours. Drain meat, reserving marinade.
3 oz Snow peas per person	4 oz Snow peas=48 calories –OR– 1 serving Chinese Cabbage	Blanch in boiling water 1½ mins, drain, keep warm. OR Chinese Cabbage* [see below]
1 spring onion, sliced +++++++ 2 slices ginger, chopped ++++ 2 tsp neutral oil	1 scallion, sliced++++++ 2 slice ginger, chopped ++++ 1 tsp oil	Heat oil in wok or heavy skillet, adding a spritz of cooking spray as well. Saute these 1 min.
	Marinated liver	Add liver to pan, saute 1 min.
	marinade +++++++++++++ snow peas OR Chinese Cabbage ++	Add marinade, stir, and cook less than 3 mins, until liver is cooked and sauce is bubbling. Take off heat, top with snow peas OR serve with Chinese Cabbage*.

*CHINESE CABBAGE Each serving = 35 calories … 0.1 g fat… 2 g fiber… 2.7 g protein… 7.5 g carbs… 56 mg Calcium

Serves 2
Non-stick spray +++++ 1 clove garlic, sliced	Spray a heavy pan, cook garlic over medium 30 secs.
½# cabbage, shredded/thinly-sliced ++++2 Tbsp water	Stir in these. Cover and cook 1 min.
1½ tsp soy sauce	Add, cover and cook 1 min.
1½ tsp fish sauce ++++  2 Tbsp water	Turn up heat, add these. Cook, uncovered, until cabbage is tender and liquids have evaporated

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

1/2 cup cooked brown rice	smelts or other small fish
1 oz nut-honey mix, such as Buram brand	za’atar + deglet noor dates
	Gozleme bread: white whole wheat flour
	+ plain nonfat yogurt
optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

4 oz cod fillet + brown pepper	olive oil + onion + bell pepper
coriander seed + Chinese wine or sherry	spinach + eggplant + tomato + cumin
brown rice + onion	paprika + oregano + 1-2 eggs
dandelion or other wild greens	feta cheese + celery
Sparkling water	Sparkling water