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 me in the Fasting Lifestyle.

When you think of ice falling from the sky, you picture winter sleet or snow. Hail — balls of ice from the clouds — are a summertime pheno-menon. It occurs when warm, humid air rises into the Troposphere to form clouds. If those clouds become tall enough, so much that the temperature at the top of the cloud is mark-edly cooler than at the bottom of the cloud, then a convective flow begins. Air within the cloud rises and sinks due to the temperature differences. In the cooler temperatures at the top of the cloud, water precipitates out as ice crystals, and begins to fall through the cloud. But the air currents kick the rain back to the top, where it refreezes and falls again. Each time the ice goes back to the top, another layer of ice is added to it, until the iceball is so heavy that the convective winds cannot lift it, and the ice falls to earth. That is hail. Hail can cause a lot of damage. Even small hail can damage fruit and vegetable crops, and larger hailstones can dent cars or break windows. On April 14, 1986, hail in Bangladesh reached the size of 1.02 kg/2.2 pounds [the heaviest ever recorded], and killed 92 people. On April 14, 1999, a hail storm in the Sydney, Australia area was the costliest storm ever in that country. 20,000 houses and 70,000 cars were damaged, costing $1,700 million AUD — equivalent to $3,542,959,397.31 Australian dollars today. Don’t look up.

Our meal suggestions are round, like hail stones. The sliders are about the size and shape of the record-setting hail of 1986.

Rounds, with Egg: 175 calories… 8 g fat… 2 g fiber… 12 g protein… 20 g carbs… 38 mg Calcium… NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages. PB GF Simple to prepare, easy to eat. Having a few pan muffins tucked into the freezer makes life easier. This breakfast will keep you rolling along through your morning: there is lots of protein and every element is ROUND.

++ 1 two-ounce egg: crack an egg into a small dish ++++ 1 slice Canadian bacon [aka: ‘back bacon’] ++++ 1 pan muffin** ++++ 1 oz apple, cut down the cheek of the apple to make a round slice ++++ 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] ++

Thaw or prepare the pan muffin. Warm the bacon and the muffin in a non-stick pan spritzed with non-stick spray. Then cook the egg by putting a 2.5” round cookie cutter on the surface of the same pan. Spray inside of round mold and surface of pan with cooking spray. When pan is hot, pour a little of the egg into the mold and let it set, to plug any gaps where egg might leak. Pour in remaining egg and cook until mostly set. Use a table knife to run afound inner edge of mold to release egg. Turn egg over, to cook the top. Plated in moments, but be sure to eat it mindfully.

**PAN MUFFIN each: 71 calories… 2.5 g fat… 1 g fiber… 2 g protein… 11 g carbs… 8.5 mg Calcium… These are a dandy little bread to add to a breakfast plate. You will see them in Roman Breakfast and in Cottage Breakfast with egg 

1 c dry Bob’s Red Mill 10-grain hot cereal …………… 1¼ cup buttermilk/soured milk	Combine cereal and milk in a small bowl. Let sit 10 minutes.
1/3 cup butter @ room temperature …………. 1/3 cup sugar …………… 1 two-ounce egg	Cream butter and sugar, then mix in egg.
1 cup unbleached flour ………….. 1 tsp salt ………………1 tsp baking powder……..1 tsp baking soda	Add dry ingredients and cereal/milk mixture. Stir until just combined.
2 Tbsp batter for each pan muffin	Portion batter onto a hot griddle or flat-bottomed pan spritzed with non-stick spray. Cook on both sides.

Cajun Catfish Sliders: 286 calories… 7.6 g fat… 3.5 g fiber… 27.6 g protein… 28 g carbs… 132 mg Calcium  PB Nothing could be simpler on a busy day, than to pan-fry some catfish for dinner.  HINT: this preparation serves two [2].

++ 9 oz catfish filet ++++ 2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning ++++ 3 slider buns [90 calories each] ++++ Side salad OR ¾ cup coleslaw** ++++ optional: 2 oz tomato, in 3 slices ++

Cut catfish fillet[s] into 3 equal pieces. Dredge the pieces in Cajun seasoning. Heat a non-stick pan to medium, spray with cooking spray or olive oil. Cook the fish until done on both sides. Open each slider bun, put slice of tomato on each bun, then top with one portion of fish. Serve coleslaw on the fish or on the side. Cut one slider in half, serve one and one half sliders on each plate.

**Coleslaw: Makes ¾ cup PB GF ½ cup = 41 calories… 2.4 g fat… 3 g fiber… 1 g protein… 5.5 g carbs… 38 mg Calcium…  ++  1 cup chopped cabbage ++++ ½ oz carrot grated [makes ¼ cup] ++++ 1½ tsp ‘Mayo Dressing’ made with olive oil -OR- 1½ tsp plain yogurt ++++ 1½ tsp cider vinegar ++++ pinch celery seed ++