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.

Outdoorsman, war reporter, sportsman, big game hunter, bull-fighting aficionado — Ernest Hemingway was the ‘man’s man‘. He was also a highly-respected, best-selling author. Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. The area then was uncrowded, giving the child freedom to roam about the prairies and woods. The family summered in northern Michigan, where Ernest learned to hunt and fish. At age 17, he worked as a newspaper reporter in Missouri before enlisting as a Red Cross volunteer ambulance driver in the Italian army during World War I. Wounded in the legs and torso, Hemingway spent months recovering in Italy, and was then ‘wounded’ in the heart when the nurse he loved spurned him. His war experience inspired his debut novel The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926. Hemingway’s books and short stories explore themes of war veterans with PTSD; continually proving one’s masculinity; fears of emasculation [physical and emotional]; and difficulty establishing relationships with women [he married four times and always left them before they could leave him]. Fame and recognition came with a Pulitzer Prize [1953] and Nobel Prize for Literature [1954]. Hemingway moved around a lot, restlessly seeking happiness with his ever-changing band of creatives — a “Lost Generation” that reads like a Who’s Who. Paris, Pamplona, the Alps, Africa, Key West, Cuba — it was all a Moveable Feast and fodder for the 10 novels and 16 short stories Hemingway wrote. Eventually he moved to Idaho in 1960, worn out with old physical injuries and remnants of past serious illnesses. Mental issues lead to being institutionalized twice, and in 1961, he committed suicide, as his father had 33 years before. Hemingway is remembered for his writing style, which my Creative Writing teacher called ‘journalistic’, with its short, declarative sentences and inclusion of observed minutia.

Our breakfast is taken right from one of the “Nick Adams” stories, which gives details of breakfast while camping. The dinner features trout, which the author loved to catch. The recipe is named after the state of Montana, home to a ranch where Hemingway stayed in 1930, for the fishing. 

Nick Adams’ Breakfast: 241 calories… 4 g fat… 4.5 g fiber… 8 g protein…44 g carbs… 83 mg Calcium…  PB GF – if made with all buckwheat  Ernest Hemingway wrote several semi-autographical short stories about ‘Nick Adams’. When Nick is camping, he cooks buckwheat cakes for breakfast. His are plainer than these, but I think these taste better. The recipe is by Natashia Levai, and she calls them ‘Preston County Buckwheat Cakes’. Nick would drink black coffee or tea.

++ 3 buckwheat cakes ++++ 2 Tbsp apple butter ++++ ¼ c wild berries++++  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] 

Prepare the buckwheat cakes**. Plate with blueberries, and slather the cakes with apple butter.

Makes 16 Buckwheat Cakes, 5” diameter	griddle or cast iron frying pan
112g/1c white flour ++++112g/1c buckwheat flour ½ tsp salt ++++++3.5 g instant or active dry yeast+++  225 g buttermilk or milk +++++1 Tbsp vinegar ++ 120 g water	Add these to a large mixing bowl and whisk to incorporate.Cover bowl with a kitchen towel, let batter sit 8-12 hrs at room temp, or 16-18 hrs in ‘frige. Batter will bubble.
120g hot H20 +++1 teaspoon sugar +++++++ ¼ teaspoon baking powder ++++++¼ tsp baking soda+++++¼ teaspoon salt	When time to cook, add these to bowl and mix well. Batter should be thicker than crepe batter but thinner than pancake batter. It won’t rise much.
	Preheat pan over medium heat.
Butter or oil	Grease pan lightly, wipe with paper towel, pour in batter. Fry1-2 mins on each side. If too dark or too pale, adjust heat.
1 cake: 60 calories…1.2 g fat…1.2 g fiber…2.5 g protein… 11.2 g carbs… 27.5 mg Calcium	Move to a plate. cover with a kitchen towel to keep warm and soft. Cook remaining batter.

Trout Montana: 268 calories… 4 g fat… 3 g fiber… 30 g protein… 13 g carbs… 86 mg Calcium…  PB GF – if using GF bread crumbs. This is my take of a recipe from the Nero Wolf cookbook.  HINT: Serves 2 [two].

++ Four 2-oz trout filets – trim them to the correct weight and a uniform size ++++ 1 oz 3%-fat ham [from the deli] ++++ 4 Tbsp scallions, chopped finely +++ 1 egg ++++ 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce ++++ 1 piece of 70-calorie bread, ground into fine crumbs ++++  per person: 2 oz carrots, cut as batons

Spread the crumbs on a plate. Whisk the egg with the Worcestershire and pour into a wide, shallow bowl. Lay each of the fish filets flat on a plate. Distribute most of the scallions on two of the four fish filets. Add the remaining scallions to the bread crumbs. Start to cook the carrots. Cut the ham slice in half lengthwise and lay each piece on the scallion-topped filet. Top with the other piece of fish. Heat a non-stick pan and spray it with non-stick spray. Take a fish-ham-fish ‘sandwich’ and dip in on both sides in the egg mixture. Then dab the ‘sandwich’ onto the bread crumbs on both sides and place in the hot pan. Repeat with the other ‘sandwich.’ All of the crumbs will be used but not all the egg – save it for part of breakfast or add to a dinner or feed to the cat. Cook the fish about 4 minutes, then carefully flip it over and cook another 3-4 minutes. The fish should be golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Plate with the vegetables and be ready for a taste sensation.