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.

The Sun revolves around the Earth, right? The Earth is flat, right? Those formerly cherished notions were popular for many millennia. After all, it looks as if the sun is moving across the sky while it seems that the apparently flat Earth is standing still. Who would challenge such evident logic? We were told in school that Columbus was first to believe that the world was round. We know that Copernicus published a revolutionary book in 1543, hinting that the sun was in the center of our system. We know that Galileo got into hot water for stating the same truth more emphatically in 1610. But who said it first? Aristarchus, 310-230 BCE, was a mathematician who lived on the Island of Samos in the Greek archipelago. From observing the shadow creep over the face of the moon as it became eclipsed, he had a huge ‘Aha!’ moment. The shadow was curved! The shadow was the Earth’s! The Earth was round! The shadow was cast on the moon by the Earth, as the Earth circled the sun! [That is called heliocentricity] Therefore, a round Earth orbited the Sun!! He wrote down his ideas, with illustrations and calculations, but the work was lost. Archimedes quoted it, and several parts were copied, so we know some of what Aristarchus said. But his brilliant insight was overshadowed by Aristotle’s insistence on a flat Earth circled by the Sun, Moon, and five planets. [Geocentricity] Just as the arrival in the New World by Brendan and Vikings was overshadowed by Columbus’ voyage, the guy who gets it right is often bested by the guy with a better press agent. Let us remember Aristarchus of Samos, and give him credit for being way ahead of his time.

Our meals are from modern Greece, to honor the ‘modern’ ideas of an ancient Greek.

Moussaka ScrOmelette: 175 calories… 13.5 g fat… 1 g fiber… 14 g protein… 5 g carbs… 70 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB GF A good sauce makes a fine moussaka casserole. So why not carry that flavor over to breakfast by folding it into eggs? Great idea!

++ 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 fluid ounce/2 Tbsp moussaka sauce  +++  ¼ oz feta cheese, crumbled ++++ 2 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] ++

Warm the moussaka sauce. Whisk the eggs and pour into a heated skillet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cook, tipping the pan and lifting edge of cooked eggs until the bottom is set but the top is still moist. Top with the sauce and cheese, fold and plate. Serve with the berries.

Meze Meal with meat: 297 calories… 6 g fat… 6 g fiber… 21.5 g protein… 22 g carb… 174 mg Calcium….  PB GF  ‘Meze’ is the Greek equivalent of Spanish Tapas. Small servings chosen from multiple small plates which make it easy to eat on a hot Mediterranean night. Well, we don’t live on a vast inland sea, but we’ll take good low calorie, low fat, delicious food where ever we can find it. There are lots of good recipes in the book Meze by Rosemary Barron.

+++ ¼ cup white beans + ½ Tbsp capers ++++ ½ oz marinated mushrooms +++ 2½ oz tomato, cubed or sliced and sprinkled with sea salt + a generous pinch Greek oregano ++++ 1¼ oz cooked chicken breast -OR- 1½ oz sliced Loukanico [Greek lamb sausage]++++ 1 oz mozzerella cheese -OR- feta cheese ++++ 1½ oz lemon-marinated carrots ++++  marinade: 1 tsp olive oil + 1 tsp lemon juice + pinch of granulated garlic + pinch oregano

Combine the white beans with the capers in a small bowl. In another bowl, combine the tomatoes and the oregano. Slice the carrots into small logs or coins and cook until tender. Drain and combine with the marinade in a small jar with a lid. Shake well, remove the lid and let the carrots cool in the marinade. Attend to the chicken or sausage by cooking it and cutting into bite-sized pieces. Plate the ingredients to please the eye. Look at photos of the Aegean Sea….