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.

Springtime means Rhubarb. Rhubarb is a very hardy plant, surviving in Hardiness Zones 3-8. As soon as the snow melts, Rhubarb starts to poke up out of the ground. Around here, the plant stalks are ready to harvest in May, long before strawberries or any other fruit. Of course Rhubarb is not a fruit — we eat the leaf stalk, so technically it is a vegetable — but we treat it like one. On a Fast Day, you can enjoy Rhubarb at breakfast or as part of a mealtime entree. On a Slow Day, you can enjoy a Rhubarb beverage or a Rhubarb dessert. Low in calories, high in Calcium, Rhubarb is good for you and good tasting. We have come a long way from using Rhubarb for medicine. Let us enjoy the ‘first fruits of the season’! Eat [and drink] your Rhubarb;

Our breakfast started out as a dessert, but there is no reason we can’t call it breakfast if we want to. Dinner is a new take on tacos.

Yogurt Creme Brulee: 208 calories… 2 g fat… 2.5 g fiber… 19 g protein… 28 g carbs… 115.6 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage. PB GF Let’s have dessert for breakfast! A Bobby Flay dessert was the inspiration for this breakfast recipe.  HINT: This makes enough for 2 [two] servings.

2 servings	You will need a small blowtorch to caramelize the sugar. You CANNOT use the broiler or you will melt the yogurt.
8 oz Greek yogurt, made from skimmed milk——————-½ tsp vanilla	Stir yogurt and vanilla in a bowl to combine. Cover and refrigerate 30+ mins to allow flavors to meld.
1 cup rhubarb mush—-2 Tbsp water —- 1 tsp sugar —–½ tsp lemon juice	Put rhubarb in a small saucepan and add water. Simmer until just softened, ~5 mins. Add sugar and stir in the lemon juice. Let cool.  If using rhubarb mush, stir in the sugar only.
2 ramekins——-¼ c rolled oats, toasted	Divide fruit between ramekins. Toast oats in a dry skillet and sprinkle on fruit. Fill with yogurt. Cover and freeze 5 mins.
2 tsp turbinado sugar per ramekin	Sprinkle sugar over each ramekin. Caramelize by slowly sweeping the blowtorch flame back and forth. Let sugar harden, ~2 mins.

In addition: ++ 1 oz 3%-fat ham slice +++++ Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] ++

While the ramekins are in the freezer, cut ham slice into ribbons and quickly cook in a dry skillet. Plate ramekin with a wreath of ham around it. A fine mix of opposite flavors, temperatures, and textures.

Fish Tacos with Rhubarb: 298 calories… 10 g fat… 6.6 g fiber… 21.4 g protein… 24 g carbs… 108 mg Calcium…  PB Often citrus fruits or juices are put in tacos to add acidity. Why not use rhubarb instead? This recipe produces a very filling meal.  TIP: Don’t do what I did – I mixed the coleslaw in with the other vegetables, which muddied the colors and flavors. Serve coleslaw on the side.

++ Two 40-calorie yellow corn tortillas ++++ 3 oz raw salmon ++++ ½ cup coleslaw ++++ 2 Tbsp New Mexico roasted green chilis [in a jar or can] ++++ ½ Roma tomato, diced ++++ 2 Tbsp red onion, chopped ++++ ½ cup/1.5 oz rhubarb, diced ++++ 1 oz avocado, cubed ++

Bake the salmon with seasoning until cooked through, around 6 minutes. Cut into ½” cubes. Prepare the other vegetables, combining the chilis, tomato, onion, and rhubarb. Warm the tortillas until pliable, not crispy, and put them on the serving plate. Top with the mixed vegetables, then the cooked fish. Serve with the coleslaw on the side.