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.

One might think that to be an enslaved Black woman was a sure ticket to obscurity. Harriet Powers would prove you wrong. She was born on October 29, 1837, outside of Athens, Georgia, USA. We do not know what duties she was assigned, but it no doubt had to do with making clothing for her enslavers. It would seem that sometime after 1851, the household purchased a Singer Sewing Machine, since in her later life, Harriet knew how to use one. She married Armstead Powers and gave birth to nine children. The end of the Civil War gave her freedom, and Harriet went right to work. She was free, she was literate, and she had a skill. Money from her work as a seamstress allowed the family to buy a farm by 1880. In those days, when a woman had many bits of fabric from dressmaking, she made quilts, and so did Harriet. In 1886, she exhibited one of her works, her “Bible Quilt“, at the Cotton Fair in Georgia. The quilt was sewn by hand and by machine, with some fabrics pieced together and some shapes appliquéd. It caught the eye of an art teacher, who offered to buy it. She was taken by the bold shapes and the ‘impressionistic’ way of telling the Bible stories. At first Powers said that the quilt was not for sale at any price. But five years later, hard times [perhaps due to the divorce of Harriet and Armstead] forced Powers to sell it to the teacher. When the quilt was shown to the faculty wives of Atlanta University [now Clark University], they commissioned one as a gift for the head of the trustees. This became the “Pictoral Quilt”, finished in 1897. It depicts Bible stories and also curious events of meteorology such as the Dark Day and a meteor shower. Harriet Powers died in 1910. Her Pictoral Quilt is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and her Bible Quilt is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institutions’ American History Museum. [Unless her work has been ‘canceled’ by the political will of the day.]

Our breakfast is from Ghana, one of the African nations that were raided by slavers.. The dinner is redolent of foods and flavors of the American South.

Kontomire with Eggs : 212 calories… 11.6 g fat… 1.5 g fiber… 18 g protein… 10 g carbs… 110 mg Calcium…  PB GF Sometimes this popular meal in Ghana is prepared with eggs, often not. This is a meal that is very flexible with its ingredients. This recipe was adapted from one in africanfoodmap.com. Wow. Delicious! 

Serves 1
½ oz smoked herring [kippered herring] = 30 calories -OR- 0.4 oz smoked mackerel	Kippers: Soak overnight in warm water until softer. Mackerel: do not soak. Chop either into ½” bits.
2 Tbsp/ ½ oz onion, chopped	Cook onions in PAM until they start to brown
½ clove garlic, minced—-1 ¾ Tbsp roasted green chilis— ½ cup tomatoes, diced	Add these, stir together. Cook ~ 10 mins as liquids with evaporate/thicken.
Soaked, drained, chopped smoked fish	Add kippers plus ½ cup water, cook ~5 mins
1/3 cup/ 1½ oz frozen spinach, thawed	Add spinach, stir gently, cook on low ~10 minutes
2 two-oz eggs	Whisk eggs, scramble into hot vegetables until cooked.

Andouille w/ Beans & Greens: 213 calories… 7.5 g fat … 6 g fiber… 16.5 g protein… 22 g carbs… 120 mg Calcium… PB GF After reading Vallery Lomas’ recipe in the New York Times, I decided to see if I could make these flavors suitable for a Fast meal. This is a treat. HINT: This recipe serves three [3].

Sv. 3	Sv 6	heavy skillet
6 oz Andouille, sliced	12 oz Andouille, sliced	Cook. Stirring, in skillet until browned, 5-7 mins.
1 shallot—1 clove garlic	2 shallot—2 clove garlic	Mince shallot and garlic. Cook, stirring, until translucent, ~2 mins.
3 c/4 oz collards—salt & pepper—3 Tbsp water	6 c/8 oz collards—salt & pepper—6 Tbsp water	Coarsely chop greens, add to pan with water. Toss-cook to wilt, 2-3 mins. Season.
2 tsp fresh thyme—1 c. cannellini beans—1 c. diced tomato—2 tsp molasses	4 tsp fresh thyme—2 c. cannellini beans—2 c. diced tomato—4 tsp molasses	Rinse and drain beans. Add these ingredients to pan, and toss to warm through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.