nutritious weight loss

The “Beagle” Has Landed

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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.

After a long voyage from England, followed by the perilous journey around Cape Horn, the HMS Beagle landed in the Galapagos Islands on September 15, 1835. The ship had been sent out by the British Admiralty to perform a hydrographic survey of the ocean around South America. On board was an extra crew member, the recent university graduate, Charles Darwin. He had been invited by the captain to be his ‘science officer’, to collect plant and animal specimens to take back to England. Darwin, an enthusiastic naturalist, accepted with pleasure. The young man had been considering a vocation in the clergy, but his eyes opened to new ideas while on the voyage. He found fossils of extinct beasts. He saw the sea floor lifted up to dry land by an earthquake. And on the Galapagos, he found birds similar to those on the mainland, but which had changed over time to fit their environment. Darwin collected thousands of samples, and created volumes of notes. By the time the Beagle arrived in the Galapagos, the trip had lasted five years. On the voyage home, Darwin compiled his notes and began to doubt the scientific doctrine of the time: that no life form ever went extinct; that the Earth had been formed 4000 years before in one event and hadn’t changed since; that nature was immutable and that species never changed. Darwin went on to write his explosive book The Origin of Species, and science hasn’t been the same since. Just as the landing of the Eagle on the moon in July, 1969, opened the door to new scientific discoveries and further expeditions, the landing of the Beagle in the Galapagos lit the spark that began a revolution in scientific thought.

The breakfast represents Darwin’s ideas at the start of the voyage: conventional, very English, conservative. The dinner, innovative and modern, is a metaphor for Darwin’s ideas at the end of his analysis of his findings.

FarmWife Mushroom Casserole: 127 calories… 2 g fat… 2 g fiber… 7 g protein… 33.5 g carbs… 83.6 mg Calcium… NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage. – PB– Having read of this in The Fellowship of the Ring, I searched and searched until I found an approximation: this recipe in Theodora FitzGibbon’s A Taste of England.

++ ½ oz [one strip] American/streaky bacon ++++ ¾ cup assorted mushrooms, chopped ++++ 3 Tbsp chicken stock ++++ ¾ tsp white whole wheat flour ++++ 1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce ++++ salt & pepper ++++ ½ Arnold Multi-grain Sandwich Thin ++++ ½ oz pear ++++  Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories] ++++ Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]++

In a small pan, cook the bacon partially. Remove from the pan, blot off the fat, and cut in strips. Pour off the bacon fat but return 1 tsp to the pan. Saute the mushrooms in the fat and remove them. Pour the chicken stock and Worcestershire into the pan and sprinkle in the flour while whisking to prevent lumps as it thickens. Add pepper. Put the bacon and mushrooms into the sauce and cook over low heat, until warmed through. Pour into an oiled oven-proof dish and bake at 425 F for 15 minutes. Warm or lightly toast the Sandwich Thin. Place the bread on top of the mushroom pudding prior to serving.  NB: you can serve it out of the baking dish or turn it out on the bread on a plate. Enjoy with the pear and have a hearty day, even if you are not escaping from Black Riders.

Grapefruit-Avocado Salad: 289 calories… 20 g fat… 6.4 g fiber … 18 g protein… 15 g carbs… 75.5 mg Calcium…  PB GF This is delicious, nutritious, and satisfying. Real food. Good food.

++ 1 two-oz egg, hard-boiled ++++ 2.5 oz avocado [this was half an avocado], sliced in 4 pieces ++++ 3.3 oz pink grapfruit sections [you need 4 sections] ++++ 1.75 cups lettuce, sliced/shredded ++++ 1 oz cooked chicken breast [you could substitute 4 shrimp for a meatless meal] ++++ ½ tsp white wine vinegar + ½ tsp lime-infused olive oil + ¼ tsp ground ginger ++++ lemon finishing salt ++

Whisk the oil, vinegar, and ginger in a meduim-sized bowl. Add the lettuce and toss to coat with the dressing. Remove the lettuce to a serving plate, letting some of the dressing drip back into the bowl. Spread the lettuce evenly over the plate and sprinkle with the finishing salt. Starting at the center with the egg, arrange the grapefruit and avocado around the plate. Place the chicken as you wish. Brush the remaining dressing on the grapefruit and avocado. 

Galveston Hurricane

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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 city of Galveston, Texas is located at the northern end of a chain of barrier islands on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It was settled after the Texas Revolution in 1836, and became the premier port city of the state. It proudly welcomed thousands of immigrants and in 1880, Galveston was Texas’ largest city. The city was vibrant with its electric lights, opera house, state medical center, Coast Guard station, and fine architecture. For 64 years, the residents lived smugly in the assumption that no hurricane would ever strike that far West in the Gulf. Isaac Cline was the head of the local station of the young National Weather Service. On the morning of September 8, Cline noted that sea water was rising along the coast as the air pressure went down. This is what today we call ‘storm surge’: low air pressure causing the sea level to swell up, thus inundating the land. Knowing, therefore, that a storm was coming, he rode along the waterfront on his horse, telling people to head to higher ground or to stronger buildings. In truth, there was no ‘higher ground’ since the maximum elevation of Galveston Island was nine feet above sea level, and few heeded his warning. All day long the sea and the winds rose, flooding the coastal buildings. By that night, 120-mile-per-hour winds drove ocean waves onto the island. Rows of houses parallel to the shore went down like dominoes, damaging the rows of houses behind them. Eventually, the entire island and its proud city were under water. When the next day dawned, the destruction was incomprehensible. More than half of the city’s dwellings were destroyed, 8000-10000 people were dead. Clean-up began, as bodies were recovered from their splintered houses. There were so many dead that city officials put them on barges and had them towed out into the Gulf to be “buried at sea”. However, the next high tide brought the gruesome cargo back and piled the bodies high on the shore. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the greatest hurricane disaster in the USA of all time. Isaac Cline, whose wife was among the dead, then lobbied the National Weather Service to coordinate weather data to predict storm tracks and provide warning to people in the path of potential disaster. This is why you will hear weather alerts on your phone, TV, or radio before a strong storm or tornado comes your way. Thank goodness for a well-staffed and well-funded National Weather Service! An engrossing book about the event is Isaac’s Storm, by Erik Larson, which I recommend to your attention.

Fresh fruits and lots of seafood — you must be in Galvaston!

Citrus Breakfast: 149 calories… 1.5 g fat… 1.5 g fiber… 15.5 g protein… 19 g carbs… 118 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage. PB GF Is this the breakfast you imagine when you think ‘go on a diet’? Does it look like starvation rations? Banish those thoughts! Delicious, nutritious, and filling because of the protein, this is a great breakfast for anyone, anyday. And it has tons of Vitamin C and A and D.

++ ½ cup 2%-fat cottage cheese ++++ 2 Tbsp fat-free plain or fat-free Vanilla yogurt++++  1 clementine, peeled and sectioned ++++ 2 Tbsp black currants -OR- blueberries ++++ Optional:  5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories] ++++  Optional:blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] ++ 

Combine all the dairy and scoop it onto the plate. Pour fruit on top. If you plan for a busy morning, combine everything the night before and refrigerate it. Great for a grab-and-go meal. It is a vitamin-blast.

Fish Tacos: 266 calories… 2.6 g fat… 3.6 g fiber… 23 g protein… 37 g carbs… 118 mg Calcium…  PB The food truck staple is now available for a Fast Day. Add more spices to suit your taste.

++ two 6” corn tortillas ++++ 3 oz cooked fish HINT: next time you grill or broil fish, cook an extra 3 oz for this recipe. Wrap it and label and store in freezer until needed. ++++  ½ cup tomato, cubed ++++ ½ cup cabbage, chopped ++++ 1 oz red onion, sliced ++++ 1 Tbsp lime juice or salsa verde ++++ pinch chili powder + pinch cumin ++++ 1½ Tbsp plain yogurt ++

Combine the cabbage, tomato, and onion in a bowl with the lime juice and spices. Heat a large griddle or cast iron pan and put the tortillas in it until they are warm, pliable, and beginning to brown. Remove to your plate. Spread the tortillas with the yogurt. Divide the fish between the tortillas and add a splash of lime juice or salsa verde. Top with the vegetable slaw. If there is too much slaw to fit into the tortillas, serve it on the side. What a simple summer dish!