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.

A “French Bedroom Farce” is a special sort of play — full of mistaken identities, slamming doors, convoluted plots, unfaithful lovers, and lots of humor. No one wrote them better than the playwright Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau. He was born into a literary family in Paris in 1862. His father, a financier, wrote a novel that scandalized the archbishop — which guaranteed splendid sales. Young Georges was stage-struck from an early age. At boarding school, he organized a theater troupe. His first play was staged by an amateur group in 1882, and the professional debut of a different show was in 1883. A newspaper critic called it “a very witty fantasy”. As a member of a theater troupe, he staged his first hit in 1886 and the audience was rolling in the aisles with laughter. After a few failures, Feydeau took time off to study the plays of famous farceurs of previous years. That honed his style, and from 1892-1914 his plays were hits. Feydeau did not invent the genre of the farce, but he perfected it. One critic observed that “A typical plot establishes in Act I the need for secrecy on which the subterfuge and duplicity of the leading characters will depend; in Act II we move to a public meeting place – most notoriously a hotel of not very savoury reputation … Act III restores things to a somewhat precarious status quo.” He gave audiences what they wanted: bourgeois characters with foibles like their own, convoluted plots that were a bit risqué, story lines that poked fun at the cheating husband and the nosy wife, and a comfortable way to spend the evening at the theater with one’s spouse. “La Dame de chez Maxim” was his most successful play for French audiences. His works were translated and produced internationally, with “A Flea In Her Ear” being the most popular play in English. [I love that play!!] In later life, Feydeau took time off for his painting hobby, while his wife spent unwisely, and he incurred gaming debts. The couple divorced, and Feydeau was sent to a sanatarium with dementia. His work fell into obscurity after his death on June 4, 1921, but was revived by the  Comédie-Française in the 1940s. Today, Feydeau ranks with Molière as one of the great comedy-writers of France.

Feydeau’s plays always kept audiences laughing, so our breakfast will contain ‘Laughing Cow’ cheese. Feydeau’s plots were full of confusion and trickery, so our dinner turns the tables on a familiar soup, Gazpacho — because this version has no tomatoes and it is green!

Laughing Herb Omelette: 155 calories… 7.6 g fat… 1.4 g fiber… 11 g protein… 9 g carbs… 82.4 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF  I’m a big fan of Vache Qui Rit cheese. It is fine to eat as is, but as a low-calorie ingredient, it is super!

+++ 1½ 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 ++++ ½ section Vache Qui Rit [Laughing Cow] cheese ++++ 1½ Tbsp fresh herbs ++++ 2 oz apple ++++ 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] +++

Whisk the eggs and herbs together. Take the cheese from the ‘fridge [HINT: keep it cold so that it will slice better] and slice it into as many thin slices as you can. Spritz a hot non-stick or cast iron pan with cooking oil and pour in the eggs/herbs. When the bottom begins to set, lay the cheese slices over half the surface of the eggs. Cook to your degree of doneness, fold and plate. Slice apple, shake up the smoothie, pour your hot beverage and laugh along with the cow.

Green Gazpacho with Shrimp: 279 calories… 19 g fat… 2 g fiber… 13 g protein… 11 g carbs… 56 mg Calcium…  PB GF Martin Walker’s policeman, Bruno, prepares this dish, and you might wish to as well. HINT: The recipe makes 3 cups of soup, to serve three [3] people.

1½ green peppers [9 oz] cut in ½” dice +++++++++++++++ 3 fl oz dry white or rose wine	Put 1/3 of peppers in a blender with wine. Pulse a bit, then add 1/3 more peppers and pulse again. Add remaining peppers and pulse.
½ large cucumber [5 oz] cut in ½” dice	Add the chopped cucumber and pulse a few times.
75 ml/4 Tbsp good olive oil ++++4 tsp white wine vinegar ++tarragon sprig ++2 cloves garlic, chopped ½ cup onion, chopped+++++salt & pepper to taste	Add these ingredients and blend until soup is still a little chunky. Pour into another container and chill 30+ mins.
Per serving: 2 oz small shrimp +++piment d’esplette	Sprinkle shrimp with piment and cook. Pour soup into a serving bowl and top with cooked shrimp.

<<<<<<<< Ingredients for next week >>>>>>>>> Breakfast, single portion for Monday …………………………… single portion for Thursday:

1 two-oz egg = US large	Oat Bannock: rolled oats, flour, milk, butter
slicing tomato	applesauce, unsweetened
1/2 multi-grain sandwich thin [60 calories]	smoked salmon
‘Canadian’ bacon or thinly-sliced round ham	low-fat vanilla yogurt
optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

Dinner, single portion for Monday:………………………….. single portion for Thursday:

12 oysters + butter	1 qt beef broth + carrots
leeks + fennel bulb + apple	rutabaga/yellow turnip + onion
bleu cheese + egg white + fennel fronds	parsnip + ‘quick’ pearled barley
optional: pie crust but NOT Gf	cabbage + herbs
Sparkling water	Sparkling water