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.

Throughout his career, Michelangelo Buonarroti protested that he was not a painter. He preferred to work in stone, and he was awfully good at it. But still… Six years after he was born on March 6, 1475, his father sent him to a local school. Lessons did not hold his interest, instead, young Michaelangelo would go to the churches to watch artists painting frescoes. So his father sent him to the studio of Ghirlandaio, the foremost painter in Florence, where he learned drawing and the techniques of fresco. After a year, the boy was taken under the wing of Florence’s most important patron: Lorenzo de’ Medici, aka the Magni-ficent. In his home, Michelangelo saw examples of great art of the past, and rubbed elbows with the foremost artists of the day. Soon the commissions came in, and his career was launched. Like some of his contempo-raries, Michelangelo was versatile in many media, and with a paint brush he achieved great heights. Literally. He spent four years on his back, 66 feet above the floor, painting the astonishing Sistine Chapel ceiling for Pope Julius II. [He didn’t want to do it, but the pope made him.] Years later, he painted the Last Judgement on the Altar Wall of the chapel. The artist considered painting to be an act of sculpting with paint. All the figures are 3-dimentional and sculptural, looking as if they were carved from marble. Whether marble or paint, his works began with sketches, and his notebooks are filled with them as he worked out poses and the arrange-ment of groups. One of the few surviving paintings is the Tondo Doni, in which we see again the ‘sculpting’ of the figures, and the vigorous positions of the Holy Family — very much like a Sistine Chapel grouping. It is too bad that we do not have more of his paintings, but then, Michelangelo was really a sculptor.

The most charming piece of ‘art’ produced by Michelangelo is a scrap of paper with his grocery list, seen upper left. He was sending his servant out to purchase supplies, and since the servant was illiterate, Michelangelo sketched pictures of what he wanted. [Today, one takes photos on the cell phone. Boring] Bread, salad fixings, herring, anchovy, tortellini pasta — the great artist wanted them, and these will be elements of our meals in honor of his birthday.

Michaelangelo’s Pita Breakfast: 174 calories… 10 g fat…5 g fiber…18.6 g protein…17 g carbs…35.6 mg Calcium…  PB GF – if using GF pita bread  This recipe is based on items from a grocery list that Michelangelo ‘wrote’ in 1518. Actually, he drew pictures of the foods, since his servant couldn’t read.

++ ½ whole-grain pita bread ++++ ¼ c garbanzo beans ++++ 1 cup salad greens, sliced if large leaves ++++ ½ oz kipper [smoked herring] ++++ ½ tsp olive oil ++++ 1 anchovy packed in oil ++++ ½ tsp red wine vinegar ++++ 3 T. plain, low-fat yogurt ++++ 1 Tbsp orange juice concentrate ++

Soak the kipper in warm water for 30 minutes, or until softened. Take out of water and chop. Put in a bowl with beans and greens. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, yogurt, and juice concentrate to make a dressing. Chop the anchovy finely, and add to the dressing. Pour dressing over other ingredients, and toss to coat. Spoon the dressed salad into the pita, pour an optional breakfast beverage, and enjoy an artist’s breakfast. HINT: You could add chopped hard-boiled egg to the salad, with 70 more calories.

Tortellini with Black Kale: 209 calories… 9 g fat… 3.5 g fiber… 10 g protein… 24 g carbs… 231 mg Calcium…  PB Packaged, dried tortellini is a handy item to have in the pantry. It makes for a fine Tuscan meal when pared with Black Kale. Fun Fact: ‘Black Kale’ is also called ‘Dinosaur Kale’ – youngsters might like that. The recipe is from ‘thekitchn‘  NB: I used the recipe below for the kale as two servings, when paired with the pasta. But the calories are so low that you could eat it all as one serving. 

++ 27 g dried cheese/spinach tortellini [Barilla brand is good] ++++ 3 oz diced tomato ++++ 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese ++++ PLUS ingredients shown below for the kale.

For the Kale:

3 oz black kale	Use your hands to pull the leaves from their stems. Coarsely chop the leaves. Rinse them, but do not dry.
1 tsp olive oil ++++ 2 cloves garlic ++++ pinch red pepper flakes	Heat oil in a large, wide, high-sided sauté pan or wok over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until fragrant ~1 min (do not let garlic brown).
¼ tsp kosher salt ++++ pinch ground pepper	Add kale, stirring as it starts to wilt. Stir in salt + pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until kale is just tender, ~5 minutes. TIP: Could stop here, cool the kale and refrigerate or freeze.
2 tsp lemon juice — optional <1 oz whole-grain artisan bread — optional	Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice.  Serve.

For the meal: Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for 9-11 minutes, then drain. Combine with the diced tomatoes and Parmesan. Plate the pasta surrounded by the kale.

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

2 two-oz egg yolks + 3 two-oz egg whites	one 70-calorie whole-grain bread
strawberries or Golden Berries	garlic + pinch sugar
Armagnac	olive oil
raspberries + blueberries	serrano ham or prosciutto
optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

4 egg yolks + 4 egg whites	beef sirloin, 2 oz per serving + asparagus
Gruyere cheese	red bell pepper + oyster sauce + soy sauce
fresh chives + smear butter	cornstarch + chicken stock + fresh ginger
Side Salad + <1 oz sour-dough rye bread	onion + garlic + Japanese buckwheat noodles
Sparkling water	Sparkling water