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.

In the past, messages could be sent by smoke signals; by drum beats; by signal flags; by signal fires. All of these worked, to an extent, permitting very rudimentary communication. Sending a letter enabled more complex messages, but what if there were no safe and established system to ensure that the letters arrived? Then, in 1837, Morse Code sent over telegraph wires made long-distance communication possible. With underwater cables, islands were less isolated — but only if they were close to shore and the cable was long enough. If only messages could be sent through the air…. Enter Guglielmo Marconi, born 1874. His father was a country gentleman, his mother was an Irish gentlewoman. As a child, Guglielmo enjoyed tinkering with electronics. In addition to his good education, he studied scientists like Maxwell, Hertz, Righi, and Lodge. At age 21, Marconi sent a wireless message a distance of 1.5 miles across his father’s estate. As improvements were made to his device, his parents supported their son in making his transmitter widely known. Scant attention was paid in Italy, so Marconi went to Great Britain, where he obtained a patent. From July, 1896 to 1899, Marconi gave demonstrations of his transmitter — across land, from islands to land, across the English Channel, from boats to land. The big break came on December 12, 1901, when a signal sent from Poldhu, Cornwall to a kite used as a receiving antenna flying above Signal Hill in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The Radio Era was born! Marconi received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909, and accolades came from many nations. In 1912, a ‘Marconi signal’ from the stricken Titanic alerted the ship Carpathia to come to the rescue. After heading the Italian radio corps in WWI, he was a supporter of the Facists from 1923 until his death in 1937. Marconi’s considerable fortune was left to the child of his second marriage, while not a penny went to the children of his first marriage. Both unions had ended in divorce. Marconi united the world with radio, but seems to have faced considerable disunity on the home front.

Our meals today are from Italy.

Sicilian ScrOmelette: 157 calories 11 g fat 0.5 g fiber 13 g protein 2 g carbs 129 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB GF  A protein-packed salad meets eggs for breakfast.  This is based on our Sicilian Shepherd’s Salad which we enjoy for dinner.

1½ two-oz 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.  ¼ oz salami sausage ¼ oz mozzarella 2 Tbsp chopped wild greens [ex: dandelion] or arugula  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]

Chop the sausage, the cheese, and the greens, and combine them gently. Heat a well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick pan and spritz it with oil or cooking spray. Whisk the eggs with salt and pepper, then pour into the heated pan. As the eggs set, sprinkle the sausage mixture over the eggs. Scramble or fold as an omelette and enjoy with the beverages of choice.

Eggplant Patties w/ Onion Marinara: 273 calories 4 g fat 8.5 g fiber 46 g carbs 43 mg Calcium   PB GF – if using GF bread/flour/pasta  Marcella Hazen, in her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, gives the recipe for the patties and a sauce in which to serve them. I added a bit of pasta to the meal. 

4 eggplant patties** 1 oz pasta– If you use whole grain or high fiber pasta, so much the better  ½ cup tomato-onion marinara++ 

**Eggplant Patties: makes 7 when using a 1½ tsp scoop = 32 calories each   9 oz eggplant with skin still on 2 Tbsp bread crumbs 1 Tbsp spinach chiffonade 1 tsp minced garlic 1 egg yolk 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan 1 Tbsp white whole wheat flour Roast eggplant at 400F until soft, around 15 minutes. Peel it and cut in rough cubes. Put in a collander over a bowl and let it drain, pressing down lightly. Add to a bowl with remaining ingredients. Stir with a fork until well-combined. Heat a skillet and spray with non-stick spray. Using a 1½ Tbsp scoop, put eggplant mixture into the hot pan, flattening it a bit. Cook on each side until starting to brown.

++ Tomato-Onion Marinara  makes 1.5 cups  1.5 c. onion, thinly sliced 1.5 c. canned whole tomatoes Salt + pepper Spray a saute pan with non-stick cooking oil and heat it. Add onions and cook at medium-low until onions begin to turn golden. Add tomatoes, chopping them into smaller pieces with a plastic or wooden utensil. Cook until tomatoes have thickened a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Boil the pasta while the patties are cooking. Heat the marinara, then add the cooked pasta. Put some of the sauce in the center of your plate and position the patties on top. Arrange the pasta and sauce around the center, as pleases your eye.