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. Welcome to Watchurdiet who is now Following.

On August 12, 1819, The Essex left Nantucket Harbor to hunt whales. Thirty-three other whaling vessels left from that port that year, but the Essex did not return. The 20-year-old ship had a crew of 21, a racially-mixed group, all eager to cash in on the booming whale oil industry. The Essex, with a thick hull of oak, recently sheathed in copper, was thought to be a lucky ship due to her past success. On her way to the whaling grounds in the South Pacific, The Essex was nearly rolled over in a gale, losing two of her five whaleboats. When the ship took too long to reach the Pacific, the crew began to think her luck had changed. One man defected in South America, leaving them under-staffed. On November 20, a male Sperm Whale that almost as long as the ship deliberately rammed her twice, stoving in the bow. As the ship slowly sank, the crew salvaged what they could and piled into the three long-boats. The captain and the first mate debated whether to sail downwind to the Marquesas Islands, 1200 miles away or to sail south 1000 miles, then 3000 miles east to South America. Wishing to avoid supposed cannibals on the Marquesas, they opted for the long route. After 20 days afloat, the men were rationed half a pint of water and six ounces of hard bread per man per day — guaranteed starvation at 500 calories per day. On the 31st day, they landed at Henderson Island and ate all the animals there within a week. They then went back to the boats, except for three who chose to remain there. [They were later rescued] On Day 57, the cannibals who were not on the Marquesas, were in their boat: a crew member who died was eaten by his boat mates. One of the three boats drifted off and was not seen again. By Day 74, having continued to eat those who died of natural causes, the men in the Captain’s boat drew lots to determine whom they should murder and then eat. At last, 96 days after the whale attack, the remaining five men were rescued. They recovered and went home. Two of them wrote memoirs. Captain Pollard retired after another failed voyage. Every year, on November 20, he would lock himself in his room and fast, recollecting The Essex crew. The horrible events captured the popular imagination: Melville’s Moby Dick was inspired by the whale attack, and even Anne of Green Gables meets a family who’s sea-faring ancestor ate his crewmates.

The crew ate 500 calories a day, which is less than what we eat on a Fast Day. We don’t starve because our meals are nutritionally balanced, and the next day we can eat normally. Our meals come from Goa in the Indian Ocean, since whale boats sometimes went that far to hunt. The dinner is from the Azores which had a long tradition of whaling from its own shores. Many Azoreans signed on with New England whaling crews, and then settled in Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Goan Scramble:  150 calories 7.6 g fat 1 g fiber 10.4 g protein 10 g carbs 57 mg Calcium NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB GF The mixture of spices and spicy foods called Cafreal Masala is typical of Goan cuisine. It really delivers a punch to these eggs!

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, pour half of their volume into a jar with a lid, and put it in the ‘fridge for next week.  1.5 tsp Cafreal Masala ½ oz shrimp, cooked and chopped 1.5 oz mango   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 pour into a hot pan that has been spritzed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the shrimp on top. Drizzle the masala paste onto the eggs and swirl it into the eggs as they cook, sort of like putting the chocolate into marble cake batter. Plate with the mango and serve with your choice of optional beverages.

Cozido Soup:  Cozido is a specialty of the Azores island of Sao Miguel. Some of the dormant volcanoes still have warm magma and send steam out through vents and fissures. Locals lower cauldrons of meats and vegetables into steaming wells, then serve the cooked meal at restaurants. The serving for two at O Miroma in Furnas consists of vast quantities of beef, pork knuckles, blood sausage, carrots, potatoes, collards, cabbage, and turnips. Like a New England Boiled Dinner, but cooked in a volcanic vent! We took the remainders from our meal home.  You could make this soup at home using readily- available ingredients and your humble cooktop.

The next day, I put the bones, sausage, and juices in a pot with water and Piment da Queijo. While that simmered, I cut up the vegetables and meat into bite-sized pieces [discarding the blood sausage to which I have an aversion]. Combined, it provided a hearty, nourishing, and low-calorie soup for a Fast Day.