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. 

People are fascinated by tales of disaster and death. Even more so when the deaths occur due to some ironic twist of fate. Such was the dreadful story of the Willey Family. They were pioneers in the steeply-sloped fastness of Crawford Notch, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Samuel J. Willey, with wife Polly Lovejoy and five children in tow, moved to the site in 1825. The glacier-carved ‘notch’, or mountain pass as it might be called elsewhere, was on a path that today is unrivaled for scenic beauty, but then was a link for trade and travel from Canada and Northern Vermont to southern New Hampshire and the Maine seacoast. Willey’s property had a small house which he enlarged to take in travelers through the notch. He proudly called it the Willey House Inn and Tavern, and hoped for tourists lured to the area by paintings from the nascent “White Mountain School” of art. The steep mountain slopes, then as now, were prone to landslides, so Samuel took action to protect his family: he built a semi-underground shelter near the house to use in an emergency — like a back-yard bomb shelter in WW2 or a storm cellar in Tornado Alley. Two months later, on August 28, 1826, an extremely violent rainstorm battered the mountains. Debris was washed down into the valley below the road, farms and livestock were destroyed. The next day, a traveler, headed for the Willey House Inn, found an odd situation. The area around the house — the barn, the outbuildings, the emergency shelter — were all buried in piles of rock. But the house itself was intact and completely undamaged! A large glacial boulder uphill from the house had divided the rock slide into two streams, saving the house. Rescuers came, and they discovered the remains of the two hired men, Samuel, Polly, and two of the five children — the other three were never found, but the family dog survived. If tourists had not come to Crawford Notch before, they came now! Nathanial Hawthorn wrote a fictionalized account, and newspapers across the country carried the story. Tourists could buy paintings of the house, or stereopticon slides to view at home. That was the start of the tourism industry in Crawford Notch. The Willey House Inn was enlarged, to host more visitors, and operated until it burned down in 1898. Today, there is a plaque on the rock that saved the house, and across the road you can buy ice cream and souvenirs. How would Samuel Willey have felt about that?

A pioneering family would have prepared their own ham, raised their own eggs, and foraged for greens in the woods: ingredients for our breakfast. For dinner, a hearty soup of meat and barley that might have been served at the Willey’s Inn.

Green Eggs & Ham: 144 calories… 9 g fat… 1 g fiber… 13 g protein… 8.6 g carb… 55.6 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  GF This is a delicious meal to prepare any time, as long as you have fresh chives. The title, of course, is a nod to the delightful book by Dr Seuss, but these eggs will be enjoyed by children of all ages.

+++ Three 2-oz eggs of which you will use 1½ eggs per person  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.++++ 1 oz ground or chopped ham ++++ 2 Tbsp fresh chives or scallion greens ++++ 1 oz orange or pineapple ++++  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait  [70 calories] ++++   Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Whisk the eggs with salt & pepper to taste. Put the white part of the onion into a hot pan sprayed with cooking oil. Stir around for a few seconds. Add the eggs. When bottom of eggs begin to set, sprinkle the ham & greens over the eggs, scramble to taste, and plate. Pour the beverage the beverages of your choice, prep the fruit, and “Eat them! Eat them, here they are!”

Beef & Barley Soup: 191 calories… 2 g fat… 7 g fiber… 16 g protein… 32 g carbs… 40 mg Calcium…  PB Here is a hearty, easy to prepare soup that tastes great. HINT: Recipe makes 8 cups = 5 servings.

++ ½ c onions, chopped ++++ 1 clove garlic, minced ++++ 14.5 oz can whole tomatoes ++++ ¾ c Quaker brand Quick Barley ++++ ½ c celery, sliced ++++ ½ c carrots, cut in coins ++++ 2 beef bouillion cubes ++++ ½ pound cooked roast beef, cut in ¼” cubes ++++ 5 cups water ++++ bay leaf ++++ 1 tsp dried basil ++++ 2 Finn Crisp crackers per serving ++

Gently saute onion and garlic in cooking spray and a bit of water until soft. Add tomatoes, barley, celery, carrots, bouillion cubes, water, and herbs. Cover and cook on medium-low for 10 mins. Add beef, cover and cook 10 mins. As always, soup tastes better if it sits overnight. If you do let it sit, add some water before reheating to thin the soup to your liking.