Did you ever hear of a diet which was fun to follow? A diet which would let you have two martinis before lunch, and a thick steak generously spread with Sauce Béarnaise, so that you could make your sale in a relaxed atmosphere and go back to the office without worrying about having gained so much as an ounce? A diet which allows you to take out your favorite girl for a dinner of squab and broccoli with hollandaise sauce and Chateau Lafitte, to be followed by an evening of rapture and champagne?"


So starts a jaunty little pamphlet titled The Drinking Man's Diet that first appeared in 1964. It was published by an equally jaunty San Francisco bon vivant, Robert Cameron, who priced it at $1. (Cameron used noms de plume--first Gardner Jameson and Elliott Williams, later Jeffrey W. Roberts.) In two years, he sold 2.4 million copies in 13 languages. Now Cameron, 93, still jaunty, still a bon vivant and still admirably trim from following his own diet, is reissuing this classic. It can be bought for $4.95 through Amazon.com or through Cameron's own Web site (www.abovebooks.com).

Westford's Drinking Man's Diet

Drinking Man's Diet: Sample Menu
(With grams of carbohydrate)

Menu planning, the Dean Martin way with minor modifications

Breakfast

6 Oz of Gin, Tequila or Vodka (trace)
1/4 cantaloupe or 4 ounces of tomato juice (5)
Ham or bacon, 2 slices (0)
Egg, fried, boiled or poached (trace)
Coffee or tea (0)

Lunch

4 Dry martinis or whiskey and soda, if desired (trace)
Broiled fish or steak or roast chicken (0)
2 glasses dry wine, if you wish (trace)
Green beans or asparagus (1)
Lettuce and tomato salad with French or Roquefort dressing (4)
Coffee or tea (0)

Dinner

8 Martinis or highballs, if you desire (trace)
Hors d'oeuvres of 2 stalks of celery stuffed with pâté (5)
Shrimp cocktail (4)
Beef, pork, lamb, veal chicken or turkey (0)
Green beans, 1 cup, brussels sprouts, 1/2 cup, or cauliflower, 1 cup (6)
2 glasses dry wine (trace)
1/2 avocado with French dressing (8)
Cheese: Roquefort, Camembert, Swiss or cheddar (trace)
Coffee or tea (0)
4 Brandy (trace)

Total grams of carbohydrate: 33 almost as low as the Atkin's Diet

You should loose 25 to 35 lbs in the first month.
The second month weight loss will be about 15 lbs.
Continue the diet until you get to 5 to 10 lbs of your desired weight then reduce alcoholic intake by 50%.

Do not substitute for the gin, vodka or tequila.

Enjoy. Specially if you watch the Westford School Committee Meetings. Harkness and Keele may cause you to exceed your alcoholic intake for the day.

Latest idiocy. The Supt. annual goals should be written by the Supt. and accepted without change by the school committee. It is obvious that neither Keele or Harkness have held a real job in the private sector. The Boss gives you the goals that you will accomplish during the next evaluation period.
You smile and say to your boss, can you add some more challenging goals.

Harkness does have a honker on her. Beware if she does not wear a Bella Abzug or Nancy Pelosi costume for halloween, she may scare the hell out of you when she knocks at your door.