Sunday, May 15, 2005

The Drinking Man’s Diet—or—How to Lose Weight with a Minimum of Will Power

(also recommended for ladies and teetotalers)
Drinking Man's Diet cover
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 Bearnaise, 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?

You may find it hard to believe, because we have all been conditioned to think of dieting as a form of self-torture, to punish ourselves for our indulgences.

Nevertheless, there is such a diet, and this little book will you what it is.

What the diet is
This really is a very simple diet.
It can be summed up in one sentence: Eat less than sixty grams of carbohydrate a day. That’s all there is to it. So what’s a carbohydrate? Mostly, as you will learn in this book, carbohydrates are concentrated in starches and sugars. They are almost absent from “man-type” foods like meat, fish, cheese and salad…
Grisley Alternative
The grisly alternative
To emphasize just how agreeable a low-carbohydrate diet can be, just consider the discomforts of its only alternative, the low-calorie diet.

You all know the standard meals touted in the ordinary diet books:
2 tablespoons of cottage cheese with defatted French dressing
1/2 lb. of vegetableburger (a dry, scratchy mass of grated carrots, soybeans, daisy petals, etc.)
1 glass skim milk
1 piece of dry toast
black coffee
You are having the most beautiful woman in the world over to dinner. Imagine sitting down with her to a dinner like that! “Do you think you can afford a quarter cup of rhubarb juice darling?” “No dear, I was so starved this afternoon, I cheated and ate two whole stalks of celery. I'll have to take it easy now." Romance does not fly very far on such wings.

So let’s take a look at a sample menu…

Breakfast
1/4 cantaloupe or 4 oz. Tomato juice
Ham
Egg, fried, boiled or poached
Coffee or tea (with cream) (Note: Always use artificial sweeteners)

Luncheon
Dry martini or whiskey with water or soda
Broiled fish or steak or roast chicken
2 glasses dry wine
Green beans or asparagus
Lettuce & tomato salad with French or Roquefort dressing
Coffee or tea (with cream)

Dinner
Martinis or highballs, if you wish
Hors d’oeuvres of 2 stalks celery stuffed with pate
Shrimp cocktail
Beef, pork, lamb, veal chicken or turkey
Green beans (1 cup)
2 glasses dry wine
1/2 avacado with French dressing
Cheese
Coffee or tea (with cream)
Brandy

If you noticed there was a bit of booze in this diet, you’d be right. Here’s what they say about that.…
You can drink as much as you think is good for you. There is ample medical testimony to show that ingestion of fats slows down the rate of absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream. Remember how the Russians were said to keep sober at international conferences by swallowing olive oil before the vodka. On our diet, you can keep up with the Russians or any one else.
Charts don't tell lies
So don’t believe this wonderful diet? Here is a testimonial for you…
Paula P., woman-about-town: “Frankly, I like my cocktail. But I don’t like to go sashaying around with rolls of fat pushing their way around the shoulder straps of my evening dresses. In the old days I used to starve myself, literally, and go to a doctor for shots that would give me enough energy to keep going. Then my face would get haggard and frighten children. Now with the Drinking Man’s Diet (and why not the Drinking Woman’s?) I can eat three solid meals a day.. And I don’t wear a girdle any more.”

So there you have it. A predecessor to the Atkins Diet, but with a whole lotta booze thrown in!

Drinking Man's Diet
Copyright 1964 by Cameron & Co
By Gardner Jameson and Elliott Williams

6 comments:

pril said...

i'll attest to the efficacy of such a diet. I lost 20 pounds on my own Beer, Beam and Bananas diet in about a month.

Rozanne said...

There are some priceless remarks in that thing! I just love the way the copy reads.

I remember finding a copy of it in our basement when I was a kid (after my mom volunteered to "store" all the books that hadn't sold at the church rummage sale). Even as a kid, I remember thinking the diet sounded nuts, but I didn't fully appreciate its literary merits.

I like that it just lists "ham" on the breakfast menu, without specifying quantity. That makes me think that there were people who took that to mean that they were to eat a whole ham at b-fast.

Kathryn said...

Lelo,
I was on the "Vodka diet" once. Here's how it works:
You get shitfaced drunk on Watermelon martinis while in Manzanita.
The next day, you are so incredibly hung-over that you can't eat for two days.
It's brilliant.

Thanks for stopping by my site, it's nice to have someone local reading; (unless of course I know you IRL, then stop reading RIGHT now!!!) Just kidding, have a great day!

LeLo said...

Pril-
Sounds like you were also on the "B" diet!

Rozanne-
Wow! You know this book! Yes, the writing is classic, and these are just a few of the gems in it. I can't imagine drinking this much booze at lunch and being functionable the rest of the day!

Recovering Straight Girl-
I think I've done that exact same diet, only with Tequila, and in Mexico. Ouch.....

Kathryn said...

The other good diet is "The Recovering Straight Girl's Diet." It consists of having a midlife crisis, becoming a lesbian, and leaving your husband of ten years.
It's guaranteed to have you lose like 20 pounds in less than six months. Every suburban homemaker should try it!

Anonymous said...

Scoff if you will, but it sounds awful similar to the popular atkins diet LOL!!!