The Bloomingdale's Eat Healthy Diet

This diet book is based on a dubious premise contrived by the chairman of Bloomingdale's, Marvin Traub (himself a participant in Stein's New Yorkbased Eat* Healthy Workshop): The ingredients that give a department store its ""competitive edge'' in retailinginnovation, creativity, energy, vitalityare also the elements that determine a successful diet plan. The core of the book consists of a regimented daily meal plan for a 10-day Transition Phase and a 12-day Stabilization Phase, with instructions for the final, extended Personalization Phase. The nutritional guidelines for the diet are not new, i.e., a decrease in sugars and animal fats, and an increase in complex carbohydrates and vegetable proteins. Perhaps the most helpful aspect of the book are Stein's suggestions on EAT (Effective Appetite Training)learn to crave the foods that make you thinalthough the more conventional eater may have difficulty adjusting to ratatouille, potatoes and other vegetables as daily breakfast fare. Additional features are recipes, nutrition tables and a question and answer section. This ``brand name'' prescription is for the fashion conscious, but traditional diets would serve as well. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates; author tour. (April 7)