The Harvard Square Diet: The Foolproof Method of Girth Control

The founder of Harvard University's department of nutrition and the executive director of the American Council on Science and Health, who was educated at Harvard, state that the university ""does not endorse this book any more than it does Harvard Antiques or the Harvard Wine and Liquor Store, those being the first and last `Harvard' entries in . . . the Boston telephone directory'' and, furthermore, that the ``square'' in the title refers to the three square meals a day that the book recommends. It won't be clear to readers why health professionals would choose such a contrived title or why they provide dieters with a familiar prescription: eat and drink less; have a small salad before the main meal of the day; use reduced-calorie products; exercise. The diet promises a 10-pound loss in eight weeks, which is a safe and realistic goal for most dieters, but readers will have to wade through pages of wordy pontification before arriving at the diet information. The authors may claim that their book ``is not pompous,'' but the only difference between this offering and others of its kind is a lofty title. (October 29)