"Hot Chicks" DO eat, but they're discreet

On a hot August morning in 1977, a Long Island teacher awoke to find her college-age daughter and a friend in the kitchen, eating chocolate cake for breakfast.

"Oh, Laurie," said the teacher, with equal measures of shock, horror and profound sadness.

What the teacher and the friend didn't know, and what Laurie might have known but didn't let on, was that the young women were eating like "hot chicks."

Now the secret's out, and thanks to writer Jodi Lipper and actress Cerina Vincent, authors of "How to Eat Like a Hot Chick," chocolate cake — and just about any other food you can imagine — is absolutely acceptable. Recommended, even.

Because, as it turns out, the secret of eating like a hot chick is not to overthink the issue. If you want chocolate cake for breakfast, have it. But be aware that somewhere down the line, at dinner, for instance, you might need to balance it out with spinach.

Moderation is one of the messages of this self-published book written by bicoastal pals who met in a gym. Another is that women who spend their lives obsessing over their appearance and rejecting every tasty morsel that nears their mouths are kind of missing the point of living.

And a woman obsessed is usually not hot.

"We waste too much of our lives worrying about getting fat. It takes the fun out of life," said Vincent, the California part of the writing team, whose film credits include "Cabin Fever" and who was once the oh-so-hot Yellow Power Ranger.

The book, which contains its share of both typos and swear words, contains tips on how to eat Chinese and Italian food without gaining a dress size, how to slim down quickly if there's an important event coming up and how to spend fewer calories at the bar. (Helpful hint: Eliminate the mixers. If you're a vodka and tonic drinker, ditch the tonic, use club soda instead and toss in a ton of limes.)

The authors use at least as much ink encouraging women to turn off their interior calorie counter and enjoy a meal, especially when out on a date.

"It's not the time to be dieting," said Lipper, of New York City. "It resonates very clearly to your date when you're thinking about that. Let go and have fun."

The book includes a section on what hot chicks should, and should not, eat while on a date. Recommended: Meat, especially red; French fries (you'll look cute dipping into the ketchup); ice-cream cones (don't ask).

Foods that are dating disasters: Creamed spinach, corn on the cob, spaghetti, oysters (trying too hard) and fried chicken (the two women just don't like it).

The authors, without a nutrition degree between them but with enough common sense to fill a grocery store, advocate for water, cayenne pepper and fish oil, and against fast food, dried fruit and keeping things in the house that you absolutely cannot be trusted with (peanut butter).

The writing partners came up with the idea for "How To" on a plane three years ago. Now with their first work in print and available at www.heydayproductions.com, they're planning more self-help books for hot chicks, like "How to Cook Like a Hot Chick" and "How to Love Like a Hot Chick."

In the meantime, they will continue to advocate for people like Laurie, who knew instinctively — as a hot chick should — that chocolate cake for breakfast was not the end of the world.

"If you're craving chocolate cake in the morning, have a cupcake or something," Lipper said. "That is our whole point."