We spent a few more minutes gabbing, Pam filling me in on the details of an audition she’d gone on for a fast food commercial.

“They wanted somebody ordinary looking, thank heavens. Of course, in Hollywood, ordinary means really pretty instead of smashingly gorgeous, but I showed up anyway, and the casting director seemed to like me. So keep your fingers crossed. Toes, too.”

After promising to cross all my digits, I hung up and checked my watch. Only five P.M., but I was starving. I’d have a nice early dinner. I once read that eating dinner early was a favorite dieting technique of the celebrities. Never eat anything after six, the article said, and the pounds will practically fly off your body.

Yes, I’d run over to the supermarket and get myself a healthy salad at the salad bar. Just some greens, maybe a little chicken, a dribble of dressing, and scads of veggies. What a great idea. I was feeling thinner already.

I grabbed my car keys and drove over to the market, where I headed straight for the salad bar. I did not stop off at the cookie aisle, or the bakery section. True, I came perilously close to paying a visit to my friends Ben & Jerry in the freezer case, but I was strong. I walked resolutely past all those temptations. And when I got to the salad bar, I stayed strong and loaded up on the low-cal stuff. You’ll be happy to learn that I Just Said No to the croutons, gloppy ranch salad dressing and giant chunks of cheese that were calling my name.

When I’d stuffed more greens into my container than I’d eaten in the last five years, I trotted over to the checkout counter, feeling quite proud of myself. I thought back to my lunch with Sam and Andrew, and how unappetizing the idea of a salad had seemed to me then. Now it seemed like the only sensible thing to be eating.

Maybe I’d finally reached the stage in life where dieting would be doable. Indeed, I’d probably reached a certain level of maturity necessary to start a healthy eating regimen and stick with it.

I paid for my salad and headed out the door, barely glancing at the Reese’s Pieces at the checkout counter.

It looked like Prozac wasn’t the only one with willpower in our family.

Back home, I tossed some Healthy Halibut Guts into Prozac’s dinner bowl. She proceeded to peck at it daintily, like a supermodel on a dinner date.

Instead of wolfing down my meal standing up over the kitchen counter as I usually do, I decided to eat my diet dinner in style, another diet tip I remembered reading. Eat your food slowly at the dinner table with a beautiful place setting. You’ll eat less and feel fuller.