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A woman wondering why she's single need only look in her fridge. It should be well-stocked with lunch meat, hot sauce, sports drinks, beer, as well as the mother of all man food, leftover takeout. Her knee caps should be moisturized with a baby oil concoction and her nails well-kept, but never French manicured - those half moons conjure strippers. Her home should be "tricked out with gadgets" and she should possess more than a passing knowledge of car mechanics, sports terminology and manly movie quotes - think "napalm in the morning."

"Sweat the small stuff" is the message Whitney Casey extols in her new bestseller, The Man Plan: Drive Men Wild... Not Away. Ms. Casey, a former CNN correspondent, canvassed the experiences and opinions of 250 men "from St. Louis to SoHo" and discovered that the male can be lured by both sillage (the French word for a trail of perfume), and a large slab of beef brisket. The result is a bimbo bible/training manual that laments the dying art of the feminine wile. Ms. Casey, who went on book tour with comedian Steve Harvey, author of the similarly messaged Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, writes, "You are 'you,' and nobody should influence that, right? Wrong."

Predictably, the book has incensed feminists. Divorced from her college sweetheart but enjoying a new relationship, Ms. Casey spoke with The Globe and Mail about The Man Plan.

Most of the book stresses how paramount appearances are to men. It reminds me of Steve Harvey going on about how much men like "shiny things." You take it quite literally: You suggest women wear "jewelled earrings that catch the light" on a first date.

It was one of those "ah ha!" moments. I interviewed 250 men but there was always the doubt in my mind that maybe this isn't good advice, but when I read Steve's book and started the tour, I realized this was right on. [Harvey] always says, "Read my book to get into a man's head and read Whitney's book to figure how to fix it."

At the end of the book, you write about victory, vigilance and attack. It sounds more like war than a relationship.

It's a war where women, they have all the power, all the tools, everything they need to win without even fighting one day on the battlefield. They just don't realize it. They're not utilizing all their weaponry. It really is so simple: Men are tactile and visceral and visual. Men: They see it, they smell it, they touch it, they take it.

Do you think that a woman who "lets herself go" is ripe for infidelity?

I always ask, why do married women stop shaving their legs? Women think, "I have a man, he loves me for who I am." Yes he does, but he also loves you for who you were. I'm not saying change who you are, change your sensibilities or your sense of humour or your compassion.

How have women responded to the book?

Some of the feminist viewpoints have been: "I'm not going to change for a man." But no matter what, there's a basic need to know what men want and fulfill those desires. It's just part of us as women. This is so that you're in the driver's seat: You're totally in control, you have all of the trappings down. Then you get to decide whether you even want this guy.

Do you consider yourself a female pick-up artist?

Definitely. I'd have a much better show than Mystery [Erik von Markovik, the Canadian pick-up artist who marauded through his own reality-TV show in faux fur hats, eyeliner and black painted fingernails.]

You devote many pages to matching lingerie, layering the right perfume, and what a high heel does for a woman's strut and "psyche." They are the kinds of things that American women have been accused of lagging behind their European counterparts in.

We have fought our femininity. Why can't we do that as women and not feel like we're selling ourselves out and we're changing for a man?

Do you think these trappings are more crucial now as men are increasingly reluctant to commit?

It's not so much that they're commitment phobes, it's that men are more metrosexual. They're buying more products. Men are becoming more like women, in terms of these sensory-loaded things.

You write: "Although the stories may exasperate you, they are meant to liberate you instead." What do you mean by that?

Some of the guys sound like jerks. And they are. Some of the interviews I didn't  even put in there. These were exasperating stories to me: [In one case] this was the perfect women for him and he says, "But Whitney, her breath was horrible." It's mind-boggling that it could ruin the rest of their dating life if these first few steps weren't followed.

Let's talk about the food chapter. You suggest keeping steaks in the fridge and offer one recipe: a "man-brisket" that feeds eight. This advice sounds mothering.

[It's] very 1950s. What's the harm? Is it taking away your power base to learn how to cook one meal successfully? And if you're going to pick one meal, why not pick the one that guys like the most? Why are you going to waste time on shrimp polenta? A man's not going to even understand that. ... These are things that are innocuous, they're easy to do and they don't change your personality. These are simple things you can do to woo a man. If you don't want to do them, you can stay single. That's an option for you.

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Casey's commandments

The rules in The Man Plan are many and complicated. Here are a few of Whitney Casey's more peculiar prescriptions.

On food Ms. Casey explains the dreaded "fajita hair," an odour that resides in women's hair (she makes no mention of men's) after a sizzling fajita tray zips by at a Mexican restaurant. "If you have a fajita or coffee date, before you exit the restaurant or coffeehouse, run to the restroom and give your hair a little spray."

The book also includes a pronunciation key for tricky menus (a moos BOOSH) and a list of "fumble foods," including lobster and poppy seeds.

On hair Body hair is a cardinal sin, according to the author, describing a scene where a man dumps a woman after he spots her Nairing. Men "don't want to know about it or see it... ever." Another chapter is devoted to body odour; one of Ms. Casey's experts suggests Botoxing the underarms to nuke the sweat glands.

On meds Like body hair, prescription meds are a huge turnoff. Hide them out of sight, and not in the bathroom medicine cabinet or the bedside table: men check.

On the handbag A large and heavy bag apparently conveys to men that a woman doesn't need them: "The bag implies I can do everything," Ms. Casey writes. She suggests keeping it small and filled with wallet, perfume, makeup and phone, as well as conversation starters, like an article from The Economist, or baby picture from mom, or a Magic 8 Ball, or, inexplicably, a rabbit foot.

On underthings Lingerie equals mystery to men, but, "those big Hanes panties dampen the mood."

On nipples "As a general rule, nips should not come out before 9 p.m., unless it's one of the special occasions noted," Ms. Casey writes.